I have been on a lookout for a vintage aluminum Christmas tree for some time now.  It just brings back memories of Christmas from when I was a little girl.  Well, a very nice thrift shop owner promised me one, and I finally went to pick it up. It has the pom pom branches, and came with a rotating musical color wheel and rotating tree base – all in good working order. I am beyond excited to put it together for the holidays!  Any way, she decided to close her store, and offered me a big box of vintage Christmas for a song.  When I brought it home, dear hubby just looked at me, shook his head, and walked away… I have been saying that we need to purge and clean out our garage :).  After sorting, and selectively organizing, I decided I really needed to pass most of it on to others.  I put some aside, donated/gave away five bags, and kept just a few ornaments to give away on my blog.  So, If you are interested, please leave me a comment.  I will pick a random recipient on Wednesday, 16th.

Here are the giveaway ornaments.  A Santa, an angel, two elves, a drummer boy, and trumpet player.  All are vintage Japan:

Thanks for stopping by!

– Linda

I love all things vintage, and with my current quilting obsession, I have come to love vintage fabrics.

A package arrived the other day from my dear blog friend Nancy.  She sent me some teacup vintage fabric that she had kept for over 30 years! It is delightful, and I love it! Thank you Nancy!

I also noticed the super cute pumpkin can Halloween decorations Viv, Kim, and Shirley created, and decided to try my hand at making some.  This is as far as I got:

I will post again when I finish them – hopefully before Halloween!

I’ve been keeping quite busy since dear daughter left for college.  My thoughts on Empty Nesting, Hmmm… Odd.  Before she left, I had moments of melancholy, didn’t last long, but it was sad all the same.  Now, it’s just an odd feeling.  I spent the first few days cleaning. And you know what’s amazing? whatever I picked up and cleaned, stayed that way! And I can now stay longer with my quilt group, have lunch with them, and not have to rush home.  Like I said, it’s all very odd, strange… I think I can get used to this.

After all the cleaning and organizing, I even did some sewing, cutting, and tying.  I noticed dear daughters dorm room looked a bit sparse so I made her this cute flower pillow:

And all three of my kids have been asking me to make them new fleece blankets.  I made them one each when they were little, and I guess the boys, especially have outgrown them, literally. So, I bought 2 1/2 yards each, which should be enough to cover their whole bodies,  and made them new blankets.  Rotary cutter, and electric scissors made quick work of them.  Dear daughter’s is pink, younger son’s is a monster print, and what 23 year old could resist a sock monkey blanket – for older son:

And here they are, tied, washed, and ready to be delivered/mailed!

Yup, another swap! This time a Halloween Spoolie Swap hosted by Deb (Garage Sale Gal) and Sandy (521 Lake Street).  I was partnered with Debby (Cozy Blanket).  Debby is very sweet – I have participated in swaps hosted by her in the past.  And look at the cute little ghost spoolie Debby made for me! She also sent me some yummy candy and fun stamps – yay! more crafting fun!

And the owl spoolie is what I made for Debby.  She said she liked owls, and I just happened to have the right one.  Thank you again to Deb & Sandy for hosting this fun event & Debby for being my partner!

I took a break from quilting, and did a bit of cross stitching.  During one of my perusals through a quilting blog ( I can’t remember the blog name) I came across this most wonderful cross stitching blog, The Snowflower Diaries.  Maja has exquisite little cross stitch designs, and she shares her designs for free.  I stitched her Autumn Witch 2013.

I should be finishing up The Harvest, but I just wanted a quick, instant gratification mini project.  I made the finished cross stitch into an ornament:

I didn’t have the wooden crescent moon button she used, so I just stitched one up with yellow seed beads.  And I think I used double strand on the flower, so mine looks a bit big/thick.