Thursday, October 20, 2016

FINALLY POSTING....ANOTHER CATCH UP......

I think this may have been the longest I have ever gone between blog posts since I started blogging almost 7 years ago!  Somewhat alarming I guess as I really don't want to throw in the towel and let blogging become a thing of the past.  But I am getting closer and closer to that happening!  It just takes me SOO long to do one (I know...I could shorten them up ~wink~) and I just can't seem to get caught up.  I practically have a daily schedule sat up to try and get everything done between now and Thanksgiving Day (which is the day I give MOST of my hand made Christmas gifts!) and honestly I am not sure I can stick to the schedule.  Not sure what the issue is but I have just been exhausted and kind of weak these last few days too, and I am getting my 8 hours of sleep no problem so it is not that.  I did finish up the last of the banners, the last of the hot pads, and the last of the candy cane holder ornaments just this morning, so I decided to take a break this afternoon and get a post up. Lucky you, lol.

Let me start with the hot pads.  They are just adorable designs, and they are all done "in the hoop" which has become one of my very favorite ways to embroider. It just means the WHOLE project is completed in the hoop with no extra sewing...or very little anyway.  I figured out a way to skip over their designs if I wanted to (all Santa's) and use other ones instead, and honestly once I figured that out I could have just gone on and on.  They were pretty quick and simple.  But as it is I made a couple for me, Mel, Leah, Larissa, Jessica, and Annabel.  IF (BIG IF here) I find the time I intend to make some for my sisters and couple of girlfriends and my cleaning woman and my nail lady, and my niece Jessica who is my hair lady.  But this is all at the end of the line as I MUST get my own kid and grandkid projects done first, lol.  Let me show you these...I will start with a little video that somewhat shows you my embroidery machine in action.



THESE ARE MINE....I LOVED THE SANTA DESIGNS...I USED BURGUNDY THREAD, AND THESE HAVE METALLIC GOLD THREAD FOR THE EDGING.  I REALLY WISH I HAD A BIGGER EMBROIDER MACHINE AS THESE WERE DONE ON THE 5 X 7 HOOP WHICH IS THE BIGGEST ONE I HAVE.  THEY DON'T MAKE FOR VERY BIG HOT PADS.  A 6 X 10 WOULD BE MUCH BETTER.  THEY ARE LINED WITH TWO LAYERS OF INSULBRIGHT WHICH KEEPS THE HEAT AWAY FROM YOUR HANDS, PLUS A LAYER OF WARM AND NATURAL.  I MADE THE LITTLE HOOPS AT THE TOP OUT OF THE SAME FABRIC AS THE FRONT OF THE PADS, AS I THOUGHT IT SEEMED STURDIER AND BETTER.  THE DESIGNER HAD SUGGESTED JUST USING RIBBON.

THE BACKS WERE JUST A SINGLE LAYER OF A CHRISTMAS COTTON FABRIC.  I HAVE A TON OF IT LEFT OVER FROM MANY PROJECTS

THESE ARE FOR MY OLDEST DIL LEAH....SHE AND I HAVE SUCH SIMILAR TASTE IN MOST THINGS, SO I FIGURED SHE WOULD LIKE THESE BEST TOO.  I HAVEN'T REMOVED THE WATER SOLUBLE STABILIZER YET WHICH IS WHAT THESE PROJECTS WERE STARTED ON.

BACK OF HERS

 MY MIDDLE DIL LARISSA'S....SUCH CUTE DESIGNS.  I LOVE HOW THIS PROJECT STARTED OFF BY STITCHING A QUILTING GRID BEFORE THE DESIGN STITCHED.  THE BACK OF HERS IS THE SAME AS THE BACK OF MINE

THESE ARE FOR MY DIL JESSICA....I THINK THESE ARE JUST DARLING!  AND THE THREAD THAT EDGED THESE IS THE THREAD MY FRIEND KATHY FROM EMPTY NEST BUT FULL HEART SENT ME A LONG WHILE AGO NOW.  SHE IS BATTLING OVARIAN CANCER RIGHT NOW, AND MY HEART HAS JUST BEEN SOO HEAVY FOR HER.  PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS!   I HAVE USED IT TO PIECES AND LOVE IT!

THE BACK OF HERS

THESE ARE MEL'S...THE DESIGNS ARE IN NAVY, AND THE EDGING IS DONE IN THAT SAME VARIEGATED THREAD.  

THE BACKS OF MEL'S

MORE SANTA DESIGNS....THESE ARE ANNABEL'S...

THE BACKS OF ANNABEL'S
Then I also have made all of the candy cane holder Christmas ornaments for all of my grand kids with their names on them.  I made them all the same which was just easier, and it went pretty fast.  Let me show you...

HERE THEY ALL ARE....ANNABEL IS NOT IN THIS PILE AS SHE WILL GET ONE OF THE FAMILY ONES NOW THAT SHE IS MARRIED, LOL  SOPHIA HAS JOINED THIS GROUP

A CLOSE UP OF THE BOYS....THESE ARE MADE OUT OF FELT.  THE CANDY CANE SLIPS RIGHT THROUGH THOSE ARMS

A CLOSE UP OF THE GIRLS.  I HOT GLUED ALL THE BOWS ON THEIR HEADS AS I THOUGHT THAT LOOKED PRETTY CUTE

I SLIPPED MY FABRIC MARKING PEN THROUGH THE ARMS OF THIS ONE SO YOU COULD GET AN IDEA OF HOW THEY WILL WORK.  HAVEN'T BOUGHT ANY CANDY CANES YET, LOL
And then I know I mentioned I was going to re-do the top of Melody's last year advent calendar as I had misspelled birthday, lol.  It came out WAY WAY WAY better then last years version as I have learned how to re-hoop big projects soo much better, but it also took WAY WAY WAY longer then I had intended, lol.  Let me show you that...

I WISH I HAD SEWN THE TWO PIECES TOGETHER BEFORE I PUT BABY JESUS ON AND THEN I COULD HAVE MADE HIM MUCH MUCH LARGER....BUT THERE WAS NO WAY IN THE WORLD I WAS WILLING TO DO IT AGAIN, LOL.  ANY MORE MISTAKES FOUND ARE THERE FOR ALL ETERNITY, LOL
And then.....I have already shown you the banners I made for my myself and the other girls.  But I had not made one for Melody as she could not seem to settle on what she wanted, or if she even wanted one.  She finally decided it might look really cute to hang one in Sam and Luke's room as she likes to add a festive touch in there too.  Sooo I began searching for something that I thought might work and came up with this cute little Christmas light banner.  Melody came up with it saying, MERRY AND BRIGHT...so it really was a group idea, lol.  It just came out darling, and I think it will look really cute in their room.  I got a bunch of different colored felt squares on sale at Joanne's, and it was just sooo cute.  Again, it took longer then I thought it might as there is about 8 hours of work in it.  Let me show you....

A LITTLE BIT BLURRED, BUT YOU GET IDEA.   

WANTED TO GET CLOSE UP OF SOME OF THE LETTERS SO THAT YOU CAN SEE THEY WERE DONE IN METALLIC GOLD THREAD, AND THE TOPS OF THE BULBS WERE DONE IN A SPARKLING BLACK GLITTER FELT. I'LL STRING BLACK RIBBON THROW THE HOLDERS ON THE BACK (I TOOK NO PICTURES OF THOSE!) TO HANG THIS FROM, SO IT WILL KIND OF LOOK LIKE A CORD, LOL.  
Then....last Thursday hubby and I headed down to San Diego to babysit my youngest son's kids so that they could go to a graduation ceremony for a friend of theirs who had just become a police officer.  Hubby and I enjoyed every minute of that.  We don't see this particular group of grandkids nearly as often now that we are not going down to San Diego to church anymore.  We do get to see our son every week at the bible study, and then we always have dinner together afterwards, but I have REALLY missed the kids.  JD and I had our tie breaker Sorry game to play, and he'd be happy to report he beat grandma fair and square, lol.  I had to bring along my lap top so that I could go online at exactly two o'clock and order the fabric I have been waiting for to make their Christmas pj's though as I was afraid if I waited till the next day to do so I'd miss out.  I got that all ordered and good thing too, because within two hours MOST of the panels I had wanted were gone!  The fabric arrived here last night, and let me just say that it is just as adorable in person as I had hoped.  HOWEVER, there is SOOO MUCH of it I am feeling a little overwhelmed.  And before I can even start the jammies, I still have the tree skirts for the girls to finish up.  whew.....  I can give you a quick glimpse of the fabric...

I AM MAKING 5 OUT OF THE BUCK HEAD PANELS, 3 OUT OF THE JOY TO THE WORLD PANELS, AND ONE OUT OF THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR.  I DID NOT CHOSE BELIEVE OR LET IT SNOW, THOUGH I LOVE THOSE TOO.  I AM SOOOOOOO ANXIOUS TO CUT INTO ALL OF THIS.  YOU CAN SEE HOW WELL THE COORDINATES GO WITH THESE PANELS.  
And then.....last Friday I spent all day at the hospital with my older sister Diane when she had her surgery done for her lung cancer.  I spent Sat. morning there as well.  It all went REALLY well, and she went home on Sunday.  She will get all of her results next Wed. and if all goes as they expect it to, that will be the end of it for now.  She does have a couple of other health issues to deal with, but in comparison they shouldn't be that big.  I am soo grateful she did well, and that she is home recuperating with her daughter taking care of her.

And then last Sat. night was the homecoming dance for my grand daughter Lindsey and my niece Katie.  I think I left off showing you the dress I made for her at the last minute.  She did NOT wear it to homecoming after-all, but she did love it and it fit her almost perfectly.  She felt like it was not quite fancy enough for the formal, but she has already figured a few other places she plans on wearing it so it was not made in vain.  Let me show you a pic of the girls...

MY GRAND DAUGHTER LINDSEY...THE DRESS I MADE HER WAS ALMOST (but not quite! lol) AS FORM FITTING AS THIS ONE...

AND LINDSEY AND KATIE   DRESSING UP IS ALWAYS SOO MUCH FUN FOR YOUNG GIRLS!


Well, guess that's about it for now.  I hope to spend the rest of the afternoon catching up with most of you, and who knows, maybe even catching a quick little nap.  My dryer is going off so as soon as I deal with that, I am officially done until it's time to get dinner.  Hope you are all enjoying your Falls, and all of our God's best blessings.  Hugs to you all!  Debbie

6 comments:

  1. Joy to you today Debbie! I soo totally know what you mean about finding time to blog. This week I've felt very overwhelmed with so many quilt projects, a bible study I go to once a week, blogging, reading and taking care of other things-like the house and meals. I too have Christmas projects to start on; not as many as you, but I'm not the talented sewing that you are either. I've got to make a half-Apron for my daughter and it is scary because of the design. You know I have so many quilts in progress too that I want to complete. My study ends next week and then I start one on prayer called the Circle Makers. I'm looking forward to it, but thankful it is only 4 weeks-so by the first part of December, I'll be able to concentrate on sewing. Please don't give up on blogging, we all need you to continue. I guess we both need to relax and not stress about it. Sending love and hugs your way.
    Noreen

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  2. You sure have been busy! I always say that when visiting you. Everything looks wonderful. As for that gorgeous granddaughter of yours...lock her in the house and don't let her out for three years. LOL! What a beauty she is.

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  3. Love your new projects, the banner is really clever

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  4. Lots of fun projects! No wonder you don't have time to blog! I don't know how you have time to eat or sleep! (Of course, I am incredibly slow, so I am awed by someone who accomplishes so much!)

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  5. I think I always say when I visit you that I am overwhelmed just reading about what you are doing. I feel like such a slackard. All kidding aside, you are one amazing woman and the people you create these for will have such beautiful keepsakes for years to come. How sweet is that? Everything looks perfect to me, no mistakes. And in the midst of all your handiwork, you stop and take time for others. Your granddaughter looked beautiful. Thank you as always for the kind comments you post on my blog.

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  6. I also meant to say how glad I am about your sister. Praying for a good report and I know having the surgery over is a relief.

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!