Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a nice day, no matter how you celebrate the holidays. One of the things I did to celebrate was to share the love and memories on a tree for Danielle, in our beach room. I think of it as her room and now it is my room, so it is our room. 

I found a prelit tree with pinecones, simple but nice. I made christmas cards using photos of her and her friends and family and printed them card stock. I hung those on the tree and yesterday I found two hanging signs, one says Believe and one for Joy. I turned it on, on Christmas eve and it will stay lit till midnight tonight, my gift to her this Christmas. I also wrote a little poem to her, not the best literary piece, but it came from the heart.

I made a special gift for you,

a little Christmas tree,

Filled with family, friends and love

and all our memories.

May you see the bright shining light,

as you celebrate Christmas in Heaven tonight.

Love you and miss you,

and this I do pray, 

to be with us in spirit, 

especially today.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. We made a turkey dinner and let Nick open a few presents. He loves wearing my watch, so now he has his own. 

Today we visited her grave.  It was a nice feeling to be able to see her stone in place and I knew she is smiling down on us, when the sun broke out and the beam cast it's rays on her stone, creating a rainbow of color across the angel. 

The afternoon was spent with the kids, yes I still call them kids;) My son and  wife made dinner and after we enjoyed present opening with Nicholas and playing with his new toys.

We got him a little bike so he could learn to peddle and not have to worry about falling, this was perfect for a learning bike. 

He wasn't too sure about going in his new fort, but then he drove his new firetruck into it, so he had to go in to get it. The house is nice since it pops down and fits into a small carry sack, so he can bring it to my house when he plays here.

Now it is time for me to have some me time, lots of projects to finish, new ones to start and lots of ideas for new creations.

Memorial Wall Hanging!

When I started my daughter's pillow, I was going to go with stitchery, for the saying, but I realized it was too big and it would take too long, so I put it away. This week I took it out and finished it into a wall hanging for one of her friends, who has lost her dad and grandmother this year. She is one of the ones who gave me the painting and she said she wanted to put the saying on it, but there wasn't any room so I thought I would make something similar for her with the saying and less painting.

I stitched the stitchery first, then I used Rit dye to color in the background. I added water and brushed it on with a tan for the sand, then a green/blue for the sea and a light blue/white for the sky. It worked nicely and the colors came out the way I wanted, but once I dried it, everything lightened up. I left it as is, now it has hints of color and I think with the saying it is a nice touch.

I used Janet Clare's line of Hearty Good Wishes, the perfect print for an ocean scene, then I added the hand stitched seagulls as a last addition. The finished piece is a little over 12". Not my best sewing, but I think she will like it.

An Angel for my Angel and Giveaway Winner!

Today we went out to look for a basket. Our church is having a fair with a raffle, so I decided to share some of the winnings I have had over the years and make a quilter's gift basket. I also have books and an extra copy of a magazine, so putting together things like that and fabrics to go with the patterns. Now if I can only find a basket I like, most were the wrong shape and over priced junk.

I did find an angel though. She was sitting on the shelf with another that was not as nice and mine was on sale, it was meant to be. We are still waiting for the insurance and things to go through so we are waiting on a stone and I hate that there was nothing on her grave. I was looking at fake flowers and realized I could get fresh flowers and I love how she looks with the flowers, it just made me feel so much better, knowing she had something beautiful and an angel, watching over her.

The wonderful thing that happened today was, just as we got in the car, to go to the cematary, I looked up and there were two symmetrical angel wings over our house. 

I was looking at some old photos and found one of Danielle when she was little. Her great grandmother was celebrating her 100th birthday and when most kids avoid the elderly, Danielle was giving her hugs and helping her with the cards. In celebration of her compassion of others, I am sending out some cards and happy presents to a few friends who are going through a tough time themselves. I am not sure what I will do in the future, I am hoping to set up a work room for charity projects in her room and invite others to help, as well. For now, I am just being and following my heart when I can and getting the house cleaned out, so we can redo the room and basement.

And now for the winner of my giveaway. The winner is Jacqueline! Jacqueline, please email me with your choice of epattern from my ecrater site. Thank you all for playing along. I was trying to get a photo of the moon as it was rising through the trees, it was a beautiful orange red shade, but with the slow shutter speed, I got blurry photos. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, we will be spending Mother's day with my son and grandson.

Friday ……….

It was a long week that seemed to go by too fast. We had so many plans and didn't get any of them done. It was a week of getting out for walks and shopping and just keeping busy. One thing we did get to do, is find the perfect tree. A few friends sent us gifts along with the cards, so we decided to use the money for the tree and supplies.

I wanted a Kwanzan cherry tree because it blooms in mid-April, and the flowers look like carnations and grow in clusters. It is the perfect tree to bloom beautiful flowers for her birthday. I am putting it in the back yard so it has room to grow and then when it gets bigger, it will be a beautiful tree to sit under and we can start planning more landscaping for the yard, around the tree.

This is the top part of the tree, it already has beautiful blooms.

This is a stock photo of how the tree will look when it gets older.

We also got out for walks and Bean was loving exploring and going new places again.
Bean was so excited that he ran into a tidal pool and I wish I could have captured the expression on his face when he hit the cold ocean water.

This is his, "That wasn't the smartest thing I ever did," look.

We enjoyed the fresh ocean breezes and a good hike along the ocean paths. ( I need a haircut ;)

I was browsing on the web and found this fun set of trailer potholders. They look fun to make and she has a nice tutorial to follow along with the steps. It would be fun to make for your campers or as a gift for a friend. You can find the pattern for the potholders and other wonderful ideas for decorating and sewing at Suzy's Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom.