Holidays and R & R

I will be back soon. I have been enjoying the holiday's with my family and getting a little R & R. We are on our way to Atlanta to my sister's house on Wednesday for New Years. Here is a picture of us enjoying family time! Ha Ha!

(Actually this is a photo from this summer. I thought it was funny.)

I'll be back soon!

Christmas Crafting

I have been busy with Christmas shopping and decorating, but I did do some crafty things. I created this Christmas wreath for our half bath. Not the best job in the world, but it adds the holiday feel to the room. The poinsettia leaves are pale pink and have glitter on them. I wound a white glittery garland around the leaves. I don't think you can tell, but the ribbon has polka dots(love polka dots) and an iridescent wire edge. I secured it to the wall with a piece of ribbon and a beautiful rhinestone button that my Mom bought me. The camera can't capture the sparkly, I know it can't possible be the photographer!! See that pretty button! I collect these. I love rhinestone buttons! I hunt them down in thrift stores!


I finished up the black frames I had been painting. This idea has been all over the internet and I decided to be a copycat! I put some scrapbook paper in the frames and then on top of the glass I glued some metal signs that I found on clearance at Michael's. I am going to put these in the hallway by the boy's bathroom. I really like the way they turned out.

I will get a better picture once I have them hung up. Hubby has to add the picture hangers!

Gotta start wrapping!

One last thought! Jessie has gotten me into "Gilmore Girls". I remember Amber watching them when they were new, and she was obsessed with them! I am now obsessed with them! Hubby bought me season 1 and 2 for my birthday this year. I just now found out they are only $15.00 for a season at Walmart. I thought they were more like $40 - $50 for a season. I would have given season 3,4,5,6, and 7 out on my Christmas Wish List! Bummer! Well at least my Birthday is in March!

Christmas Gone Wrong

I managed to get the Christmas tree up in the living room on Saturday night. I am still missing the garland. It is M.I.A.! I agree with all fellow bloggers as to how hard it is to capture the beauty of the Christmas decorations!

Looks nice and festive! There is only one problem. This picture was taken from the kitchen hallway. It is to the right. Look at what is to the left...................



I need to get busy on fixing that!

I would also like to apologize to all my thanksgiving guests for the lack of fall decor. I was looking back at previous year photos

Believe me when I say my table looked nothing like it did from the 2007 picture!

Time to get rid of the skull!

Devil Dress Makeover Completed

Remember this Devil dress? Well I am finished with my makeover! She actually wore it to the dance tonight. I think it turned out good. Here it is:


You can't see it very well but there is a little bit of tulle showing at the hemline. A close up of the sequined top:



It was fairly simple to do. The hardest part was finding the old pattern pieces to create the new pattern, and adding the tulle to the lining. Jessie didn't like standing still. The new bottom part of the dress is made from a Faux Dupioni Silk fabric.

Last year I had purchased a Faux Dupioni Silk tablecloth from Walmart. Love this tablecloth! But I knew I wanted to be on the steps of Walmart for the 75% off sale the day after Christmas to get more of this - for my fabric stash. I actually had planned on making a skirt or dress for me, for this Christmas but that didn't happen. I purchased 3 of the largest tablecloths they had for $3.00 a piece. I am so glad I did! This year the color they have is more of a burgundy. Just love this red! The only thing I had to buy was the tulle for the bottom of the dress.

Here is a picture of Jessie and some friends before they headed out to the dance. Aren't they cute!


Now I have to get this house decorated for Christmas!

Busy Time of Year!

It is such a busy time of year! Thanksgiving and rushing into Christmas. Hubby and I have been sick with the crud for the last week. That really slows us down. I am still working on some projects. I painted some silver frames black. Notice: I am again using the kitchen counter again. Believe it or not I do use my kitchen counter for cooking - everyday. It is my incentive to clean the kitchen, so I can use the counter for crafting.

I am also in the process of making this old Halloween costume - the devil dress - into a Christmas Dance dress for Jessie. I made this for her two years ago. I hope it comes out good! We do have a dress for backup purposes. The dance is this Friday.

Gotta get busy on the dress!

Glitter, Glitter, Everywhere!!

I have been doing a few Christmas projects around here. I had these white candy cane ornaments that I have been wanting to glitter up and replace the hangers with white ribbon. I only managed to get six of them done last night. Only twelve more to go! I like them so much better than just the plain white and when they are on the tree they will sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!

Hubby hates glitter! He thinks it should be outlawed! You find it for years after a project and that bugs the *@#* out of him! I guess it doesn't help that I do my glittering on the kitchen counter!

