Quilting, Gnomes, Deer

I have been working on the Ocean Circle quilt. You can see the texture, finally, the quilting gives it.

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The tree "christmas card" was made recently, but the gnomes and deer were made way back in ...January ???  Sometimes I get creative right AT christmas time, so I make it for next christmas.  Each family [our kids] got a deer, each grandchild got a gnome, for their own "ornament box". [I hope someday they have a box of ornaments to put on their own trees.]

I stitched the paint samples, after poking the holes with the machine, and a 'paper' needle.  This time I added a 'trunk' to each one, then glued a scrapbook paper to the back to hide the messy parts.  Adding the trunk was a handy way to add a 'hanging' loop too, so they can be hung on the tree.

click to enlarge

I recently got in the mood to make a couple of 'treemen',  a snowman, and a 'tree'.

The stick trees are made with batt I dyed long ago, for a felt substitute. I wrapped each stick, stitched the batt on, then assembled. The first smaller one is a dud, bit time!  BUT I saved it to show the girls that not all creations are a success. The bigger tree is more...rustic, I would say, and could be adorned.  

I did a cropped version, that I couldn't find. The table with holiday decor used to hide the nasty tangle of wires dripping from the TV.  Our 'tree' is behind my chair, and reflects in the TV.

The dark gray days have taken a toll on me. Today the sun shines.

We had a tornado drop down in the adjoining town on Dec. 18, I believe. We and ours are ok, but it made a mess of many houses.  I am happy to say that the community rallied together and started cleaning up with in hours. Many many volunteered themselves, their time, their equipment, motel rooms, food, gifts for all the kids [16 or 18, 6 months to 18 yrs.] and so much more!!

Good Job Port Orchard-ians!

[and no this is not the MID-west, we are the NORTH-west]