Friday Finish!

I have finished sending out cards and gifts and now I will try to wind down and start thinking about getting the house ready and a meal planned for Christmas dinner. We will do Christmas eve and the kids will do Christmas day.

I have been hiding my pillows in the stores when I go shopping, it is fun to be sneaky and I hope they put some smiles on the people who found them;)

This week I made something for me. I wanted to have something to hold some balsam to hang on a rack at the top of the entrance stairs. Now my guests will be greeted with the smell of pine. I used a pattern I did in appliqué, by The Teacher's Pet, and did it in punch needle, this time. I used wool for the back and a wool cuff, then I made a pouch from scrap batting to put the balsam in. That way I can take it out after the holidays and the balsam doesn't get stuck in the mitten.

The hanger was made by braiding cotton yarn and sewing it to the inside of the stocking, then I added a few bells. Stockings and mittens are fun pieces to make and you can use any christmas design on them, we all have appliqué patterns that work as well with punch needle.

I am doing some of the old photos from past Christmases with the online cardmaker. It is a great way to decorate old photos and I try to use colors and frames that help to clean up the damage from age. One of our visits to the mall santa. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and are ready to relax and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Monday this and that!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, we had beautiful weather and were able to get out and enjoy some time at the ocean. I also did some finishing on pieces I made.

I wanted to dress up the little pillows so I went looking for red bells and it is Christmas, so getting bells is no problem, right? Well, two stores and all the good bells were gone, no red and all I could find was the shiny ones, not what I wanted but they will have to do. I also made up some tags to put on them so people will know it is ok to take one.

I plan on taking them with me when I go out and hiding them in areas where they will be found but hopefully no one sees me putting them there. I am wondering though if the stores might get suspicious if I look like I am sneaking around, lol. I may do some at the library too, that is a good place to hide things without being seen.

Now I need to make up more pillows and stuff them, I have one more bag of balsam so I should be able to make enough to brighten up a few people's day.

I also bought cording to add to the church ornament, I wanted it to stand out but working with thicker cord is not easy and it was falling apart as I worked it around the piece. I added some bells to the bottom which also distracts from my the cord ends.

Saturday was the perfect day to do some Christmas shopping and then hit the beach. We picked up a lunch for Nick and enjoyed a picnic at the beach. He is making faces at Grandma.

After lunch we drove down the road to the park so we could walk along the rocks. Grandpa and Nick enjoyed watching the boats coming in and out of the bay.

Nick spent most of the time picking up rocks and throwing them in the water. Nick loves rocks and with this area, he was in rock heaven. This is his reaction when a seagull flew overhead.

For those who leave comments, I love to hear from all of you, but I do not reply on blogger, I reply personally by email. My comments come to my mailbox so if you are a no reply commenter, I cannot reply and you all have left me so many wonderful comments.

Friday Finishes!

This week I have been busy finishing up some pillows and I just had to punch something;) I still have balsam and I was thinking of making some little stockings that I could fill with balsam and hang, so my  house smells like fresh pine.

One thing I love about making stockings is it is a great way to use up the floss nest in the scrap box. I just grab pieces and use what I grab, so it gives it a nice scrappy look. I attached a piece of red wool to the back and then a loose weave wool for the cuff. A little bell  and a hanger and you have a fun ornament that can be made with what you have.

The stockings are 6" long and I used walnut stain on them to grunge them up. I love making these and I think it would be fun to make some all year round, to give as gifts for next year.

Since I have another bag of balsam, I need to use it up since I only use fresh balsam. I bought some material with a fun print and tried some mini pillows to see how they look. These will go to relatives and friends who like brighter colors and I will make extras to hand out, to people I meet and need a smile. I might add a jingle bell to the center. I tried my rusty ones and it looks nice, but I will get some red ones to keep with the brighter colors and not everyone likes rusty bells;)

Looking for something free and something you can color, use for stitcheries or pattern ideas? Check out this ebpage for a Free 98 Page Coloring Book. There are lots of beautiful designs by artists that have shared their artwork for the coloring book.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have a nice day for tomorrow and I am hoping we can do one of our drives and see what new places we can find.

Countdown to Christmas!

This season sure crept up on us, and only a week to get my cards and gifts ready to mail. I know I can send after that, but I plan on getting things done this week and then I can sit back and relax for the rest of the season, at least that is the plan;)

Of course I broke my, not making any more new things rule. I just felt like trying a new punch needle and wanted to try a church. I found the design on a coloring site, and I changed the windows to look more like our church.

I want to put a cord around it, but none of the yarn ones, that I tried, worked. So, I guess I need to run to the craft store tomorrow and get a nicer one to fit with this piece, it needs more shine to go around it. I was going to write in the snow, the word joy, but I punched it all and then remembered. Short term memory has its drawbacks;)

It is not exactly like I wanted, but it didn't come out too badly and hopefully the recipient will like it.

I had Nicholas on Saturday and we went to the school to play. I learned, take Nick or take Bean, but do not take both at the same time, lol. Bean was all excited and wanted to run and Nick was all over the place, so hard to keep track of two kids;) He got to swing and go down the slide and then we walked around the school yard.

He was quite impressed when we encountered a bear.

Another project I am doing this week is, making card ornaments with photos of Danielle, family and friends and I also told her friends that they can also make an ornament or buy one, and write something on it. I am putting up a small tree in the beach room for her, it will be filled with memories and messages.

