Christmas Gifts

I apologize for not posting on Christmas, but I worked Christmas Eve and it was a bit hectic and draining. By the time I got home Christmas Day my nerves were frazzled as I had to pick up my son at his Dad's and it had snowed overnight making the roads very slick. Then I came home we opened presents, I hopped in the shower, and started making my food to take to my sister's. I was exhausted and my fibromyalgia had flared up overnight due to the stress of the night before making it impossible to move as I hurt everywhere. I stayed at my sister's until about 7:30pm. I came home and my Rose delivered a HUGE bag of goodies to us. I'll share that in a minute. LOL. Anyway, so I will share today my awesome gifts.

First, these are the things I picked out for Steve to get me. Some even weave and linen for stitchin... a girl can't have to much of that you know. LOL. I also got 3 sizes of quilting squares for when I make my quilt... yea haven't started that yet. LOL. I also got pinking shears, which I already have them put away. He also got me a heating blanket for my bed since I complain I'm cold all the time.



Then he picked me up this quilt at the antique store. It appears it is made from old wool suits and then machine quilted then decorated with hand done feather stitches.






I forgot to show you what else I got that day of shopping, which wasn't for Christmas. I got these great fat quarters from Pat Catan's for $1.00 a piece. The first set is more colonial Americana... I just LOVE them....



Then I also picked up these blues and golds...



They also had a deal on there canvas pieces so I picked up a two pack and got to work... I just LOVE how they turned out. These will be for sale at the beginning of the year.



My parent's, for once, listened to what I wanted for Christmas. I always worry because they try to buy me clothes that I just plain don't like or wear. LOL. They got me gift certificates to Jo-Anne Fabrics, Pat Catan's, and my kids got me a Hobby Lobby gift certificate. I am soooooo set. LOL. My parents also gave me some money, which I think will go for my truck repairs I've been putting off.

Now I told you I bought some things for myself before Christmas. Well, as you'll remember I just LOVE textiles... Fabric, coverlets, quilts anything basically that has to do with textiles. Well, I LOVED this blue bedspread. It reminds me of a green coverlet I have.





My green one I already had.



Next I saw this wool blanket... It is rough. There are some holes and a dark stain
but I can fold it and hide most of it. LOL. Great for Christmas or an Americana theme don't you think?





Last but not least my very good friend Rose brought us a huge bag filled with baked goods and gifts. I am sorry to say but I can't show you pictures of the food because it is basically gone. LOL. Steve absolutely LOVES sweets. So needless to say GONE. LOL. We had cookies, chocolate drizzled caramel corn, chocolate covered cookies and pretzels, peppermint and cherry chocolate rolls(just like pumpkin rolls) anything you could ever dream of. LOL. I, however, got spoiled... she got me these great gifts. A wool Christmas tree, a candle mat and of course candle. I LOVE these candles. He makes awesome smelling ones.



So I really had a wonderful Christmas. I am hoping you did also. Now we sit back and look forward to a New Year with new friendships, good health, and people we love. I have thought of a few new resolutions which I will share later this week. So my friends until next time. Please stop back soon.

I Have the Spring Itch...

OK I do but I don't. If it were Spring I wouldn't be posting til later in the day because I would be outside. But since it's not and heck it isn't even Christmas I like the cold and snow because it forces me to stay inside and create. So yesterday I came home from work and was working on about 4 hours sleep and started crafting. OK, I was crafting in between laundry loads. LOL. Anyway, I had a ton of ideas for Spring. Normally I can't ever think of anything to make. I know the normal bunnies, eggs, and stuff for Easter. But that is very seasonal to me. I like things that can be transitional from Spring to Fall. So I began thinking of colors and items I would like in my home. BUT here's the catch I am creating them for you. The things I will be making will be for sale after the New Year. You will be happy to know I am using things I already have on hand and not buying anything new. Technically if you think about it these are unfinished projects because I bought the stuff with a craft in mind. LOL. I just LOVE rationalizing things in my brain.

Anyway, I will show you what I was working on yesterday... These are just sneak peeks because they are not done. You can only imagine what these might become by the first of the year.







