Sugar and Spice for the Holidays

The Mug Rug


"Sugar and Spice" is a bright and cheerful holiday mug rug filled with old fashioned goodness. I could almost smell the cinnamon and spices of gingerbread as I stitched it together.

The design was inspired by my grandson, David. Since David is our family holiday cookie monster, I chose his favorite holiday cookies and treats to display.  Gingerbread, frosted sugar cookies, cupcakes, candy canes, and just about any other candy that isn't filled with nuts, make him smile.

He grinned when I showed this little quilty to him. "You even decorated the cookies like the ones you make," he said.

The baking season will begin be upon us in no time! What are your family favorites?

Three Pines

I'm often asked, "Where do you get your ideas?" To be truthful, I don't usually know the origin of a design, but this particular mug rug has a story.

Three Pines Mug Rug

I love to read. I'll read just about anything, but mystery novels are usually my first choice. I particularly like books that are a series so I can follow the characters over time.

Book 1 in the Inspector Gamache series

Recently, I've been entranced by the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. The stories are set in a remote fictional hamlet named Three Pines. It's not too far from Quebec and is named for the three majestic pine trees that stand like sentinels over the small village. I've fallen in love with the eclectic group of residents, the setting, and the stories.

The "Three Pines" mug rug was inspired by those books. Log cabin blocks and pine trees fit perfectly together.

Wishing everyone a fabulous first weekend of October!

A Winter's Night

Sometimes I struggle for days or weeks to come up with a new pattern idea. Other times, the idea finds me and forces itself to be made. This mug rug pattern was one of those totally unexpected projects.

I ran into trouble with choosing a layout and a background fabric. Horizontal or vertical? Black or dark blue?

I asked my Facebook followers to help me decide between black and blue. I'm sorry ladies, but you weren't a whole lot of help. The votes were almost exactly even!

So, I did the only thing possible. I made two mug rugs. One is horizontal, the other vertical.
One has a blue background, the other uses black. 

Now to get on to other things!

Happy first week of Autumn!

Whew! The Village is Actually Finished!!

I am so excited to have this little wall hanging finished at last!

I can't ever remember having had so many delays in making one pattern. The fabrics were all collected and set aside in June, and the plan was to have everything ready to go no later than mid August. Then Murphy and his law came along and threw a hitch into every single step. During this past week, though, everything came together, and I found the time to settle in and really focus.

I truly love designing houses. I did my very best to make each of these totally unique and different from every other. Adding special details is my absolutely favorite part of my work. As a result, the village contains cats, pumpkins, a squirrel, a picket fence, a falling leaf, and even tiny button doorknobs. I can picture a toddler discovering and pointing out all of these little add ons.

The bobbin is a good indication of the size of the cats. I went very slowly sewing the blanket stitch when going around those little faces.

Next up, Christmas! 

Too many ideas and I'm already a month or more behind! 

Gotta go!