Christmas is over and we quickly approaching a new year....

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my children (John and Ginger).   Between the two of them they have 8 children (my daughter has six of the eight).   My son's daughter, Brooke, lives in Tampa, Florida and was not able to make it.   My stepdaughter who lives close by was not able to make due to daughter being with her dad Christmas Eve so the two of them came over this past Sunday.

The grandkids were on good behavior Christmas Eve with the threat of Santa not coming looming all around them if they dared to act out!  LOL!  Oh, heck, who am I kidding - they were wound up to beat the band.   The 5 year old (Dominic) and his cousin (Liam) who just turned 7 had a blast seeing who could talk (yell) the loudest!   Then Dominic's niece (Juleigha) who is 4 just sat very daintily observing it all until after presents were opened and then she gave them a run for their money.   The baby (also Dominic's niece) who just turned a year old December 6 (Mariah) was the life of the party!   Everyone enjoyed the food.   My daughter-in-law, Michelle, and my daughter, Ginger, cleaned up the kitchen and washed and dried dishes.  Yay me!   They all left around 7:30 which was somewhat of a relief to hubby and I as we had been battling colds all week.

Then on Saturday, December 26 we celebrated Mariah's birthday.   Which was hilarious!   So I'm posting some pictures below of Christmas and the birthday girl!

These are the Christmas gifts I made for family and friends this year.  They weren't very hard to make - just time consuming but it gave me something mindless to do while watching tv.

This is a gift I  stitched for my nephew who lives in Tennessee.

This is a gift I stitched for my niece who lives in Mississippi.

 This is a quilt I made from my grandson, Liam.   I had made his dad a quilt a few years back using the guitar fabric and musical notes that I binded Liam's with and Liam tried to take ownership of it.  Now he has his own - not exactly like dad's but using some of the same fabric.   He was a happy camper.

The quilt I made for Dominic.   He said it was so soft.  :)

 Miss Juleigha Renee.   She is our 4  year old great granddaughter.   Her hair was longer at one time but one afternoon she decided she wanted it short, went into her Grammy's bedroom, found the scissors and cut all her hair this short.  Lucky for her, Aunt TM (Toni Marie) is a hair stylist and cleaned it up for her.  She's such a little cutie pie!

 Uncle Dominic and Juleigha.   He's a wild thing and if I try to give him "the look" the little stinker just gives it right back to me.   It's so hard to not laugh when I'm trying to get him to stop doing something and he gives the look right back.

 This Uncle Dominic, Juleigha, and Uncle Ryan (Ry Ry aka stunt double).   To get somewhat of a smile from Ryan is a major accomplishment!

From left to right....my son-in-law, Tony; my daughter, Ginger; great granddaughter, Mariah; granddaughter, Toni Marie; her boyfriend, Tristian.

 Dominic and his big brother, Andrew.  My hubby and granddaughter, Karley, in the background giving them bunny ears.

 My granddaughter, Karley, with her precious baby, Mariah.  Those tights Mariah has on made it look like she had black shoes on.   So cute.

 Dominic, cousin, Liam, and niece Juleigha (my daughter in the background).

 Little Miss Mariah was infatuated by her cousin Liam and just followed him around and would stand and stare at him.  Then she started hitting him, cocking her head to the side and smiling at him.  She's already a big flirt!

 Liam with his quilt.

 Dominic peeking over his quilt.

Mariah hugging her educational doggie.


Picture of Mariah in her birthday dress.   She looked like a real life baby doll.   But she was not too happy being all fru fru'd up!   She was much happier once her momma took her out of her dress.   Ordinarily she's all smiles.   She's a happy little baby but has no fear.   Her daddy got her an age appropriate riding toy and the little stinker stands on it!







And here is the birthday girl, Mariah, with her cousin, Juleigha and my hubby, Paw Paw.



So now it's time to clean up my craft room so I can get started on a quilt for our guild quilt show in October. Time to make a list of projects (quilts, stitching, punch needles, rugs, Christmas gifts I want to make or finish in 2016) so I can stay on track.  I did that in 2015 and did a pretty good job of getting things done!

Thanks for stopping by.   Hope you leave a comment or two.

Happy New Year!
Char

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all of you that celebrate Thanksgiving - I hope you have a wonderful day, enjoy your time with friends and family.   If you have to travel or have family that travel I hope they have a safe trip.   To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving - I still wish you a wonderful day!

Here in Ohio it's 60 degrees and just beautiful out.   We will not celebrate our Thanksgiving with my family until Saturday.   However, we are going to my daughter's house tomorrow for dinner.   My cousin, her children and her brother (also my cousin) will be here tomorrow evening to visit their big family in Vermilion.   Then they'll come here and spend time with my family before they have to head back home to Tennessee.

I have finished quilting one of the quilts I'm giving as a gift this Christmas.  Just have to finish the other one.   I still have two more to do but they'll probably be given after Christmas....there are only so many hours in a day ya know!  :)    I have also finished the Christmas gifts that I make.  Yay me!

So hubby and I have cleaned downstairs, put the tables and chairs up.   Now we're going to eat some lunch, then I'll do my baking for Saturday.

Today I am grateful for the many friends I have "met" on facebook and on blogs.   You are what keeps me motivated to make my quilts, hook my rugs, punch needle and cross stitch.   You all give such good tips and good advice.   You're all just awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

Oh my! It's NOVEMBER already!!!

Where has the time gone!?!?  

I've been busy making Christmas gifts (sorry no pictures until after Christmas on those), busy hand quilting some smaller quilts, and playing with my new Ipad.   I have no idea what all it does but I've been playing around with it trying to learn all the quirks and features.  

And as if that wasn't enough I decided to purchase Apple TV which is a streaming device to be able to watch Netflix and Hulu - those types of things.   I bought it for two reasons 1) everyone said super easy to install...NOT and 2) I'm sick and tired of paying a huge bill every month for cable or satellite and still watching reruns of reruns.    My goal is to eventually stop the cable or satellite, get antennae tv to watch local channels and Netflix and Hulu for every thing else.    We'll see how that goes.

So the saga of the installation....   I came home, read the instruction book page by page, got my Ipad and looked up how to install Apple TV, watched the video on You Tube and thought I was ready to install.   I plug it in, then had to figure out how to get to the HDMI port once I turned my tv on.   Got that figured out.  So I used my little apple tv remote to install....   everything came up French!!!!  I don't speak or read French.   So my friend called and walked me thru where to find language and I found English.   Cool!   Next I ended my Wi-fi password....not able to find Wi Fi....   So after 3 hours I quit for the day.   Next day I tried again - still unable to read my wi-fi.   So I called Apple Tech support - very friendly, very helpful but couldn't help because it was my wi fi speed - to slow.   So I called the phone company explained my problem and they did a few things and then said, "so sorry but you're going to have call our loyalty department and have them upgrade your wi fi speed - if we do it, it will mess up your phone and they're not in on Sundays."    So finally Tuesday afternoon I was home long enough to have them upgrade the wi fi speed and make a few other changes.    Then Wednesday I was brave enough to attempt installing Apple TV again and VOILA! (oh maybe I do know some French...or is that Spanish...whatever...LOL!) it worked!   Yay!

So, no pictures to post this time but just thought I'd pop in and say "Hey!".   I've been stalking your blogs and you all have such lovely fall displays!   Once of these day's I'll get there too!

Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by.   I hope you have a great week!

Char

Yep, I'm up super late!

Sadly it's because I just came home from the hospital.  I took my hubby there around 8:00 p.m. with atrial fib.  They were able to get him in normal rhythm fairly quickly but as with all heart issues, they decided to admit him.   Hopefully he'll get discharged some time tomorrow.   He has had this problem off and on for 15  years and has had two ablations.   It might be time for a medication change.

Meanwhile....   in my August 12, 2015 post I posted a picture of pieces of fabric.  Well.... here is that it turned out to be!

 It has lots of pockets and zippers inside and out!

 This is the pattern.

And last but not least is a picture of my great-granddaughter, Mariah.   She is 8 months old - well, soon to be 9 months old.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

So, this is part of what I've been up to....

Hmmm....pieces of this and pieces of that....oh what will it be?   Stay tuned for the series final...  :)

This is a quilt top that I've made for my daughter.   She loves purple and many, many years ago - like 10 or more - I bought this fabric with her in mind and began searching for a pattern that would look good with the variety of greens and purples and had no luck.   Then last December or January I got one of my McCall's magazines and it had a six part series of a quilt called Cottage Romance.   It used lots of floral fabrics but in reds and pinks.   Then I had an "Aha!" moment and realized I could make it using the above fabric.   But I knew I didn't want to make the whole quilt - I just wanted to make a lap size so I did the first three parts of the pattern and added a border.   The size is about 55 x 55.   Now I just need to hand quilt it, bind it, wash it and give it to my daughter.   I really struggled with those pinwheel blocks but after much ripping and cutting new fabric and re sewing and ripping and cutting new fabric I finally am satisfied with them.   The sad news...I still have a ton of the purple floral fabric and some of the greens left so I'm going to make a rag wreath for their bedroom wall.

Couldn't remember if I'd posted a picture of my spring rag wreath.   I have butterflies to glue on the lighter part.   But meanwhile I have a patriotic rag wreath hanging where this one was.  But just realized I don't have a picture of it so I'll need to take one and post the picture of that.   I plan to make one for the fall and then a Christmasy one.

I've also finished a Lorain Lighthouse just need to frame it and am working on another small cross stitch that I've almost finished.   I can't show pics of that because it's a gift.   And I'm working on a punchneedle project and of course, can't forget my slow, painful progress on the Jane Harris sampler.

And last but not least....   I bought a new car today.   I've been researching and pricing and checking Kelley Blue Book for the value of my old car (2008 Mercury Sable with 114,000 miles on it).   Then decided how much I could afford for a monthly payment and then went to the dealership.   I hate buying cars and always get so tense.   Well, this was effortless and I ended up paying $8.00 more per month than I had originally planned but I can live with that.  I bought a 2016 Ford Fusion in Ruby Red.   Here it is....

Thanks for stopping by!   I'm going to try to get better about posting pictures and just updates on what I've been up to....  Hahahahaha!   Like I said - I'll try!   It just takes so darn long to upload these pictures and it seems I'm always in a hurry.   LOL!

Char

Where oh where has the time gone!?!?

My goodness!  I can't believe I haven't posted since February!!!!!!    I thought when I retired I'd have more time to get my crafting done.   Well, I probably do have more time but I also seem to procrastinate more!  LOL!    I have been busy and will post pictures but thought I'd better pop in here and let you all know that I'm still around!

Thanks for stopping by!   Stay tuned for pictures!

Ta Da! I'm able to post pictures! Yay!

 This is a view from the breezeway door to the East of my house from the snow we got about 1 1/2 weeks ago!!!  Brrr!

 Icicles hanging from the gutter.  Sooo cold here in Ohio!  (again from 1 1/2 weeks ago)

How high the snow was!  Thank goodness my son-in-law and grandson came over and finished shoveling our snow!!!

 This is going to be Dominic's quilt.  I had already cut the homespun and the border into 6 inch squares to make a rag quilt.  However, when I did the older boys quilts (rag quilts) they turned out horrible so I opted to sew the 6 inch squares together and was going to add a border.  Then realized that I could just sew the green six inch squares to the sides, top, and bottoms of the rows and come up with this border.

 This is just another view of Dominic's quilt top.

 This is the Lizzie Kate cross stitch that I finished.  I had posted this on facebook and one of the group suggested turning it into a bell pull and I think I just might do that!  Whichever way I decide to finish - I'll post the finished product!

 This is a free punch needle pattern I got off the Good Housekeeping website.  I had to redo the face a couple of times because I just didn't like the look.  I am satisfied with this.  Back in the fall I was at Pat Catan's (one of our local craft stores) and saw a cute little metal sled.  At the time I had just started this and thought to myself that it would be a good way to mount this punch needle.  For some reason I put it back down and did not buy it.  I'm regretting it now!  I'm hoping that when or IF our weather ever breaks and we can take a ride to Amish county I can go to the Christmas store (it's open year round) to see if I can find something there - like maybe another sled to mount this on.  If not, I'll wait until this fall when all the Christmas decorations come out to see if I can find something then.

This is Liam's quilt top which I did the same  way as Dominic's above.  Both of these have been put away until I finish the two older boy's (Andrew's and Ryan's) quilts.  Andrew's top is almost done - will probably get that done today.  Then I'll start on Ryan's.  I'm not using homespun just using fabric that I had in my stash in colors that they like.

A big THANK YOU to Julia of   Of Petals and Wool for suggesting that I update to Google Chrome so I could download pictures!

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you're having a good day and staying warm!

Char

I've been busy - honest!

I was all prepared to show pictures of the things I've been working on, but whenever I try to upload a picture onto my blog I'm getting a message that asks if I want to open or save resumable (1.58) from www.blogger.com.  I've tried clicking on open, I've tried clicking on save and still nothing so....until I can figure out the problem or if I even can I'll just have to tell you what I've been doing!  :)

After the debacle of Christmas crafts gone bad I re-did two of the boys quilts.  I used the same blocks I had already cut from homespun and sewed them into blocks like a regular quilt.  I will sandwich them with batting and backing and hand quilt them.  Since they go to the two youngest grandchildren, they have been put away so I can make and finish the older boys quilts.  For theirs I managed to get their embroidered names out of the "rag" quilt and then decided I was done with that homespun.  So I looked through my stash and found just about enough fat quarters to do a scrappy quilt for both of them in their favorite colors.  I cut the squares in 5 1/2 blocks and sewed 11 blocks across and 12 blocks down.  I will add a 1 inch inner border and then about a 3 inch outer border to complete the quilt top.  Then I will get some flannel for the back.  I just plan to hand quilt circles or arches so those will need to be traced on the top.  Then I'll sandwich them and work on them in the evening while watching tv.

I also finished a small Lizzie Kate cross stitch.  I also got a free punch needle project from Good Housekeeping - a Santa and finished that.  I just need to figure out how to display both of them.  The cross stitch I had originally thought of mounting on a flat pail/wall hanging but someone suggested that I make a small bell pull out of it which I think I'm leaning more towards that.  The Santa will probably have to wait until I can either get down to Amish country to the Christmas store and see if there is something there that I can mount it on - like a small sleigh or hope that Pat Catan's has small sleighs in October/November when they put their Christmas stuff out.  I saw one this past Christmas that would have been perfect for it but did not buy it.  Why?  I don't know but I'm kicking myself now!  LOL!

We have gotten tons of snow.   I think I'm not alone in feeling like this winter is never going to end!  My husband keeps saying we're probably going to have a really hot summer.  I have my doubts.  I don't think they snow will melt until July!  LOL!

Well, I'll keep trying to figure out what's up with my blog or why I can't post pictures.  If any of you out there have any ideas I'm open for suggestions.  A friend suggested I unplug the modem and then replug it back in - I did that and still can't post pictures.  Urgh!

Take care!  Stay warm if you're somewhere that's getting all this cold.  If you in a warm/nice climate - I'm jealous! but enjoy yourself!

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

Christmas has come and gone.... Happy New Year!

Christmas has come and gone, the decorations are down, my house is in some semblance of normalcy...  Craft room needs to be straightened back up or at least finished so I can start on projects.

My Christmas crafting turned into major disasters!  Gulp!  I had sewn homespun to make rag quilts for my grandsons...I washed and washed and washed and washed and dried and dried and dried and dried....  It was a twisted ugly mess with strings all over the place little rats nests here and there - a total disaster.  A friend suggested I do fray check so two small bottles later - still the same thing.  Then when I said I was going to salvage the embroidered names and then just throw the rest of it away she suggested that I try cutting it apart with my pinking rotary cutter.  So I tried that with just two pieces, washed and dried - still the same affect...  :(  So I decided ENOUGH!  I've put way too many hours into this to have them look so bad it and it was ruining my creative mind (hahahaha!)  So I salvaged the embroidred names, found fat quarters but needed to buy just about 3 more of each color and some border fabric to make two Crazy Eight quilts.  That's my plan and I'm stickin' to it!

