Happy Saturday night. LOL Not much happening in this old folks home. I have been working on my Etsy shoppe. Had closed it this summer when I was working on so many shows. I have worked up several lil' felted clutches. As I said previously, my latest version of doilies. AKA Nervous Nellie Projects. Cannot crochet or stitch right now comfortably and it is making me bonkers. They have had issues getting blood from me lately. Been going at it in the wierdest places. Right now I have a knot in between my thumb and finger down in the "dip". So no holding easily hook or needle. Have been pouring over my project books though and daydreaming of making so many things. I have a baby jacket for Jaidyn on the hook (hahahaha that is a joke for those who knit and always have something on the needles). It is a soft chenille for spring. Hillary brought her over today and my she is growing. Such a pretty baby she is.

I baked a half ham today. But I ate pepperoni and saltines for supper. LOL

My Christmas card to you. May you be blessed with peace and health, strength and joy of heart.

These are gifts from my Secret Santa on a prim quilting grou. I love the pillow/doorstop. My first beaded item. So detailed in wool and homespuns. I also received a rotary/scissor holder, a machine stitched hand towel, a crochet dishcloth and a bag of Lindor truffles. Dont notice these do ya? Well after a quick treat and sharing a couple with Heather, these got stashed. Saving them for a need a sweet day and from the Mister. LOL

I love the rosemary tree. Mark aka The Mister, got me 2 of these this spring. I decorated this one with tiny ruby glass balls and 2 velteen bows. I love brushing it and getting the yummy smell through the house. Have been pruning it often to share with the family. The other was isnt so lush. Just wasnt happy in my playhouse. Probably lonely since I havent been out there much! So they will be trading sunshine spots for a bit to perk it up.

Tonight I made a Jello Cake for Mark to take to work. Easy peasy. Bake a white cake mix. While still warm, poke it full of holes with a baking fork or the handle of a wooden spoon. Mix up 2 boxes of Jello with 2 cups boiling water and then add 1 cup cold. Pour over cake. Refrigerate until chillled. Top with Cool Whip. If you dont wish the cake to be quite so wet, use 1 box of gelatin, 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup cold water. Allow to sit overnight or several hours. I use sugar free gelatin and fat free Cool Whip. My family really likes this.

Worked on my food shopping list tonight and what few last minute gifts we need. Had to wait until this payday to finish up. I asked Heather what she would like to eat special for the holidays. Green bean casserole. UGH! Her and Penny love this. I just dont know if I can make it. So yucky to me. But I asked.....LOL Will have to see if I can find the recipe. Maybe if I dont look too hard I can say I couldnt??? LOLOL I better be good, there is still time to make it to Santa's Naughty List!

Played in my dollhouse a bit last night. My finlaw gave me a box of brand new goodies he purchased at an auction. The only item I have added to my dollhouse so far is the piano. I love it. The girls had wanted for so so long and this one is a music box also. So that is even better! I need to make rugs and pictures for my dollhouse. Just cannot decide on what. The cupboard in the bathroom will hold towels and bath goodies soon. Here and there you can see the lil bits of yellow tickytacky I have to use to keep small items in place. The Big People seem to rattle the rafters too much! And if you are wondering where the girls are, well they are out in my playhouse working on Christmas gifts. Told me to stay out, so I just dont know WHAT mischief they are up to. This year my dollys did not gussie up their house for the holidays. Just too much happening. But they do have some ideas for Valentine's Day and upcoming birthdays. Will have to see what they come up with!

Thank you for all the sweet comments about Baby Jaidyn. Mark and I went to see her tonight, his first time to see her. And he is quite smitten I will tell you. Oh and I wanted to share what our Daddy said about Hillary having a baby girl. What would we would do with a boy? LOL This is from a man with 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters. Even their dogs are girls. And his twin brother has 5 sons. When I went to the waiting room to say the baby was born, he said, it really is a girl isnt it? LOL And gave me his silly grin. I loved it.

Did I tell you I have pneumonia again? Blech on junkie lungs. Went to the dr today for more shots and a listen to my lungs. Am not contagious and on meds, so no worries to the baby. But I will not be getting out anymore til next week now.