I was in a robin egg blue stage yesterday. LOL





Don't see anything you like? Just wait... I have a ton of ideas that I think I'll have to write down or else I will probably forget. LOL. Well, back to work and spend time with Steve. Today is his Birthday. I will try to be back on Christmas as I have to work tomorrow. But just in case Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

A Gift and Some Finishes

Good Morning everyone! I have been so busy these past few weeks that I just need to slow down and post for you. Believe it or not I think about all of you who read blog and feel guilty when I don't post. LOL. I am hoping to do better after the holidays. I don't know about you, but Christmas basically snuck up on me. My son said the same thing. I am basically ready just need to wrap today while the kids are in school. Steve already wrapped my presents and put them under the tree. I already know what they are because he took me to Pat Catan's last week and let me pick out stuff I wanted. Nothing like getting crafting items for Christmas. LOL. At least I know I will like everything. I also bought him his presents while he was with me. He needed clothes so that's what he got. We normally have good luck at JcPenney for him because they have big and tall. Steve and I also went to a thrift store and antique store last week too. I bought myself some Christmas presents. Steve hasn't been working so I wasn't going to ask him to buy them for me. I'm not going to show you what I got until Christmas though. I want to surprise you. LOL.

I did, however, get a gift from a very dear friend of mine. This was such a surprise when the mailman brought the package to my door. Sheila made this for me. She has beautiful arrangements that she does. She was worried it wasn't prim enough. I LOVE it!!!! I put it in my kitchen so that I can see it all the time. She even scented it!!!! She also made 2 grubby candles for me too. Thanks again Sheila!



If you'll remember in my last post I told you that I was going to finish up projects that weren't done at the beginning of the year. Well, after doing some cleaning I started that early. I had 4 projects on my plate. First, I wanted to frame my finished sampler. Well, not only did I do that but Steve hung it for me. I am working on another sampler that I had to improvise. I used the wrong count fabric, so the saying didn't fit that was on the pattern. I improvised with a new one and still have a little ways to go on it.



My 2nd and 3rd projects were to bind my fall mini quilts. I did just that. Nothing like procrastinating right. Though according to one of my friends I am just ahead for next year. LOL. These will be listed on my selling blog at the first of the year.



Last but not least was to make another gameboard on a cupboard door we found in the trash. This stupid door has been sitting in my dining room for months. Steve and I could not get the Chinese checkerboard right so there it sat. I finally got a stencil from Folk Art From the Harbor so we could finish it up. Well, I started it and Steve took over. It is not done yet, but I thought I'd show you his progress. The stencil used in the corner I already had. I LOVE Becca's stencils. She is able to personalize stencils for you if you have something in particular in mind and she doesn't already have it.

Anyway...



Well, ladies let's see what I can get into today. I'd like to work on my sampler, but I know I have plenty more things that I need to do before Christmas. I start my new shift tomorrow with Stacie. We work Christmas eve so we are going to bring some food into work that night. So we will be eating and hopefully crafting that day. LOL. Thanks for stopping by today.

My Living Room for Christmas

I know this is a late post, but Steve and I went Christmas shopping today. We still aren't done, but we will be finishing up Friday. My kids really didn't say they wanted much. But every idea they had they gave to their grandparents. So here I am trying to figure out what they would like since the good ideas were already taken. I have to say I really am out of the loop of today's teenage fads. I don't know what a lot of the electronic thingys are. Steve and I went to Best Buy thinking we were going to buy my daughter a Kindle. OK for those who aren't sure what that is it is basically an electronic device that you can read books, newspapers, or whatever on. By the time you buy that you can add a little extra money and have a computer. OR just go to the freaking library and get the book or magazine and read it and take it back. Seriously, that would make my kid even more lazy if she didn't have to walk or ride her bike to the library. Needless to say we talked ourselves out of it. We came up with an even better idea. As much as I didn't want to do it I got her a cell phone. Now that she is involved with all the after school programs she needs rides home and will be able to call. The good part is I had an old phone that I reactivated for her so it was really cheap. This way she can prove that she is responsible and won't lose or break the phone. If all goes well I'll upgrade her phone.

Anyway, as I promised I took a few shots of my living room... Enjoy!!!!

Oh yeah... no laughing at the tree. Steve wouldn't take me to the tree farm on his parents property. I had to choose from a bunch of Charlie Brown trees. This is the best one I could find. The kids decorated the tree. You can see how bare it is because the needles kept pricking them and they gave up. LOL.























I need to hide the cord better...





My stitchery wall is taking shape...





I hope you had fun visiting our home for Christmas.

I have some other pictures I'm going to load on my Picturetrail soon. I'll let you know when I have them up and running.