Be back soon!

Merry Christmas!!

Santa was here...

Mirrors, Mirrors - Need to get on the Wall!

I got the mirror painted and I love it!! Excuse my messy kitchen counter. I am sure everyone uses their kitchen counters for painting projects, so you just shove everything out of the way.

Since I had the white paint out, there was an oval mirror that I decided need a little more white paint. Here is a picture but I still have to scrape the excess paint off the mirror.

They both need distressing. Hopefully I will get these hung up tonight. I have family coming and they will want to sleep where they are lounging now. (I moved them from the kitchen counter.)

In other Crafty News, I had a storage container sitting around here to put my OxyClean in. I wanted to put some vinyl letters on it, but I kept forgetting to buy them. I finally remembered! I had some little floral decals from some other project that I added too. I am not liking the total look. It's too busy! I think I will take of the little decals below the words.

I'll be back soon!

Thrift Finds from Tuesday's Basketball Practice

Well, I told you I would post my thrift store find. I have been looking for this for at least a year! A round shabby style mirror! I just have to paint it white. I want to add it to my collection on the sewing room wall! See this is where it belongs!



I will have to rearrange things. I'll wait until it is painted though. This used to be my boy's bedroom. I am trying to girly it up though. The border has got to go! I want to repaint at least the top part of the wall. I would love bead board on the bottom, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

This is a sneek peak at what I am currently working on. The 2nd installment to "Because I had pink thread in my sewing machine"......Hopefully I will be able to show you it tomorrow!



Time to get the school uniforms for the morning out of the dryer and make the coffee for the morning.

What I have been doing and not doing!

I posted a family favorite appetizer recipe on my kitchen blog. You really need to try these! People will love you if you bring these to a party! I have received rave reviews on this recipe!

I will also be posting my sausage ball recipe tomorrow. Just for my son Chris. He calls me every time he wants to make them, for the ingredient list and the amounts.

Basketball for J is getting in the way of my "Creating" time! Hopefully I will have something to post tomorrow. I did have a great thrift store find while J was at basketball, so I shouldn't complain! I will show you that tomorrow.


Time to go fold some clothes and go to bed!

Sunday Happenings

First I had to distress the little metal sign! Whew that was exhausting! It took at least 30 seconds!
Then I had to climb the stairs to put it into my bulletin board. Looks just how I wanted it to! But now I am thinking I need to repaint the frame of the bulletin board. It was a castoff from one of the kids that was in the garage. Yes, I think I will have to paint the frame! Either Aqua, Light Blue or Pink. What do you think? Remember I am trying to girly up the sewing room!

Did you see that long list of things to do? WOW! I don't know how I will ever get it all done! Actually I cleared it off so I could paint it! I just have to decide on the color.

I should finish the other "Pink" thing tonight. I know Amber can't wait to see it!

I tested a new recipe today that I will be posting about In my other blog. Listed on the right sidebar.

Back to work I go!

What I have been up to

Since Jessie has basketball practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights, I started to read a book that I found at Books a Million. I had gone in there to get Jessie a book she wanted. This book was on the $3.00 table. It is a used library book. I am a big John Grisham fan! I hadn't purchased any of his books in a while, so I grabbed it. I started reading the book at practice on Thursday. I started to think I had read this before. I looked in the bookshelf at home and sure enough, I had the book already!! I can't remember how the book ends so I am reading it again! The book came out in 2003 and I am sure that is when I bought it. It is still captivates me the second time around!


I have been working on some flatware cozies also. Just when I am watching t.v. I am in the trim and turn part of these.



I also found this little magnetic sign at Michael's marked down for .49. It was perfect for one of my bulletin boards in my sewing room. Of course, nothing is easy for me. I have to make a project out of everything. It was a cream color and of course I wanted white. I gave it a coat of white paint and now I need to distress it a little. Then I will add thumb tacks to the back.


Then I will know exactly what projects I have to do!!

Stay tuned for my 2nd installment of "Because I had pink thread in my sewing machine......."

Because I had pink thread in my sewing machine......

I went ahead and made myself some flannel pink polka dot sleep pants! People now call these lounge pants. They are so comfy and I think I will lounge around in them as well as sleep in them. I will probably also work around the house in them because they are that comfy!

These are so easy to make! I need to make a few more pair!! Like how my sweater coordinates with my Lounge Pants? I do too!

