The Spirit of Giving Giveaway!

CSN online stores, an online superstore, offering Briefcases, Household goods, electronics and more, has made me an offer, to either review a product or offer a gift certificate to my followers. In keeping with the Spirit of Giving, I will be hosting a giveaway for a $55.00 certificate, good to use at any one of their 200 plus stores.

With the economy the way it is, many families are having hard times this year.
Many parents are out of work and looking for new jobs. What better gift to give than a new Briefcase, to carry their portfolio, giving them that professional appearance, to make an impression at their interview. The photo below is one of many, that you can buy with your certificate.



To enter, leave a comment, telling us a way in which you help others during the holiday. Or a quick and easy craft idea that would make a great gift for residents in a nursing home, shelters, etc. If you are not a crafter, then tell me, what you would buy with your CSN gift certificate.

This contest is open to all followers, new followers are welcome.
The winner can use the gift code to buy something for their family or use it as a gift for someone in need. If the winner would like to pass the gift onto someone in need, you can send them the gift code, or email me their address and I will send them the gift code with a note that it is a gift from a special santa or your name, whichever you prefer. So.... don't forgo this wonderful giveaway. If you are like most families, this is a great way to help out this Christmas and if you are doing well, you can enter and help someone else.

Contest is open until December 7'th, just in time for the holidays!
Winners will be chosen by a Random Number Generator.
Shipping for this prize is only available in the USA and Canada.
If you have any questions, please free free to email me.
If you are looking for an Easy way to shop, check out the CSN Stores for your holiday shopping.

Giveaway Tomorrow!

Hi, this is Moki. Mom asked me to do her blog since she is siCk.
She is stuck on the couch, so I am entertaining Dora and Izzy for her and have been enjoying, reArranging the rugs.
Thought she could use a laugh, what do you think of my panther impression?
Stay tuned, tomorrow their will be a giveaway for followers, new followers arT welcome to join in too!



She also wanted to show everyone her new goodies that she got from Ginger, for theiR ebay group, AAPG. I think they are winderful, and what fun we will have, when she hangs them:)



Forgive the typos, try tYping with these!

New Mini Santa Freebie!

I decided to make a smaller version of the santa, which I showed below.
Today I redid the original to match, as best as I could, so you can make a smaller version for your mini trees or as a gift for a friend.

Look for a new company sponsored giveaway, coming soon. Perfect timing for christmas.

Enjoy the new version of my pattern. Please, only use this for yourself or as gifts.
I could not get the stitch maker to do the stitches, like I did, but it is just straight stitches going out from the top of the hat, in different directions. I will need to get the upgrade to pro, to do better stitches, I think. My piece was done on 18 count aida.

New Christmas Stitcheries!

I am not having one of my better days. I went to antique a few pieces and one came out with dark, just in the middle.
So, I washed it out and then redried it, but the red from the wool had soaked through and turned the design into red blotches.
I rewashed it and letting it dry, so will see what happens. It was one that I put more work into, so hope I can fix it.

I decided to redo my santa into a smaller ornament and changed his arms to simplify it.
I was going to make two, but it took me three days to make him, I am a really slow cross stitcher. That and I cannot see what I am doing, as it is;) The other looks off to me and now I know why. It is a design by Tiffany of Primitive Blessings and there are supposed to be stars, stitched on the bucket. But I had another idea, to add two small jingle bells with jute. So, that will go on next.

Tomorrow I will be stuffing my face and sitting in a chair afterwards, lol.
My kids will be coming and we cook the main foods and they bring some side dishes, so that helps me out.
My wishes, for all of my visitors, have a Blessed Thanksgiving, filled with family, love and good food.

Doll Makers Wanted!

I was visiting Edyth O'neill's blog and found a truly touching request and wanted to pass it along to my readers.
I know a lot of you make dolls and this is such a sweet cause and would truly make a wonderful woman happy.
Edyth has known this woman for years and she has helped Edyth when her house burnt down and now she is at a point in her life, where a sharing of our gifts, would truly bring happiness to her life.

So, if you like to make dolls or would love to do something special for the holiday season, please visit Edyth's site and you can get details there.

If you do not have black doll patterns, you can easily modify any pattern by using dark fabrics.
Here are a few sites for free patterns, to make dolls, if you would like to join in. Many of these dolls would be wonderful gifts for little girls too, maybe for a local shelter.

Annie's Cupboard

Cloth Doll Collection

Doll Maker's Journey

Free Cloth Doll Patterns

For epatterns, there are some wonderful ladies who make patterns for dolls and often have specials on their patterns.



Threadbare Primitives has some wonderful doll patterns, and some are on special. I love the Tabitha doll, that is one I would love to make and it is only 4.99 for an epattern.

