Just A Little, Puppy, Swapping, Crafty & Quilting Chatter

O.K. I know it's been a while since I have posted. Sorry :-( I have a little catching up to do on some things I was wanting to post about a whiiiiiiiiiiiiiile back.

First: A little puppy, that's not so little anymore. We adopted a black lab cross puppy on January 17th. He was born November 11, 2008. He was one of 6 puppies born under a trailer. The mother and the puppies were rescued by a local animal shelter that fosters animals out until they are adopted. He is a wonderful puppy and smart. At 2 months when we got him he was already almost to heavy for my children to pick up. Now, you can forget it. LOL! I would say at 4 months old he has doubled in size. The picture shown was taken the day we got him, I need to take some new pictures.



Second: I want to show you a wonderful little felt Matryoshka doll that I got from Suzie. She did such a nice job. Unfortunately I did not think to take any pictures of the ones I sent my swap partner. Oh well!

Third: A dollhouse Valentine quilt wall hanging that holds mini Valentine cards. The wall hanging is about 2" x 3" and is the smallest quilt I have ever made. I made it for Susan who made the little puppets for Club Little House that I posted about in January. I also sent a little Valentine picture to hang on the wall. Susan sent me a very cute little pink beaded heart wreath and tiny bear made with pink pipe cleaners. How creative is she! Sorry no picture yet, I can't seem to get a good one. When I do I will add it to this post. We are in the middle of doing an Easter doll house swap right now. I will show you pictures of those when I get them. :-)

Fourth: I am participating in two quilt swaps right now, Doll Quilt Swap 6 and Quilt In A Bag on Flickr. I will be showing you some sneak peaks of the doll quilt I will be making. I have not started it yet because I am trying to finish the one for the Quilt In A Bag Swap. I am really enjoying the Quilt In A Bag Swap. My swap partner sent me a set of 5" charms and I sent her a set of 5" charms. I am supposed to use all the charms in the quilt and provide any other fabrics needed to complete the quilt then send back a finished quilt that is no bigger than 24". This is my first time doing a swap like this and I am really enjoying it. It is meant to challenge you by working with fabrics that someone else as sent you. I will post some sneak peaks of it soon so check back.

Fifth but certainly not least. Look at the great quilts that Amy made for me for a triptych swap. I am still shocked! She did such a wonderful job. I will show you the quilts I sent her this weekend. I don't want to post them before she gets them or it may not be a surprise. She also included a bag (that she made) with sweets and a great little quilting gadget. :-)

At Last! Club Little House!

The long awaited box of 12 little's arrived and was waiting for me when I came home from my vacation. I was so excited! My girls where just as excited as I was. We sat around the dining room table and took turns opening a little package. The following is what we saw.

When we opened the box this beautifully done letter was sitting on top. Included was a list of the 2008 Club little house members and contact info. My e-mail address was wrong though. I moved during this and now have a new e-mail address. Oh well! :-)

Everyone did such a nice job wrapping their creations. They looked so nice I did not want to open them. Well, I should say I did want to open them I just did not want to ruin the packaging. LOL!

This is a lovely dollhouse quilt made by Stef. It is perfect, she did such a wonderful job sewing up the tiny squares. It is made of 100% cotton fabric in reproduction prints from the 1800's.

This little boat shelf was made by Jo. Included with the shelf is a little star fish, a glass bottle with boat and a stack of sailing magazines. She did such a nice job putting this all together. Go here to see how she put the boat shelf together.

These little Christmas gifts were made by Jill. They are so cute! In the big box was a pennant banner and in the other box are little Christmas crackers and a little tissue paper crown. Talk about attention to detail!

This dress form was made by Karen. I thought this was very clever. She used a dresser knob for the base. The back is just as nice as the front. I really like this!

This miniature feast was made by Sharolyn. Now I have food for my doll house! LOL! Also included is a little sign that says "My Garden".

This little garden set was made by Amy at Inspire Co. and the Host of Club Little House. This is just adorable!

These cute little glitter houses were made by Kim. The little box she made to put them in is just as cute. They are wonderful winter decor for the doll house. Read about her journey making them here.

This little picnic set was made by Tracy. A story was included about this set. "One beautiful spring day, a young suitor surprises his sweetheart with a bouquet of flowers. He takes her to the park for a romantic picnic. What's in the Tiffany's box? I suspect a proposal may be on his mind. Will she say yes?". I think she will. :-) Read about her journey making these here.

This is just adorable! This was made by Hope. The muslin bundle of wrapped antique picture frames was discovered in the dark dusty corners of an attic. There is a story behind these pictures that was written in the letter that was found with the muslin wrapped pictures. It reads as follows:

To whom it may concern,

These two pieces of art are very old and fragile, already antiques in my time. They have been packaged away for safe keeping. If you are reading this, then you have found some of my most cherished treasures.

The silhouette is my great grandmother Rose on the eve of her wedding. She was a lovely woman so full of life and love and this portrait hung in her house all her life. The gold gilded framed oil painting is my grandmother Millie (Rose's only daughter", painted on the shores of New England by her cousin Sophie in the summer of 1889.

Please take good care of these pieces, they would love to have a spot on the walls of your house.

Sincerely, Rosabel Gibbons 1926

My children just loved this as I. Just as soon as it was opened my oldest daughter was acting out a play with the little puppet king, maiden and dragon/alligator. That is her hand holding the princess. This was made by Susan.

This little snow man was made by Lorraine. A perfect winter addition for a little doll house. What little doll doesn't like to make a snowman. :-)

And last but certainly not least is a little table, 3 table cloths and a little journal and pencil. I just love this. As my doll house is new I did not have a table so this was perfect. Now all I need to do is find a couple of little chairs. These were made by Lynne.

I wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts. Everyone did such a nice job. I couldn't have been more pleased! Now I just need the house! LOL!

My Club Little House Contribution

Here is my CLH contribution, a little bench upholstered in bright pink velvet fabric. These were more of a challenge then I expected. My idea for attaching the legs did not work. Actually it was rather comical. LOL! I had the idea of wood gluing them on then shooting a staple through the top before I upholstered it, to insure the legs did not come off. That did not work! When I went to shoot the staple in, all four legs shot off like rockets, flying every which way clear across the shop. It was so funny! Well, it was funny after being stunned and little upset for the first few seconds after it happened. LOL! You have to understand, instead of trying one out to see if it worked I decided to glue all 56 legs on the wood bases (I can just kick myself for doing that) then put a board on top of each one and clamp them down with wood clamps and let them dry over night to make sure the wood glue was on good. This took about 2 days, since I only had so much time in a day to work on them. I never dreamed the staple gun idea would not work. You have to now that the staple gun I used is not one of those hand held manual ones but one that is connected to a big compressor that is in another room. It's powerful! LOL! Since I did not learn my lessen the first time and tried it over and over again, some legs were lost in the fiasco and I was not able to make one for myself. I ordered enough legs (from the UK) to make 13 benches, 12 to send off and one for myself. I will have to order more legs so I can have one too. I guess it's obvious I am not the upholster in the family, my husband is. LOL! I suppose you are wondering what on earth I used to hold the legs on. I used a hot glue gun. LOL! I don't know what I would have done with out it. Surprisingly enough it worked better then I expected. I don't have a "Fabulous Find" for today. Sorry. :-( I will be sure to have one in January when I get back from the holidays. It has warmed up around here, finally, and is snowing right now. We have had freezing temperatures of -17 degrees Celsius, 0 degrees Fahrenheit. To cold for me! Stay warm and see you on Monday for my last post before Christmas.

More Swaps!

***Update Oct 25th***

Looks like there may be some room in the Club Little house group. Go here and read Fridays post for Amy's contact info if you want to join.

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I have joined two swaps. I just can't help myself! LOL! I enjoyed participating in Doll Quilt Swap 4 so much that I signed up for round 5 today. The swap has increased from 90 to 150 people. Once 150 people sign up the swap will be closed. There is still room so if you want to join in hop on over here and sign up.

I have also joined Club Little House. I am so thrilled! You have no idea how thrilled!!! I have been wanting to get in on this one for a while now. It is hosted by the oh so talented Amy at Inspire Co. Sign up for the CLH swap is now closed.