My next craft disaster was these darling punch needle snowman faces ornaments.  I punched and punched (I made 15 all together), I added beeds for eyes and mouth....  Then I don't know why, I gues I had a major brain freeze, but I cut them all out really close to the edge of the punch needle without ever using glue or fray check or any thing.  I decided to make little pillows, cut some nice flannel to make little pillows that I was going to fill with my pine needle stuffing...  I sewed them onto the flannel - too cute.  Then I sewed the back flannel to the front.  When I was turning them inside out....they unraveled!!!!  So, okay deep breaths...   I threw them away as well.  Then I decided to try to make these little snowmen ornaments out of felt.  Cute but not what I wanted to make.  Those only went to a few people.  So this was the Christmas that my crafts went out the door - literally!

Next - my fudge.  My dad loves my peanut butter fudge and my chocolate fudge (he lives in Tennesseee - I live in Ohio).  Although he did tell me I needed to add pecans to the chocolate fudge!  I made the chocolate fudge - it was too dry.  Then I made the peanut butter fudge...  it was too soft.  So I made another batch of each.  I knew my dad would like the chocolate fudge - it was dry but melted in your mouth so he still got that.  The second batch I did not add pecans because those were for here and I knew some of the kids and grandkids wouldn't like the nuts in them.  Again too soft but at least hardened enough to be able to eat as candy instead of frosting for a cake!

I did have a nice Christmas.  Had some nice gifts made for me that mean the world to me and are my treasures.  So I'm sharing those with you!

 

This my granddaughter, Skylar who is 8, made at "Artist for a Day".  Love it!

 

Skylar also made this at Artist for a Day.  Too cute!

 

My friend, Gail, made this.  She's always telling my friend Sharon and I that she's just not good at crafting or sewing or cross stitch!  I think this is just adorable!  We'll make a crafter out of her yet!  LOL!

My friend, Sharon of Serendipity In Quilting & Other Stuff! , made this cute little mug rug!  I just love it!  But as I look at it I am envious of her stitching.  I know that I need work at my skills.  I want to make things that turn out this good!

 

My grandson, Liam aka Handsome Schmandsome, who is 6 made this in Kindergarten!  How sweet!

 

Liam also made this - this is it closed and....

...this is it opened!  I love it!

My daughter, Ginger, put my gifts in this bag.  So what's the big deal you ask?

Well, if you push on the red circle it has twinkling lights.  I loved the gifts in the bag but I really, really like the bag!  It's hanging in my craft room and when I need something to make me smile I just push the button.  My granddaughter, Karley, said she picked the bag out.  It's silly maybe but like I said - they got me bottles of wonderfully scented foam soap for my bathroom and kitchen but the bag sent it over the top!

 

So with all that said - I'm glad the holidays are over.  I'm not liking the bitter cold we're having here in Ohio right now but in a way I'm glad.  Hopefully in the next day or so I'll finish putting my craft room back together and get the boys quilt tops sewn.  My plan (and notice I didn't say resolution) this year is to slow down when I'm being creative, take the time to do it right so that I'm making things I can be proud of.  It's time for my annual - "Projects to finish or to make" list so that I can cross them off as I complete them. 

 

In addition to my list - my friend, Sharon, and I are going to start work on a "Loyal Union Sampler" quilt for Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini.  We know it's not going to get finished in a year.  We're not making it as the big quilt.  I'm making mine to fit a space I have in my living room.  So we'll do a block here, a block there and maybe by the end of the year all the blocks we have chosen will be completed.  Then next year they'll get sewn together.  Or maybe we won't get all our block sewn in one year.  The point is we're taking our time and enjoying the process.

 

I've also started doing a lot of punch needle and want to get a couple of those finished.  I also hope to finish my Jane Harris sampler this year!  Hopefully by June!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  I can dream can't I!

 

I wish you all a Happy New Year full of crafting, relaxing, and taking time to smell the roses!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Char

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!