Sunday, December 9, 2012

A Christmas Party

SewCalGal is hosting a virtual Christmas party today, so I think I'll join in!  The party is a fund-raiser for Operation Homefront - go to her blog to check it out.

We're ready for our party - all the rabbits and bears have on their holiday finery!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is our Cathedral Mouse tree.  A church in our area makes Cathedral Mice ornaments, with a different theme each year.  They've been doing this since the 1960s, so they've thought of a lot of themes!  This year's mouse was a Fitness Mouse - a girl with an iPod and earbuds, and a boy with little barbells in his hands.  Mouse Pickup Day is always the first Saturday of December, so that's when the Christmas season starts for me.  There's also a bake sale and craft sale there, too, so it's a fun errand. 

We have a small tree with just the mice on it - you can see the golfer, a Milwaukee Brewer, a jester, Santa, a railroad guy, and lots of others in this picture.   This tree creates quite an opportunity for our cat - she loves to bat at these and knock them off the tree.  Then if the dog picks it up to play with, the dog gets in trouble - it's a win-win for the cat!

The elves have been busy in Santa's workshop, too.  I've finished a few cosmetic bags for our guild gift exchange this Thursday.  This is a bag with a vinyl inset so that you can see what's in the bag.  I just love them, and I've even conquered my fear of zippers with these.  The pattern is "What's in Your Bag?" from Stitchin' Sisters.

A couple new ornaments are prepped for stitching.  When I was decorating our big tree, I pulled out an ornament I made in 2010.  I really like these ornaments, so I thought I would make a couple more to tie onto gifts this year.  These are a pattern from Primitive Gatherings.

And speaking of Primitive Gatherings, I finished the free pincushion from their Christmas Open House.  This is a Christmas gift for myself.  It was fun to make.

Thanks for dropping by my Christmas party!


   


9 comments:

  1. My cats won't leave the ornaments alone on our Christmas tree either.

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  2. What a great post! Loved seeing your Christmas decorations and the projects you have been working on! Well done!

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  3. Your Christmas mouse ornaments are a wonderful collection! Also loved the church-pew bench with the bears and friends. Christmas decorations and cats just seem to go together, don't you think?!

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  4. I love the mouse tree! What a clever idea!
    Merry Christmas!

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  5. I bought the pincushion pattern, too, Kathy, but you're waay ahead of me! I love your cosmetic bags, too. They're also on my list. So much to do...so little time!
    Hope you have a great week.
    xoxo from FL,
    Donna

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  6. Those mice are adorable. Your bags are super cute!

    A delightful post.

    Happy Holidays!

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  7. The mice theme that the church does over the years is such a good idea. They must have some loyal followers, like you, that look forward to what is new each year.

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  8. It's great to make yourself something once in awhile. I just finished a quilt for myself (and our family) and it felt so good. Merry Christmas to you!

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  9. The mice ornaments are a fun idea I've never seen before. Oh my do I love the "Pin" cushion, I wish now I had bought something to get the free stuff. I'm off to check out the clear zipper bags.

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