Happy New Year to All Our Family and Friends

Hello everyone, I hope everyone had a very lovely Christmas Holiday.

The last few months has been hectic but I've found a wee bit of time to create something I have been planning to make for some time. First I bought this lovely Pale Pink Rose Toile fabric back in April when I was visiting the Paducah Quilt Show. A few months later I discovered "Laurie Charming Designs" and her absolutely wonderful "Hearts and Roses Push Pins and Refrigerator Magnets". I've had them since summer. So I finally got a nice bulletin board and put them all together. Here is the results. I love it. What do you all think??? It will go into my sewing room after I paint the walls this same lovely pale pink color.

This photo show an up close of the Lovely Hearts and Roses Push Pins.
I received this "Lovely Friendship Calender" from a Dear Friend in Australia. Every month is full of lovely photos of blooms and china. It is one of the prettiest calenders I have ever seen and it has the most wonderful "Friendship" quote every month to read.

I believe everyone know what a big fan I am of Anne of Green Gable. My Dear DIL Jenny called PEI and order this 100th Anniversary Ornament for me along with a couple of other gifts below. I love them all.

Jenny also bought me a PEI Travel Book. I plan to read this from cover to cover.

Jenny also order this lovely "Anne of Green Gable Wind Chime". It will be hanging from my Gazebo as soon as Spring gets here. At the moment with all the heaps of snow we have it is difficult to imagine Spring yet.

I have admired Victorian Christmas Cracker for sometime. This is my first attempt of creating one. The focus fabric is called "Christmas Greeting, Flower Fairies" from the estate of Cicely Mary Barker. I let my stitching imagination be inspired from this lovely piece of fabric. I gave it as a Christmas Present filled with goodies for a Dear Friend.

Below is the Christmas Cracker I received. It was created with lovely Bangkok silks fabrics and embellished in very pretty stitches and beads and such .

I also received some Lovely Treasures from another Dear Friend in The Netherlands. I plan to use the "Rose Buttons" on my Crazy Quilt that I plan to start working on again in the new year. I truly love the Beaded Pendant and the beautiful folded Christmas Ornament and the very lovely fabrics.

I also received a couple of "Beautiful Post Cards from a friend in the UK". I just loved the wool felted flowers and rolls that I received from my friend in Australia.

I had my Christmas Catus for many years and it has been at my Mom home for some time. I finally brought it home with me at Thanksgiving. I took some Vitamin B tablet and dissolved it in water. I then diluted it with another glass of water and then gave it to my Christmas Catus. I could hardly believe it immediate went from very sad looking to blooming within a month. Isn't it just beautiful. Hopefully next year I will have many more blooms.

Two days prior to Christmas we received lots of rain. Then on Christmas Day Night it started to snow and it has not stopped yet. Below our "Lovely Two Bird Feeders" My Sweetie build for me and they are being smothered in snow. They are filled with lots of food but No birds are to be seen. I think they are all snuggled in Pine Trees trying to keep warm.

And this is a photo of Our Winter Wonderland today. A bit overcasted but the sun came out a bit later.

My Sweetie and I would like to wish all Our Family and Friends a Very Healthy and Joyous New Year. I look forward to chatting with all my blogging friends next year.

Hugs,

Merry Christmas To All Our Family and Friends

I was very fortunate to have met Heloisa from Brazil this year on Stitchin Fingers. We fast became Good Friends. Heloisa stitches some beautiful creations and she sent me the above lovely card called "Christmas Lady". The card is truly beautiful. I also received some very pretty buttons too. Thank you very much Heloisa!

I also swaps Dorset Buttons with Jinann from Virginia. I think my Christmas Dorset Buttons are absolutely beautiful. Thank you very much Jinann for creating them for me.

