Christmas Eve

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone who sent me "Happy Birthday" wishes for today.  Your comments, no matter what time of year, truly mean so much to me!  Thank you everyone!

Well, it's December 24th and to date, we've had no measurable snowfalls!  And I am absolutely okay with that! And there's none in the forecast all the way to New Year's so one month of Winter down, 2 months to go.  I can honestly tolerate the cold of the Winter months.  I don't like the bitter cold but we've been around 30 - 40 degrees so far and it's quite tolerable.  It's the snow that I don't like.  I'd much rather look at brown grass than endless amounts of white snow which in time, becomes dirty and ugly looking.  So if Winter continues like it has so far, you won't much in the way of complaints from me!  LOL!!!

I didn't get much in the way of stitching done yesterday.  Just a little bit.  I went to mom's to help her with preparations for this afternoon and tomorrow.  I'll post an update of my current cat doll when I get a little more stitching on it.

For now, I have to get ready for my shopping spree at the antique mall.  I only ask my husband for one thing each year for my birthday.  I ask him to take me to the antique mall so I can walk around and see all the vintage things that I love!  Hopefully, I'll find some nice little do-dads to add to my stitching.  Although I have quite a nice collection, I'm always on the hunt for more beautiful little vintage handkerchiefs!  So perhaps I'll have some new ones to share here with you tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve everyone! 

Wisdom On Turning 50

Well, tomorrow is my 50th birthday.  It sounds worse when I write it than it actually feels.  My aunt always says that age is just a number.  And I always say it's not the years, it's the miles. 

Some people have a terrible time turning 50.  I like to think of it in terms of condition.  You know, like on Ebay.  There's new, used, vintage, antique and ancient.  LOL!!!  I've reached the point of vintage and I'm ok with that.

Vintage is endearing.  It's charming and usually has a lovely patina.  It's worn but soft and still quite useful. And in my opinion, extremely attractive!  LOL!

With age comes wisdom and heaven knows, I've reached that point! Like I said, it's not the years, it's the miles.

I prefer not to reflect on the first 50 years of my life but rather look at the (hopefully) next 50 years as being where the fun is.  Heaven knows, it's time for some of that.  Especially after the last 3 years.  Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time, know what I'm talking about.

For some people, life is a walk in the park, a picnic and a piece of cake.  For others, life comes with many challenges.  I hope I learned the lessons I had to learn by now.  I've always been one of those people who has to learn the hard way.

One nice thing about vintage, is that it's reached a point of being loved for what it is.  It doesn't have to "prove" itself anymore.  It is what it what is.  It's respected for it's age and withstood the test of time.  And so have I.
 
Well, now that I've amused you with my age and condition analogy, I'll move on to my stitching.  In between baking a couple batches of cookies yesterday and listening to some Christmas music on the radio (which I have not done in 3 years), I finished up on my Pink & Blue Valentine Cat Doll:

And here is a close up of the seam treatment on the right:

See more Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Inspiration here.

I pulled some lace and trim for this little Pink cat doll before I went to bed last night:

They never look like much of anything until I get them sewn together. If you're new to my blog, you can see my Cat Doll Collection here.

Today, I'll head over to mom's to see if she needs help with anything.  For now, I'm going to sit here and stitch for awhile.

Valentine Cat Dolls

I had some stitching time yesterday between wrapping my Christmas gifts and doing laundry.  Here's an update on my Pink and Blue Cat Doll:

Today, I plan on doing a little baking and then some more stitching.  I don't care to spend the entire day making cookies, just 2 or 3 batches.  I'd really like to do some sewing but that's going to have to wait until after Christmas.

I expect to finish up on this kitty doll today so I'll post an update photo tomorrow.

2012 Series Of Cat Dolls

I finished up on my Green and Pink Valentine Pillow last night:

I doubt I'll have any sewing machine time until after Christmas.  But when I do get these pillows sewn together, I'll post more photos.

For now, since they're small and I have several sewn up, I thought I'd start on my 2012 series of Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls.  These are the little 6 inch kittens.  Again, when I have some sewing time, I'll work up some of the tall cat dolls:

Yes, this is the first of the Valentine Cats!  Since these are small, they're perfect for me to work on in between holiday activities.

Finally for today, my mom asked me to see if anyone would like to have this Better Homes and Gardens book:

It's free for the cost of shipping.  I can ship it in a flat rate Priority envelope for $5.00  (USA only please.)  The first person to leave a comment telling me they want it can have it.  I accept PayPal so let me know.

Seam Embroidery on Valentine Pillow

Not too much in the way of stitching time these past few days.  Typical for the week before Christmas but for today, I thought I'd share what I do have.

Here is an update on my current project, a Valentine's Day pillow:

The little red heart is a brooch that I found at a flea market this past Summer.  And here is the seam embroidery on this piece:

Be sure to click on the photos to see the seam embroidery up close!  I'll add these to my Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Gallery for future reference.

As you can see, I used a lot of cross stitches in these borders.  It's the perfect way to add hearts to the design.  These are all worked with my waste canvas technique.