With just 32 days till Christmas morning, we've (Bill & I) have been busy getting the house ready for the arrival of the three sons & family.
Thank you for stopping in I know everyone is getting ready for the season's snow, so here we go!!
Maybe put on some instrumental Christmas music to add to the viewing, I would if I could!
I love my birthday gift from the kids! Thank you Nicholas & Leslie for knowing me so well!
My neighbour was at the BSA Craft Market selling her fused glass & I fell in love with the black bears!
They are new to the new tree too!
Each day of Christmas is done as an animal with personality, it is printed on both sides too!
I added my homemade embroidered pieces from a few years back, I do love colour!
I rug hooked chickadees & cardinals this summer, front & back then sewed & stuffed them!
I made these so many years ago & love seeing the trio at Christmas all decked out in their Buchannan plaid!
The foyer powder room is done with the Grinch in mind!
These whimsical April Cornell socks from the La Cache Shop in London ON many years ago are perfect in this setting!
And the hand towels just add to the whimsy!
The Grinch is the star standing on the shelf, he was a lucky find at The Value Village in London ON many years back. He is totally bendable with movable joints in this head, arms, & legs! His cracking when moving takes me back to the Barbie doll days with movable joints! lol
Max was the only survivor of the baby Boston chewing days & is right at home here with the tree.
The tree is one from years past & has rust & paint worn off on its base so I made a fur skirt for it & added crochet trim & green wreaths with red glass beads. Voila! a little something new with all the old!
This is the backing to the quilt I recently made. I had this Ford truck fabric since our racing days & that was quite a while ago! It was perfect for this quilt!
Does this truck not look like the red-themed truck that we've seen for at least the last five years?!
I think so!!
It looks like the panel truck that I've had for several years & finally got around to making something from it!
I used ideas from another quilt pattern to fill in the sides with trees & stars. I repeated the stars as cornerstones & added a plaid metallic fabric to the borders & the back. Thank you Rose for helping balance out the back with the scrap plaid!
The longarm quilting of the wind/waves pattern is quickly becoming my favourite go-to pattern!
Our middle-son Mitchell shot his first deer this year & I put this applique to honour his hunt.
A little trick I use is the sharpie permanent marker to cover over stitching lines! Rita Budd a wonderful landscape fibre artist taught me that years back, saying 'Coloured Sharpies are your friend!'.
This beauty was custom quilted by Christel Pond & I love it! Bonnie Sullivan's styling really speaks to me & I just want to create her patterns & bring them to life!
And Christel enhanced nature's beauty & made it pop!
Starlight, star bright, The first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight!
The baby boy twin quilt is done & Dorice & I will deliver it next week!
The wind/wave quilting that Rose does is beautiful! I added detail to the binding to finish it off.
The baby girl twin has her little crib quilt too!
Rose did the heart design to this sweet quilt & I added the same binding detail to it too!
Both quilts have some vintage Dalmation flannel on the back for cozy softness & warmth for their first winter that lies ahead here in northern New Brunswick.
I sign all my quilts & date them for prosperity in the years to come. I was here that year & for these twins, it was the year they appeared!
The Christmas Village ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've not seen this village in years & what a delight it was to see it again!
Bill did mostly all of the work, he really got into the spirit whilst I sewed in my sewing room.
Bill was busy sculpturing out the breaker wall & the tiered backing steps to the village.
I was to paint & shade it, once started I thought... no I forget to photograph how it was done because when you see the end result it is a wow!!
I got a little ahead of myself with that glimpse of white styrofoam being painted black.
Here is the table that Bill made out of plywood & the village planning in the early days.
It is a large piece & with it on the metal horses to work around it made the great room very cramped to get around. I was constantly reminding myself that you must have chaos to have change!
Here is one end of the village...
And here is the other end of the village!
Here is the village landscape all painted black & the village buildings are resting on the desk that this large wooden platform (that Bill has felt padded underneath to protect the desk) will be sat upon after the painting is done.
See the white holes? Those holes are for the electric lights that illuminate the buildings. That was one of the worse jobs & it is now in the rearview mirror. Great work Bill!!
This was this morning & you can see the hydro poles that are going to be installed today with festive snowflake lights. Photos to follow next blog!
The front breaker wall is done & Bill even added some snow details to it!
I'm going to paint the side black to help[p conceal that are, the fibre opt lighthouse that Mitchell brought home for me years back is going to have its own stand. The rock face needs some shading & Bill brought up stones from the shoreline to carve into the face & has glued them in place!
I cut apart a polyester tablecloth & made a skirt to go under the breaker wall to cover up the storage under there & to keep the focus on the village.
Let's just tour around knowing that it is not complete but well on its way to being!
The back will have trees that I make from real branches from our woods.
This is one of my favourite shops with a glass conservatory that lights up!
Mitchell too knows me so well! xXx
More painting details to pull this end unit together.
It has been a fun project for us & I'm so happy that Bill got right into it as I could not have accomplished what he did to bring this to life!
And brought to life it is!
A true labour of love & imagination.
You don't stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing!
With such an extravagant piece in the great room, we have decided not to install the nine-foot tree in the great room this year but have several small trees around the house this year.
This week's to-do list is a wallhanging for Bill's office for a drop back for his zoom meetings around the world.
Nothing says a simple meaning of Christmas like Charlie Brown's Merry Christmas!
The words of Merry Christmas are to still be made & sewn to the top & looking at the photo I'm going to sew down the scarves on Snoopy & Woodstock, they look unfinished to me.
What is unfinished are the projects behind this wall hanging!! This wallhanging makes three unfinished wallhangings but that is what our long winters are for, finishing things up before the spring thaw.
The tree will have wool/felt popcorn, a star, & lights on it.
The next post will have a finished photo of this wonderful fun project!
I made this quilt for my girlfriend Dorice as she loves cardinals, I showed it last post but something was just not right with it. It needed applique to add interest to it & I added on more to this photo in the top left. It's off being quilted this week, I'll post the finished quilt to show you what I have in store for the binding detail!
Look at the interesting root that washed ashore & Bill found on our beach!
It really adds a point of interest to that tree because I was missing the gnome home there! It has been put away till spring & I love its replacement till then!
Baxter loves laying on Bill's work clothes when he's not in them, he has himself stuck in the armhole & will not know it until he gets up.
He looks like Bridget with his tongue out! lol
I was talking to him & he looked away like he had no idea what I was talking about until he got up & I untangled him. lol
Thank you for stopping by for a visit inside to view some of the Christmas happenings this year at our home in northeast New Brunswick.
It is a beautiful place to live with the four seasons changing your view & perspective with what is happening at that time with nature.
It is a very unusual year & today I am seeing a few snowflakes but that will end when it rains again.
The pond is full of water this year which should make an interesting spring thaw to watch the run-off fill & return to the Miramichi Bay.
Enjoy each season & its beauty.
Wishing you health & happiness.
