merry christmas

we decided to go sans tree again this year. we actually have lots of little trees (i collect them), but no "real" tree. my mom got me this ceramic christmas tree last year and i love it. it reminds me of my grandma marilyn and grandpa donald who i always miss, but especially at christmas. each year they had ceramic trees and as a kid i always thought it was really lame to not have a real tree, but now i get it. it's amazing how your mind changes as more time and experience are under your belt.


i made some changes to our living room. we got a NEW flat screen TV! which rules, although it's making our tv watching time increase. after the new year i'll get some pics of the new set up which includes a credenza and new art. in the meantime, here's a sneak peak of the art and my wreath from craft night.


have a very merry christmas from me and moz.

custom quilt #2: take 2

i am usually a procrastinator, but this time i actually finished custom quilt #2 two weeks early. that proved to be a good decision, because when i took it out of the dryer a few seams had ripped open. heartbreaking :-( this happened once before and i ended up giving it to my niece. this reject i gave to dave, since he's been wanting a quilt for years. i do, however, intend to make him his own.

anyway, here's the reject original (the back is above).


and here's the new, non seam ripping one :-)



i even make a little tag for the gift giver.

christmas shopping

this year i've been trying to get a lot of shopping done on etsy and at local shops and craft fairs. we were driving through manayunk the other weekend and drove right by three potato four, which i have been wanting to stop by, so we did. they had LOTS of cool vintage stuff, you should check them out.



i also went to the craft show crafty balboa, which was fun. i didn't buy any gifts there, just stuff for me :-)


where have you been doing your christmas shopping?

custom quilt #2

i started another custom quilt, this one is a christmas gift for a lucky person. here are some pics of the quilt in process.

custom quilt #1 finished

and here is the finished quilt that i started way back in august. our day before thanksgiving was very hectic, so i didn't get any great photos, but here it is. it's huge! i had to send it out to get quilted it's so huge!

i'm pretty confident that it will look much better in their bedroom, then it does in these pictures.

happy thanksgiving

we had such a wonderful, long weekend. lots of cooking was involved. first i tried to make pie dough, which was a disaster. i used the food processor for the first time and think i used the wrong bowl, so it was hard as a rock and never came together. but thank goodness for the ready made pie crust, it was a life savor to the apple galette....

...and pecan pie.

then lots of things with the leftovers. stuffing/potatoes/turkey/gravy balls (aka thanksgiving balls)...

and turkey pot pie.

the real PA dutch way.

how was your thanksgiving?

cyber monday sale: 10% off

enter BRANDEYE10 at checkout and get 10% off your entire purchase.

shop here

p.s. have i told you i have a facebook page? become a fan here: brandeye facebook page

fall in the city

last sunday we went to philly and walked around a lot. here's some of what we saw.

sushi and wreaths

i finally had another craft night last week, it had been months since the last one. dave and i have been taking a japanese cooking class at the local high school, so i thought i'd use my new skills in the kitchen and make some miso soup and sushi. the soup turned out good, but the sushi rice wasn't great. i think i added too much water, oh well. it was still delicious.


we all made wreaths, check them out.

what have you made lately?

retirement home...

... for horses. yes, you heard me. i wish i could retire here, ryerss farm for aged equines. we found ourselves in pottstown for a wedding a couple of weeks ago, so i tried to find something fun to do in the area before the wedding. thanks to the internet, i found this to do. it was so much fun and made me remember how much i love horses. as a kid i rode them at summer camp and i always loved it. you couldn't ride them here, but you could pet them and feed them carrots and apples until your heart's content.



i'm taking a photography class at our local high school, so i tried to use my fancy pants camera on complete manual mode. well, most of them looked awful, but i got a couple that turned out well.



have you done anything unexpected and fun lately?

pumpkin picking

a couple weeks ago we went with some friends to this great farm near us, none such farm. we intended to only go there for the market, which sells delicious meat that is raised across the street. but they had a pumpkin patch so we went there first.
i've never been to one before, it was really cool.




then dave made this killer beef stew for dinner.

quilt photos

a couple of weeks ago i went home to spend the weekend with my family. i brought my quilts because i wanted to get some picture of them with a field background, so my dad found a good spot. it was on PA state game lands (aka hunting land). luckily you aren't allowed to hunt on sundays, so we were safe.
wool suit fabric quilt


modern floral baby quilt


retro floral stripes quilt



pink modern floral baby quilt





and a special thanks to my dad for his help with holding the quilts!