My 2008 Christmas ornament…

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I’ve made Christmas ornaments to give to family and friends for many, many years. The list of folks who receive ornaments have changed over the years – especially as children and nieces have gotten older and moved into their own spaces. Sometimes people move off the list when they downsize and no longer have room for more ornaments. I completely understand this as I, myself, am having trouble fitting them all in :-).


This year I made 19 little sparkly houses. I thought I’d share a little bit of the process with you. 

First I designed a pattern. I made a template of the main pattern. It was easy to cut strips the length and width of the house and then use the template to mark my cutting lines. I cut rectangles for the bases and roofs.

I made the houses from poster board – a light-weight, white cardboard readily available in the US. After I cut the shapes out, I folded them where I needed to using a bone folder (which is a really good tool). I glued the ends of the house together using Tacky Glue – a strong, fast-drying glue available in craft stores. 

I mixed up a solution of thin glue (Elmers and/or Tacky glue mixed with water) and brushed it on the houses where I wanted glitter to stick. I used blue, green, and white glitter to make houses in those colors.



After the glue/glitter dried, I glued and glittered the doors in a contrasting color. I cut tissue paper and stuck it to the inside of the windows. 

Next I glued each house to a base and glued its roof on. Luckily I remembered to punch holes in the roofs and strung a loop of wire (to hang them from) before I glued the roofs on!

I made pipe cleaner wreaths and glued them over the doors. I glued on rick-rack greenery and I added sparkly, fluffy snow to the roofs and bases and then… there they were! A cluster of festive houses ready to go off and spread Christmas cheer!

Every year one of the hardest parts of “ornament making” for me is deciding what to make. I enjoyed making these houses so well that I think I’m going to make a variety of different houses for the next several years. Imagine a village of little sparkly cardboard houses!

Answering some questions…

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We’ve had some questions about the free block/project contest. (I really need to come up with a good name for this. Any ideas?) Anyway – here are answers to some questions you may be having:


We are picturing the projects as finished pieces, not unfinished blocks. Keep in mind, though, thatyour “project” doesn’t necessarily need to be a quilt. It certainly can be a quilt! But if you wanted to embellish an apron, or tea towel, or pillow, or garment, or whatever else you can think of – that could work too. Imagine your project in a book, inspiring another quilter to use the pattern the way you did!

We welcome entries from outside of the US. The deadline remains the same – there will be time to get your project to us for photography.

You may use any applique method you prefer.

If you have other questions, let us know and we’ll do our best to answer them quickly.

Happy stitching!

Becky and Linda

Anna asked a good question – Yes, you will get your project back if it is chosen for publication. We might need to hold onto it for several weeks – that is up to C&T. They need the actual projects in hand to check color. 

We have a treat for you!

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As I promised last week, we have something special for you today! We are doing something we’ve never done before… we are releasing a block pattern from our next Block of the Month to you — before it is published! This Block of the Month is so new that it doesn’t even have a name yet!  

It is our hope that you will make a project using this block and send us a photo of your project by March 1, 2009. Our plan is to include as many of these project photos as possible in the Block of the Month publication (tentative release date Spring 2010). There are some rules that you need to follow and they are listed in the PDF. 


Click here to go to our home page. The link to the PDF is in the information about this free block. We hope you have fun working with this block and that you come up with some very cute projects.

Happy stitching from us both!

Alzheimer’s Quilt Donation

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Good Morning!!!!. Well it was morning when I started this blog. I had some problems so now it is the afternoon. My husband Paul has had the crud this week. So we have been hibernating. You know if you take medicine it takes 14 days to get over and if you don’t it takes 2 weeks.

I have been clearing my desk and working on projects in my studio. One of the projects is a small quilt for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. The quilts are no larger than 9″ x 12″. here is the one I am sending. It is a block from a class I used to teach. It made a pretty little quilt to donate. 
While working in the Alzheimer’s booth at Quilt Festival I noticed the greatest way to make a sleeve for these small quilts. I thought I would share it with you here. You can two squares 2 12″ x 2 1/2″. Then press them into a triangle. Next, before you put your binding on the quilt place the raw edges along the sew line. Sew the two squares to each of the top corners along seam line.sides, That’s all there is to it.
Place a small dowel rod in the pockets and you are ready to hang your quilt. I put a pencil in mine. Saved a trip to the hardware store.
Till next time keep quilting. Linda

I’m going on vacation…

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Well, not really a vacation – more of a Thanksgiving break. We leave tomorrow after lunch for Oklahoma City (OKC) where we both have family. I’m scrambling to get everything ready and am not finding time to blog. BUT – there is a wonderful treat coming on Monday. You’ll like it, I promise! 


I might find time to post between now and then, but I also might not. I’m going to leave you with this wonderful photo of my Aunt Esther and my grandmother, Nan, aka Mabel Eckroat. She was born not long after 1900 and died 6 years ago. (I am so very bad with dates that I don’t have the exact ones in my head. I hope I am never in charge of writing an obituary.)

Nan was a stitch! She sewed many of my clothes as I was growing up. She even made my senior prom dress (a halter-top!). She was not a quilter but that’s OK. In the picture below she and her sister are pretending to be “bad” – with fake cigarettes! This photo is taken outside of their family home in Cheyenne, OK. When she was little, Nan lived in a dugout (an underground house) so this house is something the whole family was proud of.

I could go on, but I won’t because I have to get ready to leave tomorrow :-). Later, I’ll post more family photos. I have some really wonderful ones!

My grandson…

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I took this movie of my grandson, Jack, a few weeks ago and am just now getting it posted. The boy crawls with his leg bent funny. I’m a normal grandmother so I sort of worry about that but it is my hope that he will walk straight and tall! I will share (and I hope not bore you with) another movie soon!

FYI – those cloths on the floor are there because Jack put them there. He has a drawer full of  (clean) rags that I let him pull out, then I put them up, then he pulls them out… you get the idea.