Pretty Layla and a Happy New Year

Layla wanted to show off her new hat I won. The front and the back. She's a little cutie.
Hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Anja you did a great job.

I won something

Look what I won in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway. This is from Anja at drobtinice. Looks like I need to learn how to crochet. Layla loves the hat. Thanks Anja.

Merry Christmas

Lori was very surprised. She saw this at an antique store back in May. I went back a few weeks ago and they still had it. I love to surprise.
Merry Christmas to all of my friends and their families out there in blogland. I love you all.

We open presents with our family on Christmas eve night. Today we'll go to my parents and have dinner and open gifts.

Layla made a purse

Layla made herself a cute little bag tonight. She picked out the button and I sewed it on for her. She put her coloring books in it to carry every where. She's getting to be quite the seamstress.

Elephant, Clown and Dave

The elephant was a little complicated, but finally finished it (the fabric was so hard to work with). The clown was my very favorite to make. Her name is Daisy (my husband named her.)
There is a story behind Daisy. When my grandson Jakob was 6 months old he received a cute little clown from my aunt (from a yard sale). My husband named him Dave. Every time he handed it to Jakob he would call it Dave. Well Dave was his first word. Over the years Dave got worn out. We had washed him many times. He had a music box inside and we took it out so we could put him in the washer. I sewed him a lot and put new pom-pom's on his cap. When Jakob was 9 Lori went to a big sale and found another Dave. That was pretty amazing since we had looked everywhere for a new one. His name became Steve. Now Jakob is too big for them but Lori still has them both. Thomas decided this is Dave's girlfriend Daisy.Isn't that the most precious thing you have ever seen.

Pillows for my bench

My new (old) bench needed some comfortable pillows. I've had this material for many years. It's quilted corduroy. I've been meaning to make jackets for the girls. They have plenty of jackets. It's very comfortable.

Finished softies

The girls definitely won't keep those ribbons around their necks. The cat's eyes and ears look a little wonky. Maybe Ruby won't notice. Their only 8 inches long. I will be making more of these.

Making softies

I bought this very easy pattern at Joann's Friday ($1.99). So far it's been easy. These will make great Christmas gifts. The white kitty is fleece and the dog is a soft velvet like fabric. I'm hoping to finish them today. Layla picked out the dog and Ruby the kitty. I want to make Aiden one of these. I love the clown and really want to make it.

More Christmas gifts made

These come in really handy. I use mine all the time. Used this tutorial, but it's about and inch too wide for my tissues. So I had to cut it down. I'm pretty sure I used this one when I made mine. Just couldn't find it when I needed it.

coffee cozy

I used Erin's tutorial from House on Hill Road for my coffee cozies. These will be Christmas gifts. Very easy to make. I used my Estate Sale buttons.

Christmas Bags

Made this drawstring bag for my Mom's present. I did line the bag, it just looks neater. Hopefully she will reuse it. The bag really makes the gift a little more special. The snowman in the background is sitting behind the bag. Also made 2 more gift card holders. These are quick and fun.

Happy Birthday Lori

Today my girl turned 30. I took her to Cracker Barrel and we had a great breakfast. Then I took her shopping at Lane Bryant and Bath and Body Works. What a wonderful day.

All of you young mothers cherish every moment you have with your babies. It does seem like only yesterday she was born. She was 3 years old when I went back to work (not because I wanted to). We tried to spend as much precious time as we could with our kids, but time does fly.

Crafted Ornaments

Look what Layla and Ruby made this weekend. Layla made the sparkly one on a clear ball with glue and glitter. I got cheap glitter and I love it so much more than the Martha Stewart glitter in those kits. This is not as fine and much easier to sweep. On Ruby's ornament she put cut ribbon pieces and added the glitter inside. They made 3 each and gave the others to their Mom and Granny. The sun was shining on the tree yesterday and the sparkly ball was so beautiful on the wall.

My favorite ornaments

I used Picasa for the first time and love it. These really are my favorite ornaments. Lori and Anthony made some of these, a few are thrifted, and I made some of them.

Gift Card Holder

Just made these gift card holders. I made the first one too small, so had to make another one. Layla will like the small one.

My first wristlet

They've been all the rage in blogland, so I decided it was time to make one. I have some others cut out for gifts. Hope they like them.

Great giveaway at Deb's

Deb has a great giveaway at her blog Works in Progress. I won last time she had a giveaway so I'm kind of partial to her.
Also visit Sew Mama Sew for lots of other giveaways.

Christmas after Thanksgiving tree and an apron

We had a great Thanksgiving. Hope everyone else did. I always use my Grandmother Marlin's serving platter. I got it when she passed away and we are always reminded of the many Thanksgivings we spent at her house. The perfect turkey platter.This is the apron I made from a kit my Aunt Louise gave me. My Layla got her wish and we put up the tree. The cute little dress she's wearing was also worn by her Mom when she was about 5 years old.

It's been a while

Just haven't been able to sit down and sew for the past week. I've got lots of Christmas gifts to make. Ruby and Layla put up their little tree Friday. Layla begged me to put up mine, but it's just too early for me. Here are a few cute pictures. Got a few pictures of Jakob and Layla together. Ruby was in a mood (maybe a little spoiled). She insisted on being alone in her pictures. The little diva.

My weekend

Had my family over yesterday and had a great dinner. I made the pumpkin cake from here. I made with her suggestions and it was so moist and delicious. Vickie was feeling great. My father-in-law is some better. He's not used to other people taking care of him. Their 4 kids live within a block of them, so we all take care of them.

This weekend the house mover came out and looked at our land again. Our neighbors aren't wanting to cooperate with us on the move. Their fence needs to be taken down and a few trees cut in order to get the house in there. The movers will put the fence back, trees grow back. Believe me there isn't a shortage of trees. We've been working on permits with the county. Telephone company wants to charge $12,000 to come out and move lines for 5 miles when the house is moving. Mover suggested taking off the roof and not using the telephone company. They will charge $4,000 and we'll put a new roof on it. ( It needs a new roof any way).

A preview of what my Friday nights are like. I am so lucky. Eric Clapton and Stevie Nicks want a be's.

Finished Pillowcase Quilt

Finished my pillowcase quilt I'm was doing with Deb from Works in Progress. Thanks for the instructions. I'm planning on making another one. I machine quilted it yesterday. Worked on the free motion thing and just can't do it. Need a lot more practice.
This is the back made from half of the pillowcases sewn together. The binding is the folded edge of the pillowcase. It was easy and a lot of fun.

Time to rake some leaves

The kids had such a good time playing in the leaves on Saturday. All of these leaves were on the driveway. I would rake them as high as I could and they would sit and jump off the wall. It would be a shame to rake them up. By the way they are sucking orange juice.

My In-Laws and guns found

First of all my father-in-law has been in the hospital for over a week now. The first few days he was in critical care. He's in a room, but still not able to come home. He had a heart attack, but the medication they gave him on his first visit to the hospital over a week ago caused some of the problems. He has diabetes and almost had kidney failure. His feet are so swollen he hasn't been able to stand on them for 2 weeks. My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's so it's really hard on her. She wants to be there all the time, but someone has to watch her constantly. Please keep them both in your prayers.

Last weekend Thomas and Jakob were walking in the woods near where Lori's house will be and found an unusual bag. It was a long bag neatly wrapped in a black plastic bag. Thomas cut the end open and saw the barrel of a gun. He immediately called the sheriff's department. They were there in a matter of minutes. They took pictures and opened it slightly and found at least 4 shotguns. Today a detective came by and told me there were 10 very old shotguns. They had been stolen about 4 months ago and found the owner. They also have some leads on the thief.

Pillowcase PJ's

Aren't these the cutest little PJ's? Wish it was my size. Made from 2 pillowcases I got here. They took a whole hour to make from Butterick 3318. Only 1 pattern piece for the pants, cut 2. The top has velcro at the shoulders. Layla will love it. She likes PJ's and Ruby likes gowns. So off to make a gown.

Halloween pictures

They had a happy Halloween. Layla wore her black widow spider I made for her last year. Ruby wore a princess dress I made for Layla 2 years ago. Don't they look adorable?

New Pillowcases for a quilt

Last week on my thrifting trips I found these pillowcases. I needed new ones since I've used the others on my new quilt. I'm thinking about making another one. One for Layla and one for Ruby when they get in their house. I love these coffee mugs. My grandparents had these when I was growing up. You could put these in the oven if you wanted to, they're anchor hocking/fireking.

Our trip to Sarah Cannon Cancer Research

Wednesday I took Vickie to Sarah Cannon Research for her chemo. We got there at 9:30 AM and didn't get to leave until 4:00 PM. I stayed until after she saw the doctor, then decided to do some thrifting. I had researched and found 6 in the area of Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. My favorite was Unique Thrift Store. I did find some cute pillowcases at Goodwill on Charlotte. The Research Center is at Centennial Hospital and across from it is Centennial Park. I went for a 30 minute walk there and it was so beautiful and took these pictures with my cell phone. I would have loved to go in the Parthenon but it was closed.
Vickie stayed 2 nights with me and yesterday she was running a fever. During the night she had to go to the emergency room and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

My first block from Deb's quilt-along

First of all I've started my blocks for the pillowcase quilt on Deb's blog Work in Progress. I've completely finished 2 blocks and working on the others. It's not too late to join us.

My Aunt Lousie has been cleaning her sewing room and giving me bags of fabric and notions. I've also been going through mine and tossing out a lot, so I can make room for hers. She also gave me this apron to make.

A very Happy Birthday

Finally finished this doll dress. I was determined to get it finished before her party Friday. The fabric is pretty special because the lace and beads were used on Lori's wedding dress I made.Lori made this great cake by using my 2 bowls to bake the cake. Then added frosting, twizzlers for the legs, bubblegum for the eyes, candycorn for the teeth and an hourglass. Layla loved it. Spongebob and Barbie love.A lot of the kids dressed up. This is not Gene Simmons, but my nephew Dennis. Aiden is cutting teeth and not feeling very well. She looks like Evil Little Bo Peep with her eyeball pinata.Ruby a pumpkin with bat ears.