Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas surrounded

by loved ones!

~Linnea~

Secret Santa Gifts and Tag Swap

I participated in the Secret Santa Soiree this year!

First time I had ever done that!

Always a first time for something and I am glad too.

It was fun!

Our host was Suzanne over at Colorado Lady.

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into it.

When you click on the link it will take you to the original post 

and the links with 3 *** in front of the name have posted

about the gifts they received.

 My package arrived while my kids were visiting for Thanksgiving.

We had gotten home from wine tasting and taking all of them to

Train Town and I found the package waiting for me.

It was fun to open it with them here.

I opened the first gift then I remembered I needed to get a picture of the wrapped gifts!

The trinket box with a bear on it was the first one I opened.

 Here are all of them opened up. Such a wonderful variety!

 I had indicated I was starting to collect pincushions and 

look! I got a pincushion. Love love love it!!!

And a yellow fat quarter too.

Except in New Zealand I guess they are called Flat Fats!

LOL!

I have been seeing how others store their Fat Quarters.

I think I need to change how I do mine, by color!

 Even though this postcard tells me where my Secret Santa lives,

it still took me awhile to figure out who she is. 

I finally came across her blog and now I know.

The pincushion design helped too.

I am not going to say who it is yet.

Maybe you will figure it out too!
(update: well I go and say I figured out who my SS is and now I have
forgotten which blog is hers. Guess I need to play detective again. :) )

 Aren't these buttons adorable?!?

I love them!

 And embellishments  for card making or scrapbooking.

What fun! I love those too!

 And look at this cool bookmark!

I am using it on the book I am currently reading!

Thank you, thank you to my Secret Santa.

You sent me such wonderful fun items!

Love them all!

********************************************

Sue over at It's A Very Cherry World! was the host

for the Christmas Tag Swap
. The link takes you to the post where she writes about the Tags she received.

This is only the second time I have participated in a swap and 

what fun that is too. 

 This the front and the back of the card I sent Sue.

She happened to be my swap partner as well as the host!

How cool is that!?!

The tree design on the front is from an old Christmas card. 

I have saved Christmas cards and cut the interesting parts from cards and got rid of the rest.

Finally I have a use for them!

Actually I have used them as tags on gifts too.

This is the tag Sue sent me. Isn't it gorgeous! 

This is giving me ideas for future tags.

I hope to participate in tag swaps more often.

I just have to find out about them when they happen.

I almost missed this Christmas one.

And I am more prepared now.

I am saving cereal boxes and cutting my tags in the shape I want them in

and tossing the rest of the box. 

Now I will be more ready for the next swap I hear about.

~Linnea~

Alphabe-Thursday-D is for /Vintage Thingie Thursday

 Jenny is our host for Alphabe-Thursday.

Click here to see others who are participating.

This is my first year to participate.

The first three posts are on my other blog,

but this time I am featuring things I made so this I will post over here!

D is for Dolls. And for Doll-bed.

I made the dolls when my Daughter was a young girl.

I made them from preprinted fabric and they were played with often.

 The Doll-bed I painted back in 1986.

 A closer view of the Dolls I made.

 The Dolls on the bottom are old ones.

Perhaps they used to be my mom's.

I don't remember for sure.

Here I am with my Daughter-in-law and my two precious

grand-Daughters!

They just recently visited us for Thanksgiving and here we are

at the San Francisco Zoo.

My grand Daughters played with my Dolls while they were here.

It was fun to have them here. First time they had been to our home!

I am also linking with Vintage Thingie Thursday since my dolls are older than 25 years and so is the Doll-bed.

In addition behind the Doll-bed is the spinning wheel that used to belong to my aunt/godmother.

Visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday posts.

Thanks for visiting!

~Linnea~

A Giveaway!

Terry over at Cherished Treasures is having a giveaway. A nice one too. Go here to find out more about it.

Of course I am hoping that I win. I want to get more stamp and ink supplies for card making.

~Linnea~

Crumb Along Step 6

Time to share what is happening from my end on 

the Crumb Along.

Last week we were instructed to make 

log cabin squares.

 And they came out a little wonky just

like they were supposed to.

 Two is all I got made so far.

I have been rearranging my sewing room,

adding shelves and decluttering some.

So that did not leave me much time to sew!

 But I did finish this block I started last week.

And I am working on some more nine patch

blocks.

I realize I need to make some more stars, flying geese and I am not sure what else to make enough blocks for this quilt.

I will get there. Planning to do a little more tonight.

In the meantime, check out the others who are doing

the crumb along as well. 

Jo is our host at 

Jo's Country Junction.

~Linnea~

Crumb Along Step 5

Working on staying caught up on the Crumb Along Quilt

that I am doing with Jo at Jo's Country Junction.

It is okay if we are a bit behind.

I have 18 completed blocks and I should be getting to about 42. 

Yep, I am a little behind.

 This time we were working with triangles.

I was actually having fun with them and playing around with the 

scrap fabrics I have to get the ones I share here.

 More are in the works here. Getting late. I had to stop somewhere.