Oh! But wait this post isnt supposed to be about me rambling on about the baby and my sickies. It is about drawing names and giving away goodies. So....drum rollllllllllllll And the winner is.....Beverly. She will receive my angel bunny with rusty metal wings.

And the winner of The Country Cellar patterns ('cause I love to draw names) is Beth and Cheryl.

So if all you ladies will email me your snail mail addys, I will get these goodies off to you next week.

Our weather for the next few days/daze is snow and ice here in southern Indiana. I am thinking it is going to be a white Christmas!

Babies and Give-A-Ways! We have a new addition to our family. Please meet my greatniece, Miss Jaidyn Alyssa. She was born December 12th. Weighs 7 lbs, 11 oz and is 20 1/2-inches long. And is perfect of course! These pictures are all of her at 1-2 hours old with my sister, her nana. This is her first grandchild and my parents first great-grandchild. The mommy Hillary had a bit of a hard time. Jaidyn was happy where she was at and didnt think she wanted to come out to play with us. Silly girl! LOL I said last night her nickname should be Diva because it was like the paparazzi was there with all the photographs being taken!

And you still have time to sign up for the Give-A-Way! I meant to draw a name last night, but was busy becoming a greataunt thank you very much! So....that gives you one more night to comment and receive your chance. I will definitely draw a name tomorrow and post the prize.

Christmas Give-A-Way and holiday pictures.

All comments, now through Wednesday the 12th will be eligible for my Christmas drawing! You may post once each day. What am I sharing....well this and that. And maybe even just a tad of other. LOL If I have over 25 names, I will draw 2.

And here are pictures of a bit of my Christmas cheer. The nativity is my most prized Christmas possession. My mom gave it to me a few years back and it is sat out on Thanksgiving night. It was my honor as a kiddo to set it out at home. And she knew how much I loved it. I painted the old book page in the frame behind it. The wallhanging is one of the first I ever made. I was so proud of it! LOL Now...not so proud! LOLOL

Michelle stitched and punchneedled this for me. I love it. Her first punchneedle project too I think.

Daddy carved this wooden angel.

This is a counter in my kitchen we do not use. It is a hodge podge of red/white granite ware, old utensils and jars, bears and baskets. The gingerbread men are there year round. I painted the snowmen faces on the muffin tin. I rusted the tin a bit by washing it in vinegar water. Then took it outside and sprinkled salt on the wet tin. A couple of days and we had rust. Flipped it over and repeated the water/salt on the other side.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Here we are. See me waving at you? LOL Lots going on at home. Heather had her second surgery on the 28th from her injury in June. Very intensive therapy for several weeks to come. They cleaned up scar tissue to try to release the tendons and ligaments. She had to start therapy the day after the surgery! About an 8-inch incision all total.

All the sitting and waiting gave me tons of crocheting time. Made me feel a bit guilty to be using my hands to much in a hand surgery center, but hey! I have had my share of surgeries there, so can be the poster child for recovery I decided. And no way could I just sit for hours all alone and wait.

FYI-After I posted and was looking it over, I noticed the flower looked really offcenter. It isnt, I measured it to double check. LOL Just the way it squished in the scanner I guess.
Here is a pic of the small clutch I crochet/felted. It started out 10 x 8-inches and shrank to 8 x 6-inches. These are addictive to make. Mindless. My new "doily therapy". LOL Cause I have gifted out all the doilies anyone is ever going to need. I also started another smallish tote like the blue one, this version is in red. Ran out of yarn at the handle! But the order should be in soon. It is a bit rustish in color. I wanted RED red. Hmmm? Am wondering if it will darken a bit in the felting. Does anyone else do this? If so, do you add the baking soda to the water? What does it really do??? I havent done it without it, but curious.

I was gifted with this book today. I LOVE it and highly recommend it. A great hardcover book filled with blocks and ideas on what to do with them. Applique, patch and paper (foundation) piecing.

We were at 14 degrees at 5:30am. Brrrrrr! Stay warm everyone.

Blech on no reply comment settings. It makes me sad when I send a heartfelt reply and get it back. So come on girls...change that setting so we can write ya back. Makes me feel rude not to reply to nice comments or to answer questions. So plezzzzzz make nice with me :o)

Since I have been so picture poor on the blog lately, I thought to share this one. This is a 6ft shelf in my playhouse. It hangs above my sewing table and is filled with favorite things and tools of the trade.

