Happy Holidays!!

I will be taking a break until the first of the year to enjoy time with family and friends.  Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday and a blessed new year!!!!  

Hope

I received a wonderful gift from my generous friend Hope that I have to share with you.

Look at this cool denim bag Hope made just for me!!!  She knows how much I love items recycled in a cool way.

Look at all the buttons sewn on the flap!!!  Love it.  There is a velcro clasp to keep items placed inside secure.

Speaking of which...look what I found inside!!!!  Gorgeous note cards handmade from pictures taken by Hope during our girls' trip to Montana.

Here are a few close ups.  This is a picture of Artist's Point taken in Yellowstone National Park.  Awesome picture!!!  Love the swirly clip on the tag!

Check out the cutout frame on this one....don't ask me how she did that.  Too cool!!

This is one of my favorites....love the "home on the range" tag line.

I am blessed to call Hope my friend.  Just a few of the numerous reasons is that she is intelligent, kind, caring, generous and very talented.  In addition to the previously mentioned wonderful qualities, Hope graciously lets me go on and on (and on and on....) about my quilt blog, my quilting projects, friends and ideas, as well as my never ending family drama saga.  Thank you Hope!!!  Love you.

Who is your "Hope"?  We should all have one!  Have an amazing day!!!!

Sew & Tell Friday #11

I am in love with this toddler quilt!!!!

I appreciate all the layout suggestions for the Angel Tree quilt.  As much as I wanted to make this into a filmstrip quilt, I agree this layout is best for a toddler boy.

I went with the Alexander Henry circles for the backing and stripes for the binding.

I was actually able to name this quilt myself ;-))  Building Blocks.  I hope this soon to be two year old loves it even half as much as I enjoyed making it.

I quilted Building Blocks using Amanda Jean's grid quilting tutorial.  This great tutorial made fast work of the quilting...which I usually prefer to "sub out".

Check out all the Friday finishes by clicking  the Sew and Tell button in my sidebar.

Have an amazing weekend!!!!

Christmas Countdown

I don't know about you, but I finally had to make the difficult decision to temporarily step away from the sewing machine.  The Christmas cards will not address themselves, nor will the presents get wrapped by magical elves.  On our family blog, I have a Widget that counts down the days, hours and minutes until Christmas.  I am in denial and refuse to check it.

I did want to show you the back of the third coin quilt.  Remember this one?  There was enough binding (already joined and ironed) leftover from the Horizons quilt.

Here is how I pieced the back.  Several leftover fat quarters joined with a bigger piece of fabric from my stash.

Here are two more little quilts from the AAQI.  I did not get a picture of the third one which is the coolest.  It arrived just as I was boxing up a package of Christmas presents to ship to Montana.  It is a blue guitar for my oldest son.  Hopefully I will remember to get a picture on Christmas Day.

I do have a Friday finish to share with you tomorrow.  Stop by for Sew & Tell Friday.

Have an amazing day!!!

Wonderful Wednesday!

This is a repeat picture, but it is worth sharing again.

On this Wonderful Wednesday, I am taking a break from the hectic holidays by ...

joining friends for coffee...

having lunch with a friend...

spending time with family....

oh, and I forgot, meeting with the alarm repairman, arranging to pick up my car from the auto body shop, studying for exams (not mine...my kids'), doing laundry, wrapping and mailing more presents, addressing Christmas cards......  ;-))

Hope you are also taking time to enjoy family and friends.

Have an amazing day!!!

Packaging

Do you remember a long time ago I received a whole bunch of packages, and I said I would save revealing the contents for a slow news day?  Well, that day is today.

The box from moo.com contained these snowmen notecards.

A second box from moo.com held these cute mini cards.

I may have actually revealed some of this before.  However, my main motivation for mentioning it again is to give a HUGE pat on the back and a BIG thank you to Lauren at Designer Blogs.  After putting up with me during the design of my blog (didn't she do a great job?!), I was thrilled that she agreed to help me with some other ideas floating around in my head.

For example, she took my blog button and designed square calling cards.  The back is really cute, too, but I forgot to take a picture.  Lauren designed the Rene' Creates "logo" that is shown in the second picture above and a cute email signature to match.  I love the JMR logo that is on the back of the snowman cards.  JMR is our family "brand" for Montana.

The design on these adorable stickers for my daughter was also created by Lauren.  Ally loves to put these stickers on cards she makes for her friends and gifts for teachers.  This is the closest she will come to having a cat ;-))  Occasionally, my Mom or Dad pop by my blog without "saying hi".  Mom or Dad, if today is one of those days, STOP READING NOW!!!

This one and the next are my Dad's Christmas present.  Not the jar!!!  The fabulous label!!!  Lauren created two logos for my Dad who is a fabulous cook.  We have been trying to get my Dad to "market" his Dad's secret sauce....what my sister and I call Harper Sauce.....

