Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I was feeling in a festive mood and took a little trip to the neighborhood famous for its "tree ball" displays.  Capturing a good picture of it has always eluded me, but maybe the top picture, taken on approach to the neighborhood, gives an idea of the wonders to come.

Also, I finally found candles to fit this decoration we inherited from John's mother.  I don't know if it's really old or not.

I thought the candles were supposed to make the vanes turn and rotate some of the figures within, but that didn't happen.  Hmm, let them burn longer before giving up? A little WD40 on the axle? Hmm.

Still, pretty to look at, and I'm happy.

Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Happy Holidays to you all.

Dragonfly Quilt Square

Here's another quilt square for next year's Palmetto fundraiser.  These squares are smaller than the ones we had for previous quilts, and Georgia said it's OK to work across the lines.

The orange dragonfly in the center stripe is from Karey Solomon's "Flutter Home," except I made the tail a little shorter and used picots instead of beads. The other orange one is a variation with a SCMR for the body.

The purple dragonfly is from Patricia Rizzo's "The Gentle Art of Tatting Things We Love." Her example looks more airy than mine, so maybe my tension is tighter than hers.  The blue one is Sharren Morgan's Flag-Tailed Dragonfly" from the Palmetto 2010 pattern CD.  And the blue and purple one is sort of a mash-up of those two patterns.

I had fun choosing the colors.  Stay posted for more squares.

Jane's New Heart

This is Jane's heart pattern, entitled "My Heart is in Canada."  I was lucky to attend Jane's class at the Fringe Element's conference this fall.  The class had a great time working the pattern together.  I think I even finished during class time.

For everyone else, she has generously posted the pattern online. Click HERE for a link to her pattern pages. From there click on Hearts and you will see this one and lots more.