Swaps

I participated in an ornament swap on my Yahoo group woolandrags. My partner was Norma. She sent me this lovely Angel ornament. Isn't this sweet. Her buttonhole stitch is flawless.


She makes these fabric postcards. I told her I was going to put a hanger on it and use it as an ornament also. It's really nice. I found my craft for after Christmas. I was reading up on these last night and they seem pretty straight forward in construction but the possibilities for creativity are endless.


This is the santa ornament I made for her. I had an absolute grand time making this ornament. I started with a 4 inch body from the craft store. Then I made all kinds of mistakes making the coat and pants. The beard,face and hat proved there own challenges. This actually is the second ornamnet.


Here are the pictures of the first Santa with all his mistakes. I loved the embroidery on the coat. I glued on his beard and all his fur. I tried to grubby him up some. I painted on my coffee vanilla cinnamon mixture and put him in the oven to bake. Can you see where this is going??? The glue softened an dI reached in to turn him. SQUISH and it stuck to my fingers. His face ran too. I forgot I drew it on with permanent (or not so permanent) marker. Although I did show it to a friend of mine and her first thought was that it really now looks like something you would find in the attic. I kept it around because it does have some charm even though it has my mistakes.


My misfit Santa.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here. We put up one tree today and DH got the lights on. Now we need to get the totes out of the attic and dive into decorating. We will go for another tree next weekend.
Tomorrow I will show you what's going on in my family room. I will tell you the story of the 29th year of a family tradition.

Rhonda

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I am at home enjoying the quietness. Hubby got called into work and my girls stayed at my SILs last night. We will go there for dinner today. I do have a turkey in the oven to take with us. I will do 15# of mashed potatoes as well. My hubby actually did the turkey and stuffing to take. He made his "mom's" stuffing for the part of his family that likes it her way. His sister made it a different way for the rest of us. I never realized until I got married how much families do things and celebrate holidays differently then we did growing up. I had friends who did some things a littel differently but I guess I never really paid attention. But as we started celebrating combined family traditions it became more apparent. We use some things from both of our families and started a few new ones of our own. I guess that's what being a family is all about-blending.






Here is a link to Trudy's Blog. She is a dear lady who currently has a lot on her plate and still finds time to enjoy life. She is having a giveaway in Dec. She will pick the winner on Christams day. Be sure and hop on over and register.

Have a Happy Day and remember to give thanks for something or someone today.


Rhonda

Where does the time go?????

It's hard to believe that it has been over a week since I've had time to post. We're blessed have a visit from sister and her son from Texas. While they were here we celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house. I've posted the photos below. Notice that we hold dinner in my parents 3 car garage. That may seem a little odd but you have to seee this garage to believe it. We have heat, TV, refrigerator and a bathroom all in the garage. At one point my dad was going to put a hot tub in one end. But that's a story for another time. I have 3 bothers and a sister all married with families. We were all there except 1 brother and his family who also live in Texas (HI Aunt T).


Tori and my nephew Ben.



Some of the "gang". I must admit it's not the classiest joint but we have so much fun just being together.




Some folks just can't cooperate to have their pictures taken. It was a light hearted day for all of us though.


We were all just grateful to have one more holiday with everyone since we never know what tomorrow may bring. I am most grateful for my parents this year. They raised me to believe that God and relationships are some of the most important things you can have.

I must go now and finish my ornament for my ornament exchange. I will post pictures of it later.


Rhonda

How Blessed I am

These are my birthday cake. I don't particularily like cake and this was easy for my DH. Em arranged the plate of cookies and put the tealight in the middle so I could blow it out.
That's my DSIL in the background. They went to dinner with us and came back for "cookies" and to play games with us. We try to get together at least once a month and have a game night with our kids. The older I get the more I appreciate how blessed I am to be in my DH wonderful family.
Isn't it funny how the older you get the less people remember your birthday. But this year turned out to be a special year for me. My parents always remember me with a card and money since we're and hour and half apart. This year though my 86 year old FIL called to wish me a Happy Birhtday before he left to sit at the nursing home with my MIL. My best friend from chilhood called too. Sometimes it's these "random" events that remind me there is a greater force at work in my life. I am trying to remember to be more thankful for these "random" blessings from God. I was cleaning when they called so it was such a lift just to be remembered.

