Another Ornament

This one's for the Christmas ornament exchange at church tonight. I need to add a hanging loop as soon as the spray starch dries. You can find the pattern here.

December Photo a Day Challenge

December 11

Red

Another one of my storage boxes from Michaels.

I love the cross stitch pattern on it, so I keep

my small cross stitch WIPs inside.

Today's prompt is skyline, and I might have to skip this one.

I can't get a decent picture of the skyline from my house.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

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WIP Wednesday

I finally have a little cross stitch progress to show.

 Lid Up: almost finished the left side of the toilet tank

September Roly Poly Cherished Teddy: finished the center blue section

and started the left side

Next Trick:finished the bottom of the toilet paper

Collection: stitched more of the cabinet

Disney Heroes: filled in another 70 stitches

I've crocheted about a quarter of the shawl.

 I was very excited yesterday. My yarn for the Mini Rings of Change CAL arrived!

Top to bottom, left to right:

Neon Coral, Neon Orange, Neon Yellow, Neon Green,

Blue Mint, Grape, Black

Just 16 days until we start :-)

December Photo a Day Challenge

December 10

Closed Door

Hope's bedroom door.

Can you tell what her favorite animal is?

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

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Two Tuesday

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post :-)

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Two Things I'm Grateful For

1. Sales and coupons at Joanns. I bought some Deborah Norville Serenity yarn for another Cozy Comfort Prayer Shawl (on sale for $2.99 each), DMC floss and aida fabric for the Super Duper Ultimate Crazy Challenge (floss on sale for $0.33 each plus a 20% coupon, fabric 40% off with coupons) and fabric for a church project (25% off cut fabric, 50% remnants).

2. Christmas cards from friends and family. We live in the age of technology. So few people mail cards anymore; I cherish each one I get.

We found a new park to explore this past weekend. It's in Oak Cliff near Dallas.

Tim did some fishing. He caught the exotic weed fish.

Hope sat on the pond bank and worked on her landscape drawing skills.

I crocheted and entertained Alex.

I love all the colors of the leaves this time of year :-)

On the way to dinner, we passed over the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. I love the architecture.

After dinner, we drove through neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. There were some spectacular displays. This is definitely something you'd find in Texas, a western Santa with longhorns.

With the exception of Tim fighting a bad sinus infection off an on (he's much better today), it was a good weekend.

 

December Photo a Day Challenge 

December 6

Joy Is...

 Joy is spending a day with my family. 

December 7

Weekends Are For...

Weekends are for relaxing with a favorite hobby. 

I worked a little more on my doily but didn't get any cross stitching done.

December 8

Simple Pleasure

Starting the day curled up under a blanket with that first cup of coffee

(and second, and third...)

December 9

Decoration

Hope loves making these stocking hat decorations every Christmas.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Random Stuff

I made another Christmas ornament. There's something so satisfying about 5 minute crochet.You can find the pattern here. The "garland" is ribbon I bought from Michaels a couple of years ago.

I'm a contributor on a new blog, A New Stitchy Start 2015, started by the lovely Tammy of I Want to Do One More Stitch. It's a cross stitch project progress site (try saying that five times fast!) and has several contributors. I haven't added my first post because I can't decide which chart from the Super Duper Ultimate Crazy Challenge I want to start first.

I ordered my yarn for the Mini Rings of Change CAL (only 21 days left until we start!) from Yarnspirations. I had originally planned to make it a stashbuster, but I loved the sample picture so much that I ordered the Brights colors. Luckily, they were half price on Cyber Monday.

December Photo a Day Challenge 

December 5

Me

 Some symbols of me. 

I'm a wife and mother (my wedding ring and photo),

a follower of Christ (my Bible),

a homeschool teacher (the book),

a jewelry lady (the bracelet),

a crocheter, cross stitcher, and card maker (the crafty items).

The glasses are so I can see all these wonderful blessings in my life.

That's about it around here. Poor Alex got 6-month checkup shots today so she's tired and grouchy. Hope is hanging out in her room drawing and enjoying the day off from school (we have a four day week). And I have to go get ready for work.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Today's Inspiration

Tickled Thursday

I love chocolate! And tis the season for desserts. I always overindulge a little every December. It's worth the trouble of losing it later.

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December Photo a Day Challenge

December 4

Free

This is Alex's favorite way to play now, FREE and UNRESTRICTED!

She still hasn't figured out crawling, but she can roll and inch and squirm her way across 

the floor in the blink of an eye.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Have a SWEET day!

Blessings :-)

Slow Start to the Month

I started the week under the weather and am still there. Not really sick, just feel lousy and ache all over. So we've been taking it easy this week, putting up a few decorations a day and doing a lot of independent work in school.

We put most of the ornaments on the tree.

I put out the Nativity sets. We have 8 because I collect them; these three are my favorites.

This one's meant to hold tea lights, but I usually don't add them because of the cats.

 The angel in the background is almost 40 years old; it topped our Christmas tree when I was a child.

Just a basic set from Walmart, but I bought it for our first Christmas 14 years ago. It's always held a special place in my heart.

I put this on the kitchen wall. Peel and stick applique from Kirkland's.

As a family, we started reading The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn. It's a terrific story about the history of Christmas and is broken down into 24 chapters, one a night until Christmas Eve.

The church ladies enjoyed making the cards this past Saturday. We had ten people come and managed to make 90 cards to hand out to anyone we thought needed encouragement. These are the designs we made, 10 of each. Sorry these are so dark; I couldn't get the lighting right.

I crocheted an ornament for the tree (pattern here). Simple and easy crochet therapy.

Thanks for reading and looking. I leave you with the first three pictures of the December Photo a Day Challenge.

December 1

Fruit

A framed print in our living room.

December 2

Grass

My handsome boy sitting so proud in our dying grass that needs to be raked.

December 3

Pop

My family in Ohio calls this a pop, not a soda.

Today's Inspiration

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