Whirl into Winter Quilt Blog Giveaway

Sign up are closed. Thank you everyone for playing along.

Thank you to all the 136 who signed up for my Whirl Into Winter Giveaway! I drew 2 names for my Wool Journal and Fob Kits.

The first name I drew is Nana Barb's Musings.
The second name is Terri from Bits and Pieces in Michigan!

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I am participating in the Whirl into Winter Quilt Blog Giveaway! There are over 60 blogs joining in the fun. Each blog has different rules and prizes. But this rule is the same....you comment doesn't count until January 1st. We were asked to post today to get things going. But the comments start counting on the first.

So here is what I am doing.

1.I will draw 2 names from all comments between January 1st and January 13th. My birthday! :o)

2. You must comment on this post to be counted in the drawing.

3. You do not have to have a blog to win, but you must leave your email addy in your comment.

4. If I do not hear back from the winners within two days of contacting them, I will draw another name.

5. I will ship international, but it will be by the slowest boat. :o)

Each lucky winner will recieve a complete wool kit to make a wool covered journal and matching key fob.

So be sure to bookmark my blog or add me to the list of blogs you follow. There is a link on my sidebar that says "followers". Come back tomorrow and let's Whirl into Winter together!

Happy New Year!!

Pincushion Exchange

I just posted a Pincushion Exchange on the Hand-Dids group. I love these swaps! Here is a pic of a wool tomato pincushion I made for Etsy earlier this year. The base is an antique glass, electrical insulator. These were on top of the electric poles. A thimble pouch hangs from the button on top.

If you haven't joined our lil group, come on over if you love to make hand-dids.

We are having a gorgeous day. Sunny and light wind. This compares to the flatline wind of the past days. Hope you are having sunshine too!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away....

Well that is what Toby told us. When Penny took him for a walk this afternoon, he brought me home an apple. LOL He carried it quite a long ways and didn't drop it until he got into the house and then on an accident. We just thought this was cute of him. Penny said it was his get well pressie for me. LOL

I have been making a few items for Heather's baby hope chest. (No babies in the very near future. Haha I reckon that is how rumors get started! I just want to make sure when the babies do come, they have goodies from their grammy. She has a wonderful hope chest that my daddy made her. Hillary has one also. I thought since she is in her house now and it isn't called the Hopeless Chest anymore, it could be the Baby Chest now.) This is a soft pram afghan. The pretties deep lilac. It was done in shells with a graduated shell border. Just made the pattern up as I went. I have a cuddly Baby Clouds granny square afghan on the hook for her also. Jaidyn loves the ones Penny has made her. She likes to stick her lil fingers in the holes. She must have one of her afghans to go to sleep happy.

I passed out all but one of my 40 crochet dishcloths through the holidays. LOL I am keeping the one that I found. Must be meant to be mine. Mindless busy work is a good thing. :o)

We did a lil get-together today with my family and Baby Shayla.

And then Miss Big Girl Jaidyn took her first solo ride on Shayla's Care Bear car. This was a big deal for Shayla to share. Cause she looooooooves her car and has had it since about 18 months or so. Jaidyn took right off on it with no hesitation. She loved the music it plays too.

Then there is poor Mr. Toby. We have a muzzle for him now when folk's come over. Honestly I wish we did this the minute we brought him home. NOT to keep him from biting or barking. He never ever does either. But it totally calms him down. It is so loose it will slip right off his head. My hands both fit inside it even. (These are all disclaimers so no one will turn us in to the Puppy Protection people.) It just totallllly settles him down though. Toby is very much a hyper puppy still when we have company. He can drink and pant with it on. I bought the one a size bigger too. Here he is laying around on Mr. Woofie, Shayla's big doggie. Debbie got this for her a couple years ago. The Pooh Bear is mine. LOL

Aaaahhhh sweet peace. LOL This was him before Mark was even out of the driveway taking Shayla home! And here he stayed for 3 hours!! Watching lil kids frolic is exhausting work for a puppy dog! :o)

A blessed Christmas to you and your's.

I went to town on a Friday night. 'Nough said? LOL We were not gone that long, but looong enough. Something people not from "here" (midwest, hickville, farm country...) might think is funny, is that we say go to town even when we LIVE inside the city limits. Go to town, means to actually venture into a store. Just a lil FYI for ya. :o) Anyways, Mark can finish us up on the 2 gifts we have left. He laughed at me when in the Sears tool dept. I was on the phone to daddy saying "just tell me please!". So I am going from the saw blade section to the sander belt section reading off numbers over and over to make sure it was the correct ones. Daddy cannot ever hear me on the phone and I wasn't sure the connection was super clear in the store on my cell. He finally said, you don't have to keep repeating yourself. That just cracked me up. I just wanted to be sure he didn't have to return anything. The poor man has been buried the past several years in warm clothes and mom told us to stop it already (in her nice way of course!). But us 3 girls just want out farmer daddy to stay warm. He is a little man and is out in all the weather. So with warmth not an option, I was flummoxed on what to do. So from the farm to the wood shop my thoughts went. Course he has about all the tools. And what he doesn't, well none of us can afford. So I was thinking on supplies. Consumables as Debbie says, is just the best way to go for so many gifts. And she is right. So here is my last minute Christmas shopping tip for you. Buy what they can/will use. Be it hobby supplies, some groceries (with a few special treats added in), personal care items, gas cards..... The thought and love is still there and you know the gift will be used and appreciated. Everyone wins.

