Christmas Cross-Stitch Bears

Maybe you remember this cross-stitch that won First Place at the county fair? Scroll down a bit, it's there.  Anyway, I have these ornaments that I made along with it but haven't posted yet.  I made them with the scraps of linen.  I love the linen.  And it looks perfect in my house.

This one is for my son.

This one is for my daughter. My daughter wants hers now. Sorry, this is a post-kick-the-bucket gift sweetie.

And these I made clear back in high school before I found out about linen, back when all I knew was 14-count.

I'm going to have to make this one again on linen.  It's is my favorite.

There are a few other designs but one of them I can't stand.  Someday I hope to have the time and energy to make a few more.  

And - YES - my tree is up.  It's so dark we just had to.

Gardening in the winter

Hah, I so didn't get the rest of the soil for the garden but I did get the rest of the hoops up.  I don't remember the short hoop when I picked it up from my parent's house but I can always remove it.  I also need to add a pinch of white pvc pipe to the top.  

My 5 year old son helped me put it all together.  We had a blast together. 

What boy doesn't like a little dirt? 

And spray paint - I did finish painting the outside.

Maybe I should have added the hoops to this garden instead - it's smaller and it's full.  Hmmm, maybe in the spring.  So, until January when I start my onion seeds, it's no more gardening for me.  However, I will be decorating, oh and cleaning the house.  

My house is so much cleaner and incredibly organized when I can't garden.

Snow Fun!

Daddy borrowed Grandpa's 4 wheeler to plow the driveway.  Then did donuts on the side yard with the little guy riding on back.

Finishing touches on snow removal and the gorgeous low clouds. 

My children were playing with neighbor boys and I knew it was a great opportunity to get some good snow photos.  They were already in Grandma's backyard on the Great Sled Hill.  

I had fun with my camera- it does amazingly well in the snow.

They made it out into the field but didn't make it over the first big bump down there. And since we don't have a snowmobile this year it's all about the walk back up - great exercise!

Hope you enjoyed your day - snow or not.  

It's cold out there

We've had frost on the ground a few mornings lately.  It's about time.  Seriously.  It's November.  

And I finally got my garlic in the ground the end of October. 

I purchased these two bulbs.  The rest are from last year.  Hard neck garlic from somewhere in Eastern Europe but forgive me for not paying attention to the name.  I love the garden store in the fall with its piles of garlic originating from all over the world.   And I love hard neck garlic.  Bigger cloves.  Less work.  Stronger flavor.  

Placed them in the trench.

Covered it all up.

 Moved the trellis and covered the garlic with the 3 little panels I had left over.

And here is the square foot garden from my parents.  I got it spray painted.  I just didn't get more soil.  So much for getting things going and getting that cold frame in place.  I really think I need to add in the rebar but I am not sure how to cut it.  We get a lot of wind. 

 I do have a good excuse as I've not been feeling well.  I usually work through it but this stopped me cold in my tracks.  I'm feeling better now but where am I going to find the mix for my garden this time of year?

The weatherman was right...

We actually got some pretty decent snow last night.  I went down to watch a few episodes of Castle and when I came upstairs there was about an inch on the ground and still snowing.  Looks like we got the 4 inches of snow (which was the max expected).  Good thing we got the Christmas lights up on Thursday night.  I went with Red, White, and Green.

Hah, I may just have to turn them on tonight in celebration of the snow. 

Sledding photos in 2 days alrighty.  

It'll be in the 50's again soon.  But we're enjoying the snow while we can.

Reusable Scrap fabric bows

As promised - the first tutorial on the bows.  Now mind you, this is the first one I've ever made so it's not perfect. It usually takes me three times before I get things just right.  But here goes.  

Remember this bow?

Well, I had some leftover fabric from my 18" and 20" pillows.  so I lined it up on my cutting mat.  And I used my new broken clear something or other - sorry I have no idea what those things are called.  They are super handy and a must for making this quick and easy.  

See? I just cut them at every inch.  

Just like this.  This is folded over and double thickness. (photo by my 5 year old)

That's important because you want your pieces double sided.  This makes the inside and outside of the bow more colorful and it gives it a little more structure.  You don't want the bow too flat. I sewed each piece twice - once on each side and it's just barely inside the presser foot.  You can decide how much fringe you want.

See? two pieces. 

I'll show how to get the fringe just right later.  But in the meantime my kindergartener was busy counting to 60 on my tape measure.  He is so good to entertain himself for a bit every once in a while.

Shoe Box Display

My daughter had a book report and a shoebox display all due a day apart.  It's a good thing she likes to read.  And it's a good thing she is learning to type and find info on the web.  I only had to remind her that she forgot to mention a few of the critters so she added those and her report was finished. She chose the Mangrove swamp because we got to go through the Happy Happy Ecosystem display at the Oregon Aquarium.  She could choose swamp, forest, or desert. I spray painted the box and cropped the background photo and made the crocodile.  She made the fish, crab, mangrove roots, log, and snake and painted the mangrove roots and all the characters.  She hot glued the sea stars and plants in place.  She spread the mod podge and sprinkled the sand on it.  She even cut the foam brick to form the hills - although I was a bit nervous about that.  Sometimes as a mom we just have to realize that if they cut themselves they'll be more careful next time but that with me watching she was careful enough and it all went well.

Happy Halloween

On Sunday night after Stake Conference for church we carved pumpkins.  Even Daddy carved one!

I think they turned out so cute and I love that my husband took this great photo to remember them by. 

Scary Faces.

 And I sewed my daughter's costume - Rapunzel (at the end of the story with her hair cut off and brown).  Why no wig? Well, I wore a wig a few times during chemo and let me tell you, itchy itch itchy and she has very sensitive skin so I  knew it would be a waste of money.  She was happy and so was I. And I learned a whole bunch.  This is only the 3rd dress I've ever sewn. I used Martha Stewart template stencils to add the sparkly trim and  some glitter paint for fabric.  I love how it turned out.

And this little monkey couldn't decide forever.  So we finally bought his costume. He was so happy to be a monkey.

Happy children.  The best part.  

Haunted Halloween Houses 2011

It's been a while since I posted the images on how to glue the gingerbread pieces together with melted brown sugar. But we did finally decorate them.  Some of the candy came in the box with the house such as the pointed spires.  Some of the candy Grandma purchased and the cute little leaves came from Wilton too but in a bottle instead of the box.  I wish I had not put as much of the recommended water in the icing - it was a little runny - that was fine for the green grass but not on the vertical pieces of the house.  I did buy extra color paste - in brown, orange, green, and black.  

 This pumpkin patch is my favorite along with the path to the house.  I added green icing to the tops of the pumpkins to get the leaves to stick.  Fun!

I  hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween!