Drum Roll Please....

Hey Everyone!

THANK YOU * THANK YOU * THANK YOU 

for touching my heart with all your kind words.. YOU are all so INSPIRING!

Your comments were ALL amazing!  

So amazing.... that there was no way to choose... 

so here are the random winners!!!!  

{NO worries, there will be many more opportunities to win 

as we hope to make giveaways a VERY FREQUENT thing on the blog!} 

The 19 WINNERS are:

Quilt n Queen

Gayle

Chantal

Lynda

Debra @ Life is a Stitch

the woolen cellar

Liesbeth Wessels

Gwen

~Kathleen

jackiero

Karen

Quilter Kim

Ellen S

paulette

Kathy B.

terryatwood

Bridgidk

Beckyjean

Trish

To each of the winners... Please email me at swest@buttermilkbasin.com your physical mailing address so I can mail out your darling little wool kits!  In the TITLE please put SNOWMAN KIT to help make it a little easier for me as we get a ton of emails and I don't want to overlook any of you!

Kits will be sent off later this week as I am taking a few days off to recover from my illness - in hopes to get better in time to spend Christmas with friends and family!  Maybe I'll post a little more since I will be laying low!!!  :-)

Merry Christmas to ALL!!  Stacy

2010 Cookie Swap

Hey Everyone!  

Since we are all in the Holiday Spirit from our Blog Hop... I thought I would share with you some pictures of my annual cookie swap that was held today...  It was suppose to be yesterday but the 17 inches of snow (which caused our Metrodome to collapse) made things a little interesting...  

Each year I gather some of my most dear friends and have them over to my home (this year) or we gather at the studio.  Each gal rsvp's her recipe to avoid dups.  Then we each bring 6 cookies for each person that attends.  We each bring one extra set to donate to someone close who is going through a trying time.  This year our set will be heading all the way out to CA!  I can not wait to hear the response, as it is always a BIG surprise for the receiver!  

I didn't get photos of everything (didn't even get of my amazing display of yummy food!) but this should give you a little bit of an idea of what we do... See if you can guess the winner of the Most Creative Packaging?  (Oh yes - Prizes are a MUST!!)  Enjoy!

Centerpiece for the Tablescape of Food

Centerpiece of Table

Flowers in Vase for Bathroom

Little bowl of Candy everywhere...

Paula Dean's Line of Holiday Paperware for this year!

One of the Desserts...

Center of Dessert...

One of the MANY trays of cookies for sampling!

First Packed cookies... more below!

More Free Kits!

Hey Everyone!

The response so far has been overwhelming from our blog hop wrap up...For those of you who have not read the final post from today, please scroll down as it is right after this little add on!

Thank you ALL so much... 

I am going to offer more kits available in the drawing as 13 is no where near enough for all these amazing comments!  I will wait to see how many comment and add what I feel is needed to help make your Holidays a little Merrier!  

You GALS are just the BEST!!!  :-)

PS* Stay tuned... I will be posting pictures of my Annual COOKIE SWAP that will be held this weekend! Maybe if you are lucky ~ I will post a couple more de~lish cookie recipes from the cookie swap!  

Stacy

Welcome Everyone to the Final Day of our

Quilt Designer Holiday Blog Hop!  

HO HO HO!  I am super excited to be wrapping up the hop today!  However, it is sad to see the hop come to and end.  But before I wrap it up... I'm going to share with each of you my project and Kid tested, mommy approved yummy cookie recipe and share some Holiday Cheer with each of you!

Our Twelfth Designer is 

Stacy West

• Hometown * Mounds View, MN

Welcome to the final day of the Home for the Holidays Quilt Designer Blog Hop!  On behalf of the other amazing designers and myself, we would like to thank you so much for taking time out of your days to stop by and visit each of our blogs.  Your comments, support and enthusiasm has been simply amazing!  We truly have the best customers & readers!  You all make our days MERRY & BRIGHT!

Before I begin, I would also like to personally thank each of the designers for making this happen.  Your posts, projects & cookie recipes were perfect!  It has been a great ride and it has been a great honor to have worked with each of you!

On to my post....

Happy Holidays 
from Buttermilk Basin!

This is by far my fav cookie recipe!  Everyone will love them!

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of the year!  I love everything about it!  I love the holly, the mistletoe and especially the memories of Christmas' past.  Growing up with generations of family in the same yard was an amazing experience ~ one I will always treasure and never forget!  No gift can compare to the memories that were created with family & friends when hanging the tinsel on the tree, baking cookies or helping grandma bake svensakaka!  

