Fun Gifts

Sorry I am taking so long to get my posts up to date. Poor Jess, she is so impatient  with me. Seriously, she tries hard to help me stay on top of things.

When the kids were small, like my parents before me, we let them open a gift on Christmas Eve. Even though everyone know what the gift was, it was still fun. Since returning to the states, I've revisited that tradition, and which ever kids are here,  they get Christmas Eve pjs.

Micah trying to figure out what all the boxes are about.

I used flannel I found at Joann's. It's surprisingly soft and cosy.
I found some with cute bird on a wire type print for Jess.
You may or may not have noticed that Uber's and Micah's match. There are all sorts of animals on the fabric.

It's cute, and scary, but mostly cute, I think......

Just hangin out.

We bumped our Christmas up a bit so we could enjoy a leisurely day. I made cinnamon rolls the night before and let them do their last rising over night, in the fridge so we could bake them up fresh. I'd not tried that with this recipe and I'm happy that it turned out.

 My mom made this lovely bit of glass for me. She fused and then slumped it. I love it.

It was a fun day watching the boy learn how to open gifts and receiving lovely presents.
 Brinkley tried hard to open everything.

This is my handmade gift from Jess. It is an amazing storage solution, mostly meant for travel but looks great on a shelf too. See the post prior to this for more details. (I got another very cool gift from her and Uber and I will show you later)

Tshirts

Motorcycle tshirts for the whole family. This was the graphic I orginally made for uber.

But I've also used it on tshirts for other motorcycle loving families.

I am loving it on the little boy shirts

And of course little girls like butterflies better.

I'm thinking about offering the tshirts in the shop just haven't figured out the best way to do it...

The Color of Happiness

My niece asked for an apron.  What color? She wrote, "I was thinking a bright and sunshine yellow. It just reminds me of happiness!" This didn't surprise me because sunshine and happiness are two words that come to mind when I think of her. Though most days I still think of her as the little Tidbit she was, she is now a grown woman. A young woman that I don't know half as well as I'd like but that I love tons. I knew just the fabric I would use. Hope you like it Jelly Bean.

Kelly and I had a lot of fun out in the snow. You can't  really see how hard it's coming down unless you expand it.....

The fabric is Kona cotton and Sunshine by April Cornell for Moda.

Five more gnome key fobs. It was a mob scene when I took them out at work. Those girls are scary.

A Finished Quilt and Lovely Gifts

So, it's been awhile. Things have been a bit wonky lately. Even my car is not having enough fun. Her check engine light came on so instead of going home I swung by the mechanic and he said she is, um, well, kinda the human equivalent of blocked up..... apparently she needs a long drive on the freeway maybe as far as the Bodensee. Can you miss a day of work cause your car wants to go somewhere?

Anyhow, I finally finished my second quilt from Metro Blue Goes Green. Yes, it's another zig-zag, this time from half square triangles. I liked these so much more than the others I made. I also put a wide border on, or several borders, actually. Lesson learned, more borders are harder. I peiced the back trying to use up all of my leftovers.

I used really simple quilting. I followed the zig zag with a wavy line.

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I got a box from my Sister. Talk about feeling loved! First of all, she wrapped everything beautifully. I almost didn't want to open it but I knew what was inside!

I love the tags.

She made me a cowl out of the yummiest plum color yak down. Did you know there was such a thing as yak down? I didn't. I love it.

Then there is this. This made me cry. This is from baby aplaca.

Holy Cow!

This frog is happy. He may go places with me. He also loves the pansy pin cushion.

And dish cloths, have you ever seen dish cloths this pretty?

More cowls. You have to touch these to believe them. If you are all nice I might let you touch them.

So after a fairly yucky few days, this all just made me smile.

K, buh bye.

Getting ready to go

What do you do when you are getting ready to go on a big trip? I choose not to do the normal things like, say, pack. I take the day off and do things like share a huge hunk of brie and yummy jelly with my mom. This was a gift for us from Mary. Mary, it was perfect. We ate it all. We didn't share.

Next on my list is of course sewing. I simply couldn't pack until I made us these bags! I tried using the iron on vinyl Jennifer let me try. Yikes, that stuff is not made to be flipped back and fourth as this bag has to be. I was very dissappointed, Mom grabbed it from me, running to her room, saying mine mine. It's the one with the dots.... Mine is, yes, the purple one. The last is a gift.

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Ok. I even managed to get myself mostly packed and some chores done. We head out this afternoon. Hopefully we will find connectivity somewhere. Otherwise you will know we are somewhere between Stuttgart and d'Orcia, Italy. We'll be home next Saturday, unless we buy a villa.....

Mom's here!

And she brought me treasures! This is my guitar. Haven't seen it in awhile. Forgotten how to play but it's nice to have it back again. I estimate that it is about 40 years old. Not bad for a forty year old...... To the right is a cool bag mom made me. On top is a gift my sis gave me. The wool elephant she made. I love this elephant. Me with the elephant, my double chin and a baby alpaca scarf mom knitted for me. Guess I shoulda pulled that scarf higher?

I'm a lucky girl!

Gifts

I am finally able to post a couple of completed projects. I showed the minky blanket in progress. It was for Miss S on her 1st birthday. She seemed to like it..... The second completed project was my Secret Santa gift. We had our lunch out today. Very fun. It is so nice to really enjoy the people you work with enough to go out and have lunch together. For all those who couldn't be there, we missed you! This little guy is made from real fur. Sorry to those who object, but at least it is repurposing something that was already there and no one wanted anymore to something..... well, cute.