As I was cleaning however all I smelled was the apple slices I had scented with cloves, cinnamon and allaspice that were drying in the oven. For me they took some planning to get underway. As I reada the recipe I found out that they needed to be in the oven for at least 6 hours. Sat was the perfect day, I could put them in and forget about them. I am planning a garland with cinnamon sticks, dried apples and oranges, small wooden spools and homespun. I'll take pictures when it is finished. I need to dry the oranges yet.Of course my DH had to point out that if I had bought them already done it probably would have been cheaper than having the oven on all day. It probably would have but we also got to enjoy the glorius smell all day.
On Friday I didn't go into work until 1:00 so I also got some gingerbread men made. They turned out pretty wel now I just need to finish them.
I am finding that with going back to work full time I need to do a little at a time with much planning. I have things in various stages but that's ok for now. Some things take more time so those wait for weekends or when I know I'll have a block of time.

Well it's off to church for us. It is snowing here in SW PA so I'm sure I'll be in the mood to work when I return. Maybe I'll get to post more projects later.

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

My projects don'y get worked on anymore until evening. My oldest daughter is going away for the weekend to a youth retreat. The dance on Sat evening has a prehistoric theme. One of her friends mom made skirts for the three girls.Tonight I made 3 bones for their hair. I can't wait to see the pictures of the three of them together. Here are my bones.Tori's skirt is in the background.

I have been so inspired after looking at all the stitchery posted on the blogs I read. So here is mine. I need to frame and stain it next. The snowman doesn't show up too well. What color does everyone use for white??Any suggestions??Will it show up better once it is stained?

I have been a little under the weather so I haven't had time to do much but I hope to get some ornaments started. I have some trees cut out and all ready to stuff. I think I'll go to bed early so I'll close for now.
Rhonda

A Girl and her Mom

It is hard to believe I was away for a week before I got a chance to post. I worked over the weekend and that does me in for a few days. I work midnight to noon so when I am home I pretty much sleep the whole time. But I must post a picture of my youngest and tell her story.
Here she is with her 2 friends.
Because there are not enough good things said about others I just have to post this little story. My youngest daughter is painfully shy. She couldn't bring herself to ask her frinds if she could go trick or treating with them. She lamented for days because they already had plans and costumes and all they did was talk in front of her about them. All I could do was pray for the situation. Finally she worked up enough courage Wed at lunch. They said of course. She came home from school elated. Now I just needed to work everything out with their parents. The girls mom who made the skirts for the outfits said she had more fabric if I wanted so of course I said yes (anything for her to go and enjoy herself) So they would be 3 Minnie Mouses. Well on Thurs she showed up not to deliver the fabric but to deliver a finished skirt. How wonderful was that!! She was so sweet about it. She told me where they got the hands and ears and how to put the dots on the skirt. Well you can see how happy she was. She's the one on the left.
This was one of those times when being a mom was breaking my heart for her. All she wanted was for them to ask her. It was so hard to stand by and watch it all unfold but in the end it was all taken care of.( A special thanks to my prayer partner as well.)Why is watching our children hurt the worst thing for us?????????That mom has no idea how much a simple skirt meant to a girl and her mom.

Sandy at for the love of Prims is having a giveaway for her 100th post. Be sure and stop over to see her.

Whatca Working on Wednesday -on Thursday

My oldest daughter needed the computer all night to finish her report for school. By the time she was done it was too late for me. I figured I would just post today. Better late than never. These are the wooden bowls I bought at the estate sale. They are in a previous post without paint. I wanted to try my hand at painting and distressing.
I couldn't resist the rich colors of fall in this fabric. I decided to make kyself fall scrub tops for work. I cut them out last night while I waited for the computer. I'll get them sewn this weekend. Ihve to get going to work but I'll post halloween pictures later. Even though it's past Halloween.