Ground Control to Major Tom

This is how I feel this morning as I get ready to leave for my first two classes at our community college. I took a class last semester but that was online.   This time around I am actually going, so I feel a little like that astronaut stepping into the unknown.  

David Bowie's song is in my head: 
Ground control to major Tom 
Commencing countdown
Engines on 
Check ignition
And may Gods love be with you.




Blessings friends,

More Evidence that I'm Nuts...

We are Raven's fans over here. Tomorrow we are getting together with our good friends to watch the game. You know Flacco's Fu Manchu? I decided to make some mustaches just for fun. I went to JoAnn's for stiff purple felt but they were out so I bought regular purple felt and a stiff white felt that I used for the back. I also stopped at Michaels just to see if they had any stiff purple felt and they actually had a mustache candy mold!!!  How fun is that? I bought purple candy melts and then spent the whole afternoon and evening yesterday making purple mustache pops. I only had one mold so I literally made one at a time, waited for it to harden, and then repeat, again... and again... I only made 16 and by then it was midnight- no lie. I used a paint brush and just used the purple to coat the mold and filled the rest with milk chocolate.

Today I made purple felt mustaches and glued them onto wood sticks.  I found a couple of different styles of fu- manchu mustaches on google images and made a few of each.  Here is a scary picture of me sporting my 'stache'.    

Next on the to-do list for tomorrows game is Cream of Crab soup!  Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings,

My Mantle Fix and Other News....

I know Christmas is over but as I was taking down my decorations today I remembered that I wanted to blog about my quick fix mantle. My husband took a 6 foot long 1" by 8",  stained it, and screwed cup hooks in the edge. Then we just laid it on top of the mantle and used clamps on the ends. You couldn't see the clamps because the greenery with lights hid it. I love it!  My kids have these adorable Christmas stocking holders from when they were small and they have fallen so many times Santa's head is scuffed, Mrs. Claus has lost a knitting needle, and Barbie has lost an arm a few times and this year she lost her head! :)  Now they can sit up there and pretend they are holding the stockings.  The  mantle stays in tack and I can just take it off and store it for next year. 

Yesterday was my Dad's 79th birthday. We celebrated with a trip to the audiologist to get his hearing aids checked and a nice lunch at Red Lobster. He's a pip.  After the waitress' delivered his birthday sundae and sang to him he said to me "Should I tell them the one I got yesterday at Bob Evans was bigger?"  He has such a good sense of humor. 

This is the third block I've made so far for our Wild Thread groups, block exchange.  I had a bye this month so I only had to make this one.  I like the way it turned out.  Hopefully it's owner will too!

My daughter made it to the Big Apple Monday evening.  She is enjoying the city.  Her internship is with a company called STUDY NY.  She got to use their industrial sewing machine yesterday.  She has been going on adventures and finding good gluten free restaurants and good coffee!

I best get back to taking down the decorations.  I hope you are all having a good week!

Blessings,

Do, or Do Not. There is no 'try'.

Yesterday, the first day of the new year greeted us with a call from my son that he totaled his car. He was fine, thank God but that was not how I had envisioned the new year to start.  To say that I struggle with stress and worry is an understatement.  On top of that, our 22 year old daughter won an internship in New York city for the month of January. This is a huge opportunity and I am so excited for her.  She is on her way via the Megabus from Pittsburgh to the big Apple this morning.  She will be staying with my nephew in Manhattan and will have to get herself to Brooklyn each day by subway!  She is so much braver than I am!  

With that said here are my 'goals'.  And even though Yoda says there is no 'try', try I will.

1. Trust God more and worry less....  that is a BIG one.
2. Read the Bible every day.  My husband and I are going to do Our Daily Bread.
3. Drink more water.  Actually my 'goal' is to drink 8 glasses of water a day before I get to have a Coke!
4. Exercise.  I have a 2 centimeter kidney stone which needs to come out by surgery.  It is painful and I haven't been doing any exercising at all and now I am squeezing into my pants.  I don't like it so I am at the very least I am going to walk each day. 
5. This one is more fun.  I am going to make one of everything I pin that is craft or recipe related this year.  Maybe I will have to call it my Pinterquest.  
6. Clean on a more consistent schedule.  For example, clean my refrigerator once a month, etc.  
7. Declutter our house and donate it.  We have too much stuff that others can use.

Ok, seven is good.  Let's not get crazy.  
I pray your new year will be filled with many blessings,  

A Year in Review

Well, it's been a wonderful year in many respects. I started a new job in January, which brought new friendships into my life. We went to Aruba for a wedding. I started going to college. I joined a local quilt guild and made more new friends. We refinished some of the hard wood floors in the house. Had a few good weekend trips to see my daughter at college.  Went camping. We played lots of card games and made lots of memories with my family. God has been and is very good to us! 

                            

1.   Wine Cork Chess Set

2.   Cupcake Pincushion Tutorial

3.   Cheat Silk Screen T-Shirts Tutorial

4.   Sewing Machine Silhouette

5.   Sandwich Wrapper

6.   State=Love Pillow

7.   Rainbow Mug Rug

8.   Valentines Day Table Runner

9.   Easy Damask Picture Frames Tutorial

10. From the 1930's to 2011

11. Penguin Mug Rug

12. Reindeer Mug Rug 

Here are some posts from the year that got a lot of views.  Thanks to my friends and followers who take the time to read my posts.  I appreciate you all so much.  May God richly bless you throughout the new year with much happiness, peace, love, joy, and laughter!

Blessings,

Merry Christmas with Love

When love came down to earth


And made His home with men,


The hopeless found a hope,


The sinner found a friend.


Not to the powerful


But to the poor He came,


And humble, hungry hearts


Were satisfied again.

What joy, what peace

Has come to us!


What hope, what help, what love!

Thankful today for the gift of Jesus and for you!  Blessings!

Personalized Laundry Bag Tutorial

Last minute stocker stuffers!

I saw this idea here awhile ago and thought they would make cute and functional stocking stuffers. I bought the laundry bags at the Dollar store. I found white ones that were 3 for $1.00 and then I found blue ones that were 2 in a box for $1.00. I used scrap fabric and my daughters accent machine to embroider the initials. You could applique an initial or hand embroider one. I was pressed for time since I started today so I used the machine.

Here are the steps.
1.  Cut the piece of fabric 5" by 12.5".  Fold in half and press.
2.  Turn so right side of fabric is facing each other and sew the short ends.  
3.  Turn right side out and turn down (to the inside) a 1/4 " all around. 
4.  Pin it in place and sew along all the edges.   
5.  If you want you can add a piece of co-ordinating ribbon to the zipper pull.  
*If you are going to embroider I would suggest adding some interfacing where the letter will be to make the fabric stronger and less likely to pucker.


My daughter is home for Winter break and brought with her an exchange student, Kris,  from Taiwan. Last night she made for us a traditional dish they eat at home.  It's called

蕃茄炒蛋/西红柿炒蛋.

Which translates to tomatoes and eggs.  Kris is cute.  She took pictures of the Chicken Marsala I made for dinner, and eggplants at the food store, and the bulk isle at Wegmans.  Her scrap book will be very interesting.    


Blessings friends,