Christmas decorating

With the addition of 8 inches of snow it has really put me in the decorating mood.  It is so pretty outside, it mesmerizes me to sit in the sun room and watch the big flakes come drifting down.  It wasn’t a huge storm but enough for school to be canceled much to the delight of the children.  My grand kids were out at 7:30 AM on their sleds and then came to my house about 9 and spent the day playing in the snow.  I had to throw the snowsuits in the dryer a few times and then they were off and running again.
I have been working on getting my Dept. 56 villages put up which is no small task but I enjoy it.  These are on the mantle in the living room.




These are over the kitchen cupboards.



Over the kitchen sink.



This year I put some garland over the door going out into the sun room.


This is a Nativity scene that I did years and years ago when I could still see well enough to do cross stitch!


The tree in the sun room.


The tree in the living room.

A few snowmen in the den and a mitten quilt that I did a number of years ago.


My Christmas cookie jars.



My glass Nativity is going to go where the two little snowmen are now.

That’s as far as I have gotten thus far and probably won’t do much more other then to put the gifts under the trees which add more color.

While reading my nieces blog Musings of a Housewife she gave a link to a wonderful post written by Renee Swope called Unwrapping His Christmas Presence.  No that’s not a typo.  Sometimes in all of our hustle and bustle we forget to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and Renee’s post will bring us right back to where we should be.  Thank you Jo-Lynne for sharing it with us, I loved it.  :o)  Click on this and it will take you to a page that says Error but you can see the name of the post in the column and just click on that.

My grandson drew this picture yesterday and asked me if I would send it to Santa for him.  Does that make you puddle up or what?

Goodbye fall, hello Christmas season!

It’s been one busy week this week!  My intentions of getting more posts out just seem to fall to the wayside with everything going on.

I’m on the decorating committee at church and we have been scurrying around like so many church mice getting things ready for Advent and putting up the Christmas decorations.  I didn’t have my camera with me on Tuesday but will take it Monday and try to get some pictures for you.  They don’t always come out great as it’s a big room and they tend to come out dark but I will give it a try.

Here on the home front I have been taking down everything fall to make room for the Christmas things.  The kitchen counters were covered, the kitchen table and things were on the floor waiting to be carried down into the basement and put away on the shelves for another year.

I went to a craft fair at John Baptist High School this morning and it was a mob scene!  I once again forgot my camera, (this seems to be a habit of mine doesn’t it?) but take my word for it there were so many wonderful things to look at, taste, touch and smell that I just enjoyed perusing the whole place.  I found some things for myself Christmas gifts which I will show you.

This handmade pillow was to die for!  The lady that made it did such beautiful work with all her stitches so evenly spaced.  I love appliqué so it caught my eye the very first thing so now it is on the sofa in my foyer!  :o)

I bought this table topper at my DIL’s booth for my sister.  She is decorating her kitchen with gingerbread men this year so it will look nice on her table.  I got one for myself too, for my kitchen table.  I love these for all the different seasons and holidays.

Found two wreaths that I liked.  All of mine are older then dirt so I thought it was time to replace a few of them.  This little one is hanging in my kitchen now.

This one is on the door that goes into Mom and Dad’s apartment. Isn’t he cute?

I needed mittens and found some at a ladies booth that had all kinds of knit things.  These will go into Miss T’s and Mr. D’s stockings.  I can knit mittens but it takes me all winter to even get one pair done so I have given up and now buy them.

Got two hooded towels for the kids to have at the lake as theirs were lost in the flood.  I guess I should have taken them out of the bags so you could see them better but they are wonderful for kids as the hood keeps them on and the towel wraps right around them keeping them warm after they get out of the water. Mimi makes these.

I figured I had blown my budget for the month so headed over to TJ Maxx next.  Found this cute runner with snowflakes on it.

My feet gave out so decided I’d head for home.  I had a nice surprise waiting for me from my cousin BJ out in Seattle!  She is a master quilter and seamstress and I guess she has added designing to her repertoire!  Isn’t this the cutest little bag to carry all your hand sewing things in?

See how when you close the top it all lines up and matches?

She also sent me the pattern which I will be trying out soon!  Thanks BJ!!!!

I scanned this description from the back of the pattern as it describes things better.  I love taking classes and I love taking some handwork with me when we are driving a long distance so this is going to come in real handy for me. Thanks again BJ!!!

The turkeys have come back this fall by the dozen.  I counted about 30 yesterday and it seems there are more every day.

They like to roost on the fence but heard me open the window and all of them hopped down except one.

Noodles likes to hop up in his cat condo and watch them out the window.

I guess we must head down to the lake as I got a call from the alarm company that the power was off a couple days ago. They call us when it goes off but not when it comes on again so we don’t want to take any chances that it’s still off.  We don’t want any more floods down there!!!!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Bow making tutorial

The leftovers have been eaten and Thanksgiving is a sweet memory.  I don’t think anyone went away hungry especially me, the scales told me that this morning.  Also my jeans feel a little snug around the waist.  How can one day of feasting do that to a person? It looks like I have my work cut out for me this week to do some damage control.  :o(
What a lovely day we had though with friends and family.  And of course the Patriot’s won their game so that was the frosting on the cake!  I do insist that all televisions be turned off while we eat.  Nothing annoys me any more then having a tv blaring during a meal, especially when I have spent the last three days getting it ready.  I did not win any popularity contest on that one but they all survived! heehee! 


I have wrapped most of my Christmas shopping except for the bows so decided to get started on that last night and it seemed a good time to do a tutorial.  My mother in law taught me how to make bows many, many years ago and it has served me well all these years.  She has been gone for a long time and I still miss her, she was an amazing woman.


First you put your ribbon around the gift package and tie it.


Next take the ribbon and make a circle noting the size of the package and making the circle accordingly.  You don’t want a bow that is too big or too small for the package.  Just eyeball this.

I loop at least six loops, a couple more if the ribbon is thin but it’s best to use a heavier ribbon and imperative to use the kind with the wire in the edges.

Next flatten the ribbon and fold in half.  Make sure your halves are the same length.

 
Cut your notches, you will need heavy scissors to cut through the layers and the wire.


At this point you can take a piece of the matching ribbon and cut about a five inch strip of the wire and tie it tightly around the notches OR you can lay it on the ribbon you tied around the package and tie it.  If you want to save the ribbon for another time you have to tie it with a piece of the ribbon with the wire in it other wise when you open the gift the ribbon with come apart.

Next you start pulling out the loops from the inside out and twist them around a bit.



When you get all the loops outs shape your bow the way you like it making it look puffy and pretty.  Very easy but practice a bit with some inexpensive ribbon.  I get all my ribbon on sale or at Sam’s Club.

 


Have fun!

Colleen at Lucky Duck Dreams is having a fun give away of some vintage 90's Christmas fabric.  Go on over and throw your hat in the ring!!! It closes the 30th so hurry! If you are anything like me you have lots of patterns you'd like to do and this would be a fun collection of fabric to use.