I need to go close up all the blinds, it is definitely winter now. Last night it was down to 23 degrees!

So did we all survive Thanksgiving? We had an unusual one. The first time I have not had dinner with my family on The Day. For many reasons, we celebrated with my family on Saturday. Which was nice, just wierd not to have our routine. We spend the lunch meal with my inlaws and then supper at Debbie's. This year it was lunch then home for a huge rest! LOL Time well spent for sure. Then Saturday evening a wonderful meal at Deb's. She always outdoes herself. We pitch in some, but she does the brunt of it all. It is "her" holiday. LOL I like the fact that the tables go together and we all eat together. At my house, it is every man for themselves. Six at the table and the rest scattered. Course this also means that no one notices too much any trips for seconds and thirds....

Here is a photograph, well 2 actually I put together, of my felted tote bag.

Can you say WOW on how much it shrank? It started out 18" wide and ended up 12". I didnt measure the strap length. I love it! The texture came out just as I wanted it to. Nice and thick! There is a large pocket inside. The tote was done entirely in half double crochet with a H hook. One row of single crochet along the top edge. I like that the handles are felted into the bag. They will not come off! It becomes one piece of wool. Now I am working on a red bag. Well it was called firecracker, but is more rusty red. :o( I am hoping in the felting it will darken a bit. The blue tote is not as bright as it photographed. The felting process I used was simple. Hot wash/cold rinse, full cycle, 2 tablespoons of baking soda in wash water and added in a pair of jeans. Put it in the dryer until the squish was out of it. Laid it flat to complete drying. But another WOW on it stinking!! Like a nasty dirty ole wet dog. Well in this case, sheep. Until it was totallllllly dry, it smelt. I ended up leaving it outside a couple of days in the sun with dryer fabric sheets inside it. It was really bad! Now it is fine. Thank goodness!

This is a crazy week for us. Heather has her second hand surgery on Wednesday. Then the next 2 days of very intensive therapy. We will be staying in Indianapolis thru Friday evening. This is a very needful surgery to clean up scar tissue and release tendons and ligiments. But I hate for her to go through all this. Her incision they said will be about 8-9 inches long. Please pray for her. They have to start the therapy the next day to stop the scar tissue from reoccurring. It is going to be extremely painful for her. I know she is strong and can do it. She has proved that already. :o)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Go HERE for a great holiday link. No not silly like the other one. LOL But tons of recipes and great homeschool ideas too.

We are still on baby alert! Please say prayers for the mommy to be.

Go HERE for some hilarious photo fun! I mean this is the best! LOL

FYI-I have a ton of stuff posted on eBay. 32 listings right now with several ending tomorrow. Go HERE to see our auctions. Thanks for looking. And I think winter is here. I added the extra blanket to the bed today when I changed sheets.

We are still on baby alert too!

Christmas gift ideas to give and receive...

Look at more awesome jewelry pieces HERE!

These are the finished pincushions I just added to my website. All 100% wool and filled with crushed walnut shells. Each comes in its own metal pan.
I saw this book and thought it looked fun. You can read about it HERE. Quilts and pincushions!

Still trying to get over our Oprah trip. Had a dr run this morning to get a shot for my head. No not a shot TO my head. I asked, he won't do that. LOL Grocery shopping finished me off. I thought. Came home and saw the dirty floors and just had to do something about them. THEN I was done. Long nap and now up for a bit to catch up on emails and such. No baby yet!

Happy Sunday everyone.

What a great time. Go HERE to see what we saw at Oprah. Well part of what we saw. The behind the scenes is alot of fun. That is when funny things are said and alot of joking happens. Oprah is gorgeous! I knew she was, but in person...she really is. It was cool to see Marie do one of her Dancing With the Stars routine with her partner Jonathan. Marie is so tiny. Much much more so than on tv. We had wonderful sunshine driving up. No major issues finding the hotel. Something we did that I was waffling on and Deb was smart enough for both us, was taking a cab downtown to Harpo Studios. We left at 5:45am and it took about 45 minutes to go 13 miles! And this is with our cabby knowing all the ways around highway construction and traffic jams. The stress would have not been a happy way to start the day and that is IF we had even found our way. It was such a great trip and time spent with my sister Debbie.

