Happy New Year!

And now let us welcome the New Year,

full of things that have never been

                                                                   Rainer Maria Rilke

Now that Christmas has passed,

I can show you a project that I worked on to give as a gift.

But first,

my son has a unique way of giving me a stash of embroidery floss for a present.

whether it be Mother's day, a birthday

or Christmas,

He always finds pretty containers, and then stuffs them full

of new skeins of embroidery floss........

"my sewing basket runneth over"

now for the project.........most of you are familiar

with Hallmark store's Maxine and her little dog Floyd?

My friend/sister-in-law has always loved Maxine's

character and sarcastic wittiness.  

I always try to make her some kind of unique item......something that 

no store has and that no one else will probably ever have. So 

I  decided to make a Maxine doll.  I carefully sculpted her head

from oven bake clay and after it was cured, I painted  and styled as

best I could.

I also sculpted her hands

her legs/feet with shoes.

I made her body soft and stuffed in a garment that looks

like something Maxine would wear

I then sculpted her little dog Floyd out of oven bake clay.

As most of you know.......she also wears bunny house shoes,

which I hand sewed 

and made to fit on her feet.

My friend loves the doll boxes I create......so.....

I found a very pretty shaped box

and on one side, created a kitchen setting , complete

with table, chair, tea pot, tea cup, a food bowl for Floyd, 

an oven baked clay pie

and a window scene

the other side of the box, I made a place to hold her wardrobe

and other little accessories I made for her

My friend/sister-in-law was delighted.....

as I hoped she would be.

After all of the laughter was over, she told me

that our local Hallmark store is closing........

as many others have recently done.

It is a shame to see these types of stores

fade away.

So now she has a memory of something from that

"era" to make her smile.

I hope this finds that you all had a happy holiday time

with friends and family and that you 

have wonderful hopes for the new year to come!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas dear friends!  Stop by my cooking blog at this link for a recipe for a wonderful cake for Christmas!

                                                                        LINK"

                                                           Cranberry Layer Cake

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things,

but just look what they can do when they stick together.

Vesta M. Kelly

My soul is fed...........with needle and thread

 I have put away the projects I have been working on .....

but only for a few days/weeks.   I have a stack of 

vintage linens which are in need of soaking and repair.

These pieces have such beautiful embroidery, however, 

some will be usable after the repair work is done,

but some will be only worthy of the embroidery they 

have on them.  These pieces will be wonderful for use 

in making purses, quilts, or some other craft project

Most importantly , for me, 

the embroidery will be saved.

Here is hoping that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving

time and that you are back into creating what 

makes you the most happy!

Wishing you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day

Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more:

Peace in the hearts of all men living,

peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving.

Joseph Auslander

Just a happy thought..........

enjoy!

My fingers have been jumping from cross stitch..............

to doll box, to dollhouse these days.  

I work on these 3 things on 3 separate days.

The cross stitch roses are coming along beautifully,

( I will show a pic of that later)

If you have read my last post, you will remember this little

doll and the bed and quilt I made for it. As  you can see, 

I have done a bit more to complete the box.

I painted a little wooden dresser in the same colors as the quilt,

The little doily is a vintage crochet piece from my stash,

The little ball was all yellow, so I painted a red stripe and 

a red flower onto it.  The baby buggy

was all blue plastic, so I also painted it in white 

with black details.

I decoupaged a little flower onto the dresser

and I made a very tiny bed and blanket for the tiny

baby doll in the buggy.

I added a miniature play rabbit, and I crocheted the gold 

yellow flower pillow for the bed.

I added the decorative paper and lace onto the top 

facing of the box and fixed straps for an umbrella ( I glued flowers and ric rac to)

a little hair brush and a little tiara.

The doll has a pretty dress, so I decided I would make a little coat

out of some pretty flannel scraps that I had.

I really enjoy making doll clothes.......do you?

I need to make a few more pieces of clothing for the 

doll's wardrobe.

and now.........if anyone should open the box............

they will have a delightful surprise! 

Some of you might remember a post I showed a while back of 

a homemade dollhouse I picked up at a junk sale.  I had 

originally decorated  the kitchen in red and white. 

I soon discovered that the dollhouse had an odor. I worked 

and worked for weeks to get rid of the odor.........finally finding that

"Kilz" took the odor all away. But I had to coat the entire dollhouse 

and redo the kitchen.  I decided this time on a cheery yellow

farmhouse kitchen.  I still have things to do in this room 

and many other rooms to go.  It will be a patient process.  

Do you ever find that you have so many things that  you love to create with 

your hands .........that you know you will never have enough time to do them all?

I think I will have to be 150 years old if were to ever work on and finish the projects I love to 

do.  How about you?

I have just finished making a full size quilt...................sort of

I stepped away from my cross stitch to make

a patchwork quilt.........

which only took a couple of days of my time.

The quilt is full size............if you are only 7" tall that is.

It has 100 little patchwork squares and it measures 

7 1/2" X 71/2"

It does have batting in between and was hand stitched

and hand quilted........by me.

I chose this lovely floral print for the back

The reason for a quilt so small??  you might ask?

Because earlier, I made a very tiny bed, 

a very tiny mattress, 

a tiny fitted sheet, 

along with a tiny flat top sheet. 

And it all fits perfectly together!  

Since the sheets were in yellow, 

I chose the yellow prints for the quilt. 

I also made a matching pillow. 

Now ......a pretty bed with all of the pretty linens. 

but............why such a tiny bed??

I wanted to start making doll boxes......just a bit  

like the old antique doll boxes of long ago.

And I also wanted to find a unique way to sell

the vintage dolls I have in a  trunk in my 

vintage shop.  

I have accumulated  a few of the pretty boxes from the 

craft stores that have hinges and latches on them

Now I can put the doll in the box and fix the box 

up with a bed,  doll clothes and a few accessories.

I think this might entice someone to buy the dolls and 

give them another life of play. 

On this doll, I still need to make her a wardrobe and 

put a few more details into her box.

I enjoy working with miniatures like this

I still have a doll house that needs my attention.

But........I am still working on my cross stitch 

on separate days.

Tell me.........with cold winter moving in.....

what are you creating?

I would love to hear!

and now............roses are blooming from my needle!

There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.     

Ralph Waldo Emerson

After starting 21 years ago.......it's about time to finally finish!!

  I had started this dolphin cross stitch picture for our daughter Hannah when she was about 9.  I never seemed to finish it......always  putting it aside to do something else........and although I hadn't forgotten it..........I just never seem to get motivated to finish it. 

   The reason I had started this for her was because we had taken our children.....all small at that time..........to San Antonio Sea World on a family trip.  She fell in love with the dolphins and the killer whales so much that she wanted to become a trainer someday.  

She was even able to talk to one of the whale trainers while we were there and the trainer told her that in order to be a trainer  she  would have to be able to go underwater with the whales/dolphins, and to be able to come back up after holding her breath and to be able to talk to the audience.  

When we got home, she spent that summer diving into our pool and staying under water and coming up.....and practiced speaking  to her make believe  audience.  We would clap for her. 

Her journey in life took her to far away places......and away from whale training dreams and she chose a different path.

Now , I just finished the last stitch... last night..............and she just turned 30........I plan to give this for her Christmas this year.  

While she was home, visiting us last year, she gave me a photo of herself.........in a pool with a dolphin that she had the chance to go swimming with while she was in Dubai.  

So she still loves dolphins very much.    

She remembers seeing the cross stitch picture......but does not know that I have started back to work on it for her. 

I have not yet framed it........will wait to see what kind of frame she might like.

But......I am so happy to get such and old UFO (un-finished object) finished! 

so tell me............I know we all have those UFO'S stashed away somewhere........

how long has one been waiting for you to finish?