...but what my Dad would like to call Sauce of St. Lawrence.  So for Christmas, he is getting a jump drive with the logos, printed labels of each logo variation, and sample packaging.  Which brings me (finally) to the point...packaging.  In case you've been wondering what I'm doing with all these cool logos.

I've had fun using my Lauren-designed logos for gift tags for birthdays, thank yous, Christmas and just because; stickers on homemade customized charm packs, packages and envelopes; magnets made with mini cards; backs of note cards and Christmas cards (instead of Made on a Mac or Shutterfly); branding purposes; others I haven't thought of yet ;-))

Have an amazing day!!!!!

Housekeeping

This weekend saw quite a bit of housekeeping.  Besides the never ending laundry and dishes, housekeeping of the quilting kind was accomplished.

I made quite a few labels this weekend and even sewed them on quilts.  In the past, I've made elaborate labels with pictures of the recipient and stories about how the quilt evolved....nice, but time consuming.  For this batch of quilts, I used Rachel's method of label making which is awesomely fast.

I had a photo shoot in the backyard to record all the quilts that are about to be mailed to their new homes.

I managed to squeeze some quilting time in.  This is the Angel Tree quilt.  I'm just about done.  Last night I started sewing the binding to the back.  I'll probably save all those details for Sew and Tell Friday since I have a feeling that is all that will be completed this week.

What do you think of these three coffee quilts?  I purchased them from Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  I discovered their site from a post on Anya's blog.  You should check it out.  They raise awareness and funds for research through art quilts.  They have a monthly online auction the first ten days of each month.  Additionally, they have quilts for sale which is how I got my hands on these three.  I am awaiting the arrival of the quilt I won in the auction as well as a couple more I purchased.  Some will fill in gaps on my Christmas list.  You can find information on their webpage about donating quilts for their auction.  

Have an amazing day!!!!!

Sew & Tell Friday #10

You will be shocked, I am sure, when I tell you that I only have ONE picture to share today.

This is how my sister-in-law's quilt turned out.  I think I like it.  It is different...especially for me.  I'm a follow the rules kind of a girl.  At least, I thought I was.  I'm beginning to think I'm a rule breaker ;-))  Who knew?!

Check out  the creative goodness that can be found at Amy's Show and Tell Friday.  Click the button on my sidebar to see everyone's finishes for the week.

Have an amazing weekend!!!!!  Hope to see you again Monday.

Cross Stitch Memories

When I went home for Thanksgiving, my Mom pulled out some of her Christmas decorations, and the grandkids (the younger ones) decorated the Christmas tree.  They had so much fun!!!

The above framed cross stitch was made by my Mom.  Isn't it great?!?!?!!!!  It reminded me that I used to cross stitch all the time and loved it.  My Mom got me my first pattern which got me hooked.

This pillow is it.  As you can see it has been used quite a bit and is stained.  Keep in mind this is REALLY old...think 1980ish.  I had to track it down and found it in my daughter's room.

Here is a close up.  See all those french knots!!!!  Not too bad for my first time.  I think that is why I loved the embroidery wheel project so much.  Brought back fun memories.

My Mom also got me this kit.  I remember making this while my Mom I was planning my wedding.  I thought of everything in DMC colors.  I would say "I want the bridesmaids dresses to be 223".

I did a lot of cross stitching in the '80s.  I made these stockings for my husband and I the first year we were married.  So cute!!!

Looking at the date, I guess I made this our first Christmas as well.  I had forgotten all about these Christmas cross stitch projects until I saw my Mom's.  Since we are away at Christmas I don't pull out all my Christmas decorations.  It was fun getting these out.

And last but definitely not least....I remembered this one.  Take a really good look.  My Mom made this for me a LONG time ago.  She made it into a pillow with a really pretty purple ribbon eyelet trim.  Over the years it starting looking like the pillow above.  MANY years later when I had MY daughter I had the cross stitch framed for my daughter's room.  Isn't it beautiful (I say as I grab my tissue..sniff)?  Thanks Mom.  I love you!!!!

Thank you for traveling down memory lane with me.  Have an amazing day!!!!!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Please allow me to brag like a proud mama for a moment.

This is my daughter playing Silent Night on the harp during the Band and Strings Christmas Concert.  She also played Christmas Time is Here with the strings, but the harp is hard to hear over the cellos and violins, so luckily you are spared that video.

This sweet little girl also plays the flute.  I restrained myself and did not post a video of Jingle Bells by the beginning band.

Please overlook the poor camera and video quality.  So as not to be obtrusive nor make her nervous, these were shot from our seats in the auditorium with a little camera and iPhone.