Lights, camera, action!

And a one, and a two, everybody now!!! 

So here are a few more Christmas decorations for your viewing pleasure... Of course more flamingos. One might think we're in Florida!

So looks like Santa has either been hitting the hooch again, or fallen on hard times.Maybe the flamingo is going to place those lights on Santa. Poor Santa.

Or is he?? Maybe he's just camping out, roasting a few marshmallows and resting up...

 

  I don't know what set off these reindeer. They obviously aren't happy with their working conditions. They seem mad and not going to take it anymore! 

You know how people have geese out front year round? This person has a Heron. So naturally the heron is decorated as Rudolph for the holidays. Check out the nose. And refer to the pic above, Heron, as you may not enjoy the masquerade. 

This person seems to decorate with a real sailboat. When you have a sailboat in the front yard, might as well light 'er up!

 

This might be one of my favorites this year. Whether it's a flamingo, a heron, a sailboat or a gargoyle, might as well show some spirit and decorate it! Hey, gargoyles are ALL about the Christmas spirit!

Friday night lights

I'm happy to announce an increase by at least two homes, of Flamingo Lights this year.
Yea! Keep it up! Want to see some Christmas lights?? We LOVE lights around here. This particular yard had quite a menagerie. Giraffe, bear, dinosaur, igloo with penquin, and more.

They also had a cow, causing me to ponder if I should knock on the door, and meet a person who invests in both flamingo and cow lights.

Of course the cow had a bit too much of the Christmas spirits. Nothing sadder than a drunk cow.

Cole has shown interest in large animal lights like deer. This one didn't phase him. I had to bribe him with treats to get him to walk up and pose.

Doesn't smell like much to me...

This house had two dogs lit up, and this one looked particularly Poodle-ish.

Again, Cole wasn't interested...

(Cole: oy! mommy has stopped again. She keeps stopping when there is absolutely nothing worth sniffing or chasing, and pointing the camera.
If I could only train her to stop when I tell her to)

Uh oh!
Snowman down! Snowman down!

Another senseless killing due to global warming. Wasn't it just yesterday we had a snowfall?? Life goes by so quickly, then one day your carrot nose falls off and it's downhill after that.

I liked this tree. Small, twiggy and bare, but wearing the best in ornaments for the season. One must update their wardrobe each season, you know.
So while we were walking in this neighborhood one early evening, we hear sirens. Not your grandmother's sirens, a LOT of them and increasingly close by... We three began to nervously look around. Then the natives of the neighborhood began to run amok. Kids swarming. And here came about 8 (!) emergency vehicles including a fire engine with santa and the missus on it!! Throwing candy to the kids! Cole couldn't decide whether to wait around and see if there would be liver treats too or run for the hills as his hearing is better than ours. We ran!
More lights tomorrow, as I've gathered quite a collection to show you... but for now I'll end with Santa,

A shell of his former self. Gosh I hope this is only one of Santa's helpers and not the big guy! Looks like he missed the chimney and had a great fall.
One might think Rudolph would stick around to help... can't get good help these days

Doggy Snowglobes too! And one for you!

(For the first giveaway, scroll down to the next post)
Yup, it's snowglobe CRAZY around here! I couldn't stop! It's just so (snow) much fun y'all!
First of all, I have a large (ahem) (blush) (shrug) collection of specialty print fabrics collected over the last 30 years. I love my collection and use it wisely if I use it at all that is instead of just keeping it.

So it's fun to pull out a collection like the Christmas fabric and wallow in it.

This project is just a great way to focus on a motif. I chose a four inch motif as we chose 6 inches for our exchange block size. I am in process of making a larger on with Betty Boop however. Wait and see...

The ones on the left are already going to people. My friend and regular reader Maria is bulldog lover so that's in honor of her beloved Piglet .

This one goes to friend and fellow blog reader pugmom, Nancy. She has three personality full pugs.

It's winging it's way Nancy, happy Hanukkah

The one below has a sweeeeeet yellow lab playing in the snow. The word on the globe is love.
of course. 

