What To Do, What To Do.......

Hello to all my wonderful followers....whether you do it secretly or have signed up as an official follower.  What a busy time of the year isn't it???  Decorating, shopping, wrapping, card sending (maybe!), baking, crafting.....phew!  Which brings me to my dilemma.  I am contemplating going up north with Hubby when he goes back to work next week.  But I have most of the above to do before the big day!!!!  I have a ton of stuff ordered from online which will hopefully be arriving within a week or so.  I haven't decorated, nor baked, nor wrapped, nor filled out cards, nor crafted.  We would be back some time the week before Christmas.......how soon depends on whether Hubby would work a few extra days or not.  So I would probably have a week to get everything done....is that enough time?  Does it matter if it looks like Christmas exploded in my house with decorations? Does it matter if I do any baking or order it from a friend? Cards.....I could bring them with me.  I sure could use the change of scenery......I've been very down in the dumps.

I'm no longer at the quilt shop and feel very unappreciated, mistreated, thrown out like garbage by the owner.  Long story short, I asked for one day a week, she gave it to me, hired two new staff then said I wasn't needed anymore.  Done, gone, get out, unwanted..... more or less.  I need to get over it, I know I do, but it's not easy.  And I know I will, with time.  So getting out of town would be lovely....but at this time of the year?  Maybe the new year would be better..........what to do, what to do........

I have been in my sewing room and made two more pillowcases.  I used the new-to-me method again except I didn't have a zinger strip.  These are also flannel....and folded up.

I also had a lovely mail day the other day when a set of Yoko Saito fat eighths arrived to add to my collection.

I'll have to continue on with the houses placemat we are doing if I go up north.  I do love hand appliqué.

Cleaned out the garage this morning and now the truck is full of garbage for the dump and my vehicle is full of stuff for the storage locker and Salvation Army donations.  I'll drop those off tomorrow after Ms Morgan does my hair.  It looks a lot better in there....hope it gets Hubby's two thumbs up!

Now off to cut up three wool coats I got from Sally Ann!!!!  Washed and ready to be used for some sort of creation!!

Thanks for listening.  :-)

Two In One Day!!

Sorry for the second post today!!  Hubby comes home tomorrow night so that usually means a busy week and less time to blog.

I was actually feeling a little punky today so thought I would see if I could get anything done in my sewing room.  After getting the snowman done I proceeded to make some mug rugs.  I had bought another panel and a bit of fabric from the quilt shop up town because I saw it used for mug rugs.  I didn't do the pattern I saw but created my own.  Here they are:

Then I made a pillowcase out of fabric I bought on a trip to the States quite some time ago.  I LOVE this snowman flannel!!!!!  The technique I used was really neat!  

It's from this You Tube video from Shabby Fabrics:http://youtu.be/C7yrDQ7G9so. Very easy!  Here's the pillowcase and a close-up of the flannel:

I was always forgetting how much fabric to buy to make pillowcases....now I can remember 27-9-3!  That will make sense once you watch the video.  I hope the link works!

I'll have some cleaning and some errands to do tomorrow!  Another week....the last in November!  YIKES!!

Oh I desperately need to make a to-do list for Christmas!!!!  I've been doing some online shopping and Hubby and I are hoping to get into the city on Tuesday to do some more shopping.  I don't enjoy the crowds and hustle and bustle of holiday shopping anymore.  I sure hope we can get most if not all of it done this week.  I might be living in a dream world but let me be!  Lol!  I have some crafting to do too....that's what will panic me more so I need to hop to it!  

Today I finished a center piece for my Live Simply frame.  The December one was a cute little gingerbread man...which doesn't go with my winter/Christmas decorations.....so I made the January one:

I want to make a few bowls for Christmas gifts.  I finished another one the other day from the jelly roll I used for the first one:

I was having a bit of trouble with my machine....I'm hoping third time lucky and the next one goes smoothly!

Son2 is home now for a bit.  That means many things.....I love my son but "Slobby" might have been a better middle name for him!  :-). Anyway, remember in a past post me mentioning that he wasn't going to cut his hair until January????  Well, he changed his mind and I put a text into our hairdresser, Ms Morgan, and she got him in the next day!!!  He wouldn't let her trim much of his beard, except up by his sideburns, but he looks human again!!!!!!

Well, I'm working in my sewing room while watching the western final of football...Go Stampeders Go!!  Best get back at it!

I'm "Bowl-ing"!

