Merry New Year!

My last cross stitch finish of the year! Merry New Year by The Stitcherhood. Going to sew it tomorrow into a hanging pillow.

Feeling a little less crafty today

I was doing a quick check of the blogs I follow and I'm feeling less crafty and creative than many of my fellow friends. Their blogs are beautiful, their talent amazing...things I aspire to. Oh well, maybe one day!

Afternoon biscuits

My older daughter and I enjoy these hot biscuits as a snack. It makes for a lovely break in the afternoon.

1 cup bisquick or other pancake mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 chedder cheese

Mix together and bake for 10 minutes at 450degrees. Drizzle melted butter mixed with garlic powder on hot biscuits. Daughter prefers them plain with applesauce. Makes 4 nice sized biscuits

Enjoy!

Going to change my blog a little

I'm going to change the direction of my blog a little. Not only will I talk about crafting, but being a home-maker. Today something came to my mind that I wanted to share, but didn't feel that it was "crafty", so I did, for a moment consider starting another blog, but decided that there is no reason it can't be included here. So stay tuned for more posts!

Lots of pears!

Here are a bunch of finished pears! Now I just need to finish all the partridges.



This is what they look like in their box ready to wrap.

It's going to snow!

Tomorrow the forcast is for lots and lots of snow here in PA! I'm so excited! The girls and I are going to bake cookies, drink cocoa, and watch the snow fall. Tonight I'm hoping to finish a few more partridges and hopefully have them all finished by Monday so they will all be out in the mail!

Hugs!

More projects I want to do!

Oh I love reading other people's blogs, but it does get me into trouble :-) While looking at a blog today I saw this beautiful pinecone ornament. Well I couldn't resist, I did a google search and found a pattern. Now the picture in the pattern doesn't do the pattern justice, because the picture I saw was beautiful!

http://www.readersdigest.ca/christmas/decoration/ribbon_pinecone.html

I'm going to give it a try after the holidays are over and I have a little time to myself.

A gift for Jaslyn

I really like to give personalized gifts, so I put a "J" on this one for her name. I think I will do this for all the children's mittens.

A partridge and a pear

Time hasn't been on my side. I'm very behind on Christmas gifts, but I'm trying! Since the fabric pear takes me longer, I decided to make some felt pears....here is my first one....It needs something, but I'm just not sure what yet.

It's a mitten

I'm going to make these for the children we are gifting to. I'm going to put a small candy cane in each one. I designed this pattern and this is my first try at it, so I'm going to make a few adjustments to the next one!

More partridges!

Here are three more....

First full sized partridge

Here is my first full sized partridge ornament that I gave away today as a gift. You can't see the feather too well in this picture, but it is there.



I finished a second one today...I will take a picture and post that when I have a stack finished.

And a partridge in a Pear tree.....

Here is my first attempt at a new pear pattern!



And here are the fabrics that I'm going to use to make more pears....

A pear

I'm going to attempt a new pear pattern and see if I can get a good looking pear to go with the partridges! I have blanket stitched the wings onto 12 partridges so far, just 6 more to go before I have to cut out more! The 18 partridges will finish into 9 partridges.....they are the same on both sides. After I'm done blanket stitching the wings I will add a flower, a button, and maybe a leaf to each wing tip, and a feather on top before stitching the partridge together. Hopefully I will have some completed projects to share with you soon!

My current project

I have decided to go with the larger Partridge pattern instead of the baby one. So here the start of 9 more Partridge ornaments. I believe I need to make 15 total and then 15 pears to go with it. It is much more time consuming then I would have thought, but they are too cute not to make. Hope my family enjoys them!

And a partridge in a pear tree

Started and finished this tonight. I also have a pear pattern that I'm going to try out. I'm going to give the ornament pair as a Christmas gift.

Well I tried

I wanted to make some Pears to go with my centerpiece for tomorrow. I created my own pattern and sewed it up.

If only I was this talented

I found a great pattern today that I would love to make, but my crocheting talent just isn't there. http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Seasonal/LC1901+Baby+Partridge+Pear.htm Oh how I would love to hang this on my tree!

Pincushions!

Found this great website tonight full of free pincushion patterns! http://tipnut.com/22-free-pincushion-patterns/

Pictures of my thrift shop find!

The quick stitch ones that I will probably do for Emma


The more detailed 12 Days of Christmas


Cover of the book!

Little find at the thrift shop today!

Today we stopped by the thrift shop after Mass today (still looking for warm PJs for the girls!) and I found a Better Homes and Gardens Christmas book with the cutest Christmas cross stitch patterns in it! It has two great patterns for the 12 days of Christmas. One is a quick stitch pattern and the other will take just a little more effort. Emma and I have been singing the 12 Days of Christmas for a week now, so I'm going to stitch them up as part of her Christmas gift.

Cool giveaway!

My sunshines

I always call my girls, my little sunshines, which is why the sunshine cross stitch pattern was so great. I have decided how I'm going to finish it. I'm going to use this pattern http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34365896&ref=sr_gallery_1&&ga_search_query=sunflower+paper+pieced&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=date_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title (I just love this designer and this pattern) around the cross stitch pattern and turn it into a wall hanging. It might take a little longer than I had hoped, but I think this is going to look great when finished! I'm just going to use the sunflower "head" without the stem and leaves. So the sunflower itself is a 6" block, I'm thinking 3 across and 4 down, but I will need to measure the cross stitch piece first to see how many sunflowers will fit. Hopefully I can have them both finished by Christmas to use as gifts for my sunshines!

My Christmas Projects to finish

Not really Christmasy, but I want to finish these for the girls for Christmas. I stitched them in 2004.

Christmas tree that I stitched 2 over 2 instead of 1 over 1, so it is too big too. This will be a wall hanging.

Stitched this for Emma, my little ballerina, in 2007. It is a little too large to be an ornament, so I will have to think about how I want to finish this.

I stitched this last year as a stitch-a-long with a friend from LAS message board. This will be an ornament.

Emma use to love Cookie Monster, so I made this for her when she was 3 (she is 9 now).

The project from underneath is showing through this one. This will be an ornament. We like dragons at our house!

Maybe a bellpull? I stitched this last year I believe. I just noticed I forgot to add the year and my initals to this one.

This is for Bree. It is also too large to be an ornament, so maybe a door knob pillow.

Stitched this for Emma last year. It will be finished into an ornament.

I stitched this last year. It is on pretty sparkly fabric! This might be a door knob hanger instead of an ornament.

Too big to be an ornament....maybe a pillow?

Not really a Christmas ornament, but I want to finish this for Emma. I stitched it for her in 2004. Since she could talk she has had an interest in the Moon, so she and I have always shared this little poem. I'm thinking about making it into a door hanger.

Stitched for Bree in 2005. This is a Pokemon that she liked at the time.

Stitched for my hubby in 2001, he is from New Hampshire and this is their state motto.

Snowman stitched in 2003, needs a nose and to be finished into an ornament.

Christmas Ornament Challenge

I went through my drawer of pieces that I have stitched, but never finished. I found a stack of Christmas Ornaments. I pulled them all out and I will take a picture and post them here. My goal....finish them all into ornaments or wall hangings by Christmas. Who wants to join me? Pull out all your Christmas projects that haven't been finished and make it your goal to finish them by Christmas! Take a picture of your projects, post the link to your blog under comments and let's see how many we can finish!

Cute project

All my projects are made from materials I already have here, so I'm not sure we will be able to do these, but aren't they cute!

http://familyfun.go.com/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-kids-table-fun/thanksgiving-table-decorations/button-indian-corn-napkin-rings-669427/

My creative little girl

Today we were without water because it was shut off for construction across the street. It came back on at 4. But while it was off we went out for the afternoon so we had access to a bathroom that worked! One of our stops was the thrift shop. I was hoping to find some warm PJs for the girls, but no luck there. Emma, however, had two finds....both are Christmas decorations that she had a vision for. One was a sleigh and the other a small tree. When she arrived home she found ribbon and using her Barbie horse made a horse-drawn sleigh for her Barbies, she then attached the tree to the back so the Barbies could take it home for Christmas!

Finished ornaments

Cinnamon ornaments

Well Emma and I had a great time making cinnamon ornaments. We were laughing and playing in the "dough". What a wonderful smelling mess we made! They are now in the oven "drying". The recipe is a little more expensive than I thought it would be (2 bottles of cinnamon at $2.20 a bottle), so I'm not sure how many more of these we will make, but I'm thrilled with the smell and fun we had!

Cinnamon Ornaments!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the smell! I love the crisp air, the distant smoke from a fireplace, the leaves, the warm smells of home and cinnamon! I just cinnamon! A friend of mine made cinnamon ornaments last year and they were wonderful. I found this recipe today to make some of my own. http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Other/Cinnamon-Ornaments.aspx

As soon as my younger daughter is healthy again, I think I'm going to whip some of these up!