Another wonderful designer is Jackie Schmidt. She has some wonderful primitive black angel dolls that would be fun to make.

Kim Koehler has some wonderful black doll patterns, that are primitive and simple to make.

Winner and Free Christmas Cross Stitch!

As always, I hate having one winner, so I made up a new cross stitch, so everyone can have something tonight.
I decided to make a cross stitch out of the design I punched. I like how the cross stitch came out and I did change mine a bit.
This is for a gift and I wanted it more prim, so as I stitched I changed things, I tend to do that with my designs. I antiqued it and then wet it a bit, so you can see a bit more dark where it is damp still.



Here is the cross stitch version I made up for my visitors. You can use this for yourselves or as a gift, but please do not make prints to share or to sell. If you want to change it up to make it more prim, you can do that if you like. I added a border from my program for those who like fancier borders. If you have problems seeing the squares or printing, please let me know. I ran out of some colors in my printer, so I couldn't test it. The colors I use in the graphic are not what I use for stitching, I just like to use colors that are easy to see, for printing out.



And now onto the winner of my Birthday Contest! The winner of the prize package is....... Cat Haven Crafts!
Please email me with your snail mail, so I can send your prizes to you.
Look for more contests and freebies in the future.
And I want to thank everyone who left such wonderful comments and made me laugh, as well.

Birthday Giveaway Continues and Winner!

Today I decided to get out and treat myself to shopping.
Since I am on a tight budget and we are trying to pay off bills, I went to my favorite place, Savers, lol.
I was happy I did, I got some nice items and it came to under three dollars, you can't beat that, goodies for me and no guilt.

I found some beautiful batik fabric and a new stitchery book. The fabric looks hand dyed, have no idea, but it is beautiful in person and it is 2 yards, not bad for a 1.99. I have been buying batiks when I can and want to work on art quilts and free motion, so this will be a nice addition.



This is the fabric close up, you can see the puckers in it. Will definitely be interesting to work with.



The book is also wonderful, brand new condition. It has a nice intro section for threads and fabrics, etc. It has photos of flowers and the stitches she uses to make them. Some flowers are stitchery, some mixed with fabric, ribbons, crewel and even some cross stitch, so wonderful book to learn how to make and embellish flowers.



The back section has flower examples and nice diagrams for stitches. I have been wanting a nice stitch book, so was thrilled when I found this. I think I got myself some nice treats for myself;)



I like many of you, are struggling to pay bills and always looking for new ways to save money. The past few years, I have been stocking up on fabrics, wool and general supplies. I buy everything with coupons, so save even more. Now I can work on projects and not have to worry about running out. I buy from the sale racks and I make dinners that last. That saves money and time. I know many people use leftover chicken and bones to make soup. I do the opposite. I buy a large package of chicken breasts and make my broth with that. I use some of the chicken in the soup and the rest goes into a stir fry with brown rice. A nice healthy dinner plan for cold nights.

So for tonight, what do you do to save? Give me your best tips and you will get an extra entry into the giveaway, to be drawn on Sunday night. I finished stitching a new project tonight, so that will be revealed on sunday and a special freebie for all.

Now onto the winner, had to come back, since I forgot, lol. The winner is....... Prim2Pink!
Congratulations! Please email me with your pattern choice and I will email it to you.

Birthday Giveaway Continues and Winner!

Well, you all must be wondering what the magic number was?
I guess I can tell you that first, then get onto the next contest.

We had 8 kids in our family, I was the youngest and the only blond, if you hadn't noticed.
So, the winner of the contest was Madalynne! Please email me with your choice of pattern. You can pick a pattern from my ecrater site and mail me your choice.

I am busy working on the piece that I want to have done for sunday. So there will be a special surprise for everyone else.
Tonight we have a new contest, so see what Moki has been up to and give me a caption for the first picture below. The winner will be chosen randomly from the entries and receive an epattern of their choice. I will pick a winner tomorrow night.



Moki loves sisal rope and Izzy likes watching



He likes to carry it around, you can see he still has his hunting skills. I will have to make two of them, Dora loves it too and gets very upset if Moki is having fun. I will make the new ones with knots going down, to keep them from swallowing any. Moki is so funny to watch, when he plays, he has really long legs, so walks like a wind up toy, lol. Dora is the spaz, when she runs, she flails her legs out, no idea why. Izzy is the jumper, she cannot run in a straight line, she has to leap over things, even if she has to go out of her way, to do it. I need to get a video camera, it is comedy hour around here, when they get going.

Those were the days! Giveaway week!

