Happy New Year

Photos of the girls on Christmas morning.

Happy New Year and as my friend Molly said as we toasted last night - "I'm glad 2008 is gone." When we read the papers it seems that it will only get worse before it gets better. I think that we will have a great 2009 and if we need to tighten our belts then we can. At least I hope!!

I don't know about others but I don't drive a block like I used to. I think that we can learn a lot from our sisters in Europe that have always been smart about walking or taking public transportation. I've changed where I go to the dentist and getting my hair cut. I can walk to both places. I walked to get my hair cut at 5:30am this morning!! I can't believe that I did this but he's going away for three weeks and he said he'd fit me in at 5:30am this morning and I walked over there. But he knows how to cut my hair and he's reasonable!! Of course I came home and went back to bed but he has a full schedule today.

Today one of our pastors and his wife are going away for a couple of days and I'll go and stay at their house with the two boys and three dogs. The boys are great and it should be fun as they have a Wii! I've never played this and so I'm looking forward to that and I want to take my granddaughters over since they have never played it before. Okay I have to go as I want to do some cleaning this morning. Ugh!

Have a great day!

New Treasures Found Chicken/Rooster Picture

This is my latest find about a week ago. I found this at one of my favorite places and this is such a unique piece. It's all hand done - someone has painted the background and the feet and faces on these guys but has been meticulous in using tiny feathers to put each one together. My favorite is the one that is lying down. I just think this is such a great piece. This is in an old frame under glass and even the paper on the back is old. I'm sure that whoever priced it did not realize that there could be value to it. But maybe the value is all in my mind but I don't think so. I paid $2.00 for this and I still can't believe that no one saw the artistic value of this. I also purchased some other pictures the same day. I'll put them on later.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you were able to be with loved ones. I came down ill on Christmas day as did my daughter. I went over at 7am to watch the girls open gifts and in two hours I was getting worse and worse. I came home went to bed and basically was in bed for two and a half days. I did go to the doctor and this bacterial sinus stuff does not work with drugs like amoxcillin (sp?) so he put me on a stronger antibiotic and today I'm better but not 100%. My daughter also went to the doctor the same morning and has the stronger antibiotic. She is doing some better but she hasn't been able to rest as much as I have.

The girls had a good Christmas and they each received the American Doll that they wanted with stuff. I felt bad that on this big day we couldn't be with them as much as we usually are. But they are good sports and played a lot and their dad took care of them so their mom could take a nap.

The weather has been so strange here. It was in the high 60's yesterday and rainy. There was talk about breaking a high temp record from the early 1900's but I don't know if it happened. I didn't leave the house but I did stick my head out the door. By the time I get better it will be waay too cold for me.

I'm trying to putter around a little but then I get to feeling weak and head achy. I guess I'll say so long for today. Maybe more tomorrow.

Christmas Handmade Part II

Ok - the story is that each week I take the girl's a few gifts. I did that today and I had two complete outfits and two tops each from Old Navy, a craft paint by number, a webkinz figurine, the vests and these things. The first is a scarf that I made each of them with one side the fur and the other fleece (I will give them the matching ones for the American Dolls on Christmas Day), then I had made each of them these marker rolls. I made them different than what I have seen as I made a pocket for a little note book and for the larger markers. They LOVED these!! They rearranged the markers so that they were in the order of their favorites to least, they would write in their little notebooks and then they would put it all away. Then out it would come again and I asked if they would like crayon rolls and Josie said yes but that I would need to make the slots a different size for the crayons. Could it be a future sewer/quilter? They don't know and I will wait until after Christmas but I have small sewing machines for them. Not children's but real machines. I bought them on a clearance aisle a few years ago and now we can use them. Needless to say - it's not the money but what interests the child that gets them. They love the vests but said they would only wear them for special as they were afraid they would get them dirty. It does warm a grandmothers heart.

I have a crazy idea that I'm thinking about but I want to think on it for a few days. I have a large living room (14.5' W x 26' L) and I use the dining room for my sewing room. I'm thinking about my living room as my sewing room and the dining room as my living room. I don't sit around anyway and the dining room has a fantastic view of the neighborhood when I do. I would have room in the living room for two 6' tables to be side by side and become a great work space. I don't have a lot of company as I'm not home much and if I have company it's people that I know. I just feel very energized about this idea and see that it could work well for me. I'd also be warmer as the dining room is freezing! I'll let you know how this goes and nothing will happen until after Christmas. Any opinions?????

Homemade Christmas Gifts

In the last two days I have spent at least 12 hours on what was going to start out as simple vests for my granddaughters into a creating frenzy. The blue vest is for Josie and I added her name, and pockets then I decided that a collage of the fabric would be cute on the back so then I went on and used some fabric paint with a brush. Then I remembered that I had purchased a button maker so I made a button (that was fund once I got the hang of it) and then last I had some scraps and made mittens. You can see by the thumbs that fabric was short but who cares. It's a designer mitten! LOL
For Kat's vest I did the exact thing with some differences and her button was the first one I made and it isn't as good as Josie's. But when I get some more of those thingys I can make more buttons.
I have been giving them gifts every week since Christmas Day is crazy. This was they will enjoy gifts before Santa comes. I heard from an elf that each are getting American Dolls. I did make the girls and their new dolls scarfs with fleece on one side and white curly fur on the other. It's always nice to match your doll. Oh! I need to take more photos as I made them crayon rolls but I made mine to fit markers and a small note book. I'll get that done and I'll take some photos of the scarfs. Gotta Go!! Have a great day or evening!!!!!

Does anyone know where I can find this fabric

I have been going through plastic bags where I have done swaps in the past. I came across this fabric and there were two pieces to make an fq. I LOVE this "Mermaid Kitty" and I would love to have more. Has anyone ever seen this or have some? I'm willing to pay a reasonable price as my granddaughter loves Mermaids!! I made her a pillow out of this but wouldn't it be great if I could make her something larger? I know she would love a dress out of this. Please e-mail me if you have any info even if you don't read this for a year. The baggie had a nice note about this being vintage fabric but not who mailed it to me. Thanks Judy

Mitten's I sent out

When I made the mittens I was sending I did a theme. The first one is a batik mitten with 4 batik fq's, a finger pin cushion, a scented sachet with lavender and one with mint, a spool of thread, I think a pair of earrings I made and I made the snowflake pin from a Christmas ornament, I think that is all of this one.

Of course there would have to be a black and white theme!! I sent b&w fabric, a mint or lavender sachet, a finger pin cushion, black thread and I think that was it. I sent these off about a month ago and I've worked on a lot of projects since then. Oh!! The b&w flower pin was made by me. I had a lot of fun making pins and jewelry this year. I'd never done that before.

I did go to the doctor this morning and I have a sinus infection. Antibiotics are in my system and working. Hope everyone is having a good day or evening. I'm going to bed tonight as tomorrow is usually a 12-13 hour day!!

Mittens in the Mail Today!!

Just taking a little time to share what I received today in the mail. These are mittens from the Stashbuilder (Yahoo) Group swap. The photos do not show the colors well. The swap rules were that we would make a mitten and then stuff it with 1/2 yard fabric and other surprises.

This didn't show up well in the photo of all the items and I wanted you to be able to see how cute this is. I'm going to uses this as a pattern and make some.

The second stocking! Just want to say thank you to Veronica C and Judy S!!!!!!

Not expecting anymore gifts in the mail so what a let down it will be tomorrow. The gas company will probably send me the monthly bill!! :( I like good stuff like today!!!

Installment II will be coming up soon plus I went back and bought more fabric!! Going to the doctor in the morning as I've been ill for over 10 days. I'm over it!!