Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Christmas ornie

This freebie  is from Plum Street Samplers - isn't it cute?  One more Christmas ornie to add to my basket .... I'm on a roll this year.

No doubt I've mentioned before that finishing a x-stitch is sometimes a struggle for me but I was pleased that this idea worked out.  Unfortunately, due to old eyes I cannot work on anything smaller than 14 count. 

Christmas countdown

The Christmas countdown is happening on many blogs and I'm loving it!  I've linked up with Under the Christmas Tree at Clare's Craftroom .

My husband made the wood containers and I made most of the stuffers, even the beeswax candles.   The quilt on the table was one of my first creations ... it's a basket with holly and a big ribbon.

These were wee gifts.  I made fabric bags to hold a plastic bag of  cake in a mug mixture along with a tag with instructions. Then wrapped them in cellophane and lots of ribbon.  The funky mugs were from a dollar store. They were not expensive gifts but I would have been delighted to receive one and hope the recipients were.

day tripping

Since we are retired we spend the warmer months trekking back and forth to the cottage.  When we closed the cottage this fall we decided that we would take a day trip once a week until we opened the cottage in April - whether that was to town to have lunch or to visit a new area.   In this province the further south one travels the fewer trees are found and our most recent day trip took us about 150 kilometres  (93 miles) south where we ran into the coulees along the Qu'Appelle River and very few trees.  I love the coulees and I think they must be great fun for the children who live near them and those who ride horseback. Here are a few pix from that trip.

Looks like the wild west. 

showing off or sharing

Sometimes when I post pix of my finishes I feel like I'm showing off although I prefer to call it sharing.  Here are my latest finishes - thanks to football season.

The "Fall" ornie is a design from Blueladie Designs.
The Cathedral Window is a tree ornie and both sides are identical. 
 The other is my own creation that I stitched with cotton perle.  Apparently "it is what it is" is the latest "buzzword" but I first heard it a few weeks ago when a football coach was being interviewed about a bad call by the officials; when asked what he said to his team about it his response was that he told them 'it is what it is'.  I really like that expression and it's  more polite than some.  My son, J, and I have had rather interesting email conversations about "iiwii" and thus, this idea was born.  

These ornies  will be tucked into cards this Christmas.  The red one is for the mother of the little guys who are getting the bean bags since she trims her tree with handmades.  The other is for a good friend.  The deer was a free design from here.
There is also one for our own tree stitched in the same green as above.  I backed them all with a winter print.

bagels

We enjoy bagels but they are not available in our community so desperation led me to try making my own.  I'm pleased to say they turned out just fine - some were a bit misshapen and lumpy sort of like me but they tasted really good.  I used this recipe .

We cannot buy Chipotles in Adobo Sauce either - not even "in town".  The fact is we haven't had any since we left British Columbia and boy, do we miss them.  However, I did find some McCormick's chipotle chile pepper that has the same smokey, hot flavour so we're enjoying that.  When I make aioli I often will add some of this and it punches it up a notch or two.

meet the family ....

This is our grandcat who by all accounts is a rascally rascal and lives up to his name.   Grandcat lives in France with his parents and, of course, is bilingual.  He likes to dine on his dad's herbs especially the chives .... dad says that the cat will taste good - is that a threat?  He is also a wonder cat since he can catch a bird on their 9th floor balcony. Oh my, if he and little dog got together the fur would fly!

bird watching

 being naughty?

sampling the herbs

 hiding in the herbs

 so angelic - isn't he beautiful?

some new stuff

Some new items in the sewing room.....

 These are fabric origami and were fun to make.  The top photo is the back and the bottom photo is the front.   Now, I'm a bit of klutz but the directions were excellent and this is what I came up with on my first try.    I found the tutorial here.

This is our winter door hanger.  I used DMC #115 for the first time and quite liked  the effect.  The design was from The Stitcherhood.

These are baby blankies that I've finally finished .....

two more ....

There is lots of football happening in our home these days and since I usually just listen to the game it's my time for stitching.

 Kissycross offered the Joy ornament as a freebie.
I finished it like a pinkeep.

The  Christmas Cracker was a free design that I found on Pinterest.

froggie went a courting .....

'Froggie went a courting and he did find'........  do you remember that little ditty?

These froggie bean bags are Christmas gifts for a couple of little characters. The older boy likes to fish which is why his froggie is sporting fish lures and I think the other beanbag looks like a genuine frog so the little guy should have fun with him - their gifts must be the same and yet different!

These guys are sitting on a bookshelf in the sewing room just now and look so darned cute.... every time I walk by they make me smile so perhaps we need our very own beanbag froggie.    Froggie was a free pattern from Sew Sisters. 

Thanksgiving

This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada .... a good time to count our blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is a card that I made using a design from Lizzie Kate.

winter ornie

This  guy is more of a winter ornie than a Christmas one but he shall join the Christmas collection.  He is called  Silly Snowquake and was a free design by  Erynne .  The fabric he is resting on is what I used for his backing.