I found a wonderful website that has beautiful cards that you can insert photos into. I also like that you can move the photo and edit it, so great for photos that don't quite fit. Here is a photo I used of Danielle at her friend Maya's wedding, this frame was perfect for the theme and Christmas and it helped to fade out the white flash that was on the top or the photo. I will print them out on card stock, so her friends can write on the back when they visit.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and are remembering to enjoy the season with those you love.

You can make your own photo cards by visiting Photo Fun Editor. Another idea for those of you who have parents in Nursing homes. Make up some photo cards that they can hang as a banner, on a tree or tape to the walls.

Twelve Days of Christmas: My Day!

I hope you have been following the Twelve Days of Christmas, each day there is a new tutorial or free pattern that you can make, just in time for Christmas. Thank you to Wendy for hosting the hop and all of the ladies who are participating. You can follow along each day by clicking on the banner.

I love to work with wool and I know most of you, love wool as well. I also love doing pieces with inspirational words and I think Joy is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy my project and make one for yourselves to remember to keep Joy in your hearts, each and every day, this season.

I have given instructions, if anything seems confusing or you have a question, you can email me, anytime. The bells are about 5" long, but you can make them any size by enlarging or reducing the design.

This is  closer photo of the bells, the garland goes across my windows, with more bells and ties.

Have fun with the pattern, instructions are a guideline of how I made mine, but you can change it to suit your likes.

Instructions:

Materials:

Wool

floss

red berries (Beads, buttons or french knot.)

Rusty bell

2” styrofoam ball.

Red and green homespun 1/4” strips

Jute

Clothespins

Bells:

Cut out 3 bells, 3 bell backs, letters, candle, 2 leaves. Sew on the appliques with a blanket stitch.

Attach berries

Sew back and front with a blanket stitch, starting at the bottom and when you come around to the end, attach the bell with the same thread.

Balls:

Cut strips from the green homespun and wrap them around the styrofoam ball, until it is covered. Take a red piece and wrap it around the ball, twist around at the bottom and come around the opposite side, tie into a tight bow, leaving a few inches of the tail, to hang from the clothespin. 

You can buy pre-stained clothespins or soak them in walnut ink to age them. You can also have fun and paint them in christmas colors.

To make the garland, take a piece of homespun and a piece of jute and twist them together. Add  red ties if you like to fill in the spaces, and you can add larger rusty bells, as well. The length depends on how much you add to your garland and the size of your window, or area that you hang from.

Pattern Pieces:

Another fun thing to do for Christmas is baking treats that everyone will love. I have made these for years, they are great for parties and your guests who come to visit. They melt in your mouth and I haven't met anyone who didn't love them.

I hope you enjoyed visiting today and don't forget to follow along each day.

Finishes and Finds!

This weekend was busy, with Nick and the holidays, I didn't get much done in the sewing department. I had some designs cut out to make into pillows, but all I finished was the applique, so I need to finish more pillows and get them done this week. I am working on the instructions for the piece that I made for the Christmas Blog Hop, can you believe it starts tomorrow and my day is Friday. Be sure to visit and see what fun projects that the other girls are making.

A design by Primitive Gatherings. Of course I changed it and made it simpler, so the extra embroidery is not on mine.

We had a day off from Nick sitting, he is not a good child to take shopping, lol. We went to A Bee's Buzz which is a big barn full of antiques and primitives. They have booths so you never know what you will find.

I usually don't splurge but I don't have that many nice Christmas primitives and I want to redo things this year so when I saw this display, I had to have it. It is an antique drawer filled with toys around a decorated and lighted tree. I love the battery lights, I need to find some for my other small trees, so much easier than having to find a space with a plug.

I also started decorating today. I made the wool piece and the longer piece was made by my friend Karen.

I also loved this piece, something different and nice to have something to decorate the kitchen with.

My find of the day was this magazine rack. It is handmade and it was marked down to 15.00. It is a little warped at the bottom, but not that noticeable. I will use it in my sewing room, I can keep the books and patterns I am using or want to make, in it and save space by hanging it on the wall.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I have been decorating today, a bit bittersweet but I am determined to keep the magic and joy of Christmas in our home, it was Danielle's favorite holiday.

Friday Fun!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We kept dinner simple and just enjoyed the day, food and family, no expectations or stress.

Today we had Nicholas, so we decided to take him to The Fantastic Umbrella Factory. It is a group of stores and artisans in a farm like setting. It is a bit like a throw back to the 70's and in the warmer months they have folk musicians playing in the gardens.

Today was beautiful, perfect for walking and browsing the stores and no crowds. They have pathways and a fountain that we stopped to get a photo of Nick. I was unaware of the surroundings, and just took a photo, then noticed what I had missed.

Can you see what put that goofy grin on Nick's face?

We went to the animals first, they have ostriches and a goat, as well as chickens and various birds, running around the grounds. We took him to the bamboo forest, he was a bit apprehensive and then amazed at all the bamboo and how high it went up.

While we walked, we picked up a few buddies who followed us around. We also shopped small and bought Nick a wool hat and some gloves.

After that we went to Ninigret park and walked Nick in the stroller and then let him out to play on the beach. Throwing rocks is still his favorite sport.

Nick needed to eat and there weren't any kid friendly places in the area, so we got him a fresh sandwich and enjoyed eating at Charlestown Beach. The perfect way to end the day and just enjoy the beautiful day.

Four more days and the Christmas Hop begins. My day will be friday. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend.