Friends in the Santa Parade

It's a wet and soggy here in the Bay this morning.  When first I looked outside it was foggy and chilly, now it is raining and according to the weatherman it will rain for a few more days.  While I am not happy with the overcast gray skies, it is acceptable, more acceptable than snow and ice.  
I have had a busy week and more to the point a busy weekend with more to follow this week and this coming weekend.
I have managed to walk in two Santa parades, make a box filled with little tissue holders, bookmarks and today am working on some small totes for our fundraiser Christmas craft sale at Springfield House east of here and in aid of the Friends of The Leeds and Thousand Islands Library fund!  I am hoping I do not bring any of these items back home with me.

As you can see we were but a small band but happy an in the Christmas spirit and had fun handing out candies along the parade route to those smiling childrens' faces all waiting impatiently for Santa to arrive whose large float was the last to arrive. 

Lined up and ready to go!

Isn't this dog handsome he seemed to enjoy being in the parade!

And this little sweetie watched everyone parade past her and didn't woof once!

After the parade children with their parents lined up at the Library to have their wishes and their pictures taken by and with Santa.  Some lists were quite long and dear old St. Nick was very patient with these little ones.  Then we all had tasty hot dogs and hot chocolate before leaving for home.  I was tired, but I had had such a great deal of fun.
My day is rather filled with necessary appointments and tomorrow and this coming Saturday and Sunday wow, this season is coming on far too quickly, don't you agree?
I didn't even have time to take advantage of the Black Friday or the Cyber Monday sales, that is just how hectic my life is at this time, but I saved alot of money that way, but last minute shopping will just have to be done this year.
Thank you for sharing a part of your day with me here in the Bay, and keep popping in as I will be sponsoring another GIVEAWAY.

Black Friday In The Bay

Now I realize today is considered Black Friday in the States, what with terrific pre-Christmas shopping and all that, but here in the Bay, its also a great Friday and I guess from here on in we can claim Black Friday a day to begin the Angel Tree Project here in the Bay.  I have to tell you the weather is super fantastic too!
The Angel tree has been put up and decorated and before some of the Angels could be hung up on the tree people raided them and at least 20+ had been taken.  We have over 92+ children to buy for this year, certainly half more than last year due to the fact that our local Lions Club have taken over two extra towns.  Sad to note that these children would be going without a gift from Santa under their tree if their names hadn't been placed on a list from the local Food Banks.

I am already using the spare room to hold the gifts I collected today,

if it is anything like last year and what with double the names this year that bedroom will be packed to its rafters and I will need lots of Santa's Elves to help me get the wrapped and out to Santa for delivery and today is but the first day to have the tree up and decorated with Angels.  Apparently our Medical Center has a tree up as well and Angels are hanging on that tree too.  Even our Firefighters are in on this wonderful fast becoming a Bay tradition, they are sponsoring 5 children this year - all I can say is WOW aren't people generous?
Out of scraps I made a fabric wallet which didn't turn out too badly at all, though the pictures here posted don't really do the actual colors justice. 

A few of these wallets in a variety of scrappy colors should do well at the December 3rd sale which my group of "Friends of the Library" are holding on December 3rd.  There are always a number of children shopping for their families at these sales and these tiny fabric items should be just the ticket for those children with a dollar or so saved from their piggy bank.
I found another wonderful blog site for you, it's called Skip To My Lou!  Todays' blog post deals with Christmas and she has exciting advent calendars for you to see and interesting commentary on the spreading of Christmas Cheer as well as lots of wonderful tutorials.  Do visit, you will really enjoy this Blogger very much.
Another wonderful blog is Deck The Halls of Home With Joy and it is there you will find a plethora of Christmas decorating ideas as well as a tutorial for  very classy and pretty "Seasons Greetings Wreath" you will see on your first visit if it is today.  While rummaging through this blog you will find super novel gift wrapping ideas which you might enjoy.
Look who came to visit my inbox this afternoon, more creatures made by my best friend Els.  My oh my he is some cute.  His name is Warm Pete (that is a literal translation) but I will nickname his Petey Pete, rolls off my tongue much easier.  LOL

Together with his new friends, Karel, Kees and Annie aren't these wonderful.  

I thank you so very much for your time you've spent with me this afternoon and do hope to hear from some of you.  You could share something you have made for that someone special this coming Christmas, or, a project you have just completed and would like to share with us.  You are welcome, do contact me and I will share it with everyone.

Do take care out there I understand those of you shopping on this Black Friday have been up before dawn to get a head start on those bargains, so by this time you will be tired and ready to drive home and so will other very tired people, so drive with care.

Please remember your comments are welcomed.

Pass The Pasta Please?

It is at this time of the year when the children are getting hyped waiting for Santa to arrive.  Why not involve them in making some of these wonderful PASTA ornaments?  Oh how I remember the happy smiling faces of the children when they created a Christmas ornament or table display.  They were so very proud of themselves and their creations, and it only takes Pasta, Glue, colored string or ribbon and paint, what fun for them and for you.
TAKE this cute tree angel ornament 

made from pasta and nicely set out instructions from Craftily Everafter. 
At another site which is entirely devoted to All things Christmas.  It is a site I frequent a lot and has Christmas decorating, stories, crafts,graphics, cards, quotations, songs, traditions, printables, recipes, games, shopping and more from Altogether Christmas and it is from there you will find instructions which you can print off to make this very pretty table Christmas Tree Ornament, and these can be painted any color to match this seasons' decor.

Isn't this just a beautiful little tree?
Now if you want to head on over to Kaboose  this is where you will find  instructions on just how to make the cutest tree elf!  Isn't he just a darling? 

He or she can be so cute and bring a smile to anyone's face! WHILE your visiting KABOOSE take a look at the Cookie Recipes - 12 different cookies using just one dough mixture.  What fun!
For those of you who enjoy making folded blocks or in this case folded ornaments, if you watch this very silent but explicit video you can see just how easy those pretty folded ornaments can be made. 
FOR the table you could head over to About for a variety of instructions on table centerpieces or to VideoJug where she will show you just how it all can come togehter.  These centerpieces make wonderfully inexpensive gifts for neighbors, friends or shut ins in your area.
This is such a wonderful season for children and for those of us who love to create and enjoy the fullness of the season so while you warm some spicey apple and cinnamon pot-pouri and turn up the volume of the Christmas music you and the children can have alot of pleasure while waiting for Santa.  
Now if you would love to have some quiet time for your children or grandchildren you could print off a miriad of Christmas Coloring pages for them to color from here!  
Just before sleep children need some quiet time to help the sandman get started on his sleep rounds, so to this end you can find lots and lots of wonderful Christmas stories to print out and read to them at bedtime.  You could also print these off and make a book out of them just to have on hand when your travelling, works like a charm.
Thank you for sharing some of your time with me today, stay safe, have fun and enjoy the seasonal fun. 

Ole Man Winter Has Arrived In The Bay!

I apologize for not posting the past two day, I have been busy what with my  cutting and gluing paper angels to bristol board and waiting for the glue to dry, then once again cutting out the silhouette.  Now only another 40 or 50 remain to be finished cause I ran out of the heavy bristol board.   At least the main amount of angels are ready and the tree is being put up and decorated this week.  Since our local Lions Club is sponsoring this Angel Tree project we somehow managed very nicely to pick up two of our neighboring towns, this is nice because the residents of those town are participating as well.  We are a good and close Region and many of the smaller towns and villages find ways to work together which is sorely needed in this tough financial world today.  
AGAIN my fingers are stiff to say the least but they simply cannot sit idle, there is far too much to be accomplished to meet my goals for this Christmas.  See what blew in to the Bay last night!  Yuck!!!

Snow, with a thin sheet of ice below that.  You know I dislike winter, I hate shoveling snow and scraping off the windscreen of the car whenever I must leave the house, which I must do this afternoon..
This week I meant to send you over to the Missouri Star Quilt Co., there you will see a wonderful tutorial on making two wonderful Christmas tablerunners.  Then there is also a video tutorial on You Tube for a beautiful ornament to make from left over strips.
Keeping the Christmas ornament theme today I also found this wonderful "Polish Star" ornament video tutorial for those of us who also enjoy paper crafts.  This video is just so easy for us to follow and the results are stunning.  
If you make any item from these wonderful and easy tutorials, please share them with us, send me a picture and a brief description of yourself to mitzjidebos@yahoo.ca  and I will be so very pleased to include it in any of my blog posts.   This invitation applies to any time of the year and for any holiday occasion, so, won't you share?
I'm off, need to get in a doctors appointment for my mum, a trip to the drug store, a trip to the post office as well as the grocery store and then its off to the Chairmans' house to deliver Angels and pick up more bristol board.
Thank you for sharing your time with me this afternoon, and seeing as ole man winter has come calling today stay safe if your out and about like me today.
"Go confidently in the Direction of your Dreams.  Live the Life You've Imagined!"

SNAP,  foul winter weather is supposed to be on its way this afternoon, I am so not ready for winter!  I am just not a winter outdoors type of woman. 
RIGHT NOW this is what it looks like outside!  Yuck

It is becoming darker by the hour.  I know there are many who love and enjoy winter, unfortunately for me, I do NOT happen to be among them.
YESTERDAY while walking with my co-members of the FRIENDS of the Leeds and Thousand Islands Public Library  during the Santa Parade the sun shone and the temperatures hovered near 55 Fahrenheit, it was great for those along the parade route and for all of us who marched in it.  We had so much fun seeing all of the children along the parade route and for 2 hours all we heard were many Merry Christmas wishes and Santas' ho ho hoing, which was enough to get me into the Christmas Spirit. 
The Friends are holding a fund raising sale during the Christmas at Springfield House event on December 3rd so in keeping with my volunteerism I am adding small handcrafted items which the Friends can add to the handmade items for sale.  I am making a basket full of tissue package holders and one other smaller item (as yet to be discovered).  One of those fabric ornaments projects just might be the ticket!
At any rate this morning I have been making those cute little "Kleenex tissue" holders for your purse or pocket, they sew up so quickly and make a nice little item for fundraisers either as little gifts children can buy for whomever, or, as small stocking stuffing gifts.  In any event I am hoping these will be a nice addition to the Springfield House fundraiser the Friends are participating in this coming December.
Here are the few I made so far this morning. 

Great for stash reduction projects as well. Between my Log cabin blocks for my Basics donation quilt and these smaller projects I'm getting great mileage out of my scraps. 
I thank you for sharing a part of your Sunday with me today and hope your outside isn't cold and dreary.  I am doing my best to forget to look outside and will concentrate on the sunshine and great temperatures we were blessed with as it was yesterday and before that.  Today I leave you with a quotation which I found to share with all of you. 
"Go confidently in the Direction of your Dreams.  Live the Life You've Imagined!"

Weird Huh?

Morning all, I was absent yesterday but with a great excuse, honestly!  Yesterday was drab and dreary and the temperature dipped enough to send snow flying here in the Bay.  While the snow didn't fall for very long it remained very chilly.  Even though the sun is shining here this morning it is still very chilly.

Weird weather can sometimes make me moody and yesterday happened to be one of those unsettling days for me, but, once again I managed two hours of decluttering and I managed to fill another bag of jackets, dresses and slacks which I have not worn nor do I intend to wear anymore!  Got it delivered that to someone whom I know can make good use with its contents.
Not only did I fill up another bag but I also came across one of the last quilts ever made by my paternal grandmother.  Who from an early age and into her married life made utilitarian quilts as necessary bedding for her 10 surviving childrens' beds.  Quilts in those days according to one of my uncles was a necessity not a decoration.  

I cannot help wishing I had been taught quilting by my gran, but sadly she passed before the quilting bug ever got a hold of me.  My gran as you might recall from an older post "My Grandmothers' Sewing Box"  hand cut, hand pieced and hand quilted all of her quilts, she never had a sewing machine, just a trusty pair of scissors along with cardboard templates and needles and thread.  When I saw this quilt again I was reminded of the work the women of yesteryear put into this craft.  Where or how she found or made the time to make these utilitarian quilts with 10 growing children during the depression years I will never know and the surviving aunts cannot even remember how she set up the frame to quilt in their tiny home.  I spread it out on the beds in the spare room so that I could take a picture of it to share.
WHEN my friend Clarence saw it he and his new friend Hippity just had to have their photo taken sitting on top of it.

I have never introduced you to Clarence have I?  Well, Clarence is a very, very special friend, he came from my best friend Els who made him especially for me.  Usually he sits in the lounge rocker in my room and keeps me company and every time I see his smiling face I keep motivated to buck up and smile even when it isn't a great day.  Here he is with Hippity his new found friend, isn't Clarence just too cute for words?

My best friend Els, is not only a quilter, but she also loves to knit and makes these knitted wildlife creatures in all sizes and colors.  She not only makes these wonderful cheeky and cheerful monkeys but bears and rabbits that she has knit in all sizes and color combinations.  Soon some will be in my ETSY SHOP and for sale.  
Here are a few of the Cheeky Monkies she made and a new little Bear named Kees (pronounced case)!

Kees

Aren't  theses little playmates so cute?
She had many more but they have all moved on to new arms.  
After decluttering for a few hours it was time to sit and cut out Angels for the Angel Tree project which my local Lions Club sponsors at Christmas.  These paper angels are designated as "Boy" or "Girl", no names, just ages.  Residents of three communities take these angels from the tree and purchase Christmas gifts for children in need and who might not have a Santa gift at all.  Our members get together and wrap and wrap, then these are delivered to the Food Bank where these wonderfully filled Christmas Bags are handed out along with Food Hampers.  These paper angel ornaments now need to be cut out, glued to bristol board, add brightly colored ribbon and get these hung onto the Angel Tree.  

All in all it was a fairly productive day yesterday, even with it being so dull outside and I even managed a few more log cabin blocks for my Basics donation quilt and last night while watching some of my favorite programs on the telly I managed to make a few more hexies for my quilt top. 

Now it is off to the post office to get my Christmas Fabrics into the mail and on their way.  I certainly hope the recipients will enjoy them when they finally arrive into their mail boxes. 
DON'T FORGET I will be hosting another Giveaway for December, stay tuned it will be announced the last week of November.
Thanks for stopping by today, as usual I have been chatting away non-stop so from my friends Clarence and Hippity we wish you a perfect day.

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

My post today covers a bit of this and a bit of that, and I would like to announce that since I haven't yet heard from the winner and since I cannot find her as a member, rather than have my giveaway a bust, I would like to add  "Anonymous (Lesley *Technoturt*) and Judy" who commented during the giveaway period kindly forward me at mitzjidebos@yahoo.ca your snail mail addresses and I will send you each a package of the same fabrics for your use.  Won't that be fun - THIS MEANS EVERYONE is a winner... Hooray!  
I haven't been up to very much today as my arthritis just isn't co-operating, so I have been taking it rather easy this morning. 
I have however read my e-mail and this is what I found in it which I would like to share with you all this afternoon. 
As a member of About.com Quilting I receive the latest news and ideas, etc. from Janet Wickell.  She always has great things to share with anyone wanting to learn something she has to teach or share within the Quilting genre.  This mornings' letter held a link to an EASY PUZZLE quilt which looks so cute and so colorful as well as it being a very easy pattern, this would make an excellent charitable quilt designated for children.  What do you think?  Here is what it looks like.

Isn't it bright and cheerful?  Thank you Janet Wickell. 
I have also been toying with making something for our Lions Christmas party this December, not only will be wrapping in excess of near 70 gifts for children through out our area, but, usually I make a small gift for the members and guests.  The year before it was a set of coasters, so this year I thought possibly one or more of those little Christmas ornaments I posted about in Crafting For Christmas or Getting Into The Spirit.  Don't you agree these would make wonderful little gifts?  
Many times those of us belonging to volunteer organizations are always on the lookout for wonderful and quick crafts to make as items to sell at fundraisers, so, any one of those ornaments would also make great fundraiser items, small yet easily made and great for selling or giving at this time of the year. 
Well, seeing as the medication I took when I first began writing have kicked in so it is time I thanked you for stopping by and wish you a fantastic day today no matter where in this huge and wonderful world you live. 
Since the meds I took for my arthritis are kicking its time to get back to sewing more blocks for the Basics charity quilt. 
I would so very much enjoy hearing from you, the reader, won't you leave me a comment?  Possibly an idea of what you might like to read in future posts?

Thanksgiving & Winner of Xmas Fabrics

First business to discuss this afternoon is to announce the winner of the Christmas fabrics giveaway which closed out Saturday evening, November 12th.  The winner of the Christmas Fabrics is Mindy, please contact me at mitzjidebos@yahoo.ca
with your full name and correct snail mail address, so I can mail your prize to you!
CONGRATULATIONS MINDY!
THANKSGIVING is being celebrated soon in the United States and I know our neighbors are making ready to enjoy that wonderful day.  Not only is there turkey, but loads of very sweet desserts for afters.  I love turkey with all the trimmings and stuffed so full of old fashioned dressing, and surrounded with cranberries. My most favorite of all the desserts has to be pumpkin pie with whipped cream for its topping...Mmmmmmmmmm I missed our Thanksgiving holiday guess I will just have to wait for Christmas to enjoy turkey. 
It isn't too late to make a little wall hanging to represent this lovely holiday, it's actually a felt turkey block!  This is made in Felt but I am certain the quilter in you can reproduce it in fabrics too, applique is so very versatile. Head on over to Wee Folk Arts web site and you will find a free pattern from them to make this wonderful felt turkey block.  Isn't it lovely? 

I love this site, it is filled with fun and lots of humor and great ideas for projects and lots of free patterns to use. 
Sorry for being so late in posting today, but, as you may have read, I sometimes act as caregiver for a neighbor and today was one of those days.  
Thank you for stopping by and thank you for entering into the Christmas Fabrics Giveaway.  Stay tuned for my December giveaway which will be posted in the last week of November.
Have yourself a wonderful day today and do stop by, there does not have to be a giveaway just to make a comment, and comments are what most bloggers enjoy reading, this helps them to formulate ideas on what our readers enjoy most. 

LAST entry day for Xmas Fabric Giveaway

Just a reminder that today until midnight is the last day to enter for the Christmas Fabrics Giveaway. 

IF you intended to enter, please do, the more the merrier!


My son and daughter-in-law have arrived for a flying visit, so this post this morning is to remind you to if you like the fabrics I chose to giveaway. 


It doesn't take much to enter, and if you click on the Christmas fabrics on the right hand sidebar of my site it will take you to the entry details. 


Have yourselves a wonderful day today, and do come back tomorrow.

Getting Into The Spirit

How long can these wonderful weather days last, here it is November 10th and while the temperature is hovering around the 48 Fahrenheit (9 Celsius), the sun is shining and we are assured of nearly 10 full hours of daylight.  Whoopee

This is the only view of the water we have left

I realize many of you are into Thanksgiving mode and Christmas really isn't quite fully on your agenda yet, however I did promise to share some of the great craft sites where you can see easy video or written with pictorial tutorials for those Angel ornaments which you might hang on a tree, decorate your home with or even add to a Christmas package.
CRAFT ELF has this darling angel you can make swift and easy isn't this so cute?  I am certain you will fall in love with this Crafter.

Happybirds Crafting Haven shows in this You Tube video  just how to make a very sparkly but light and airy Angel using glitzy wired ribbon.

This little angel is easy to make and versatile. You will honestly love going to Happybirds site time and again because it is packed full of printable instructions and tutorials, recipes, and much more.  I certainly enjoy visiting.

IF you want a different version of a Wired Ribbon Angel, head on over to Crafty This And Thats' Blog, she too has a very interesting blog, chalk full of wonderful craft ideas.  

How cute is this?

NOT to be outdone, Nini Makes shows us how to make a Patchwork Angel which is just the ticket for us quilters, it too is colorful and cute.

I simply don't have the time lately to sit and craft much, but I do appreciate these wonderful Bloggers who have made time to teach anyone wanting to make quick, easy and very nice craft items.

I know the closer Christmas gets I will be trying a few of these on for size.  Our local Lions Club Christmas party isn't too far off and these would make wonderful gifts to give my fellow members and their guests...

Making a collection of these various easy to make ornaments would be a lovely and inexpensive gift to send your secret sister, or as a teacher gift from your child at school, or to whomever you give to at this time of the year and what makes this type of giving special is that once again it is   handmade by you.

Thinking about the "Naked Bed" project I spoke about last night, I remembered the drawer I came across during one of my de-cluttering episodes and pulled them this morning.  Okay, there are only 12 but these log cabin blocks won't take much time to assemble.  As my stash is so humungus it can't hurt to make several more and put a top together.  These were just waiting to be used up.  

PLEASE tell your friends about the Christmas Fabrics Giveaway contest which closes this Saturday with the winner being chosen at random and announced on Monday, November 14th.  Tell them to click on the fabrics photo in the sidebar at the right and it will take them to how to enter.

THANK you for visiting with me today and a comment or two about whichever post you might have enjoyed would be awesome! 

Victoria asks "Can You Help Cover A Naked Bed?"

Over at The Quilting Gallery there is a very special article and request by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, owner of Bumble Beans Inc. I am betting half of you have read this article already but for those of you who may not have read it, you will find within the article that Victoria through her efforts and the generosity of many quilters is attempting to fulfill a request through BASICS a non-profit organization helping those who are homeless.  I could go on about the article, but I believe you might like to read it all for yourselves.
I believe possibly some of us might have an extra top we could turn into a finished quilt very quickly and help Victoria meet the 700 quilt target.  I am working on completing one now, scrappy and warm, so, if you would like to join the many quilters who already donated 300 quilts, possibly we might just help Victoria get to that target number of 700.
I realize there are 1000's of fantastic causes out there which we all support with our quilts in one way or another, but, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be without shelter against the weather, especially now that winter is beginning to arrive, or what I would do without my home and warmth each night?
Being totally dependent on the kindness of others for food and shelter because of some horrible circumstances in your life that was totally not supposed to happen.  
Pat Sloan 

is helping Victoria help Basics reach that 700 quilt goal.  IF you can help, I know whomever your quilt covers will bless you time and again for your generosity. 

A Donated Quilt being presented

Take a look at the names of the Friends this is a page dedicated to the names of all the quilt donors from whom quilts have been received so far.  HOW very exciting to read the names on that list.  Will you add your name?
All right, I am off to choose as many scraps as I can gather tonight so that in the morning I will have a good start to my quilt I wish to donate to the BASICS cause.
I realize this post is a bit late today, but, I have been out shopping for staples and a special gift for myself, a new web cam!  My perfectly great Logitech web cam that I bought years ago and worked well XP on my older computer is no longer compatible with this new computer which runs Windows 7.  Now I can chat with my BESTEST friend while we are quilting, just like we did while I was there with her last month, YEEHA...
Now I can see how Microsoft is a wealthy corporation, every so often you have to upgrade the hardware to be compatible with the software and visa verse...
I promised to share links with you to discover some of those wonderful sites where you can find tutorials and instructions or patterns on how to make ANGELS for all sorts of uses.  Please tune in tomorrow and I will share some of these wonderful sources. 
Thank you so much for visiting again, please, leave a comment to enter into the Christmas Fabrics Giveaway, shown at the top right of my sidebar, this giveaway closes on November 12th, who knows I could be mailing these off to your mail box soon.  Look are these not pretty? 

4 Pieces of 9" x 44"

Crafting For Christmas

You should be here in the Bay, it is already 60 Farenheit (*15 Celcius) for those of you in Canada and Europe.  What a simply pleasant temperature!  I opened all of the windows in this house taking full advantage of these temperatures while we are blessed with them all of this fresh air is exhilarating.. ENJOYING it while it is still around is my motto.
THE advent of Christmas, one of the best holidays of the year isn't that far off and with this in mind I re-visited some of my favorite crafting Bloggers.  These ladies are some creative and make some of the easiest if not prettiest ornaments and wreaths I have seen.  In this post, I would love to share some with you, these crafters make it easy with their instructions and even tutorials, some of you might also be interested while you ponder how to decorate your home this Christmas, or even something to giveaway in the spirit of this holiday season.

I LOVE WREATHS and I found some ladies who teach you how to make some of these pretties, for instance, FANCYPANTS has a tutorial from Rondas' Blog and shared Rondas' Wreath with her readers, to make this pretty fabric wreath.  So easy and looks so very pretty, wouldn't you agree!  Who wouldn't love to hang this wreath on their front door.  Those of you with an Accuquilt Cutting System could make these petals so quick using that cutting system.

I have made these and they were one of my favorites.  Yesterday while surfing I found them again,  and thank you Jenna from Corgipants! 
It was just yesterday I discovered Jenna's tutorial posted on WhipUp. These were so pretty and I used them everywhere, sadly these  were lost in the major flooding we had in our house before moving here to Ontario some years ago.  Now I can make more, whooppee.  These even make lovely corsages, or place several in a glass cut bowl as a centerpiece. 

This little Origami paper wreath makes a wonderful hanging ornament, if your intrigued head on over to see the Tutorial from Domesticali.  Are these not just the cutest ornaments?

THESE are the cutest advent pockets I have ever seen!  Children just love the mystery prizes inside and these are recyclable so that year after year the memories created by using them again and again would add a new tradition to your Christmases.  You can find the instructions for these at ALLSORTS who also has a tutorial with pattern pieces for Elf Clogs so fun!  Just go here for the Clogs.

Aren't these cute?

In the blogging world there are 100's if not 1000's of bloggers who create and share their wonderful instructions unselfishly, as someone who isn't very creative, I applaud you and thank you for sharing.  

I am hoping you will join in on the CHRISTMAS FABRICS GIVEAWAY as it closes November 12th, 2011.  Just click on the sidebar picture and it will take you directly to the contest instructions.  

Thank you for taking time from your day to visit with me, come back again tomorrow, you never know what I might share with you then.  Have a perfectly wonderful day today, you deserve to enjoy it to its fullest.

A Pretty Day for Dreaming

Another very pretty day is shaping up and the temperatures are near 59F, I am not certain how long this wonderful weather trend will last but while it is here I am making the time to enjoy it!  

That huge mound of tree limbs and branches in the center of the small front garden has been loaded into a truck and carted off, now all we have to do is get rid of the remaining mounds and I might just have a neat property ready to accept the mounds of snow we manage to receive each winter. 

One Huge Pile Removed

Now that I am back inside with a fresh cup of coffee at the ready I took a look around my sewing area and all of my dreams for my kind of sewing room came rushing in.  You know those "some day" dreams?  I could not resist the urge to go web surfing to see if I could find a DO IT YOURSELF site which might just show me how to get that "someday, I will have" dreamy sewing studio with the pieces of furniture that fit my needs and size.  I found several and you might enjoy seeing what some other creative people have accomplished. 
I believe many of you quilters are like myself, on a strict budget when it comes to your sewing room furnishings.  Am I right?  Of course I am right, and like one of the bloggers said you need the extra money you save on these items to "buy gobs and gobs of fabrics".  Of course she is right I totally agree with her. 
Over the years since I began quilting the idea of having my own large enough sewing area has been a dream, but, like so many, I have had to make do with the space I had or the storage solutions my wallet could accommodate.
Many times I hear and have read of and by quilters who have been fortunate to find just that right table for her purpose, or, have been lucky to get that just right sewing area.  Cutting and sewing tables are really important to our health, have the wrong heights can be detrimental to our posture, our backs and muscled arms and shoulders.  Not only is the right furnishing helpful health wise, but so much more comfortable for those who spend hours and hours at their craft. 
Not only new and improved for my size cutting, ironing and sewing surfaces are desirable, but nifty and neat storage solutions have always been of great interest to me and in this vein I went looking for some inexpensive solutions.
I discovered a number of bloggers who addressed the "cheap" method of gaining these much desired items and some even took a great deal of time in showing how to acquire just that and I would like to share some of these links with you today.
Beginning with "How Joyful"  where she shows you her idea and had her father-in-law help her to create.  Pretty nice table for a small amount of cash outlay.
Then there is "Sukie" now this is quite different, but also a great way to acquire a sewing table.
On You Tube  Crazyshortcutquilts shows in 3 videos just how to make your sewing and ironing surface your way. Kind of neat, don't you think?  Of course my DIY enthusiasm hasn't reached this point yet, I want what I want, but at this time in my life I haven't the energy to go and get all of this stuff because I simply do not have any of it laying about this house.
Then I came across Susan Wrights' web article, while she was at New Mexico State University.  Susan actually drew renderings of this idea and actually provides measurements and comments, which I found very helpful.
A little further into my search I discovered Ana Whites' blog wherein she sets out the Craft Table Top for The Modular Collection.  Nice, this is the type of surface with storage that I think I would enjoy having in my sewing room.
The Piece de resistance is from "Diary Of A Renaissance Seamstress" who managed to sum up what I believe my sewing room should look like. 
All in all these ladies are creative and used their imaginations to achieve the end result they were seeking. 
WHAT do you want in your sewing room?  I would love to hear all about it and have you share it with us, all ideas on how to do it yourself are appreciated.
A huge Thank you to the various women set out in the links above for their wonderful ideas and ingenuous ideas and creativity.

Thank you for visiting today, and don't forget my Christmas Fabric Giveaway as set out in Saturday, November 5th post. 

These could be yours and still in time to use them this year.  
The first suggestion from a new follower says possibly use them in a Tree Skirt - great idea Mindy, thank you!
Thank you for stopping by today, make it one of your best,  because it is a special day seeing as we are all above ground and doing something!