 As a little girl, I would go and visit Santa at the hockey arena (Can you tell I grew up in Hockey Town - Roseau? :-) and then head on over to see a free movie at the "show hall".  The whole town would be hustling and bustling in Holiday Joy!  Shortly to follow, came the annual Sunday School Christmas program at church where we would put on a the traditional play and sing joyous carols.  I always remember receiving a red apple after the program.  Then Christmas Eve brought my mom's side of the family gathering at our home.  We had traditional turkey dinner with all the works including lefsa, flat bread, svensakaka, herring, and of course, Knox blocks in Holiday colors!  After we were stuffed and dishes were washed (& hand dried) we would open presents!  That was just the best besides waking up to the array of presents that Santa would bring on his sleigh!  I will never forget the sleigh and reindeer tracks that I seen one Christmas Day...  Oh, the wonder....  Then it was off to grandma and grandpa's on Christmas Day to spend with the cousins.  Grandpa Fred would always fill plain brown bags up with nuts, an apple, and those yummy chocolate drops!  I still remember how the salt would blend into the chocolate drop...  Those days were good days filled with lots of joy and laughter and memories that linger still today!


Now, we are enjoying creating new memories and establishing new traditions with our two little girls... Hannah and Grace and their grandparents!  We hope that one day, they will look back and be filled with the same Holiday Joy that we once experienced as a child growing up with Christmas all Around!!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Love any Vintage Ice Skates!

Could not pass this up... Only $10

My new Santa... The older they get the orang-er the coat!

Vintage music sheets are so fun!  

As our GIFT to you 
for following our hop ~ 
We will be giving away 
a "bakers dozen" of kits 
for our Snowman Mitten pattern below.  
Please leave a comment and we will pick 13 lucky winners to send a kit to you just in time for the Holidays! Post now through Sunday Midnight.

Simply click the design and it will go to the original size for you to print off!

Snowman Mitten by Buttermilk Basin

Make this snowman mitten into a gift by simply filling it with a packet of hot cocoa and a candy cane stirring stick!  Or make it for a party favor for your holiday guests!  It will be hard to make just one!

Supplies Needed:

Fat 1/8th of red textured wool * Scraps of green, gold, cream and black wools

Coordinating floss to match wool selection

2 large black seed beads

1 small red sequin & 1 large red seed bead

(2) 1/4 inch brown buttons

(1) 1/2 inch tan button

Fusible webbing * (I prefer Lite Steam a Seam)

Instructions:

*Please note pattern is reversed for ease in using the fusible webbing!

1. Trace each design piece (except for the mittens) onto fusible web.  

You will not need to trace the mittens - simply cut a front and a back mitten out of red textured wool. 

2. Remove paper and place fusible pieces onto corresponding wools. Cut each piece out. Remove paper, & position all pieces in place on front of mitten only.  Next, iron applique' shapes onto front of mitten using the template as your guide.  

3. Blanket stitch all appliqués using 2 strands of coordinating floss.

4. Sew two black seed beads on for eyes * sequin and red seed bead on for holly * two brown buttons on body of snowman

5. Use 3 strands of cream floss to make french knots for snow

6. Use 3 strands of black floss to make french knots for mouth on snowman

7.  Place the front and the backside of mitten together and blanket stitch together using 3 strands of coordinating floss.  * Remember to leave the top open to stuff mitten full of goodies!

8. Sew hanger on by attaching a button to secure.  Enjoy!

Copyright 2010 * Buttermilk Basin

Thanks again and please check back often as we have many new and exciting things planned for the New Year! 

Welcome Everyone to Day 11 of the 

Quilt Designer Holiday Blog Hop!  

We are down to the final two...  It is hard to believe Friday is the last "hop" day! I will try to make it a good post!  But in the meantime - I need to introduce to you our next hopper!!!  I'm a little under the weather when I write this, so please bear with me!

Our eleventh Designer is 

Debbie Busby from 

• Wooden Spool Designs
• Hometown * Troutdale, Oregon 

Day eleven brings us to the most beautiful warm hearted gal you will ever meet... Debbie Busby.  Debbie was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She currently lives in Troutdale Oregon just at the start of the Columbia River Gorge.  She is hands down the kindest gal I have ever been fortunate to meet.  Never once have I seen her without a warm welcome and a big smile on her face.  She truly is a blessing and an inspiration to us all!

