Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Our Dear Son called last night and lit up my day! Thank you all for your prayers for him while he is overseas. Got him all caught up with all the family news and didn't choke up until the goodbye. Hope everyone out there has someone to spend Thanksgiving with. I offered to make a pie to take with us today to a new friend's house. She sighed and said, "I haven't had a homemade sweet potato pie in years..." Well, I have never made one of those, but I am always up for a new adventure! LOL! So between that and a pecan pie I managed to trash the whole kitchen! But here is the end result.

Not bad if I do say so myself! Whoa! The minions heard me say potato and they are getting ready to invade the dining room! Ow! Get off! Yes! Next week I will start Buns and Roses!! Sheesh! Have a great day!!! Gotta run!!!

Olaf Lives!

Progress has been a little slow with Thanksgiving coming, but I am soldiering on! I've been doing the sequin and bead additions on the stocking in the living room in the evening which worked out well until I had to stand up and walk somewhere. Then I left a little trail of dropped sequins and beads; well at least Bill hasn't had any trouble finding me! LOL! The first thing I finished was the heel.

This worked out well so it was on to Olaf! I dug through my stash of felt pieces and found the white, black, and brown I needed. I think a pair of wiggle eyes will look great on this too. After cutting out the pieces, here's what we have so far.

And do you think I could find even the tiniest scrap of orange for his nose? Of course not. So I busied myself with embroidering a few details and adding a few sequins and beads to Olaf. What a handsome fellow!

He talks a little funny without his nose though, so it was off to Walmart  I go! I did have to go for other things besides a 23 cent piece of felt though. When I was checking ingredients in the kitchen, I had everything to make my pies except pie plates! Don't ask me where they walked off to...I think a couple of people got free pie plates with their pies last year, but I don't remember who! So this year I will not leave the plates behind! Anyway, found all I needed and trucked on home. I cut out Olaf's nose this morning and he looks a lot more like himself.

I think a few more sequins on his feet and I can start the stuffing and sewing! I'll embroider some hair for him after he's in place and then sew the snowflakes on. As you can see, I've been experimenting with how many to put on. I think this is the final position for those.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family then start up the diet again on Friday! Enjoy the day everyone!

Snow and Snowmen...

So after getting Elsa added to the stocking, I started thinking about what the heel and toe would look like. At first I thought white would be nice, but it looked too blah. I had a piece of bright pink felt in my stash that had a bit of glitter on it. When I tried it, I liked it! I looked online for some pictures of Christmas stockings with heels and toes and designed a set for Elsa's sock.

The other stockings I've made have quite a few sequins on them and I don't want real life Elsa to feel like she missed out, so I started to sew a row of them on the toe.

I think some cotton lace will look nice too.

Now all I have to do is put the sequins on the heel and I'll be all set....or so I thought. When I looked out the window this morning, there was some snow on the tops of the mountains!

Well, I started singing "Do you want to build a snowman?"  (Which really sticks in your head by the way.) Then I thought of Olaf, the snowman in the Disney movie. There did seem to be a bare spot on the stocking that I wasn't sure what to do with. Now it will have an Olaf on it! So it was back online to print out an image of Olaf and he will be embroidered, sequined, and stuffed and added to the stocking.

I love his happy smile! So looks like winter is indeed on its way here in Tennessee. Have a great day!

Ice Blue Beauty...

Work on the Christmas stocking turned serious yesterday and I got quite a bit done. It might not look like I got much done, but usually making these felt stockings is a long process. I have made three so far for my son and his other two daughters and those had multiple, multiple pieces of small felt that had to be stuffed, stitched, and outlined with sequins. When I couldn't find a kit for an "Elsa" stocking, I had to start hunting around for things to make my own. I was hesitant to start as I haven't designed my own before; but with all of you cheering me on, I think this is coming out great! After hand sewing around the white top, I pinned on the lace and started sewing that in place.

Next was the panel. Do I cut it or not? I tried a sort of oval shape and liked that better than the rectangle. That was centered, pinned, and stitched. I have more of that small cotton lace so pinned that around it.

