Bitties and Calendar panel....

 Gosh, it's been a long time.  I haven't done much of anything lately but I have read a lot of books this winter!  Nothing exciting enough to recommend, but they kept me entertained while I huddled around the wood stove during our long cold spells.

I did sew a little- the bitty theme was "sewing" so I made this for group 1, a sewing bird, it's an antique gizmo also referred to as a 3rd hand.  The beak opens up in a real metal one and pinches onto your fabric, while the base clamps to your table.  This gives you a 3rd hand, basically.  Google it if you want to see a real one.  :)

 For group 2, I made a cat stealing fabric off the cutting mat.  

This has happened to me several times!

 I owed Kimmie a block so I made her a scarecrow for her Oz theme and 

thought he turned out pretty well.  

 Next up was the laundry theme- I made tiny little feedsack clothespin bags and hung them from a piece of rattail cording with 2 tiny clothespins.

 As you can see, it's March (banner above) and I made these 8 bitties for the new panel. These bitties came from all over the world, UK, Brazil, US, etc. 

 And this is the event tag for St. Patrick's Day on the 17th.

 Other than that, there's not much going on around here.  It's a warm sunny day today, in the 70's, but dropping down to freezing tonight and maybe a few snow flurries.  Spring can take it's time, I'd rather have a long, cool spring than jump right into summer!

Oh, and I joined a group on Facebook for decluttering the house, so I've been having lots of fun going thru things and getting rid of junk and donating good stuff to the doggie store!  That's time-consuming but rewarding!  I love simplifying the house.  Still have lots to do, but I have really pared down my clothing and the kitchen junk. It's like Spring Cleaning, only different.  That'll be later, after all the extra stuff is gone!

Long time, no post, lots of photos!

 We had a new round of pincushions in our FLiPS swap, this is the one I made for my partner, craktpot/Teri...

 It's a little caravan/trailer and I used a tutorial from The Quilted Fish      

to start it off and then made some changes.  I altered the shape just a little, then

 I added a rear bumper and a license plate and "tail lights" and made the door so it could open, it's now a needle holder. 

 The little hitch thing on the front is actually a small pair of scissors that slides into a 

pocket and supports the trailer.  Car not included.  LOL

 The scissors work, just slide them out of the wire wrap.

 It even has a tiny TV antenna for those lonely nights at the campground.  ;)

 I received this wonderful rainbow turkey pincushion from my partner, andrcarl!  She also included a beautiful coordinating dishtowel that she crocheted for me.  Love that, too.

 One of my pincushion bebes didn't receive the pincushion that was sent to her, so I made her this one, totally copying it from one made by Little Miss Shabby.  I changed it slightly- made it taller, added ground walnut shells, etc, but it's so not original by me, but she liked it.  :)

In the mug rug swap, I made and sent off this one, which started with a bitty block...

... and this one- my partner liked "Kitschy" things....

 And I received this one from Jan/Stampqnjlr, isn't it cute?

 The Bitty Block Bee Queen is my friend Kimmie, and she loves The Wizard of Oz. 

 I made her this Horse of a Different Color... heavily inspired from a photo of an embroidered horse.  I used embroidery floss in 8 or 10 colors for the tail and mane.

 

...and the Medal of Courage.   This little medal was a real challenge, because it's so small, about the size of a half-dollar, maybe.  It's 3D and hangs loose from the ribbon. 

 The month before, the theme was sewing so I made a large fabric button and put it on 

sewing themed print fabric, and a steam iron.

 Did some bitties for winter and some for aliens...

 And some pelicans for a bird theme....

 And Medusas for the Fantasy theme....

 And Bizbee made a full and complete recovery from his illness and is doing great, but breaking things a lot and acting like a one-man demolition derby!  We love him madly.  :)  On a sadder note, we lost Shanzie Fyne, our last remaining collie, in early November to an enlarged heart.  Poor silly thing, we miss her.  She'd had lots of physical ailments in her 8 year life span, but she was a dear dog and lots of fun.

And now I think we're all caught up!  Phew.  If you read all this and looked at all the photos, give yourself a reward, you earned it!

Birthdays, Bitty Blocks and Hummingbird Ornaments...

My mother turned 91 yesterday!  She and my Dad live about 10 miles from our house, in a patio home at a retirement center.  It's close to a few stores and she can walk over and get groceries and prescriptions, hardware, sandwiches, etc, very convenient for them.  Anyway, I thought I would show her off a little, Mum is a fun lady and always good for some laughs.  Pops takes real good care of her, too, which is just great.  We took her a few presents but didn't stay long as she had an appt at the doctor's for a minor thing.  Isn't she CUTE?!  We call her The Mumster.

 My friend Gayla had her annual ornament party this past Tuesday, another fun successful swap of ornaments and stories and ideas, it was a great evening!  These are the ornaments from this year-

 

 They are all so cute and fun and different.  It's always fun to find out what your friends have been making and Gayla throws the best stinkin' parties!  All the food was delish and the girls were all so much fun, and you can see for yourself how cute the ornies are!  One can even be worn as a bracelet, the blue wire one, how cool is THAT?  And the ball of yarn with the needles, love that, too.  Actually, I'm thrilled with them all, what a nice assortment!

 While I was in TX recently, 2 of my friends (Jennifer and Lisa) and I made these little hummingbird ornaments.  They are made with peanuts and are from a Birds and Blooms pattern.  We think they came out even cuter than the pattern.  :)  We made lots of extras so we could all have some to hand out to our friends.  Because of the fun shapes of peanuts, they all turned out different, all 45 of them!  And we changed them a bit- We used red nail polish for their throats and then added some glitter to them, and used shiny ribbon for the wings instead of tulle or netting.  And black beaks.  They were fun and easy to make and everyone that has seen them, has liked them. 

Oh, look!  Bitty Blocks!  LOL  The theme was winter and I made icy thermometers and cardinals.  The red part of the thermometer is red plastic from a container lid. 

I forgot to get a group photo of the cardinals, rats! 

So that's what I've been doing- I hope you all are ready for the holidays and have a safe and happy one!