I will never forget the first time I had a booth next to Debbie.  We were in MN and our booths were back to back.  I am a little bit of a "rocker" girl so I had the Ipod on (respectfully) and we were setting up our booth and the next thing I knew... is that Debbie's husband came around the corner or peaked through the curtains and asked if I had any Faith Hill or country on that play list!  I didn't know whether I had upset him or... what?  Needless to say, that was him being funny!  I wonder if Debbie even remembers that now that I am writing this!?!

Debbie has also been designing for many years.  Over the course of her amazing career, she has created numerous darling 3 dimensional patterns, dabbled in stitching & fell in love with wool!  Not only does she love to design in wool, she also hand dyes some pretty cool wool.  Her wool has been quite a hit!  So much that she can hardly keep it in stock.  You will have to go check out her website for her yummy wool!  

I think it's also so neat how many of us, like I mentioned in another post - find inspiration from our ancestors.  It's like we all are kindred spirits...  Two years ago her great aunt passed away on December 3rd at 101 years of age.  My great grandmother Lily, also lived to be almost 101.   They both were amazing women.  Here is a little tidbit from her blog... You will have to head on over there to read the rest of it!  Don't forget to check out her project and recipe!  :-)

My first memories of seeing a quilt came from visits to my Aunt Kaddie's house. She was always working on a quilt and when she wasn't there was always one hanging up at the ceiling on a large wooden frame connected to large hooks with rope. I am blessed to have a quilt that she made for me when I was a little girl. A pink and purple hand appliqued butterfly quilt.

Debbie's Great Aunt, Kathleen Mendenhall Yeoman 

I remember her hands in great detail!! She had large hands....they were rough due to the amount of work she had done in her lifetime. She was a single woman who worked, gardened, raised more than her share of kids, canned and did anything else that needed to be done. She rented out rooms in her large old house to single men and did their cooking and laundry for them. I remember she always had tape on her fingers..........from all the quilting.....she wore the tape in place of thimbles.  She loved God and singing hymns. * From Debbie's Blog...

Welcome Everyone to Day 10 of the 

Quilt Designer Holiday Blog Hop!  

It can not be day 10 of the hop already... I am so sad it is coming to an end!!  (Must mean we need to plan another hop after the Holidays, huh? :-)  Did you all go and print off Jan's adorable project?!?  She had such a fun post too!  You gals better start a booklet of all these amazing projects - I better too!!!  We are still waiting on Lisa's revise recipe card, no worries.. it will be posted!  So thanks for your patience!!! 

Our tenth Designer is 

Tara Lynn Darr from 

• Sew Unique Creations
• Hometown * Joliet, Illinois

Today is Tara's BIG day!  I have been fortunate to have a sneak peek of the project!  It is soo cute and will be prefect to keep out all winter long!  

Tara started her company, Sew Unique Creations, in 1997 after the birth of her son.  Since then, she has created many lovely quilt patterns, published 3 books and has lots of new fun things coming up in the New Year!  (Can't wait!!)

Not only is Tara a pattern designer and quilter - she is a HUGE fabric lover and has a great eye for color!  (Wouldn't you love to see her stash???)  I have seen how much this girl brings to the shows - it's almost scary!!!   It has really been exciting to watch her grow over the years as a designer of small craft projects, to becoming a nationally known quilt designer!  Now this girl can't get enough of quilting!  Not only does she machine piece and quilt, she also hand pieces and hand quilts (Amazing!!) and enjoys dabbling in hand applique!   It's hard to imagine she learned to quilt on her own through trial and error.  Luckily, she had inspiration and determination!  Just like me, she was inspired by her grandma and aunt.  I hope they have enjoyed watching her pastime turn into a successful career! 

Tara, like Tracy and I, manage to do all this while raising our family.  Tara has two children and has been married to an amazing & supportive guy for 13 years!   She also has one dog and two cats!!  And to top it all off... Tara ROCKS and somehow finds time to design while managing to run her business completely by herself!  And yes, that means traveling solo across the states to bring you some of the most amazing designs and fabrics available!  So each time you see her at a show (and others) keep in mind how much it takes of a person to actually vend at a show.  Tara not only gives 110% into her company, she pours her heart and soul into making it the best it can be for each of of us!  So head on over, check out her project and check out all the yummy fabrics and patterns she has!  

You won't be disappointed!