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!