My Holiday Lane projects

HOLIDAY LANE Pillow Blog Hop 

Jill Finley of Jillilly Studios created this cute pillow pattern to share called Holiday Lane.  Madam Samm at Sew We Quilt, Blog Hop Events Queen, fell in love with it and so did I.  It so cute, and I had a lot fun making it.  Thank you Jill for sharing such a cute holiday pattern, I'm sure everyone had a great time making them turning then into all sorts of things.  I would have like to put it in a quilt, but not this year....maybe next.  A big THANK YOU to Madam Samm, of Sew We Quilt ,our cute blog hop events coordinator, the most organized, crafty person ever for choosing all these fun hop ideas.  And an even bigger Thank you to the ever cheerful Pauline of Quilt 'N' Queen  fame, our Holiday Lane blog hop cheerleader who literally battled her way through, sick with the flu and a computer that bit the dust and people....well there are some everytime, who are no shows, but I think she had more than her fair share of those not honoring their commitments this time. I am trying to making extras for those who did not.   I hear from Pauline that she, along with some other hoppers, caught the flu.... I really do hope all of you feel better soon, big germ free cyber hugs to you :). 

Okay sooooo although I am in love with of all the colors.......... a few colors really appeal to me,  lime green is tops , but red is one of my favorites too.  I think that is why I fell in love with redwork and the red & white quilt collections.  I also love candy canes and peppermints, always have, probably always will... have a few of my grand kids that like them too.  So when I thought about doing a version of Holiday Lane I kept thinking about the holidays and candy canes and peppermint candies ( NO, no not the new-fangled jolly rancher versions of candy canes that my kids like either ).  And I pulled a bunch of Christmas fabrics and a few non-Christmas blenders and put them in a visible pile to simmer and hopefully come together in a great selection.   And they sat there simmering as I occasionally stirred the pot, (i.e.-stacked and re-stacked the pieces), patiently waiting, until I was done with a few other things... and one of those things was to stitch up a sample block from my licorice twist pattern....I mailed that off last Monday, until then I hadn't done redwork in over a year and this got my itchin' to stitch fires kindled and last Wednesday while I was grocery shopping for Thanksgiving I decided that that's what I wanted my Holiday Lane pillow to be.....a stitched one..........well why not, a couple of times over the years I have appliqued embroidery designs, why not embroider an applique design?? And for some crazy reason I thought I had to have it done by Monday so I could put a post together for Tuesday................checked this Monday morning (it's the 26 as I write this post).........I have the 29th oops......I'm done early.....mark that on your calendars people, it may be the first and last time I was ready two days in advance.
Anyway I 've been wanting to do a red & white Christmas for several years and I am collecting things here and there including "pinspirations" so that one of these years I can have a red & white Christmas.  Red & white ribbons, paper, dishes, tree and table decs, candy canes, peppermints.............etc  until I collect all that here is my version of Jill's cute Holiday Lane pillow.  I kept to her original dimensions, applique pieces and layout but I did add a few bits like extra windows, starlight mint stars and some simple patterns stitched on the houses so it would give the general  illusion of fabric houses, adds a little fun to red stitching.  It took almost 3 (2.75) skeins of floss.  I drew it up Thanksgiving night after we got home.  But after making food for two places and about 70 miles of window time, stitching was not going to happen that night. So I started stitching it Friday on my lunch hour.  I stitched Friday night when I got home from work 6 pm -12:30 am, all day Saturday 7 am to 9 pm and about 4-5 hours off and on Sunday finishing it up, flanges and all, about 5:30 Sunday afternoon.... soooooooo since I'm done, NOW what do I do, I know make more??

I'm going home and see if I can make another one in a different style or maybe two ?? but different........you'll have to wait and see.  There may be more later????
in the meantime ...... just keep reading.....

Below is a picture of some of the owls Carrie stuffed. ( I think there's 13 here).  These are the ones I mentioned that I was making for my friend, who doesn't sew, but loves cute things.   I sewed them and she stuffed them.  And just like always, I didn't count as I was cutting and had way too many in progress before I counted........she ended up with 21 (plus some extra parts ;)) instead of 17, lol... and now I'm making more.  They are so cute.  I found some polka dotted cuddle fabric to make some out of for grand kids.... and another friend...

Christmas is coming soon you know      :D

Another thing I am going to make is from a prize.....

 Yea I actually won something, out of the clear blue sky ( actually drawn from a pile of comments, lol) THANK YOU to Madam Samm and Connecting Threads, queen of Blog hops and marketing,  had a giveaway.  It was from Connecting Threads, and was for a stack of Big Sky Flannel FQ's.......aren't they pretty?  I am going to make a Zigzag/chevron/rickrack quilt out of large HST's  I was going to do it last weekend but things happen and I lost my window of opportunity to cut the pieces.  Now I'll have to post it next time. 

Okay look what I got done last night....

 Holiday Lane Extras

here's version # 2

It measures about 7" across and 3" tall. :D.
And I have the pieces semi done for yet another version............if I get it done before post time it'll be at the bottom because that's where my iphone puts them, if I knew html or something maybe I could put it where i want , but sadly no!?

A giveaway? Instead of a contest where only one or two win, I prefer to give away something to everyone.....today's freebie is an old pattern but it's a quick and easy one to stitch or applique and seasonal.  I have done it both  ways.  I wish I had some pictures but I don't think so.  I gave it to you so please do not re-sell it in pattern form.  You can find it underneath the hop schedule below.  Happy Stitching!

There are about 80 participants that made their own versions some of them quite unique and different yet all reminiscent of Jill's design and are sharing pictures for all to see on the Holiday Lane hop.   I have the schedule listed below from Pauline of all the remaining participants for the last two days (only today and tomorrow ) of their showing..... Some will have giveaways, or tutorials, or freebies, you just never know, but lots of blog happiness for you to check out!!  If you missed the first of the hop Madam Samm has a link to a pinterest page with all of the entries.

Thursday November 29

Words & Stitches

Trying to Blog

Peanut's Patchwork

Moosestash Quilting

A Loose Thread

stitch, stitch, stitch

In Stitches and Seams

Hooked on Quilting

A Reformed Heath'n

Elaine - that other blog

As Sweet as Peaches

The Learning Curve Quilts and Such

Geema's Wonderings

Friday November 30

J Kafer on the Net

Busy as Can Be

Dachsies With Moxie

28 Peppermint Grove

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Kris Loves Fabric

Linda - that other blog

Dora Quilts

Shedding the Wolf

Quilting, Sewing Granny

Creative Notions

Chickadees Country Cottage Crafts

Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt : the best for last!

it is she who makes all this creative blog hop inspiration possible!

Holiday Lane Snowflake Freebie

If you would like to join one of Samm's hops, the next one is in January, it's  

Nancy Drew Get a CLUE anything made with the Nancy Drew Fabric and she has a whole year's worth of fun events coming up so you can jump in on if you keep an eye out on her blog.  Next month she's having a book event all month, reviews of books by women for women and all sorts of subjects. 

Check it out at Madam Samm's Sew We Quilt

I am having a font issue today and it's driving me crazy!!!!

Hopefully, one more Holiday lane pic will show up below here, if not, rest assured I am still stitching it!!!!

so :) see you soon  or :D  I got it done !?! But I cannot crop & edit the photo from my phone sorry! I will fix it tomorrow from a computer with Internet access. It is a free standing Holiday Lane for daughters fireplace mantel, Yea! The houses are the exact same sizes as the pattern.

Thanks for hopping by.  Come back when you can stitch awhile, Cyndi