It's Snowing!! I Spy

The first two photos are some small quilts that are I Spy that I will take to Brazil with me. I try to sew them so that some of the blocks are upside down and the child will have to turn the quilt. These are 4x4 blocks so this is small. I think that I will back them with fleece but I want one of the ladies to embroider "Jesus Loves You" on the back. She has a machine to do that. I have one but I don't know how to use it. Just give me a straight stitch!!

I've been busy today and I guess I haven't looked outside and look what has showed up - SNOW!! I like to take photos of foot prints in the snow. More photos below

This is looking south out the front door on the porch. The snow is still coming down. More below!! This is looking straight out the front door and the building on the left is the church that I work at. Long commute? I love being so close and I now have a guy that cuts my hair, a dentist, restaurants (Dairy Queen and McDonald's) within walking distance. I don't use a full tank of gas in my van. I'm 4 blocks from downtown, two blocks from the library and Irwin Gardens. I bought a bike and need new tires. It was a used mountain bike and was such a good deal.

I wish I could show you what I've been working on but I can't as I think I want to enter it in a monthly contest on Stashbuilders when it's done. Lots of hand sewing.
We're in a Sewing Bee this week-end on Stashbuilders and I'm the SB Mama. I get to draw names for prizes. These sewing bees always seem to help me get more completed.

Hope everyone is having a good day!!!

Giveaway at Deravelled

I had to add a photo and this is a picture I picked up at the thrift store a month or so ago. Below is the give away info. Have a great day!!!!!!!!!

Deravelled is doing a give away on her Blog. Check it out http://deravelled.blogspot.com/

Plants

These are a couple of the plants I brought in this fall and they are in a south window and doing great. I have such a hard time letting all of my plants die back so I have them in front of this window and they wouldn't win a decorating prize but they make me happy. Speaking of happy - I do a swap every month on Stashbuilders for Happy Blocks and I made 20 today and have them ready to go out in the mail. I love happy blocks.! I've been doing some cleaning in my sewing area. You couldn't tell it but I can. It seems that the fabric reproduces and moves around when I'm not looking. Messy!! But then do I want to clean or do I want to create something. You all know the answer to that one!!!
I've still not felt up to par and I went back to the doc on Friday. They took about 8 vials of blood and will let me know what they found. Mono is a possibility because I'm so tired all of the time. Some nights when I'm home I've been going to bed at 6:00pm. Thursday I took the morning off and slept until 10 and would have slept longer except that phone kept ringing. But then no one would expect me to be in bed that late.
I hope that everyone is having a good year so far and it was snowing here. I like 70's weather. But we need to feel blessed that we are alive each day. I hope to have something interesting to talk about soon. Oh - I did stop at the thrift shop yesterday and bought one item. It's a good bargain so I will have to take a photo and post it soon.
Have a good week!!!!

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!!!!!