Well, I have been working on several projects that will be gifts, some I can show, some I cannot, until they are received.
I was going through my old files that I had stored and pulled out some oldies, but badies, haha.
My sister sent me a box of slides and I scanned them in, but most are damaged and full of lint.
Someday I plan on redoing the nice family ones, so I can send them to my sisters and brothers.

I have always loved riding and as you can see, I would ride anything. The older girl lived down the road and she would ride her burro to visit the kids in our neighborhood.



Then I grew up and rode the real thing, lol. I loved to ride and I was lucky enough to have friends with horses, who let me ride whenever I wanted.



And this one is a nice memory. I have shown you photos of our walks at the falls, and this is me and some of my brothers and sisters at the falls. At least I think it was, maybe it was camping. I see the twins have sweaters on and my other sister is wearing what looks to be a bathing suit. So, someone there is dressed for the wrong season, lol. So, the first person who can tell me, how many kids were in my family, wins a free epattern of their choice.

Birthday Giveaway!

In celebration this month, I am having a giveaway to my followers.
I wanted to have something that everyone would like and hope I picked out something special that will suit most people's tastes.
As I get older, I learn what it really important in life, enjoying each day, my family and friends and my health. I may be a bit on the rickety side and have a lot more aches and pains, but have never had to deal with anything serious or life threatening, and I am grateful for all these things. I think this piece and pillow, say it all. The design is by Tiffany of Primitive Blessings.


One lucky winner will receive a mini stitchery quilt with a matching pillow and a piece of hand dyed camel hair wool.
You can use the wool in hooking, sewing or to make animals, if you are a doll maker. It is a deep red mottled wool, that is super soft. I was thinking it would be nice for a deer or a santa suit. I may add a surprise later, it all has to fit in a large envelope.

So, if you would like to win, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what type of decorations you have in your house for Christmas. Remember, you must be a follower of my blog and new followers are welcome. The giveway will be drawn on Sunday, November 21st. As an added special, you can buy any pattern on my ecrater site and receive one free, just let me know what your free choice is, in the comment box. And I will also be working on something special for everyone, as well.

I Thank you all, for finding my life and creations interesting enough to read and for all of the wonderful comments I have received.

Sunday's Stroll and Contest coming!

First of all, I made a decision on the hexagons. I am adding a the dark green from the middle for one more row around.
I think that will balance it out more. There are some bad edges, so I had to sew deeper on those areas, and that throws it off a bit, but I will do some fixes after, to make it look better, if I can.

Tomorrow looks for my Birthday Giveaway! It starts tomorrow and will end on my birthday, the following Sunday.
So if you are not a follower, now is a good time to sign up. I finally hit the 100 followers mark! I think I will have to add to the original goodies in celebration;)

Today we went for a walk. It is so nice to have a beautiful, semi warm day this late in the season, and it was so good to get out.
We ended up going to the bird sanctuary again. It is a beautiful walk through woods and fields with views of the salt water pond and the ocean, you just can't find a more beautiful spot.

Today was spectacular day for views, the sun was out and the pond lived up to it's name as a bird sanctuary.
You can see the waves crashing against the breakers in the distance.



Flocks were flying in and out of the pond. You can see the lighthouse in the distance. That is another area we love to visit.



This group was taking off for another area of the pond. You can see a few of them running across the water to get some lift.



Take off accomplished



Flying and soaring with the winds



As you can see, it was a beautiful day to just enjoy the view, the cool ocean breezes and the variety of birds who make their home at the pond.

Hexagon Mess!

It was one of those days, my brain was on vacation.
I put some of the outer hexes on last night when I was tired.
That was a mistake, today I realized I did it wrong.
So, I had to rip out the hexagons and that isn't easy with small pieces.
Then I starting resewing and realized I had it wrong again, that happened twice, lol.
Luckily I could move them around, so the ragged edges will be trimmed when I put on a binding.
After I got this done I realized I had an extra row in the middle and I really wanted an extra row on the outer ends to lengthen it there. But, I do not have enough of the green to add to that, so I am stuck with what I have.

So, this is it, looks off, but will have to do. I want to do quilting on it and thinking green piping for binding?
They say you learn from your mistakes, so when does the learning come in?

This is my special month, the one I prefer not to think about, but I wanted to do something special for my followers.
Look for a giveaway this Sunday.

A beautiful day for a walk!

Today it was a little nicer but windy, but I wanted to get out and get some exercise and fresh air.
We went to Rome Point which is a nice walk that takes you to the bay. Coming back we walk through the woods where there were farms, so you can see what is left of foundations and stone walls where the animals were kept. It was nice to get out and just enjoy the day.

Moki got his vet visit and doing ok, a bit sore, so he isn't jumping on things and taking it easy. Dora is still having a fit, but he and izzy are becoming friends.

The water was choppy with the wind, so we stayed on the paths that had protection from the winds.
So, this is how I spent Veterans Day, enjoying this wonderful country I live in, thanks to the men and woman who protect our country.

Christmas Hexagons!

I decided I wanted to do some sewing and have been wanting to try a runner with smaller hexagons.
This one will be a present. The fabrics were from my friend kelly, from the rocky mountain collection.
I used a 1" hexagon template and made a card stock template. I traced that right onto the fabric with a pen and cut them out.
I think the seam is about 1/4", maybe smaller, I am eye balling it;) No paper piecing, just cut and sew, while I watch tv.

This is the main block. Each one will have the lighter green around it. Once those are done, I can get a better idea of the size and shape I want. I fussy cut the outer red hexagons, so the flower is centered as best as possible.



I tried two layouts. This is with points touching.



This is with a more squared off look. Not sure which one I like better? How about you?
This one will just be a small table topper, so not making it too big. I will decide after I go around these two, if I need a third section.

Carousel Horse Ornaments

I wanted to try something different, so I did a search for Carousel Horse Coloring Pages.
It is amazing, the fun things you can find in online coloring books;)
I reduced the design and made it into ornaments.
Stitchery is easy to do, just a simple backstitch and you can use muslim or any light material that you have lying around.
It is a great idea for inexpensive gifts and you can customize them to suit the person's tastes.

Happy Santa!

I decided I need to doodle again and see what I come up with.
So, I doodled a santa and then made it into a punch.
It is fun to do up a design that I make, to see how it looks worked up, sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't.
I decided to go up in height for his mustache, but the beard looked too flat, so I went back and pulled some out and added some longer heights to the beard and left some shorter. I like how the texture looks.

On the kitty front, Moki is doing well. Izzy has decided to harass him, which means she likes him. She likes to sneak up and attack him, but Moki hasn't learned that it is play;) Dora is really getting out of hand, she is taking out her anger on my house. She is climbing all the cabinets and last night she knocked over a candle holder, good thing it was a thrift buy;) Today I am not sure what she was doing, but I was trying to enjoy a hot bath and heard a crash and found my lap frame, upside down on the floor. The needles left a couple of gauges in the wood. I sure hope she gets over it soon.

More Moki!

I spent today work and reworking a new punch I am making.
I didn''t like the way it came out, so went with a more textured look with heights.
Hopefully I will finish it tomorrow, there is only so much unpunching and repunching that I will do;)

Moki is usually happy and content living with us. He has his moments and does the howling and crying routine at the door, but then he calms down again. In the cellar he makes the weirdest howling sound, it sounds just like words, lol. Our town shelter has a traveling vet and they made an appointment for Moki next week, so he will get fixed then and hopefully not want to roam anymore. I cannot afford a vet bill right now, so they are paying for it and later when they do their annual auction, I can make some pieces that they can sell, to help them out.

Moki seems to have too much of a fascination with water, he spends most of his time at the sink. I am thinking I need to buy an indoor fountain for the kitties, lol. With three tap water cats, I cannot keep the water running all day;)

Moki at the fountain

Last night I found Moki sitting at the sink, trying to lick the faucet.
I thought, not another one. Two cats who drink out of sinks is bad enough, now I have three.
Dora likes a slow stream, Izzy likes a slow drip and Moki just loves water, lol. I forgot that tuxedos love water.

FIrst he played and splashed it all over. Then he stuck his head in for a drink.



Then he tried the paw method, scooping and licking.



Then he decided to stick his big tongue in, that worked better.
Today Izzy and he touched noses and shared the jjngle ball. Dora, well what can I say, she is very territorial and bossy, so she was not letting him near her. He really wants to play with them, so I am sure someday they will be buddies, but for now Izzy is his friend and Dora is giving her dirty looks, lol.

Finished Hexagons!

Today I decided to finish my hexagon quilt.
I added ties to the middle of each flower and a couple of reddish orange tacks on some blacks.
It needed more than that, and I didn't want to cover it with ties, so I went with machine stitching in the inner and outer border area. To bind it, I cut off the excess backing and batting to 1 1/2" from the outer seam line.
I fold the black over the backing and then fold that in half to give it a smooth look on the back.
I was not trying to be perfect with this quilt, since I made it for fun and to try out hexagons.
It will make a nice lap quilt though.

As you can see Izzy is the first to try it out. She is happy that Moki is no longer using the office, she likes to sit on the chaise, when I am in here. For the backing I used the fabric that is in some hexagons and it has most of the shades in the flowers. I found that at a thrift store.



Here it is laid out. I think it might be a good piece to leave in my room for when I am sitting and working on designs, this winter. I used two layers of batting to make it warm.