My New Bed

Finally, after almost 14 years of just having a metal frame with no headboard or foot board I have a bed. If you'll remember awhile back I bought a twin black canopy bed at the thrift store. I bought it thinking we'd be able to make it into a queen bed. Well, we used parts of it as well as adding new parts. Steve and his cousin figured out how to make it into my queen bed. Remember, I showed you the quilt I'm going to make for it in my last post. So when you see this picture it is with the quilt I already had. I haven't decided how I want to decorate or what I want on the walls yet. Right now it is only a blank canvas. Oh and Steve painted the room. I know it looks blue, but it is actually gray but on the blue side. My room is now very tranquil and I LOVE being in it. I'm thinking blues and browns with red too for the color scheme. Anyway, here it is...



The picture I got from my friend Pam's Christmas sale at her house. It looks like it's embroidered, but it's just a print. I had to have it when I saw it.



I also got this tree from my sister, who got it from a girl at work. I think it is just awesome. It might actually stay up all year and get decorated for the season.



I am off today and tomorrow so I will try to get some pics of my living room for Christmas. I know I am moving so slow this year getting pictures posted. I am procrastinating terribly this year. I finally baked three types of Christmas cookies last Friday and just getting around to frosting them today. LOL. I am running laundry, balancing my checkbook, changing the bed, and running kids to appointments today too. Plus school was cancelled here do to wind chill factors of 10 below zero. It is just a bitter cold outside.

I have started thinking about New Year's resolutions already due to my procrastination issues. LOL. I have a ton of unfinished projects to finish up. I think that is what I will be doing first before I start anything new. The list just keeps getting longer and longer. I have been walking around in my basement looking at all these projects piling up. It is almost overwhelming to me. So I need to buckle down and start cleaning and finishing. I have also decided no more new fabric until I use some of what I already have. Then I found a whole bunch of patterns I bought and never made. I need to make them or get rid of them. I am not sure what else I will come up with, but I'm sure I will before the end of the year. LOL.

Well, I need to get busy and get moving. I think I heard the dryer buzz. Have a great day and stay warm if you too are in this terribly cold weather.

Quick Update...

I know many of you wait for me to post on my days off. I've been trying to get some things caught up around here and trying to get muster up the energy that has been zapped from me recently. So basically I've not been doing much crafting because I've been lazy. Though I did start yet another stitchery... I was too bored at work with nothing to keep my hands busy. In the few days I didn't take it with me I managed to bite and pick at my cuticles and nails to the point that both of thumbs were cracked bleeding and sore. Bet you didn't know that about me did ya? lol. So if any of you have a sure fire way to make me quit biting my nails I'd LOVE to hear from you. I've tried it all.

In other news... I got a new position at work where I will be working with my prim friend Stacie. YYAAHHOOO!!!! We will both be working 24 hour shift twice a week. I will be working about 15 minutes from home and I will be able to craft with Stacie in our down time. I will also be gaining 12 hours of overtime every two weeks on my paycheck. Then every few weeks I will get 5 days off in a row. Think about it working 2 days a week and having 5 days off theoretically. Think about all the craft projects I could get done. LOL. This is the same job I had in August that was then taken away. I held out and I hit the jackpot being able to work with Stacie. We will be known as the broad squad. LOL. My first shift will be December 21.

Let's see... back to my laziness. I have decorated for Christmas though I didn't go all out like I have in years past. So let's just pretend that I've simplified my decorating and I'm not just lazy. LOL. I snapped a few pics of my dining room and will take pics of the living room next week and try to get them posted.























I work all weekend, but Steve will be painting my bedroom and setting up my pencil post canopy bed that he made. Girls I am so excited!!!! He thinks I need to make the actual canopy and drapes to go around my bed. Seriously, I'm thinking about it because the thought is for those drapes to be closed at night so that it stays warm in your bed. Let me tell you my bedroom is so stinking cold. The bed is going on my outside wall which has no insulation in it. I'll keep you posted on that. I have also been doing a little research on the computer and have found the perfect quilt I want to make to go on my bed. Click HERE and you can see it. It seems easy enough, but we will see. LOL. What I wanted to find out was the common types of quilts made in the Civil War era. Many of them were basic nine patch and I can handle that.

Today I did find some energy. I went grocery shopping today. Came home and Steve helped me make 3 kinds of cookies. Then we cleared out my bedroom and he patched holes in the walls. I can't wait to show you the progress next week. So stayed tuned!!!