picking up the pace . . .

There really wasn't a whole lot of stitching this past week.  I did the bare minimum on my Snow Sampler . . .

To be honest, Todd and I both kind of relapsed and I was good for not much. Finally Friday afternoon I started feeling better; Todd is still struggling a little.  So Saturday, I headed to Early Works with the grandgirls . . .

We had a really fun time!  Edith especially made herself at home.

You probably don't realize the hilariousness of this here, so check out this pic:

Yeah.  She traded her ballet shoes for Paddinton's red boots.  LOL!

I also managed to prep some stitchwork for a slow Sunday afternoon . . . 

Yay! And if by some slight chance I finish this one, I can start on this one . . .

Well, and if I finish that one, I can go to this one!

Yep, one, two, three Christmas quilts all waiting for the final stitching on the binding!! I just want to say how much I love wonder clips. :)

So you'll excuse me while I go get busy -- wink, wink! Linking up with the slow stitching post at Kathy's Quilts.  Happy Sunday!

:)

virtual cookie exchange, day five . . .

Y'all, if you're like me, you're sad that this is it ... the last day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange!  Carol of Just Let Me Quilt has done another fantastic job of organizing this hop and it's been such fun to visit all the participating bloggers! 

Make sure you visit today's participants:

Just Let Me Quilt

Kris Loves Fabric

Domestic Felicity

Karrin’s Crazy World

Songbird Designs

Melva Loves Scraps

Brenda's Quilt Blog

And then I want to know ... what have you been inspired to try this holiday season?!?  Happy Hopping!

:)

virtual cookie exchange, day four . . .

Can you believe it? We're already at Day Four of the Virtual Cookie Exchange!  Have you been hopping?  If not, you've been missing out on a passel of darling projects and tempting treats!  The good news is, you can visit every offering and not gain a single pound, no matter how delicious the goodies look!

Today's participants are:

Quilt Doodle Designs

Ridge Top Quilt

Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting

Websterquilt

Bumbleberry Stitches

Kathy's Kwilts and More

I hope you'll take a few minutes and enjoy the festivities!

:)

virtual cookie exchange, day three . . .

Have you been hopping with me?! Today is day three of the virtual cookie exchange, and already so many wonderful treats, projects and traditions have been shared! I can't wait to see what's shared today, so let's get hopping! Today's participants are:

Made By Marney

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Beaquilter

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Life in the Scrapatch

DesertSky Quilting

Sunlight in Winter Quilts

And if you by chance missed my offering, yesterday, please take a moment and visit by clicking here!

Happy hopping!

:)

virtual cookie exchange, day two . . .

That's MEEEEEE!

I love hops . . . it's such an easy-peasey way to visit other bloggers and gain new ideas on a central theme.  Fresh perspective, if you will!  I especially enjoy participating in blog hops that Carol, over at Just Let Me Quilt organizes.   She does such a great job!  Thanks, Carol!

Our family has always baked our way through the holidays.  We love the tried and true, but we also love to experiment and try new, fun things.  I'm always looking for ways to include the grandgirls so that they grow up appreciating the baking traditions and have fun memories in the kitchen, too!  So that's what I went for when trying to decide what I'd share today . . . 

Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies!

These were almost as much a craft as they were a cookie and the girls, especially Ellie, had a blast decorating them. I kept it simple.  I used Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough (the large package of 30 oz.).  I brought it to room temperature, then plopped it into the mixer along with two egg yolks, 1 cup of flour, and a teaspoon of vanilla.  I mixed it on medium high until the dough was smooth.

Then I had my very capable helper use the large scoop and plop the cookies onto a cookie tray lined with parchment paper.

While the cookies baked in a 350°F oven for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned, Ellie and I assembled our 'tools'.

Regular marshmallows, white cookie icing, decorator gel in red and black, and edible marking pens. When we realized that we had more than enough dough for two full trays of cookies, but not quite enough for a third, Ellie suggested that we use the smaller scoop, get out the miniature marshmallows, and make baby snowmen.  

So we did!

Evey had to get in on the decorating ... who knew how much fun it would be to draw snowman faces on marshmallows?!? 

I did the carrot noses, but that was it ... Ellie and Evey did the rest of the decorating.

Ellie really thought outside the box.  She added the arms, buttons and scarfs to each snowman, but she also added a sprig of holly to the 'mama' snowmen (oh, and note the eyelashes, too) . . .

And a paci and blankie to the 'baby' snowmen . . .

Aren't they cute?? 

She told Evey that it didn't really matter if they were a little messy; they were melting, for heaven's sake! I mean, she makes a solid point!

Truly, we all had a blast, and it was super easy cleanup, to boot, which is always a bonus!  And the little girls didn't have to wait long to sample their wares . . .

Littlest bit had no desire to 'help', but was definitely in on the sampling!

As much fun to eat as they were to make!

I hope you enjoyed our fun ... if you make them, let me know!  And be sure to check out the rest of today's participants!

December 3^rd

MooseStashQuilting

Stitchin At Home

Barb – Hosted by Just Let Me Quilt

Hill Valley Quilter

Little Penguin Quilts

Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Selina Quilts

Count it *all* JOY!  this is me!