Pink Fleece Hats

I have always had a problem wearing hats. They give me headaches. But with the winter weather starting, I really needed one. I thought maybe the problem was all the hats were to tight on me and that caused my headaches. Sounds reasonable right? So I decided to make one. I downloaded a free pattern from the Simplicity website for a free bucket hat pattern. This pattern came in sizes. I measured my head and decided I needed a large. This pattern was not for fleece, so I adjusted it for the way I wanted it to look.

I finished the first hat and........... I looked like "The Cat in the Hat" from the Dr. Suess book. I cut down the height and then, it was better. I added some lace and a fleece rose to the side. Tried it on for my husband and "J". Hubby thought I looked like Granny Gretchen. "J" just smiled, like don't you dare wear that in front of my friends. I really didn't think it looked that bad! It was still a little tall, but it actually felt comfortable on my head and I thought it would not cause headaches! Besides I am a Grandma!
This is what it looked like:

Now isn't that cute sitting there on its hat stand? After some testing of the hat, I decided I wanted a slit in the back, because my coat collar kept knocking it up. I also decided to make the back brim a little narrower, and I didn't like the top stitching I did on the brim. So I made another. Here is hat #2:

Soo much better! It worked perfect! That little slit in the back and the narrower brim in the back worked great with my coat. So far no headaches!

If only the Former Hat Model in our family (A) was here, I could take pictures of it on a real person! She left her lucrative Hat Model Career in Nashville for Love and some other nonsense and moved to Washington DC.

I would model, but I worry about everyone telling me I do look like "Granny Gretchen". This way I can wear it and think everyone is staring at me because of my beautiful hat!

Football Sunday & Pink Fleece Hats

We watched the Titans football game and snacked on one of the tastiest appetizers! Sausage wontons! They did get a little too brown due to the fact I was sewing Pink fleece hats. But still delicious!

I thought I would show you some more crystal candlesticks I picked up for my collection. I got these at a thrift store while "J" was at basketball practice on Thursday night. They were .45 & .75 a piece, except for the pair I got. I am going to try to put the crystal candlestick centerpiece together this week and see what it looks like. I think I probably have enough now.


I have made two pink fleece hats today and I am working on my third. I'll let you know later what this is all about, besides the fact I don't have to clean if I am busy sewing!!!

Easy Christmas Crafting in Process

I had "J" help make some teachers Christmas gifts today. Tile coasters! This idea has been all over the internet, and it is easy and quick. I started with 4" tiles from Lowes that sell for 32 cents a piece. I bought a fleur de lis rubber stamp and the special "StazOn" ink pad in black. I used 40% off coupons for both of these, so they were very economical. "J" stamped each tile, 20 in all, and then after they were dry sprayed them with a clear flat sealer. It has been said you don't need to do that, but I had it, so I thought it wouldn't hurt. We then added a cork bottom, or you could use the cork pads on each corner, or even felt. I had the cork so that is what we used, but I did find the cork pads at "Deals". 36 for $1.00. I attached the cork with quick grip glue. I tried the glue gun and that didn't work at all. See what they look like:


Aren't they CUTE! We then tied them up with ribbon I had on hand. Look how pretty they look:

Kids love to be able to tell their teachers that they made it! This would be nice to give as a hostess gift during the holiday's too, or just to have on hand for an extra gift. I think I will go get some more tiles!

Well, only after I had them all done, did it occur to me that maybe I should test them. They did great! I could just see the ink running all over the place. YEAH they did Great!

I probably spent about $2.00 per set of four. Not a bad deal and they are nice too. I think I will go get some more tiles and I think I need to get a rooster rubber stamp to do a set for me!!!

I can't believe I am getting Christmas things done this early! Yeah for me! I guess I am getting older an wiser!

The Chair is FINALLY done!

Remember I was trying to make this chair beautiful. Well I am finally finished with it! I think it looks good. This is the before picture:



and here is the transformation:


Oh yeah, I forgot to put the dust cover back on the bottom. One more thing to do! In the picture the wing on the right looks like it is wrinkled, but it doesn't look like that in person. I guess I need lessons in photography. No I know I do!! It is far from a perfect job. I love the color and pattern of the fabric, even though it drove me crazy trying to make sure I didn't cut the pieces upside down!
Well time to go to bed, it's been a long Sunday! That extra hour is long.

Still Working

I stopped working on the chair to add a pocket to the gym bag I made for "J". I ran out of fabric and had to wait until I could get back to the little , out of the way, fabric shop. She wanted a pocket on the outside to put her deodorant in. I think it turned out cute. I had to add the fabric covered button even though it closes with velcro. I think it turned out cute!


