Merry Christmas

Here is our house at Christmas time, dressed up in a few places, ready to enjoy some fun family times.

Presents under the tree,

a cocoa station,

here for all the previous years

a cute embroidered vignette,

from the book that inspired my advent calendar

some cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning,

from this recipe

a new kind of buche de Noel, inspired by Amuses Bouche here for the more traditional ones
and

happy teenagers!
Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noel!

a crafty witch for Halloween!

This year Halloween decor includes this little cross stitched witch:

The pattern is from my favorite: les brodeuses parisiennes: "Fifties women".

It is just a sweet little witch, with a hammer, whisk and sewing machine,

perfect for me, as long as the broom doesn't represent cleaning!

She looks great with the crow!

I kept this year decor quite simple,

just a small "corner" in the kitchen:

There is candy corn in the orange pumpkin,

and usually chips in the cauldron....I guess somebody finished them!

Here are some from previous years,

I recycle my decor a lot!

Apparently there are no pictures from last year.

2017:

2016: 

2015:

Same crows, sign and paper products!

Fall took its time arriving here,

but now it is full force.

The weather is so crazy right now,

there are talks of cancelling trick or treating

because of potential tornadoes!

Miss C has still to carve the pumpkins....might not happen this year!

Happy Halloween!

heart pillows from Breast cancer

About 5 weeks ago, a friend of mine underwent a double mastectomy. It was her second time dealing with breast cancer in 9 years. I felt very useless, so I read about surgery and recovery, trying to find something I could do for her.... I came up with a lot of articles about sewing heart pillows, so I decided to sew some, hoping it was a real thing and not a gimmick! 

I followed this pattern from all free sewing.com,

it was quite easy.

I used 4 coordinating prints from Prince Charming by Tula Pink,

I wanted to make them cheerful and silly,

there are frogs, snails, turtle, butterflies on them!

The shape is slightly different that a true heart pillow,

it is so one could it to prop the arm to avoid contact with the torso...

I gave them to my friend before the surgery,

explaining her some of the stuff I had read about it,

she did not know about the heart pillow.

She likes them with their pretty color,

but was unsure about their utilities.

Well she has told me they were very useful right after the surgery

to prop her arms up, and later she used them to help her neck pain!

And the other day, when I picked her up to go to occupational therapy,

she came out with one of her pillow and 

used it to protect herself from the seat-belt.

So yes they are useful!

My friend has still a long way to go

but she is a fighter.

After my friend second diagnostic of breast cancer,

I did the smart thing and went to get my mammogram,

it is all good, but it is always nice to make sure,

especially after losing my grandmother to this disease!

Happy sewing!

an updated entryway, gone to the dogs!

Our entryway is a little bit tricky as it is quite narrow and overlooks our staircase to the 2nd floor and the basement. I decided to update it by changing the mirror (there is a theme here, after the bathroom!) and by adding a better place to keep the dogs leashes handy.

(and view to our entryway storage!)
And here is the view from before:

and now:

The mirror is much more up to scale with the space,

and so is the mat!

So our entryway feels bigger and it is easier to get our hounds on their walk  with the leashes on their respective representation, and that little basket holding the waste bags.

The 2 signs are just pieces of 1 x 6, that I cut and painted,

then I traced the lettering and felled it in with a paint marker.

For the bigger one, I also added a frame to add some

more sustenance to the design.

Another great addition is the shoe tray,

where I keep my dog rain boots ready at all time!

Cutest boots ever!

Bosco says Hi!

(Lou is not a photo dog...)

Let's go on a walk!

a new fall lunch carrier

While it is not technically fall,

everybody is back at school,

and for the last few weeks,

it has been a little cooler,

so yeah, it is fall!

I sewed this lunch carrier for a friend of mine,

who expressed a strong interested after I made

this lunch bag:

They look totally different while they are exactly the same!

For this fall version I used this fabric line:

Forest gifts by Axelle Design for Michael Miller fabrics,

it is so perfect, I wanted it all!

But I tried to be reasonable and "only" bought a few fat quarters!

I used as many prints as I could on the lunch bag:

Fern and mushroom prints outside,

plaid and hazelnut print inside,

and a fifth print for the handles.

There are a couple more prints that I "need" to try out....

Since it is only the beginning of fall,

I still have plenty of time.

Both of my kids are back at school.

Brick master seems to have a good time on campus.

Miss C. is embracing sophomore year,

and is now a cheerleader.

This is going to be a good year!

Happy sewing!