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.