I thought I would show you pictures of a couple of the pillow cases that I made for Christmas. Of course, since I was sewing them together on the evening of the 23rd, I was in such a hurry, I didn't get pictures of all of them.

These pillowcases were for my son. I used black Moda Marble, and a fabric with a print of computer innards. I think these were my favorites of all of them. Yes, I thought of myself, and made myself a snowman pillowcase.. my husband got this Curious George case. He is just a big kid afterall. The second case I made for him had a print of antique police officer signs or newspaper articles.. 

I only bought fabric especially to make cases for one set. It was a bright blue ocean scene with the accent fabric of colorful schools of fish. My other daughter was given a case with roller coasters and a case with a print of smores.. two of her favorite summer things.

I love the beginning of the New year. It always gives me a feeling of starting over. A chance to do 'it' right this time. It is a reminder to celebrate all the things that are good in my world…the people I love, the memories I hold on to. I wish all of you a year that brings good friends, good health, good luck, and good things. Happy 2008

I actually got some sewing done today. Remember when I made the nylon bag to carry my sock projects in and I sewd through my finger when I was working on it? Well it turned out to be a handy little bag but unfortunately, it doesn't stop the sharp double pointed needles from poking through the side. I had it in my coat pocket, and one of the needles popped through, and went through my coat pocket. Although I couldn't knit on my sock during lunch because I didn't have enough needles, I didn't lose the needle because it was sticking through the hole it made in my coat. I decided then that I would make a new sock bag from the sock monkey fabric that I bought several months ago.
When I first finished, I thought that perhaps I should have made the longer strap.. longer. I made mine 1 1/2 by 12". But, I guess that if I am going to have the bag on my arm and knitting socks with my hands, it probably is just the right length.
The ties were a little tricky. I had to experiment with the width that would fit over my Bow Whip turning tool. I think I finally settled on 1 3/4" by 16".
Anyway, I think it turned out cute. It is big enough to hold one ball of yarn and sock. Just what I needed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them;
and they were sore afraid.And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Merry CHRISTmas! I hope your Christmas day has brought you nothing but joyful memories filled with smiles, laughs, gifts, friends and family.

I hope that the true meaning of Christmas hasn't escaped you this year. I know it's easy to lose sight of the real Christmas message amidst all the worldly 'stuff' we surround ourselves with. I also know that all of the 'stuff' in the world can't fill that void in our hearts...only one thing can: God. During the Christmas season we concentrate so much on the birth of the baby that sometimes we lose sight of the true message of Christmas. It's not that He was born that makes Him remarkable. What's remarkable---and the most powerful thing that you could possibly imagine---is that He died... and He died for you.

If the end of that baby's life didn't end the way it did we would never had known that He existed. The true Christmas message is that He existed so He could die for our sins. His journey, from manger to cross, gives us a path to salvation. He died so you could fill the void in your heart---with Him.

I really, truly believe it because I've seen it work in my own life. And for as much as we want to make it about Frosty the Snowman and Santa, and stuff, the real gift of Christmas is: Redemption.

I pray this Christmas that you find what I have found. And finally, once and for all---fill the void.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas.

Today was a good day. I spent Christmas money on yarn. I bought some Donnegal Tweed in a plum color to make a cabled messenger bag, I bought the only color of Noro Sock yarn that they had. It has dark pinks and purples toward the center. And I bought a couple of Noro Silk to make fingerless gloves. This is the first Noro that I have used. The sock yarn feels pretty scratchy. I hope that it softens up.
These are my Twisted Stitcher friends. We get together once a month to 'sew'. Our group primarily started as a miniature quilt group. But we don't necessarily work on mini's anymore.. Heck, I knitted today because I didn't want to pack up my sewing machine. It's a great group. We have a lot of fun together. The weird thing is, I didn't find out until we had known each other through our guild for a few years, that 4 of us were in high school together, two of us in the same class, and another of the group that wasn't in school with us, is married to a man that was in our class. Small world huh? Our high school class had close to 800 people in it, so it's no wonder I didn't know the others. I think I remember that we were grouped in homerooms according to our last names. My maiden name was further up the alphabet than theirs.

Let's see, what do I have to do this weekend? Make corn heating bags.. and thats about it I guess. I am definately going to try to fit in a couple of movies. I hope that it doesn't snow THIS weekend. White Christmas... blech!

I thought that you might like to see this awesome Christmas gift that my friend Susan got for me. It is an antique indigo and white churn dash top. I haven't measured it, but it is pretty big. The blocks are about 9". I can't wait to quilt it. I have to think of a perfect design for it. I know.. it will destroy the integrity of it to machine quilt it, but that is what I plan to do. It is in pretty good shape, I think It will hold up well. I mean, I know Susan would quilt it by machine, so if she can, I can...
I have spent the past couple of days working on portable ironing boards. Next will be heating pads filled with corn. No, not popcorn. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!!

I wish there were a way to capture the beauty of the lighted Christmas tree. I'm sure someone can do it, but I can't. Anyway, during 10 minutes of inspiration, I had my daughter lower the big tree down from the attic. A couple of hours later, I had Bill shove it back up into the attic. Then I had him get down my favorite little Charlie Brown tree. It is adorned with Hallmark "Mary's Angels" , and tricycles, and a bicycle from this year, and some tinier angel ornaments, along with some old glass ornaments from Bill and my family. It has silver and gold strand of beads, and a shell angel on the top. There are also a few ornaments that I made several years ago.
I have CASES of old Hallmark ornaments dating back to the late 70's. I only have a few of the most recent ornaments. I still buy a Mary's angel every year. They are small, and I have one from every year dating back around 20 years. I couldn't pass up this year's bicycle. It is what I remember being called a "stingray" it is red with a banana seat and reminded me of my brother. Anyway, it used to take a couple of days for me to decorate the tree. I would lug out the hundreds of ornaments, take each out of it's box, and then have to put all of it away over a couple of days. It made for a beautiful tree, but, I just don't have it in me anymore. All of our kids are grown, our extended families all live out of state, What's the point of all of the work? Maybe someday when we have Grandchildren, I will do a big tree again. Or maybe I will divy up the ornaments between all of the kids, or maybe I should sell them all on ebay..

I hope that all of you are doing well. I will be glad when this hectic time of year is over. I mailed a package to a friend. I could have waited until after Christmas, but I was by the post office. I went in to a line to the door and ONE clerk. So I left. I ended up stopping by another small local postoffice, who closes for an hour every day for lunch. Luckily, they were locking up but let me in. There were 3 people, and they all had to go at the same time. When I was leaving, someone was coming to mail a package. I told them that the P.O. was closed for an hour. It made me laugh when she used common sense and wondered aloud why they would close in the week before Christmas.. I just laughed and said "it's the federal government.. just wait until they are in charge of our MRI's".

I hope to not have to darken the door of any store until after Christmas! bah Humbug.

I CAN ALMOST USE MY TABLE

I just need more room to work!

The table top measures 102" x 40 inches deep. It is the perfect height. I will be looking down on the needle and my hands will be at a comfortable level.
I think he did a really good job considering all he had to work with was my drawing and measurements on graph paper. Primitive drawings to say the least, considering what evolved from them. He is still going to make another pop up leaf to fill in that corner. If he would have made either the back or the side leaf longer, it would have stuck out quite a bit from the rest of the cabinet.

Now all I have to do is get busy and start clearing stuff out so I can actually use it!.

MAN COLD

Did you ever misplace something and buy it a couple more times? Probably not as disorganized as I am. If I would have made these stupid Roman Shades right away, I wouldn't have bought the hardware and cord and lost it. Now I'm ready for the stuff and I can't find it. So I have to go out and buy more. Grrr...
It is going to turn out to be a big toss out day when I get home.
In the meantime, I finished the scarf I was working on. I never blocked anything before, but I am sold on it. Getting it wet has made a world of difference. Here the scarf is laying out /drying out

The only problem is I ran out of table before I ran out of scarf I hope that I don't end up with a scarf with a funky left turn in it. Another thing I learned is it grows in size when it is blocked. And it is a good thing that I didn't knit that complete 3rd ball of yarn, or this might have been 7 feet long!

Have a good Sunday!

That guy that hit me did me a favor. We were seriously considering buying a Prius after we test drove one. I never would have considered one until I rode in a friends car. We rented this car (shown through my front window. I'm not going out in the cold!) There are a lot of things I like about this car. I love how deceptively roomy it is inside. I like all of the tech things in it. Digital everything, smart keys, stuff like that. But the one thing that will keep me from buying one is the back window. It seems small anyway, and it is hard to see where you are going when you are backing up. When you are driving, you can't see the hood at all. Anyway, it was snowing like crazy, and I couldn't see out of my back window because The snow would land on it and stay, and the wiper only covered about half of the window. It would be a great little car in a place that it didn't snow. But I do say that we love Toyota's and will probably go with a Rav, which was our first choice. It is money well spent if you can rent a car like the one you want to buy. You learn more about it in a few days than you do in a 30 minute test drive with a salesman in the backseat.

That's about the extent of things here. One more day until the weekend!! At least MY weekend...
Keep warm!

No pictures today. Just wanted to pop in and let you know what is going on. On Friday, I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch and shopping. I was 50 feet from turning into the parking lot, and some old man turns left in front of me between 2 lanes of traffic and I broadsided him. Luckily, no one was hurt, although I thought of pounding him when he had the nerve to come up to my car and yell at me telling me that it was my fault. You can't argue with stupid people, so I told him to go away and he did. So my car had to be towed, and I am using a rental until we find out if my car will be fixed. I don't know whether it is good or bad. I am renting the kind of car that I have been wanting to buy in the same color that I wanted. A misty green Prius - You can't beat 50 miles a gallon, and that is the only reason that I want the car.
But, all of our cars were paid for, and we don't want to have to take out another loan for an expensive car. My car ran well and I like it. I hope that this guy's insurance company won't total it.
So anyway, I had some neck and shoulder pain for a couple of days, but luckily I have a lot of muscle relaxants and I feel pretty good today. Just bummed me momentarily today when I started thinking that we might have to make car payments again.
I'm a safe driver, and I always give myself lots of space between me and other drivers. It just goes to show you how something can happen in a split second that can change your life. I'm just glad that I was only going about 20-25 and was wearing my seat belt!!