This little Scottie is too cute, with a present in it's mouth and a jaunty hat like Cole's (Just go look at this cutest pic of Frosted poodle)

So here's the chance to win a little friendship square of your very own. For all my pet blogging friends as well as pet loving quilting friends, leave a comment telling me which pet in Real Life you believe is the best gift of all.

You can tell me what you think, but you know I think a poodle is the very best, hee hee.

I'll draw a name for two winners and send you a quiltlet.



I would love to know how you follow my blog as you all are a constant source of connection for me.

Don't miss the other giveaway post and tutorial here! 
*** A winner was chosen by drawing and it's Gilligan!! Contact me!*** 

What are you going to make with that fabric?

What should I do with this fabric and my other precious (It's quite a collection!) Christmas fabrics?


Well, I made these little
 6 inch Friendship exchange squares!
Click on the image to see details...

 Our sewing group makes 6 inch quilts with a theme about twice a year. This time it was Winter/Christmas

I knew I wanted to do snowglobes this year, and got the idea from SewMamaSew. I didn't use her pattern but she has one.

I started with fabric motifs, and cut them with this circle template and my new fave turning cutting mat, and great care not to slice off a finger.

on this one in particular, I cut out the Santa, fused him to snowy fabric and cut that into a circle...

using this mat.


I considered using plastic to cover the globe, but didn't want to work with it, so I used gossamer thin but shiny organza...

See? I cut it out with the same template which was hard as it's hard to see slippery and hard to control.
I didn't want to fuse it down to the globe shape as I wanted it to stand out a bit and reflect the light.
I started with a 6 inch square of peltex stabilizer, background fabric, globe fabric. Then held the organza on as I satin stitched around it with hologram Sulky mylar thread.

Then put on a backing, free cut out a base, either satin or buttonhole stitched around it in the quilting, quilted more on the piece and started with the embellishments.

 Just let me say, my studio looks like this after making 18 of these!!!

Toward the end, I was working on a 12 inch open space!

Anyway, I added binding, either fused (see my tutorial page for my technique (click)
or single turned binding pulled to the front and buttonhole stitched into place.



 I also paper pieced teapots fussy cutting motifs, that I printed from my sewprecise software, sizing to 4 inches. I also did winter tree's with the same software, sizing them to 4 inches, and let me tell you, by the end of making the first one, I was SURE I wasn't doing 12 of these to share. The angles were annoying, but led me to develop a terrific technique for dealing with paper piecing angles. I'll share that another time...

After they were quilted and bound, it was time for embellishments! 

I stamped snowflakes on most of them, stitching over them with halogram silver mylar thread, and putting on crystals in the center. I added other crystals, including some hearts. They were already sparkly with metallic threads sparkling over them. I cut out some words printed on ribbon for the globes and stitched them on. One teapot has some of the gold mesh. Others received specialty stitches. 

The exchange was yesterday and I'll show you what I received later. For now, I made extras for you!!

I love to know you are out there, sharing my creative journey and reading my words. I love your comments on my adventures. I want to celebrate my connections with you with another giveaway.

Please leave a comment and a way to contact you, if you would like one of my friendship squares to prop up on your shelf. Tell me what your perfect globe would hold! Tell me merry Christmas! Let's celebrate friendship!
 I will hold open the giveaway til Dec 21 (Sunday)
Tomorrow I will be doing a Dog Globe post and another giveaway for those with pet blogs.Here is the link to that giveaway
**A winner was chosen by drawing and it's KC!! Congrats, contact me! ****

Frosted Poodles

 Cole here, for Monday Mischief...
We had the first snowfall last week and I got all kind of happy about it. Snow is fun y'all! It started coming down like crazy on the walk.
What?? Oh my paws! Mom wants me to wear this hat and scarf combo. I hope none of my dog friends sees this.
She seems to like it, so I figure I can pull her along wearing anything she likes. We were no sooner off the driveway before
PLOP!


A squirrel falls hard right on the sidewalk in front of us! Mom squeaked! I was stunned! I've never had the universe supply one right in front of me, a mere poodle length away! I may be aging but I'm always up for a squirrel romp.

 Almost as soon as it landed it scurried under the bushes along the sidewalk. I'm fast but it was cartoon-squirrel fast.
Gone.

Gone gone gone.

It was right here...