Purring Cottage

:)

virtual cookie exchange, day 1

It's here, it's here!! 

Be sure to visit all the participating blogs; you're sure to find the holiday cookie recipe of your dreams!

December 2^nd

Creatin' in the Sticks

Ms P Designs USA

Home Sewn By Us

Vroomans Quilts

Cathie's Craftworks

Sew Many Yarns

Just Because Quilts

And be sure to come back tomorrow for *my* day!!

:)

the blahs . . .

Todd and I both kicked off Thanksgiving week with the crud.  He went to the doc on Monday; I went on Wednesday.  Luckily we had delayed our Thanksgiving celebration until Friday (to be able to celebrate with Joc and her family), but both of us left the doctor's office with antibiotics (among other meds), which meant by the time we celebrated, we both felt better, but still not great. It is what it is.  The two of us spent Thursday quietly.  We watched my one of my favorite Christmas movies . . .

The Homecoming.  It was the pilot for The Walton's series. Does anyone else enjoy/remember this one?! My kids do not love this one!

Friday we headed to my folks' house to celebrate.  My mom always sets a pretty table:

And my daughter always dresses pretty girls:

Are they not the sweetest things?  Speaking of sweet, the littlest baby bear loves her Paw-paw!

Isn't that just precious?  I love how much the little girls love him! ♥

I got to spend some sweet, solitary time wandering through the woods at the camp this weekend. I walked down to the ponds and enjoyed the mild temps and stillness . . .

I never fail to be appreciative of this beautiful landscape!

On the stitching front, I do have some progress to show.  I finished quilting the little hexie teapot topper.

Really pleased with this piece!

I've made a little progress on my snowman sampler, too.

I'll get some slow stitching time in on him today. :)

I pulled together this cute little wool candle mat, too . . . 

It's all ready to be stitched on.

Then there's the matter of a set of borders I picked up at guild last week from the 'free to a good home' table.

I'm really not sure why I picked it up, except some of the fabrics used in it are in my very first quilt.  I didn't even realize it was a border when I picked it up!

But when I got home, laid it out and realized what it was, it came to me exactly what needed to happen with it . . .

PUMPKINS!! Because can you ever really be finished with pumpkin stitching?!  LOL!  I'd love to have it finished by the next guild meeting to share for Show & Tell!  I'd also love to know who created it. Not sure where I'll go from here with this ... it definitely needs more ... maybe leaves and vines? We'll see.

Hey, and don't forget that the Virtual Cookie Exchange blog hop begins TOMORROW!  

My day is Tuesday ... I have some yummy, fun treats to share with you, so you'll definitely want to come back by

Linking up with the slow stitching post on Kathy's Quilts!  Enjoy your Sunday!

:)

giving thanks where it's due . . .

:)

beginnings and ends . . .

I love finishes!  This morning I can share not one, but TWO! Well, perhaps I should clarify. Not two completely finished, ready-to-put-up-and-enjoy-and-never-need-to-be-worked-on-again projects. But two projects on which I've finished the embroidery stitches! I wrapped up my pumpkin piece (by Crabapple Hill Studios):

I just love this sweet stitchery.  I love the character and variety of stitches and colors.  It was truly like painting a scene.  It's so yummy!

And I finished my teapot table topper . . .

I think the last time I shared anything on it, I was still whipping the hexies together! I finished the hexies up during the week, and spent Friday evening and part of Saturday stitching on the teapots.

I don't know what I was thinking, not stitching them up FIRST and then fussy fitting them to the hexie templates.  It made it that much more challenging to stitch!  Especially when driving down bumpy ol' I-65 to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a football game!

(Like that segway?! LOL!) A dear couple had gifted us with tickets to the West Carolina game.  It's the first time I've been to an Alabama game since 1982 (and then I went as an Ole Miss student/fan). We had such a blast!  

The Million Dollar Band was phenomenal.  I adore marching bands, and they do a great presentation.  My favorite formation was when they got into the shape of an elephant (Alabama's mascot):

The stadium is beautiful and it was a fun game to go to.  Even though it was grey and COLD!  

Luckily, though, our seats were both fantastic *and* under cover and we were protected from the wind.  Otherwise it would have been hard to bear!

It was an early game time (11:00 a.m.), so we were home in time (5:30 p.m -- it's a long drive) for me to pick up a new stitchery.  I shared this one by Kathy Schmitz several weeks back . . .

Time to stitch on snowmen! I'd been in a quandary about the type of floss I was going to use.  I finally settled on this really pretty variegated dark blue perle from Valdani.  Another yummy!

I'm going to enjoy working on this sweet piece! But I'm going to admit right up front, that I'll go back forth between it and other stitchery projects.  Mary Corbet has a book of snowflake patterns she's releasing after Thanksgiving, and I'm itching to get my hands on it (so to speak)!

Okay, so that's quite enough from me for the time being.  Except to say that I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for slow stitching.  And also that I'm participating in the Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange blog hop that's coming up SOON! There are lots of lovely folks participating and it should be a lot of FUN! My day is December 3, and I plan to have some very yummy treats to share!

Happy Sunday! 

:)