The sun is finally shining, but it is still cold. A good day to sew!

It is still winter!
Don't get me wrong I love the season, the cool weather, the low for the rest of the week is to be in the single digets, and the high is not going to be all that high....but it is a good time to be in the house getting all that stuff done that I don't want to be stuck with in summer when I can be outside.
The problem this year is not the snow, nor the cold, but the fact that the sun has not been out for a week! I just hate all this gloom. The snow would be so much prettier if the sun were out shinning on it, the cold would not be so bad if the sun was out, to make the mind think it is warm out there.
I have every light on in the house, but still it is gloomy............I don't think I would mind if winter lasted a few weeks longer this year, if I could just have a few days of sun!

A couple years ago I made a bunch of these for Christmas presents etc. they were a big hit. But they are really heavy, 8 pounds a piece, so decided not to make anymore.

Then a building supply went out of business, and they had all these 4 inch blocks at a really good price....and not being able to pass up a good sale. I bought them all.

So now I have something else to use up all that free time I can't seem to find to begin with.

If I would just stay out of the stores, I would have less stuff to do and more time for leisure.

Have often thought what would I do if I HAD a lot of free time......Well I would probably do something fun....which for me is, among other things creating something...... So I guess I will never have free time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!!!

You have now reached a milestone in your life. You have become a teenager! Do I need to send your parents a sympathy card........

A wise man once said "There is none of us so smart that we can't learn something from someone or dumb enough that we can't teach something to someone."
Author unknown.

TIME

I heard this explanation of time, and thought I would share it.
Time- Nothing ever exists.
1) The Future doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet........
2) The Past doesn't exist because it is already over......
3) The Present doesn't exist because once you say or do something it is over, and in the past, which doesn't exist anymore.

This is probably why we never have enough time to get anything done!

Now that everyone has survived all the holiday's. It is never too early to think about Christmas 2010. 314 days left till Christmas!
Time slips by so fast, that in order to not run out of it, we all need a plan.
MY PLAN........
I got out my notebook today, and wrote all the names of everyone I need a present for. Next to their name..I leave lines for "ideas".
Also a line for their birthday present.
As soon as they mention something they would like to have, I enter it into the notebook, and when I find it on sale, unless I am making it. I buy it, or make it, and wrap it, and check it off in my notebook.
Hopefully by August 31. I have all my Christmas Presents ready for Christmas.
The reason I wrap everything right away, is because then I can let it sit around. I do not care if someone runs into their present while doing something in one of the rooms. At least they will know they are getting something!
Plus if something were to happen to me, everything is done.

My friends and kids always ask how I knew they wanted a certain item...I just tell them they told me....I don't tell them the trick is to listen to people when they talk.

This is the elusive Fern. She is not my kitty. She hates cameras going off in her face. But she stood still just a bit too long, and I got her, she is part Maine Coon.

She belongs to my granddaughter Katie. She will let me pet her if she is in the mood...Which is the same way my cat feels about Katie. With the cold we have been having, I would love to have that thick fur coat she has!

These are the 2 new Christmas ornaments I made for 2009. The snowman is made out of a small clear plastic container filled with fiber fil, a pipe cleaner for the earmuff connector and 2 black pom poms for the earmuffs, a scrap of fleece for the scarf, and a bit of paint for the face.

Much faster to make than the stuffed fleece kitty. Kitty has button eyes that were sewn on before kitty was stuffed. She has a weighted bottom.

I know it is a bit past Christmas, but this is the first chance I have gotten to get the pictures out of the camera and onto the computer...

I have myself on a tight schedule. Got a plan to finish a project that usually takes a couple months...I want to be done by the end of January.

Redid the diningroom table decoration for the duration of winter. I like to burn candles in the winter. I made the blue snowman candles out of "food tins" and hand poured the candles, and then decorated the tins. The bigger ones are burnt pretty far down now, so this summer will re-pour more candles in them. They are vanilla scented.

The table topper was a mystery swap I did several years ago, that was hosted by a local quilt shop.

Have moved my serger into the livingroom, because it is too cool in the sewingroom at the moment to sew. And I do not want to wait till spring to get this stuff done.

So I bought myself a small 2.5 gallon shop vac and attached the hose to the table I am serging on. Attached the wand to a board by using screws to hold a handrail clamp to the board and used a "C" clamp to keep the board attached to my serging table. Just slid the wand into the handrail clamp, 2 iinches from the serger, and it just sucks in all the cuttings from the serger. No mess! Added bonus, can't hear the phone ring while the shop vac is going...no interupptions.......

When I am done sewing, I just slide the wand out of the clamp, and slide everything into a corner and the room looks fine...not a thread or piece of fabric anywhere.

The top looks like a little tree all by itself , some of the trees people put out are not much bigger than this top.

Not sure if I want to haul it to the dump with the branches or cover it with goodies for the birds.

Well the tree is history, Next year I think I need a tad smaller tree...well maybe not...I have 10 foot ceiling, and I like the tree to touch the ceiling. But it could be a bit narrower, as it takes up almost 1/4 of the room.
To get it out, we took all the ornaments off and cut off the top, took that outside and then cut off the branches one by one, and carried them out, much better than trying to drag it out in one piece.

The decorations from Christmas, well most of them anyway, are all put away. I leave the "snowman" things up till spring.
Did manage to find a bit of that free time that I keep losing, and watched some movies.
Now it is back to work.
Set up my serger in the livingroom, it is warmer in there than in the sewing/craft room. Bought myself a mini shopvac, which I have hooked up to the serger so that all that "fuzzy, etc" will not be flying around all over.
Am also making soup today. Had to do something with the left over ham bone, so made navy bean soup. Then while I was in the mood, made a large slow cooker of veggie soup.
Now with all that made, I will not have to cook for days.....and can just sew!

The new year is here...
What opportunities will it bring? So many new adventures to to go on, and new people to meet. Old friends to treasure and reminisce with about past adventures.
Each new day is a gift from God to be enjoyed and lived to the fullest........