Well, it's still snowing, and a friend might be out to play with so might as well keep walking says I.
Uh oh, where is that silly hat? Oh around my neck... The snow is collecting on the ground but too slowly to roll in, and my hair is getting wet, and I'm done with all my business and no friends are out. Grrrr.

 Might as well pull the mommy home, dry off, drink some water, eat to keep up my fat stores and curl up on a good sofa for a nap.

LeeAnna here, just to keep this about mischief... last night Cole went up to bed earlier than me. I gathered his bedtime treats, bowl of food, my stuff, turned off the lights and went up the stairs. YIKES! There he was in all his black coated stealth, at the head of the stairs waiting for me. I didn't so much as see him as hear a tiny licking noise and almost fell backwards down the stairs! Angels saved me. He was all, "what's the treat tonight mom? and what's in the bowl?" That was close, but a Christmas miracle happened and you can bet I'll be checking out the head of the stairs before I go up from now on. LeeAnna

Sweetie Pie!

 Hello Sweetie Pie!

I haven't been blogging but I've been sewing. One of the things I did was the little hand sewn felt
Pie Pin Cushions above. Hee hee!

Right up my alley, pin cushion/whimsy/colorful

The one on the left is red sparkles with hand dyed thread embroidery. It's sort of an outline stitch with french knots and lazy daisies.

 This one is my favorite, can't find it anymore, bright pink speckled felt. I used the pattern from (sewmamasew) and it's easy to make.

 Check out the crust fabric. Again, embossed and fabulous and can't buy it any more. Is it any wonder why I hoard fabric??? Buy it when you see it as it'll disappear without warning.

 The only thing I did differently ( since I used the templates and didn't look at the instructions, take that with a grain of salt) was to cut a pie wedge out of plastic (yogurt lid) to give the bottom structure and make sure it sits flat. I filled with those evil little plastic beads and stuffing.

I'm in love with the whipped cream!

Okay, to my followers and regular readers... Out of love and appreciation at this time of giving, if you want a slice of pie, leave a comment telling me your favorite pie filling or your favorite color, make sure I can locate you if you win, and I'll send you a piece for Christmas!! Love you!
LeeAnna
Drawing for the winner will be this weekend, which gives my followers time to find out!
**UPDATE** A winner was chosen at random and it's Sylvia! Congrats Sylvia, I am making your chocolate pie now! Send your address. For the rest of you, there will be another drawing on a new present this week. Y'all come back again!LeeAnna

Cole the elf supervises decorations

 Hi, Cole here for Mischief Monday (Mischievous pet link party)  My people found some Christmas spirit this weekend and changed up the house. They seem happy with the changes, and as I always say, a "happy parent is a good parent"  Now... that hat... I don't remember asking for a hat...it's pulling on my ears and mashing down my naturally curly hair. It might be worth it though because the mommy seems very smiley.

There was a Hallmark movie on, and suddenly Daddy is playing with a tree.

For inside the house, one I am definitely not allowed to pee on. And all the tempting little dangling bits are absolutely not for playing with or eating.
All you pups out there take note.

You don't want to anger the mommy.

Then we moved the party outside, to play poodle games!!! 

 Er, maybe not. What's this?? The daddy doesn't seem pleased... maybe I can help. Poodles are VERY smart, if only their people learned to listen to them. I tell you all, I have been trying to train my people for years and they still don't know what to sniff, the value of smelling a butt or when to jump on someone.

 Now how did THIS happen??

 I tried to entice them into the yard where there were lots of tempting branches to throw fetch and play "chase me" or as the mommy calls it "Cole! Stop eating that stick"
Mommy came out for a hot minute, but Daddy got all up in the tree, wish I could do that cause then those pesky squirrels would be toast.
They both were very interested in that tree and the lights.

I'll just rest a moment, but I'm ready to jump up and play if they ever stop fussing with those lights.

After they finished we piled in the car and drove to another neighborhood for a walk.

We found an ADVENTURE y'all! That's a story for another day.

When we got home we saw how pretty the house looked! Don't you love lights? My people do.

Note to other pet friends, if your people find joy in anything, go with it. A happy person often gives good treats and pets. Love Cole