We are on Baby Alert with Hillary, Debbie's dd. They kept her last night until this afternoon and sent her home. Anytime now though. Please help us pray for an easy delivery for her. First baby and first grandbaby and first GREAT grandbaby.

I posted a few finished goodies on my website. Take a looky if you like Raggedies and pincushions please.

Oprah here we come!! Yep. We got 2 audience tickets! So we are Chicago bound today. They do not allow any form of electronics, so no pics BUT I will have lots to talk about I am sure. I am, shoot this is OPRAH~! She is an incrediable woman.

I love this book. Debbie got it for me as a present this year. You can go HERE to check it out. Sweet sweet quilts.

Same wall, different corner. LOL Scooted the chair out from the table to take the picture. We have a long farm style table. I love it. It has drawers on each end where we keep the placemats and napkins. The dollhouse is my happy place to go. LOL Mr. Brown the bear has been around here a long time. The Longaberger basker holds all my "sacred cow" issues of the no longer, Miniature Quilt magazine. I loved that magazine!

The chair was being thrown away after my granparent's estate sale and someone snagged it for me. It hung in my shop for years, then my playhouse and now in the house. The quilt is another quilt of love made for me by online quilting friends. The black doll's story is she was made on my trip to Michelle's in Victoria BC. We each made one. Her face is there. Just doesnt show up well in the dark corner. I made Miss Scary Hands. Shayla calls her that. LOL Heather did the turning and stuffing. I think we made 3 of them. She said no more! Hated the stuffing of the toes and fingers. Oops about missed one! And Michelle made me the sheepie for Easter a couple years ago.

It is gorgeous here! The sun has shown all week and the temps are perfect for autumn. I have a couple windows up and am loving it!

Corners of my house is the theme of the day. I read Betsy's blog this morning and enjoyed her "memory" cabinet and thought of our's.

Mark refinished this cabinet about 12 years ago. The one and only refinishing project he has done. It is our memory cabinet. Filled with gifts, family heirlooms and favorites. The quilt is a gift from my Backporch Friends group early on in my cancer adventure. I love it! It has signature blocks and the Raggedy Ann is hand embroideried. The doll on top is by Sue Sizemore. My daddy made me the wooden tray. The gourd is painted by me.

The second shelf... Mark made these funny lil cows from sculpey and I painted them for him. Oh my, about 14 years ago. The bunnies peeping out are the first gift he ever gave me. They were an Easter present. The tiny tea cup is from Michelle. The dried roses are saved from a sweet gift from Penny. They dried so perfect. A angel is nestled in them and was a gift of encouragement from my Aunt Betty. The coffee pot is the first thing his mom bought with her first paycheck. When you pick it up it play music. The bottom shelf holds a bunny I painted for Mark's grandma and a ceramic duck dish I painted for mine. We received these back after their passing. Mark painted the Garfield banks in 4-H as a wee lad. The bread dishes were his mother's. She passed away when he was 15. The ceramic angel actually belongs to Heather and was a birthday pressie.

And doing this backwards as usual...the top shelf holds my Raggedies, thimbles from Heather's travels, Anne of Green Gables doll I bought when I went to see Mich in Victoria Bc and my Mary Engelbreit doll from my mom. Before I even knew who she was! LOL

This is my current hand work project. I am crocheting a bag to felt. Using a size H hook. My first time at felting, so we will see. It seems so huge! But I know it will not end that way. The yarn is Wool of the Andes (100% Peruvian High Wool), Sapphire Heather, from Knit Picks. Actually it is much more "heathered" than it looks. Has a navyish color in it.

Now I challenge you to show the corners of YOUR house. If you do, please let me know so I can go have a lookyloo. Have a great day.

We are having a baby. Well, not "we", but my niece Hillary. Here she is with my sis Debbie. I love this picture. The baby shower for Baby Jaydn Alyssa was Saturday. She got soooo many sweet things. We served sandwiches, veggie tray, feta and spinach spread on crackers, tomato and roasted pepper cheese spread too, cake, mints and nuts. Just 3 weeks to go!