The weekend is a half an hour from being over and it was a really good one!  Yesterday I took a Bali Bowl class at the quilt shop.  It's the third time Charlene has taught it at the shop but the first time I could attend and I'm really glad I did!  My sewing machine that I take to classes/retreats did not cooperate though!!!!!  I was able to get the cording prepared but it would not let me sew the bowl together!  Grrrrr!  But my home machine worked beautifully and a bowl was created!  I can tell you, there will be more bowls in my future!!!!  Charlene has made over 200 and I can understand that as they are addicting!!!!!!!!!!

Today my Dad arrived.  He had been in Banff for a convention on the weekend.  First order of business....shopping in Okotoks at The Red Barn!  It has a collection of antiques/vintage/rusty bits and new giftware.  It was busy there today as Santa was set up for pictures with kids and their families!  Here are some of my finds:

The springs are nice and big and rusty.  I'll be checking out Pinterest for ideas on how to use them for the holidays although I have a couple of ideas in my head already!  The lamp is older and is even filled with fuel ready to go!  Yikes!!  That may get emptied soon.

The fall decor will come down this week and I'll start to put up winter stuff but Christmas will wait until the first week of December......maybe!  I'll likely get all the boxes out and figure I may as well git 'er done!!!  But it is a slow process....it takes time, and although every year I say I'm going to pare it down, it never seems to happen.

Tomorrow Dad leaves for a week in Edmonton and it's Son2s 24th birthday!  He may or may not be home tomorrow....probably Tuesday, so we can celebrate then! 

A Great Week!

Today is Friday....already!!!  I have made my to-do list and must get cracking!  Tomorrow I'm taking a class at the quilt shop on how to make the coiled fabric bowls.  It should be fun and I hope it inspires me to create lots of them!!!  Great way to use jelly rolls and 2.5" strips of scraps!

Last night Sue and Deb came over for some stitching.....Deb really wants to make a Yoko Saito project out of her Houses, Houses, Houses  book and needed some help getting started.  It's hand piecing and hand appliqué which Deb hasn't done.  So we figured three heads were better than one!  And who doesn't need an excuse to get together!!!!!!?????  Earlier in the day I had made a spice cake with cream cheese icing to serve to the gals.  It...was...delicious!!!!!!  Here's a piece I am enjoying today!

All from scratch so I was pretty proud of myself!  Hahahaha!

The other night we had the most beautiful sunset.  

Look at those mountains....hazy looking.  The colors were amazing.  Yesterday morning was pretty too.  Love the blue sky...and there are those mountains!

The sun is shining again today...it's another nippy one but it is the middle of November...in Alberta!

Off to tackle that to-do list!

Another Blog Hop

Here's another blog hop to follow and get some great ideas for quick and easy crafty gifts!

                            http://stitchinbythelake.blogspot.ca/2014/11/twas-night-schedule.html

I did a bit of sewing this morning.  I had bought this flannel from the quilt shop to make a pillowcase.    Well today was the day...I grabbed the fabric and the old pattern I have and whipped it up!  Cozy, cozy flannel and I love me some chickadees!!!  Next up, some hand stitching...first a binding on a quilt that was gifted to me in some craft supplies and then some blanket stitching around small appliquéd letters....an old UFO that really needs to be finished!

It's cold out there but the sun is shining.....a pretty winters day!

Mojo?

Today was a very nice day.  I shoveled snow, cleaned floors, baked a dessert, had Deb pop over for coffee and was my guinea pig and tried the dessert, then Sue came over to sew.  We set up at the diningroom table and worked on a block Sue signed us up to do for Darlene at A Needle Pulling Thread quilt shop.  I made a block I knew was going to be too small (they were to be 12 1/2" unfinished) and put a small border on it.  Sue made a block which the pattern said 12" finished.  Now wouldn't that mean 12 1/2" unfinished??  Nope, turned out to be 12" when done!  She's going to find more fabric and make another one.  Mine will be sent off!  Here's our production: (my block is on the table in the front)

Sue is holding her not-quite-finished block.  We both decided we need to do more piecing so that maybe one day we can turn out a perfectly square, exactly the right sized block!!!  (It will never happen for me in my lifetime!!!  Sue will likely have much better luck!)

Can I say I got my mojo back???  Hmmmmm not sure about that but tomorrow I might try again.  I think Thursday the fall decor will come down and be put away so that Friday can be a big cleaning day and I can contemplate winter/Christmas decor that will start to go up in a couple/three weeks.  That's a much bigger job!!