I came up with this idea for catching all of my little snippets as I tripped the pointy corners off.

Did not want to be making a mess on the floor.

I used one of those plastic bags that come filled with air in packages.

I have saved those and cut open one end to let out the air.

They work great for this kind of thing.

It is clipped to my ironing board cover with a clothespin. 

Looks like this doesn't belong here, but I was in a car accident on Oct 1. Rear-ended for the second time this year in my new car. Not good. Hubby was driving this time and the other driver is at fault. Her insurance is covering the repairs and our medical appointments. We both ended up with neckstrain and sore backs after the accident. Right now the car is in the shop getting a new foam thingy that goes under the bumper and this time they are hopefully able to salvage the bumper. Last time it cracked and had to be replaced. This time the bumper popped out on both sides and has some scratches they can fix.

Drive safe everyone.

And Happy Sewing!

~Linnea~

Crumb Along Step 4/REDnesday

I am still at it with the Crumb Along with Jo

at Jo's Country Junction

Jo is at number 5, but I am always one step behind.

Step 4 was to make nine patch squares.

So here are mine. I have one more in the works. 

And I have started another heart block too.

The red fabrics do look orange here, but really they are

RED.

I am also hooking up with Sue for 

REDnesday 

over at

It's A Very Cherry World!

Happy Sewing!

~Linnea~

Autumn Tag Swap

I participated in my first swap ever!

It was sponsored by Sue over at 

It's a Very Cherry World!

Thank you Sue for hosting!

My partner was Jo over at

...and a Cherry on Top.

The link takes you to the post Jo did about the tag I gave her and

the one she sent to me.

 Jo read that I collect bears so she made mine with a bear theme.

Isn't is cute?!?

I love it and there is the card she included with the tag.

Definitely a Fall them going on here!

 When I first opened it, those buttons looked

like chocolate mints to me. Then thought

you silly girl, those are buttons.

It was fun to get a tag!

I hope to participate in more Tag Swaps now that I have an idea 

how to do it!

This is the one I made for Jo. 

It was fun to make it.

Now I need to go and make another one for myself!

~Linnea~


Update!
I was also swapping with another person as well and 
my second tag came yesterday!


This one is from Lynn at
Life on the Wienee Ranch

Lynn decorated both sides of it.
It is so cute!
I now look  forward to participating in another tag swap.

Crumb Along Step 3

Time to share what I am doing on my crumb along quilt.

Jo at Jo's Country Junction is our host for this 

fun project.

 I was laughing along with Sandra about her making her stars backwards. 

Then I go and do the same on my first one. Silly me! I did not rip it out though.

I just kept going with it. The second one came out right up there on the right.

 The two star blocks.

 Then we were supposed to make hearts.

I got three of them made.

That is how far I am at the moment.

Now I need to go follow Step Four at Jo's place.

Happy Crumbing!

~Linnea~

More of Crumb Along

I am still learning how to do the pages thingie on blogger.

Because of that I keep losing my work.

After examining Susan's blog

At Between Naps on the Porch,

I think I am slowly figuring it out.

***********************

This is what my first post should have been.

This was the first step in the process.

*******

Now continuing on from here.

*******

Then it was time to add more to them.

This is the result.
It looks more orange here, but these are really
red fabrics.

Then we trim them to 6" squares.

All trimmed up.

Now I need to go and make some more flying geese so I can

make stars out of them.

Happy Crumbing!

~Linnea~

See other Crumb Along posts see 

Jo at

Jo's Country Junction.

Still Unfinished Blue Monday

Yep! It is still unfinished. 

But I am further along though and that is what I am going to show you.

Today is Blue Monday with Sally

At Smiling Sally.

Be sure to go over there and see others posting 

for Blue Monday!

Thank you Sally!

If you visited me last week, I was working on a tote bag.

This week I was able to work on it some more.

But still did not finish it.

These are the ends which also have pleated pockets on them.

Like I said before, lots of pockets.

Then I added the solid BLUE at the bottom,

just like the BLUE on the sides.

Then I also added the tab closure strap at the top.

The soft side of the velcro is already sewn on to the other side

of that strap.

Upholstry/tapestry fabric is thick, so by this time

 I am sewing through several layers.

Hard to keep the stitching straight.

Then it was time to start putting together the bag.

I attached one of the ends to the sides.

Not quite a perfect match. 

But then I noticed on the pattern it was not a perfect match

there either. The thickness makes it hard to do and 

I was using my flywheel with my hand at times to 

get through the fabrics. Yes I am using a heavy

duty needle too.

The other seam. At least I did not get the pleats caught in the seams.

That is what I was most worried about.

I decided to do each seam separately instead of trying 

sew all the way around. 

This is where I left off. Needed a break by that time!

I also decided to start preparing this piece.

It is the tab that goes on the straps to keep them together

 when carrying your tote bag around.

For something different.

Here is a picture of me wearing BLUE.

Taken in Spokane in July.

At this place.

Yummy!

Happy Blue Monday!

~Linnea~