Bedazzled?

 Sparkles aplenty! After two trips to the next town, I'm still short on crystals. The first tree on the left is missing a bottom layer of sparkles. I bought out all the clear crystals (in the same band) at Joanns and I'm hoping that there will be more at Michaels.

I love the fuzzy effect 

 The crystals took the most time. They are called "hot fixx" and they are ironed on with a little pen shaped iron. After I attached them with the pen iron, I ironed them with the real iron, on both sides. These sparkles are on for good! They will even stay through washing.

I even added two rows of piping

 During the middle of all the sparkles, my Son came in and said "Aren't you just bedazzling?"
What!? Am I bedazzling? I thought I was adding festive beauty, not a tacky embellishment (I hope).


Before our huge rain and wind came rolling in, I made a stop at a local artist's studio and picked up a few gifts.
 A couple of months back we went on a local open studios tour. There were so many artists this year that they spread it over two weekends.
I seem to be drawn to ceramic artists and this year was no exception. This years gifts will be monsters!

 Really, monsters! But aren't they the cutest! These little cuties were so popular, that I had to wait for the next batch to adopt some new family members.

 The artist had so many to choose from. It made it really hard to decide! But I knew straight off that guy with the bolt on his head was my new sugar bowl.
I loved both of those mugs, but I can't decide which one to keep and which one to gift.
And the tall nude guy has beautiful feet!
It's just so hard to decide! Maybe I'll keep them all. Everyone else can have socks, yah, socks, They are universal.

Check this out. I grew a honeydew. It's a bit late and a bit small (one bite) but I still grew one. I think this just means I need to start my garden sooner?
I'm just amazed I grew anything. Hopefully next year will be ever better. I had to start somewhere.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Take care, Brandie

Sparkle

Is there such a thing as too much bling?

After spending the afternoon attaching 260 Swarovski crystals, I still need more to finish this project.

More tease frames.
I'll be back when I finish.

Take care!
Brandie

Holly Leaves

Here you are, the leaves. Still looks like something is missing, no?
Maybe a bloom or four. I'm still working (thinking) on those.

I got mildly distracted. Quilts ADHD?
Here's a tease frame.

See those fuzzy feet on the right? That's Mr Dorian trying to grab the camera strap. This quick picture shouldn't have taken so long!
Not enough of a tease frame? Here's another.

Today I hope to add some embellishments and then I can use it to decorate.
These gentle swoops are much easier to applique than holly leaves, It's no wonder I got distracted!

Take care, Brandie

Holly Berries

After remembering that my eye Dr gave me anti-itch drops, I was back in business with my block.

Step two done. Now on to step three, leaves.

Mr Dorian came back from his appointment sleepy and drunk. He sleep all day and all night and is now back to his crazy antics and running from room to room catching poor Max. The pitter-padder of little feet? It's not a sweet as it used to sound. This is a serious commotion!

My mind is all in a whirl. I have three projects I want to do all at once! But if I don't stick to one at a time, I'm afraid I'll add to my UFO basket. My goal is to finish from that basket not add to it.
Oh if only I had more hands! And didn't have bouts of laziness!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go!
Take care, Brandie

Minty Stars

After a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend spent with family and friends, I'm glad to be back creating. I worked on  few things , mostly prepping for some appliqué and trying to find a few stash fabrics to make new pillows.
But most of this week has been spent cleaning up before the BIG Dinner and cleaning up after the BIG Dinner. I think it takes 3 days at my house to get all the good china and extra serving dishes put away!
And lets not talk about the leftovers! My tummy hurts just thinking about them.

Anyhow, lets look at this finish.

It needs a name, any suggestions?

During the Thanksgiving day chaos, I managed to get it outside in some good light and get a picture. I am really liking this quilt! These colors all go together wonderfully and I have surprised myself. I did have help, most of these came together in a fat-quarter packet. I just added three fabrics, so I kind of cheated. But I really like this quilt!

Since I have more of the fat-quarters left, I may make another for a gift. Maybe with a different block? I'm all about using up some stash fabrics.

I quilted "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow", "Walking in a winter wonderland","I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and "Outside the snow is falling". These are all lyrics from Christmas songs. Each border side has it's own quilted lyric.
It finishes at 60 x 60. I'm good with that size. Now the hard part, keep it or gift it?

Here is my small bit of applique I finally finish last night. Well just this part of the applique. Next comes some berries! You all know how much I love berries.
I saw this pattern in the new Primitive magazine. I've scaled it down a bit and I may make it into a pillow or just a small quilt. We will see as I get closer. But as I sit here, I'm having a hard time with my eyes. There must be something out there that is making them itchy. This only happens a couple times during the year, but I hate it when it does. It's interfering with my day!
And today would be perfect as it's cool and the house is empty of the cat for a couple of hours. Today he has  an appointment with a big pair of clippers. Clippy, clippy!
For some reason this upsets Hubby when I say that. He also doesn't like it when I say I like the stream lined look.
He (Hubby) was so upset this morning that he was following Dorian around with the camera to take pictures of his ... lost parts. I'll spare you the pics of those!
Men, they are so silly!

Have a happy, fun, crafty day!
Take care, Brandie

Pre-Turkey Post

 Howdy! Happy day before Thanksgiving!

I finished 2 pillows last night and finally finished the quilting with the silver thread.

Late last night my Daughter pulled into the driveway. Hurray! Today we will be making pies.
I'm already behind thanks to a headache, which has finally subsided.
Then I tried to upload these pictures and was told that I've used up my free 1 GB of photo space. WOW, I guess I use a lot pictures in my posts. But I've never heard anyone complain, so I'll keep at it.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow!
Take care, Brandie

Let it Snow

 I have an almost finish. Yesterday I was all ready to finish up my Christmas stars and wouldn't you know it, I ran out of thread.

 I was using a silver metallic thread to put snowflakes (just like the natural ones, my are all different) in the center of each of my stars.

 Then I thought I'd add a few "snow" verses to each of the last borders. Then as I was approaching the end of the third border, in the middle of the word Christmas, I ran out of thread. Sheech!

 So later today when I go to town, I'll have to pick up some thread to finish this quilt up. I was so close!

I did add the binding though. I just added a couple of stabilizing rows of stitches and keep on going. So then is nothing holding me back tonight when I get home.

Tomorrow I'll try to drop back by, between pie baking, with a quickie post. I think I may have caught my mojo again. I couldn't leave my machine yesterday even after my back started hurting.

Take care, Brandie