Check back to see sneak peaks of what I am making for these swaps. :-)

All About Quilting

O.K. this may be a long one. First I wanted to show you the miniature quilt I made for a Fairy Quilt Swap. My dollhouse baby was trying it out before I sent if off to Pennsylvania, so I had to take pictures. LOL! I know all the beads are a choking hazard but I am almost positive she won't choke. LOL! I am still waiting for my fairy quilt to arrive in the mail, my swap partner sent it out yesterday so I am thinking I will get it the end of next week. The quilt I am waiting for won't be for a fairy but for my dollhouse baby, which I still need to name. Any suggestions? I am calling baby's doll Charlotte, because that is what she is a Frozen Charlotte doll. I know it's not very original, but I like it. :-)

Second, remember the Sampler Quilt class the president of my guild was teaching? Tada! Here are my first two blocks. I am almost done with the third block. I have to have it done by next Thursday, so I will post a picture of it next week. The first block is a nine patch block called Sawtooth Patchwork. The idea of the first block was to do a nine patch. We could do any nine patch we wanted so of course I choose the more "difficult" one I was told. It really was not hard and I rather liked the way it turned out. :-) The second block we did was the Flying Dutchman. I did mine so it looked like a pinwheel in the center. The third block.....well, I can't tell you! You will have to wait and see it next week. Hehehe!

Third, I am going to embark on another quilt journey. Yes that's right I am going to make a Dear Jane Quilt. I have been wanting to make one for years now and have decided that this is a great time. A friend and I had been discussing the idea of making one over at Quilting Friends and she told me about a blog called Dear Baby Jane. They are making 2 blocks a week and are in their third week. I joined, but will have catching up to do since they have already done 6 blocks. I can do 3 of the blocks without the book. I am waiting for the book so I can get caught up on the rest of the blocks. There are a total of 225 blocks in the quilt, so you can see why I would like to do it with an organized group. LOL! I am wanting to make two quilts. I will start off using fabrics of today that way I will use some of the fabrics that I have and will buy more as I need them. I also want to make one using the Civil War reproduction fabrics like Jane's quilt. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew, I don't know, but I am sure going to do my best to stay up to date with the blocks every week. I will post on my progress on my Dear Jane quilt. :-)

Pay It Forward, Surprises! & Dollhouses

I checked the mail today and guess what I found? A Pay It Forward surprise package from my friend Anna over at Sew Good Sew Far! She sent me this wonderful little pin cushion and made with fabric from one of my favorite fabric designers too, Amy Butler. Thank you so much Anna! It is greatly appreciated and much needed. :-)

I joined Pay It Forward at Anna's blog a couple of months ago but nobody chimed in on my post. So, I will offer it again now. The first 3 people who leave a comment and state "Pay It Forward" will receive a small gift from me to be sent some time in the next couple of months. In turn you continue the Pay It Forward goodness by giving a gift of kindness to someone else, they in turn give to someone else and the gift goes on. You can copy the picture above and add it to your post about Pay It Forward on your blog, if you don't have a blog find someone who would like to carry PIF on. Again, Please state that you want to "Pay It Forward" or "PIF" in your comment so I can tell the difference between those who are just commenting and those who would like to join Pay It Forward and give a gift to someone else. Please don't forget to leave a link to your blog or website or an e-mail if you do not have a site so I can get in contact with you.

Today was a double surprise of lovelies. I also got my first baby doll and dolly for my dollhouse. As some of you may know I am starting a dollhouse in a 1:12 scale to have in my sewing room. I really enjoy the little world of miniatures and dolls. I did not have a dollhouse when I was a little girl, so I will have one now. :-) I don't have a dollhouse yet but that's o.k. I will set it up on a shelf for now. I bought this little cutie from artist Beckie Holiday. She makes these beautiful dolls and their clothes. My purchase was of a 2" porcelain baby doll with jointed hands and legs, and a 1" porcelain frozen Charlotte. These are the most beautiful little baby dolls I have seen. They have such delicate features. I am so happy with my purchase that I plan to buy more from her. If you have a dollhouse or collect dolls you have to see her dolls here. Check back often she is always listing new dolls.

Since we are on the topic of dollhouses, does anyone know of any nice dollhouse swaps? I want so badly to join Club Little House but Amy over at Inspire Co. is not organizing a swap right now. If you hear of any please let me know. :-)

Oh, yes! I forgot to tell you about Turkey Feathers. It is a wonderful blog and She makes little bakery items for dollhouses. So guess what! I plan on buying some. :-) You can check out her etsy shop here. She also has the cutest little dollhouse bakery that you should check out here. Grace is the little baker. O.K. I think I remembered to tell you everything. Talk to you all later. :-)