I have fallen in love with creating Dorset Buttons. The top one I called a "Snowflake Crosswheel". The two larger "White Dorset Buttons" are Singleton with my touch added. I especially lile the pink flower one. I used a Woven Picot Open and Closed stitch to create them. It is the first time I have ever used this stitch and I really loved the look of it. I put a pink pearl bead in the center which I think really make it special. The small pink Dorset Button one is called a Star Shirtwaist. This is my first attempt and I found it a bit more difficult. I am going to have to perfect this technique.

I also created these Dorset Buttons too. All three were given as gifts.

I have been admiring some Art Envelope on Stitchin Fingers so I decided to try and make a Christmas Art Envelope too. This is a close up of a Poinsettia with beads.

This is a photo of the inside of the Christmas Art Envelope.

This photo shows the whole front of the "Christmas Art Envelope". I really enjoyed making it. It went to my new friend Heloisa in Brazil.

I called this needle felted Post Card in red, "Christmas Dance". I added lots of snowflakes with beads and metallic threads.

Another needle felted Post Card in Pink, also called "Christmas Dance"! I also added more snowflakes beads and lovely metallic threads to make it sparkle. I used all lovely Icelandic Wools on them both.

I made this Silk Ribbon Christmas Post Card for us. It symbolizes what a "Wonderful, Precious, and Cherished Life I have with My Sweetie".

Our Christmas Tree this year. We decided to put it in the corner this year to give us more room for family to gather about. It is decorated with hand blow and painted German Blue Ornaments along with special ornaments made by my friends.

Today the sun is shining in Michigan. At the beginning of the week I could not even see the fence from the front window we were having such an dreadful snow blizzard. We got 14 inches of snow. Thanks goodness some of it has melted from the sun and rain. vbg

I feel very fortunate to have met so many wonderful friends blogging. To me Friends are Like Flowers. Each could stand alone on it own beauty. But group together each enhances the beauty of the other.

My Sweetie and I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas and A Very Happy New Year.

Hugs,

Christmas Fairy Post Card

Heather my Dear Friend from Canada and I decided to exchange Christmas Post Cards this year! We coordinated opening them together Tuesday evening. Heather especially loves fairy but I had NO idea my pressies this year would have a Fairy theme. This beautiful Christmas Fairy Post Card is pictured above. The thread painting is incredibly exquisite and the silk ribbon embroidery Poinsettia, lovely fairy gown and Dove are truly stunning. Look at her dainty 3 D fairy wings. Heather is truly an artist and you can see more of her lovely art work on her blog at "A Cherish Life"!

I created a Brazilian Embroidery Christmas Tree Post Card for Heather. I used all Brazilian Floss and added lots of beads and put some pressies underneath the tree.

Here is the other lovely things I received from Heather. A DVD called "Fairy Tales" which I plan to watch with my sweeties at our usual Friday Night at the Movie! I am really looking forward to watching it. On the back it say that it takes place in England during WW1. I love anything that would be based in the UK. Please note the Refrigerator magnet. We both have the same feelings about kitchens. LOL

I love Roses and especially Pink Roses and this gorgeous Journal is based on Cicely Mary Bakers lovely garden fairies. The "Rose Fairy" is so beautiful on the front of the journal. Inside Heather wrote me a Lovely Christmas Message and tells me I can use this journal to write down all my inspirational thoughts and idea for creating in it. Heather also wrote me the most lovely poem.

"She sat there on my hand a tiny Fairy thing.

I couldn't believe my eyes and then she started to sing.

A voice as delicate as an angel its lilt caressed my ears like no sound I'd ever heard it near brought me to tears.

I closed my eyes and listened a song so sweet and airy to my memory I commit the melody of the fairies".

By Heather Johnsgaard

Thank you Heather for writing this very lovely Poem into my Journal for me to read. Our Friendship is very special and I feel very blessed to have you as a friend.

Hugs,

Art Council of White Lake, Stories Behind The Quilts Show, Giveaway

Alison Lang Art Doll called Robirda Penguin is pictured above. It was created from felted wools and antique fabric. There was a glass blue egg inside of the necklace pouch around Robirda Penguin's neck.