Eye comfort

Today I decided to give making a "Soothing Eye Mask" a try. I used some scrap fabric and rice from my cabinet. I'm going to make a few adjustments for the next one. I think I'm going to make an inner pouch to hold the rice because it was very hard to sew the outline with the rice inside. I'm pleased with the size, shape, and how it feels.

This pattern can be found at http://www.artisticthreaddesigns.blogspot.com/

People have talent!

There is an amazing amount of talent in the world! Boy do I feel very untalented in comparison. Thankfully these wonderfully talented people are willing to share with the rest of us!

While searching for Christmas gift ideas I found this quick, cute headscarf pattern....

http://jchandmade.typepad.com/jc_handmade/2009/07/make-it-5minute-hairkerchief.html

Oh I hate being sick!

First it was the flu and now I'm struggling to get over pneumonia. I haven't had the energy to work on anything, but my mind has been at work thinking of some ideas. I have a friend that has been very stressed lately. I want to make her a small thoughtful gift. I was thinking about one of those eye things that you put into the microwave to make it warm and then place over your eyes to relax. After a little online research I found that not only can I use rice to fill the eye "pouch", but I can add mint or lavender. I have mint growing in my garden....I will have to go out tomorrow to see if any is still there!

With the holidays fast approaching I have been thinking about gifts. Last year we did an entirely hand-made Christmas, which was beautiful, but very time consuming. I would really like to have a hand-made Christmas again this year, but I will have to think of "quicker" projects so they can all be finished on time. Last year I did quilted Christmas ball ornaments and cross stitched ornaments for extended family and friends. For my husband I made a quilt (sadly didn't finish the quilting on it in time), doll clothes for my younger daughter, and a quilted wall hanging for my older daughter. For smaller gifts I made dishcloth angels.....I first knit 2 dishclothes and then attached them together to form an angel. By simply untying them the person who received them can use the two dishclothes and the Tupperware measuring spoons that make the angel's face.

Here is a picture of one of the quilted Christmas balls before the bow was put on top and a picture of the dishcloth angels.

New hardware!!!!

A very sweet online friend of mine, Lynne, ordered new bellpull hardware for my Sense and Sensibility piece. This hardware is so much more fitting for this piece. The hardware arrived today and I was so excited that I swapped out the hardware and hung it up right away! I'm thinking about saving up and ordering a few more sets of this hardware for all my Jane Austen pieces. Thank you Lynne! Huge hugs!

Adore Autumn

As we are in the final full month of Autumn I felt inspired to work on this quick piece. I started it around midnight and finished around 3 this morning. I'm not sure yet how I will finish it, but I'm considering a door pillow. This piece is called "Adore Autumn" by Trail Creek Farm. It was made into a kit by "The Strawberry Sampler" that was given to me by a friend of my mother's a few years ago. I really like the pattern and the colors that came with it....I would like to stitch it again in the future as a gift.

Beautiful New Month!

It's November and time is running out to work on Christmas gifts. Last year we did a completely "home-made Christmas" and that is the plan again this year. I have plenty of ideas, it's time that I'm limited on! Today my older daughter is sick and I'm starting to sneeze and cough....again. It is hard to work on projects when you aren't feeling well. I have spent the last several days doing research on the history of ornaments in the United States. The earliest ornaments were real fruit and nuts, mostly apples and then after that came the glass ornaments. Since I don't have the ability to make glass ornaments I'm thinking of ideas on making apple ornaments. They would need to be made with supplies that I already have here and they would need to be small so they are inexpensive to send as gifts. I'm thinking of making fabric apples filled with something pretty smelling....just haven't figured out that last part yet.

Hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday!

Jane Austen

I greatly enjoy the novels of Jane Austen, but this weekend we are also enjoying movies based on those novels. Last night my younger daughter and I watched Sense and Sensibility, she knows she is named after Emma Thompson who plays Elinoir. Tonight I am watching Pride and Prejudice with my older daughter, who is currently reading the novel. We plan on discussing the differences between the novel and the movie. I would also like to find other versions on these movies so we can see a different view point.

Every now and again you hear someone ask "if you could have lunch with anyone, alive or dead who would it be?" At this moment it would be Jane Austen!

Small Quilt

I finished this quilt a while ago (still need to take a finished picture). I want to sew it again, but I can't locate the pattern. It was an online freebie....anyone know where I can find it?

Thanks!

Wonky Log Cabin Square

While waiting for DH to come home from work, I decided to stitch up this great freebie pattern. Here are two pictures of the same square, just turned a different direction. For this pattern or other great patterns visit http://365quiltblocks.blogspot.com/