Gifts

Back in the summer my kind aunt gave me a bunch of yarn made from her alpacas and asked only for a scarf out of it (there was tons more than what was needed for a scarf).  I made her this one, and I love the pattern.  It has a nice lacey feel and can be found here or at ravelry).  It crocheted up really easily.  

And then I did this little embroidery for Mike's daughter Melissa for her birthday.  She loved the one I made for her sister Michelle and asked for one too.  I think I need to branch out in my embroidery stitches though!

Hope you enjoyed some handmade gifting this Christmas season!

Merry Christmas

I hope all of you are able to spend time today with those you love.  Merry Christmas!

The Quilting is Finished!

Last night at about ll:45 I finished the quilting on my mammal mandala!  Hooray!  Here are a couple of snaps of the back- I love the way you can see the animals in relief.

Now for the extremely large task of soaking and blocking (soaking always makes me nervous) and then binding.  I'm going to do a facing which is contoured to match the edges of the bats (rather than a traditional binding) and I expect the process to be a nightmare.  Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Still Quilting

Coming up for air again long enough to share some pictures.  I'm making progress....

Lights

We went to see the Christmas lights on the Chesapeake campus and out in Yukon last night.  That's really become one of my favorite new holiday traditions.  Plus, it's one of the only times Mike will let me play Christmas music in the car.

Someday I'm going to use these for a quilt....

Quilting

I've been quilting, and quilting, and quilting.  Coming up for air only long enough to post a couple pictures before I dive back in....  Hope you're all well!

Snowflakes

I crocheted a bunch of snowflake ornaments a while back and gave most of them away.  I found these recently so I starched them and gave them hangers.  The blue ones are actually flowers, but I think they make cute ornaments anyway.  I hope you guys are all enjoying the advent season!