My Dear Friend Heather is having a Lovely giveaway at her blog called, "A Cherished Life". Heather has made many creative and beautiful Ornaments. A few of her beautiful Ornaments are pictured above.

The above photo is of Alison Lang, Fiber Artist that displayed 2 of her quilts at the Art Council of White Lake, gallery in Montague for the last couple of week. This past Saturday the art council had nibbles and fondue for all the visitors at the show.

I was asked to display three of my quilts. The above photo is of the Autumn Leaf Fantasy Wedding Quilt I made several years ago for my son Shane and his wife Jenny.

This photo is of "The Alaska Quilt" I made back in 1994 to 1996. It was the first quilt I ever made.

This quilt is the second quilt I ever made. I called it "Quilted Sea Tapestry" and was made for my oldest son Mike and his wife Kari.

Some photos of other quilts that were displayed at the show.

This was the first time I have ever displayed my quilts in public. I was anxious about it but all the quilts were well received by the public. We all had a lovely time chatting about our quilts and art.

Hugs,

Dorset Buttons: Splendiferous

For the last couple of weeks my fingers have been very busy stitching and creating Dorset Buttons for projects and friends. I bought "The Dorset Feather Stitchery" book a couple of years ago from the UK Stitch Magazine. Inside this book it explains how to make these lovely buttons along with heaps of lovely Dorset Feather Stitches. The above photo is the "First 5 Dorset Buttons" I have ever made.

In the recent issue Vol 8 Issue # 04 of Crazy Quilt Magazine Online, Diane Mugsford from British Columbia presented a written Workshop to the Fraser Valley Needlearts Guild newsletter on how to create these fantastic Dorset Pin Buttons. Through Kerry Leslie ( click on Kerry name to get to her lovely blog), Diane graciously allowed her pattern to be published in our CQMagOnline Mag. Diane's Dorset button resembles a flower bouquet which looks very similar to my "Roses and More Roses" top left. Thanks Kerry, I loved this pattern.

Also Marion Howitt of the UK has a website called "Dorset Buttons" and has a 16 page booklet called "Fact File" giving detailed instructions on how to create many Dorset Buttons. I bought the Lovely "Fact File" Booklet from Marion. It is very very nice with very detailed instructions for some unique Dorset Buttons. I highly recommend it.

The British Button Society has a website that show some very lovely Dorset Buttons too. I especially loved the "The Christmas Tree Dorset Button" by Marlene Bramman. I gave the Christmas Tree Dorset Button a go and a photo of it is on the top right. I added lots of beads and a wee star at the top.

The last row shows Three Dorset Buttons in the traditional designs. The shade of Purple Dorset Button was the very first one I ever made then the Green one and lastly the Peppermint color one.

In this photo I show you the different types of threads and yarns I used to create these buttons.

(1) Roses and More Roses Brooch, was made with White "Paton's Silk Bamboo Yarn" with a 2 inch plastic ring. The Trio Embroidery Flosses I used in creating the roses were 50% Silk and 50% Wool made in Switzerland. This floss is very soft and lovely to stitch with.

(2) My Christmas Tree Dorset Button Brooch, was made with Red "Paton's Angora Bamboo Yarn" with a 2 inch plastic ring. The tree was created with Green "Paton's Silk Bamboo Yarn" and then I added beads and a wee star at the top.

(3) The Shade of Purple Dorset Button was made from #8 DMC Perle Cotton with a 1 1/4 inch plastic ring.

(4) The Shade of Green Dorset Button was made from #8 Finca by Presencia. I also added Madeira Metallic thread to the inside to add sparkle to it. It was made from a 1 1/4 inch ring.

(5) The Peppermint Dorset Button was made from # 20 Lizbeth tatting cotton and I used a 3/4 inch ring. I enjoyed using all sizes of threads and yarns and each came out having a very unique look. I really like them all.