Filling my Etsy shop up. Didn't make it in time for Christmas sales, but maybe the folk's who get the gift of green will come a'callin' in January! :o) Here is a pic of 3 of my raggedy girls. I do love my raggedies. I enjoy making dolls so much.

Hope you are warm wherever you are!

When I took Toby out to potty tonight, I felt like a popsicle!

You Are a Cherry Flavored Popsicle

You are sweet and friendly. For you, summer is all about doing your favorite things. You are a nostalgic person. You love old fashioned things like ice cream trucks. You savor everything. Every taste of summer, the feeling of the sun, the smell of the beach... Of all the types, you love summer the most.

What Flavor Popsicle Are You?

Baby Jaidyn loved her birthday cake! And the sweetest thing was she wanted to give her mommy the first bite. She gave bites to her daddy and all her grandparents. Very sweet girl!

I just updated my Etsy shoppe with prints, wool bears (these are the last 3) and a couple wooden pieces. Had meant to do this for weeeeeeeeks. But just hadn't felt up to par to get the pics taken and tweeked and then the uploading part itself. Have a couple of new dolls to add yet.

I have also have a sale on my stitchery patterns at The Country Cellar.

I found this cool weather widget on Peggy's blog. You can see mine on my sidebar. Just interesting to see what is happening around the world.

No rescheduled partaaay for Miss Penny. She is still sicky and so is our mom. Daddy is coming down with it too they said. So please send healing prayers up for all of them. Folks are dropping like flies! :o( Still waiting to find out about Baby Jaidyn's scheduled First Birthday Party tomorrow. Can you believe it? Seems the lil miss should just be 4 months old. She is a blessing to our family that is for sure. (Pic is from April at her Meme's bday partay.)

My hands are all messed up this week. The lupus. I have been trying to think what I can work on and came up with... myself. I have this crazy drive all the time to craft and sew and just keep my hands busy. So this weekend it is about reading my Bible and working on me. I am a constant WIP (work in progress). My attitude has gotten a bit stinky lately. Just letting life and sickness get to me and that has got to STOP. So getting off my pitypot and getting into deeper into the Word. Anyone want to join me?

Faux Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints are a big hit here and easypeasy to make!

One package of Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts (Dark if you want them JUST like their's.) One sleeve of Club Crackers. For those who do not have access to this brand, it is a rich buttery cracker. Peppermint flavoring (I use candy flavoring, not extract. It is much stronger.) Place foil or parchment paper onto your counter. Melt the Candy Melts per the package instructions. I do mine in the microwave for 2 minutes on high heat. Stir, then 2 minutes more. Stir, then in 10 second increments. Add the flavoring, ONE DROP AT A TIME. Stir. Taste. Add more flavoring as needed. This gets very "hot" fast. So be careful. Drop one cracker at a time into the melted candy. Lift out and shake off excess. I use a candy making fork, you can use a regular fork. Place onto foil. Allow to set up approximately 1.5 hours. Store in an airtight container. Hide from your family. Ration out. :o) One for them, two for you...one for them, two for you...

This is the scripture I lit upon today. We just can't lose heart.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on that which is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

(My website is down for some reason, waiting on a reply as to why. All my graphics for the blog are stored there. That is why everything is a mess here right now.)

This is where I have been since before Thanksgiving. I usually make it until January. But lazy/sicky came early this year. HOHOHO NOT!I will not show you my other dwelling place...aka unmade bed. I think you get the idea.

Here is the stocking and teddy bear I received from Vickie in our Hand-Dids ornament exchange.

I received the 2 large ornaments and dirty snowball from my other partner Stella.

Here is Mark's parent's engagement picture. His mother has been passed away for 25 years.

Here is my parent's with my precious lil' nativity.

My favorite Winnie the Pooh sitty out decoration.

Table by my chair.

Thanks to all that have written asking how I am feeling. You don't know how much those emails are appreciated! Everyone stay warm and dry.

Happy Birthday to my sister Penny!!
Hope everyone gets over their sickies so we can partay!

The "almost cousins". Blogger kept turning my pics sideways! So I wasn't about to share all I wanted.

Jaidyn loving on her baby doll. She has a lil cold and was getting so tired.

This is one of her making razzberries. The dolly makes alot of sounds and that is one of them. Baby Jaidyn mimics very well. We laughed and laughed, cause her lips had to be numb!!! And mom's face got wet. LOL

The girls listening to the music from the Pooh book.

Shayla "reading" to the baby.

We had a great day. Dinner at the inlaws and then back here for supper. All yummy and delish.

And it is finished! And ain't we glad! The last of the shows is past. The quilt show was wonderful!! Aren't quilters the best anyways? Sweet Connie and her friend came up to see the show/us. And we met some really nice people there also. Cathy and her mom Priscilla from In Stitches are super sweet. Go visit her shop in Rushville Indiana if you can. We plan on it after the holidays.

I made the pics small, but you can click on them to see the full size. We took my patterns and samples. Actually I have sold down now on my samples. Want to start fresh if we continue on in 2009. Red River Pickin's the large red wallhanging in the first picture (Penny is peeking around the corner) is now hanging in our newly redone bathroom. Mark has wanted this one for a long time. LOL So he is happy. I do appreciate that he likes what I make. He always wants us to keep everything. :o)

How long do you think it took to set up this crazy booth??? It was a 10x20 ft space. Just under 4 hours! Nuts isn't it? We can tear it down in less than an hour though. LOL

Happy Sunday everyone. Hope you are nice and warm wherever you are.