Here we are holding the quilt our "other"sister Michelle made and her picture. It is adorable. She does amazing work! And it is soooo pink. Yikes! I looked like I have been dragged through the bushes backwards. Ignore me and look at Hillary and the sweet blankie! I was just about "done" here. LOL
This is the diaper cake I made her. I had so much fun shopping for it. Goodies are all the way around it. The bottle of M 'n M's was a guessing game.
This is the quilt I made Baby Lyssi. It is pretty big so she can get lots of use out of it. All in 30's reproduction fabric. With a scrappy binding. Love you HillaryNoelle. Hope you use this quilt! Do not save it! :o) It is to wrap your lil' one up in love.

Oh and don't forget the blog special I posted HERE.

Here is a blog offer just for you. Well and you, and you, and you and and...LOL On my pattern site, The Country Cellar, at checkout, use this voucher code for 10% off your entire order.

blog-promo

I am adding a bit of finished goodies as I get photos taken. The discount applies to everything, even clearance items. Promotion ends November 1st.

Well here is hoping we all have a better week! Cause last week was pretty yucky all around. We were to have done our last show on Saturday and had to cancel. Phooey! This was a cool fiber art show with live critters and tons of vendors. But we were afraid for me to go and then get sicker or have this infection turn into pneumonia. Which is not my friend with my health issues. Debbie is on medical leave for her legs and Penny is in her walking boot for another month. And is on antibiotics for bronchitis too. What a puny bunch! But this will be a better week. And if we say it enough.... :o)

I did finish my lil wall hanging. Satin the recliner and fiddled with it. Just dont know for sure now how to quilt it. I love to piece, it is the quilting that bogs me down. Without binding it measures 17-inches. The inner border is only 1/2-inch. It started to get wonky on me. The fabric got stretched a bit, but it worked out fine. All the fabrics are Civil War reproductions. Now who shall I gift it to???

Blah and blech. That is the situation here. Mark has strep and tonsilitis. I have bronchitis and sinus infection. :o( Both got shots and are on meds. We are the only house on the block with the big ole quarantine sign. LOL And the weather is gorgeous! So pretty. We are both sleeping alot and just being slugs. I have worked on my grandmother's flower garden wallhanging. The original thought was to make it into a dolly quilt for my Bleuettes, thus it is in all blues and white. But it seems too large to be proportional. Will have to work up something else for their bed. They have one quilt, but winter is coming and they need more blankies dont you know.

Hey any homeschool mom's out there? My friend De-De has a site up now with tons of books and such listed. Her kidlets are grown and she is trying to clean out. They look to be really great prices. So go here to check out her website. Tell her Angie sent you!

Thank you for all the sweet comments on my show pictures. And hey. If you want an email back you have to have your mail preference set to allow it. It makes me sad to write a heartfelt email and have it bounce back in my face! Well not literally, but you know what I mean. So PLEASE, set up your mail preference to allow those replies! I want to talk with YOU. :o

And here are my baby girls. Lydia is so not happy because Gracie is on her perch at the window.

Another weekend vendoring. This time at a quilt show in southern Indiana. It was a 2 day show. Not very many people attended unfortunately. Lack of advertising. And it was a shame because the quilts on display were very nice. Some exceptionally awesome. Two highlights. The first was meeting Conni from Simply Quilted! Just a random occurrence and those are usually the best. She was also vendoring as a longarmer. Conni had samples and photographs of her wonderful work. And such a sweet gracious lady. My sisters and I were very happy to meet her. Debbie reads her blog also so it was way cool. Kaye England was the guest speaker. She shared alot of her personal life and of course her gorgeous quilts. A humerous speaker that really encourages everyone.

I have included photographs in this post and the one below of our booth. We thought/paid for a 8x16-foot space. We got approximately 10x10-foot space. sigh After a bit of anx we worked it all out. Being in the middle of the floor we were able to use both sides of our space/tables. And after it was said and done, it was our favorite set up this year. Go figure. LOL One last show this weekend and we are done. Done in! Love my sisters for helping and putting up with me. They have down all the schelping and I really appreciate them!!!!!

Debbie and Kaye England. They were both having a great time. Deb helped fold her quilts after her lecture and got to really talk to her more then.

Pics from our booth this past weekend.