Wishing all of America a peaceful and quiet Fourth of July!  May freedom forever ring. More thanks than I can express for those who are brave so we can be free!

To You and Yours~

and a Blessed New Year!

May the Reason for the Season fill your heart with peace and joy!

I hope it's filled with smiles, hugs, and those you love.

Winter Woolies :) eppppp!

I have been itching to buy the Winter Woolies pattern from Miss Kerry over at http://www.verykerryberry.blogspot.com! She is a paper piecing hero to me! I really want to focus and learn paper piecing more this coming year, and I love following her and seeing the amazing things she come up with :). Her skier is one of my favorite pieces ever!! I saw this pattern and knew I was destined to try it! I had to make a gift, well, didn't "have" to, wanted to make a gift for an incredible teacher we know and thought this would be perfect.

I increased the pattern by 200%. The pieces were still small- I can only imagine how tiny they would be in the normal size ratio :). But I loved it- so well written and explained. I have never used freezer paper- tried foundation piecing once and did not like it much. I looked at all of Kerry's tutorials on freezer paper piecing and went for it! I must say, I loved it! So much better and easier than foundation. I'm hooked!! :) Yipee!

The finished product is 12x24 inches and could be a wall hanging or a table topper. I don't have Christmas fabric, but wanted it more for general winter use anyway, so I loved the color combo I used :). I hope this teacher smiles when she gets it :). I think she will. Here it is:

The hat section - so fun and love the added button she suggests :)

The scarf section- I love all the stitching that brings the personality into the piece :)

The mitten section- such cuteness!

I backed it with a favorite vintage sheet- just the right amount of vintage yumminess added in :)

Some Quilty Christmas Decorations

I LOVE Christmas and decorating!! You should see my house. Every room says "Christmas". There are nativity statues and displays and there are 5 large trees- from 6-12ft. So joyous!! As I have come to learn and love quilting so much, a few of the decorations now jump out at me. Here are two quilted that I appreciate even more:

And isn't this Santa so stinkin' ca-ute!! The same talented lady made them both, and they came out of her head (as far as I know)!! WOW! They really give the handmade sense of Christmas around here, and that's just how I like it :)!! Happy season to you all!