I am still working on making this chair BEAUTIFUL!! Here is the before picture minus the cushion. My seam ripper and I are really bonding this weekend! That's what happens when you change things up on the design of the chair. I didn't want pleats in the upper portion of the wings. I am determined to finish the chair this weekend - I have some other things on my to do list.


Like fix my new son in laws pants! Another seam ripper job! I need to get about ten more of my favorite seam rippers! Didn't I ask for those for Christmas last year??

I do have a problem with the chair, well not actually me, there are some animals around here that will not like it when this chair goes to its new home.


They spend the whole day there. Don't worry Faith I keep it covered up and soon I will be handing it off to you. I will be glad to get it out of my dining room.

Gotta take "J" to basketball. Be back soon!

Check one off the TO-DO list

Last weekend I manged to finish the second "baby" oblong pillow. It had been sitting there waiting for me to receive my new cording foot. It worked like a dream! I sleep with one of these "baby" pillows every night. A couple of weeks ago I made the first one. The old one was so ratty after sleeping with it for about three years. I found a white matelasse pillow sham at the thrift store a while ago and purchased it with this in mind. This sham looked brand new right out of a package. After a run through the washer and dryer on hot, (I like to make sure everything has been sterilized and shrunk before I sew it) I cut both the pillows out. The first one was done quickly because I needed it to sleep on. The other one sat there for a while waiting to try out my new cording foot.

I love having the matched pair on my bed. Boy my bed looks really wrinkled in this picture. I really don't think it looks that bad in real life! At least I hope not!
Well, back to my chair reupholstering!

Costume and Cushion

Finished with little one's Minnie Mouse costume. Her design and she looks so cute in it!! I wanted to make it with a fuller skirt, but she was the designer, I am just the worker bee. It was actually done 2 days before the party! I am usually working on Halloween costumes at the last minute! Don't know how that happened.

I am still working on the reupholstering of the chair. I did get the cushion cover made though. Hopefully I will be able to finish the rest of it this week.


Okay time to go work on the laundry.

New Toys and Great Finds

My new toys - a new zipper foot so I can get closer to the actual zipper, and a cording foot that lets me get closer to the cording! I can't believe I have waited so long to get these! I love them! I am reupholstering a chair for my son's girlfriend (I have taken way to much time doing this!!) and being able to get so close to the cording is great!

I did a little thrifting this weekend and found these beautiful crystal candlesticks - .50 each. Last week I was looking through an old Paul Deen Christmas cooking and decorating magazine. She had a beautiful tablescape with a white framed mirror in the center of the table and alot of crystal candlesticks (of all sizes and shapes) with various white candles on them. It was so PRETTY! This is what I am collecting the crystal candlesticks for. My Christmas tabletop!

I also found some old glass lamps. Hubby thinks they are from the 30's based on the cords they had on them. I paid $4.00 each. I bought 3, but I only took a picture of 2. They were pretty grimy when I bought them. They look great now! Hubby rewired them with new cords. Now I need to buy some white shades for them, that I will add white roses to the bottom edge. Hopefully they will look good. I don't know where I will put them though!

Well, gotta get busy here! We are off to find fabric for a Halloween costume for little one - Minnie Mouse. I don't have much time to get this costume done, as the party is Saturday.
Have a Great Day!

Good Finds

We went to vote on Friday. We always do the early voting! On the way to voting I saw two yard sales going on. I usually don't ask my husband to stop at these because: 1) He keeps driving like he doesn't hear me until we are too far to turn back. 2)I know he hates these and I am considerate of this 3) He will tell me I don't need anything I see (which is probably true!) but puts a damper on me purchasing items. But we ended up stopping on our way back from voting and lunch out. The beer at lunch may have been why he stopped. Anyhow, I found two of the most adorable shabby looking coat racks/hooks to hang in my sewing area to hang ribbon, or finished totes/handbags on.

Guess how much they were?? .75 each. Total price $1.50. I was thrilled. They were new in the package and fit in with my new "Girly" look for the sewing room. I also bought some large candles that had already been used for emergency purposes for 2/.25. I bought 8. Hubby thought the candles were a good thing since our electricity often goes off.

Testing Again

Hello, still trying to get the pictures where they belong. This is a picture of a large tote I made for my Mom's Birthday.



I am going to try to insert another picture to see what it does.



Okay, I think I am getting the hang of this. Let's see if I remember this the next time.