The reference books I used are the "50 Heirloom Buttons, by Nancy Nehring 1996 which is out of print but can be bought through http://www.amazon.com/

The Dorset Feather Stitchery by Olivia Pass was first published in 1957 and reprinted 9 times. I bought this book through the UK "Stitch Magazine". See below photo.

I also recently bought a novel called "Burning Bright" by Tracy Chevalier. It takes place in the French Revolution-era London ( 250 year Anniversary of William Blake birth). He comes from Dorsetshire. It is a lovely book and I am only on Chapter 6 so lots to read yet. I will let you all know what I think of it when I have finished it. Has anyone read this book?

I love the "Stitch Magazine" and I have been reading it for several years. The above photo is of the most recent issue (#61) here in the states. I was so excited to see it in Joann's on Friday. I have been waiting for it for weeks and weeks to arrive. I could hardly believe that I got the last issue in stock they usually have several copies on hand. The reason for my excitement is that my friend Michala (Kayla Coo) from the UK lovely wool embroidery art was on the front cover. Inside she created the 4 Season in Felt. There is no better word that I can describe Michala Art than "Splendiferous!!!!! Congratulation Michala!!

I truly enjoyed creating "My Dorset Buttons". I plan to create many more. I would like to add allot more beads to them in the future to give them more sparkle. Hopefully one day I will become more proficient in creating them and then I would be keen to trade with others.

Today in Michigan it was 70F unbelievable for this time of year. Huge Very Big Grin!! Usually we are seeing snowflakes flying by now. This great weather is to last the whole coming week. Lucky us. But I am sure the snow is not far off.

I would also like to Thank You All for visiting my blog and leaving your lovely comments.

Hugs,

Autumn Wool Felted Purse and Glorious Autumn Colors

Hello Everyone, HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Michigan where at the moment we are soaking in Autumn's most brilliant hues. We've had heaps of rain so the air has been cleansed by the cold and rain. This year it seems like with us getting so much rain and wind the lovely Autumn leaves have been stripped earlier and they now lay like hand prints on the ground.

My sweetie has worked in between rain and wind storms picking them all up with the lawn mower. Even today he has worked for endless hours at this task. But before the wind and rain brought down all our Lovely Autumn Colors I took some pics posted at the end of this post.

The above beautiful hand dyed wool from natural garden dyes I brought home with me from Germany 5 years ago this week. In the last few weeks I have started using it. The above photo you will see three wet felted ball I made from these lovely wools. I have been very busy stitching trying to get some of my Christmas projects done. It seems like this year I am behind in everything.

I took some precious time recently to create a wet wool felted purse. I have been wanting to create one for several years but never seem to know exactly on how to go about it. In September I took a wet felted class and learn so very much. Kelly Brandt taught me how to make wet felted wool slippers which I will post about later when I finish them. I learned the techniques in this class that I needed to create this purse. I used the lovely nature dyed wools I had brought home with me from Germany that the "Wool Lady" dyed. The Autumn leaf I needle felted.

In the above photo you can see I created a wet felted flower and added a wee lovely button to it.

The above photo shows the inside of my Autumn Purse.

Isn't this "Burning Bush" grand colors glorious. Unfortunately, it is not in my garden but when I look out my front picture window I feel very privilege to be able to enjoy it grandeur. It is in the neighbor's back yard across the street from us. It must have been growing for many years to be so huge in size.

This is our Norway Golden Maple. It set off to the right side of our yard and when it is in its full color and the sun is shining on it is incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately all the wind and rain has left the branches looking like skeletons. Maybe that is appropriate for this day is Halloween.

The next season will soon be upon us. It has already snowed in the upper part of Michigan. I read a wee lovely poem I thought I would share with you all. It reflects exactly how I feel about my friends.

Every FRIEND is like a "Snowflake" unique in beauty and design. Each sparkles in a different way, some are playful, some refined. But, unlike fragile snowflakes that fade when the sun appears, friends grow yet more beautiful with every passing year!!!

I wish you all a lovely Autumn. I also want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart who always leaves me wonderful and kind messages to read.

Hugs,