Over the River and Through the Woods

to Jill's lovely Victorian home for a little Christmas party with my cupcake buddies.

Jill has such a talent for decorating and she allowed me to photograph them to share with you.

On a hutch in her eating area.

This is one of my favorite spots.  It is a cupboard in the eating area that she decorates for every holiday -

I love these glittered churches and trees.  Jill found the deer at Wal-mart.  Sometimes you have to imagine it out of the context of where you find it.

This is a lovely tree covered with silver and crystal (check out those samplers).

It is baubbly beauty and glows in her Grand Hall.

 

Here is the Living Room - Elegant in every way!

She has 4 of these gorgeous pillars in the Hall.  Beautiful!

 Here is a real tree in the eating area opposite the kitchen.

It covered with kitchen utensils, popcorn garland and sweet things.

She literally lives nestled in the woods.  What a view from the sink.

The other kitchen window -

Here is Carson, a labradoodle.  Coco sent him a rawhide braid.

I am sort of obsessed with this quilt!

I came home with lots and lots of loot!

Handmade items are my favorite!  Susan (and her husband) make a wooden gift each year.  Susan paints them, so talented!

Jill made this cute ornament needle book.

And here are my cupcake buddies, Jill and Susan.  Thanks for a fun day yesterday!

I hope you are all having a chance to visit with friends this time of year! 

All My Bags are Packed (and my quilting too)

Last week the Cupcakers, including Mary, got together for a little sew party and luncheon on Jill's porch.

When I return I'll tell you how this:

Became this:

After four years of saving, and many months of planning, we are finally on our way tomorrow!

We're flying off to Rome tomorrow then boarding a cruise ship and heading for:  Croatia, Curfu, Santorini, (Greece), Turkey, Athens, and Messina (Italy).

I'll be taking my tumbler doll quilt to hand piece on the plane and on sea days when I'm not playing Bingo (obsession on cruises).

I must be strong today and drop coco off at a boarding facility in upstate New York.  They have dog pools and open play and frozen yogurt.  I must be strong.....

See you again in a couple of weeks!  Until then, I hope you have fun!

Cupcake Christmas

Last week we met at Susan's house for Cupcake Club. It was Hat Box Day. Not our current group project, the Hat Box Quilts, instead we covered Hat Boxes. We were delighted to see this project on Alma's blog; Blackbird Designs and we knew we had to try it. I hope Alma find this post, I wanted to send her an email, but can not locate an address. Her blog provided us with the instructions and inspiration!

Here we are getting our supplies ready.


We went to work on the box lids.

Here are views of Jill's lid. She used this pretty pink fabric and sweet bird paper for the lining which was copied from a file folder.



Susan used a copy from a childrens book.


Here is mine. I decided to use this George Washington fabric. I used a piece of scrapbook paper for the lining.


With the lids finished, we broke for lunch. Susan made beef vegetable soup, rolls and a delicious cucumber salad. How cute are Christmas cupcake napkins?


For dessert I brought gingerbread and Susan added Madeline cookies. I was in such a rush to dig in that the photo is out of focus, sorry.


After lunch we started the bottom of the hat boxes.

Here is Jill's:

And Susan's. She used a crazy quilt paper for the sides and a Swedish children's proverb on the bottom.


And I used copies of old photos. Jill and her friend, Mary Beth got me collecting this "homely" women photo cards. They are so funny. I think it's quite sad that they show up for pennies at flea markets. Who are these women?


And here are the hat boxes finished. Jill's is on top, mine on the bottom and Susan on the side. It took us most of the day, but we all feel it will go more quickly next time. I think they turned out beautifully!

I'm quite pleased with George and the ladies and look forward to filling it up. Maybe I'll store my old photo collection inside.

While waiting to get started, I took pictures of Susan's decorations. Her sun room looks so cheery with the icicle lights. She and her husband made all the wooden decorations on the windowsills.


Here are Susan's Mongolian Hats, from Mongolia, and a quilt in her front hall.

Susan's award winning quilt over a door.

And my favorite, these kitchy vintage door knob hangers - so cute!

And lastly, for no particular reason this hawk came for a visit in my Dogwood tree. I was talking to Mary at the time and took this photo through the back door. What a nice holiday visit, I see it as a good omen.

Cupcake Update

November's Cupcake meeting was at Jill's lovely home.

Here is her fall decorated hutch. Does she have the best way with display, or what?

We were trying out a new product for our hat box quilt project. Misty Fuse, it's light, soft and hard to get. We liked the way it worked and we're working on getting some.


Lunchtime - Jill always sets a beautiful table.


We enjoyed Pumpkin Soup and Quiche -oh my!

Look at these cutest ever little mushroom cookies. Short bread stems and chocolate tops, dark and milk chocolate. Wouldn't these be cute with a Yule Log, or a Gingerbread House display?


Poor Riley, wasn't feeling his usual bouncy self. He is the sweetest labradoodle I know.

I'm always thankful for the Cupcake Club - but we're still missing Mary and her ray sunshine.

Cupcake Club

by: Barb

Yesterday we had a great Cupcake Club meeting at Susan's house. We missed you Mary, and I hope this post will make you feel as if you were there with us.

Our first treat was to see her newly decorated sewing room. The wall color is so happy and bright. The name of the paint is Hibiscus - Lovely!

The bookcases are from Ikea and Susan's husband customized them with cornices and footers - he is talented! Pretty little boxes all in a row...


Here is where all the magic happens.....Owen also custom made these work tables, am I jealous? You bet! Don't you love the over sized drafting tools?


We held a big discussion about our new project. We ran to the copy story to make enlargements and swapped fabrics. I will make a report as soon as we have something to show. Each of us will do our own version, and maybe size of this project.

Susan's side porch is such a cozy room to sew. It's where she also does her primitive painting. I always feel like I'm in a tree house.

Susan made a wonderful soup, which was especially good because it was chilly day.


To celebrate Susan's upcoming birthday, I made "Gooey Carmel Apple Cake". I was too embarrassed to take a photo of the whole cake, because the center was sink hole. I forgot my gift at home, doh!
After the cake was finished, Susan pointed out that were only 3 cupcakes on the plate, like our group...:( She is not happy about that, it was just a funny coincidence. She actually made a great pouty face, but asked me not to publish that one.

Susan worked on a binding for a sample that is going to Fall Quilt Market, there was a peek of it on the design board and then did hand quilting on her V&A project. Jill made applique circles and finished the applique on the swag border for her churn dash quilt (darn - didn't get a photo, sorry, Mary). And I finished my Rug!


I was going to paint the edge of the rug, where the white canvas shows, but Susan had the brilliant idea to use a marker. Thanks Susan! I had this art marker at home and it worked great -

So her it is installed on my Family Room raised hearth. It is so nice to make something custom fit. One thing I did not count on was the slight shrinkage in the width due to the tension of the rug - next time I would add about 1/2 inch or so depending on the overall size.
Once the fireplace is turned on, which will probably be tonight, the real cats in the house are sure to find it. The kids will also enjoy the cushion when they sit to warm their backs.

Speaking of cats here are my two:
Luna, who can't be bothered while she watches Starbuck outside.
And Starbuck, such pretty boy.
Have a Great Weekend everyone!