Hmm, I like that too. I proceeded to arrange ribbon and tie small pieces onto it and sewed that in place too. I think it adds some nice dimension. I noticed that the cut ends of the small pieces of ribbon were beginning to fray so I used a toothpick to dab a tiny bit of white glue along the edges. That seemed to fix the problem.

The final stitching of the day was to add a few sequin snowflakes.

I think Elsa would approve. The next step will be to design a heel and toe for the stocking. Have a great day!

A New Do and Elsa's Stocking

I have been thinking about it for quite awhile and finally decided to go and do it! I had my hair cut! Since moving here, I didn't really know who to trust my hair with but finally just went in to the one place I drive by at least once a week. The place is called 107 Hair Designs & Tanning and is run by a delightful lady named Ila who has been cutting hair for 21 years. I figured she should know what she is doing. So I climbed in the chair and I think she did a beautiful job!

My husband thought it was great and gave me a big kiss! Hee! Hee! So now that the tree is on its way, time to start Elsa's Christmas stocking. I looked all over for ice blue felt and couldn't find it anywhere. So I opted to use some nice thick fleece. Everything I plan to stitch to it should stabilize it a bit so here we go! First I dug out my stocking pattern and pinned it in place.

I carefully cut around it with my heavy duty scissors. I didn't realize that fleece is a bit difficult to cut, but it came out the way it should.

Next, I cut out a piece of white felt for the top edge. I used the top edge of the stocking to cut a gentle curve. The small white lace has also been used on her sisters' stockings so we are going with a little continuity. My original plan was to cut the panel of Elsa into a heart shape, but now I'm not sure. I kinda like all the detail in the panel so might just sew it on the way it is. The pink ribbon will be shaped and sewn over the printed ribbon to give it a little more dimension and I positioned some of the other elements in place to see how I would like it.

It will take awhile to hand sew all of this in place so I have time to make any changes along the way. Haven't sewn for awhile and keep jabbing myself with the pins...Ouch! There will be a Little Pony stocking after this, but I usually have to rest my eyes for a bit after doing one of these. I think I'll try out the new magnifiers I got awhile back.....have a great day!

The Tree is on Its Way!

This morning was spent writing little notes and putting chocolate kisses in the many drawers of the Christmas tree. I was trying to think of a way to cover it so that the paint would be protected and came up with the idea of using parchment paper. I wrapped it carefully and found out something today.....tape doesn't stick to parchment paper! LOL! So after wrapping the paper around it, I wrapped it again with packing material and taped that in place. Voila!

And after enclosing a letter from home, started taping it up.

Probably about ten pounds of tape later, I think it will hold together for its long trip overseas.

The lady at the post office didn't look at me TOO weird when I asked to take a picture of the package so I did it anyway! LOL!

The advantages of getting older! As my sweatshirt says, "I'm not weird, I'm artsy!" So it is on it's way at last. I got a little misty writing the letter, and felt a lump in my throat as the package was turned over to the postal service, but I am a brave Momma and will be praying for my Dear Son. Have a great day!

Minion Love and Christmas Trees

I heard parts of a discussion going on in the shop and as I got closer, a lot of shushing and rustling. When I got to the shop, a hundred little voices yelled, "Surprise!" The minions had all chipped in and bought me a present. Well, I would have gotten teary eyed, but I think they have an agenda! LOL! They've gone too long without a good donut or cupcake and want me to start Buns and Roses. But I appreciated the thought and wear my new t-shirt with pride.

I told them they have to be patient for just a little while longer so I can start Elsa's Christmas stocking. Yesterday, I finished up the painting on the back of the tree, kinda forgot about the other side of the support in the back.....

Also dug out the glitter nail polish and put a second coat on the star. Now I like it!

Then I took the whole thing outside and used the Rustoleum clear matte spray on the black paint.

And what do you do while you're waiting for paint, nail polish, and matte spray to dry? Add some more amber to my bracelet!

Since I've been using my hands quite a bit lately, my thumbs have been hurting again, so figured I'd boost the amber power! I just added another string to the existing bracelet and I am good to go!

After a little lunch, it's on to Walmart for Christmas candy for my Dear Son. Have a great day!