It has been a very non-productive weekend. I had great plans of getting all my sewing done so that all I would have left would be my cross-stitch projects and I didn't get any of it done. I've been fighting a cold and I thought I had it beat until I woke up on Saturday. I had a stuffy but runny nose and my eyes were burning and would not stop tearing. I took some cold medicine and headed back to be for awhile. When I got up, I started getting some things done and ronded up for finishing Christmas gifts and opened my mail. I got my gingerbread ornament set from my swap partner. I made a pb and j and came upstairs to watch a Christmas movie on Lifetime and work on some cross-stitch. But, it wasn't too long after eating that I felt incredible sick to my stomach and it started cramping real bad. I took some GasX thinking it was gas but soon I was hanging my head over the toilet. I came down with the flu.

This flu was horrible. I slept in the guest bedroom to try and keep Jarom from getting sick and the dogs slept with me on the bed. This flu was so bad that I vomited in my sleep and it pretty much came out my nose. It woke me up and cupped my nose and mouth with my hands not really realizing what had happened. I thought I had vomited and gotten a bloody nose. I turned on the light and no bloody nose. Most of the vomit came through my nose. I have never had that happen before and I hope it never does again. When I got up, I went into the bathroom to clean up, change my shirt, brush my teeth, blowmy nose several times and get a new pillow and pillowcase. I slept restlessly the majority of the night and I was up around 6 to go to the bathroom and I had Minnie curled in a ball next to my pillow, on dog at my feet and the other in between. i headed back to bed after that and fell asleep for a bit until Jarom came in and I moved to our bed. At one point, I had both dogs on the bed and both cats. There was a dog on each side of me and one cat laying on my lower back while the other up by my pillow. It was quite cute.

Jarom took very good care of me. He went and picked up some 7up and crackers and medicine at the store. He kept checking on me all through the day and did so much laundry-including th sheets and pillows I got sick on. He even said he would help me every day this week after he gets home from work to try to get caught back up on Christmas gifts finished. I need most of the help with the sewing so during the day I will work on cross-stitch items and some more Gingerbread ornament sets and when he get home and after dinner he will help me with all the sewing that has to be done. He is such a wonderful husband. How did I end up with such a fanta-bulous guy?

As for the weather, we have been keeping the pellet stove running all day to keep warm. With this weather we are having, it make us feel like we are almost home and the winds blow and whistle. The rainy and very cold temperatures outside and the threat of snow all rings true to a Troutdale, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon winter. I guess it's getting us ready to be home for Christmas. We leave after Jarom gets home from work on the 23rd. I will have the car packed a ready to go so we can leave just after he gets home from work. I will drive us through the night until we reach Prineville early on Christmas Eve. We will be in Prineville from about 2am on the 24th through mid-day on the 29th when we leave to head to Troutdale until the 4th. I'm so excited!

There has been a nice bright spot in my weekend though. We have a Secret Santa for the 12 days of Christmas. On Saturday, for the first day we got some swaddling like those that baby Jesus was wrapped in-it was a very nice, cozy micro fleece blanket. On the second day of Christmas we got to very nice angel ornaments to signify the angels that testified of Jesus' birth twice. I can't wait to see what come the next 10 days, well 9 since I will be gone and in Oregon on the 24th. So....toMY SECRET SANTA FRIEND: if you are reading my blog, I will be out of town starting about 5pm on the 23rd driving home for the holidays with both our families. Maybe you could take the 11th and 12th day gifts and drop them off at our neighbors-LeAnn and Wallace's home at 4612, so that they don't get stolen while we are gone. . Thank you Secret Santa Friend for our 12 Days of Christmas for our first two gifts and all those to come.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I've been working hard, but I still have much to do before we leave for Oregon on Christmas Eve. I still have two quilts, two fleece blankets, three pillows, 4 more coaster sets(only three sets are done), two tote bags, two keepsake box covers, two journal covers, 4 neck warmers and something else tha skips my memory right now. It's a good thing I have a list upstairs.

Today, I will be working on finishing up sewing all the coaster sets and the keepsake box covers, and a couple beaded jewelry items. I actually still have not gone to bed since I woke yesterday, but I was busy and I took a nap with Jarom when he got home from work. I'm sure I'll take a nap today, but for now I'm good and I'll hit up the post office at 9am to mail a few things. It's probably more than I can actually accomplish today, but I will be working hard.

Any way, last night I made some doggie and kitty treats. I made some Kitty Kracker Cat Treats, Festive Dog Treats (Fruity Pebbles make them festive) and Tail Gate BBQ Dog Treats.



Last night, I also finished a quilt. It beautiful and vibrants. I had to have Jarom help me with it. When I put the binding on I need his helping holding it tight while I pin it. Then, when I started sewing, I need his help keeping the quilt straight and help pull it as I sew. He is such a wonderful husband and helper in him. I love him so much for all he does to help me. I also, made some No Sew Fleece Pom-Pom Dog Toys and a couple yarn Pom-Pom on a String Kitty Toys.

No Sew Fleece Pom-Pom Dog Toy


This quilt I finished is fashioned after a simple tie quilt. Instead of ties, though, I used six little buttons in the center where four corners meet from the squares. I used yellow and purple-ish 3/4 diameter buttons. I wanted to pull in the yellow from the center of the flower. I really wanted to use green buttons too, to bring out the outer rim of the flower centers, but they didn't have the right color in the right size. The buttons were really picked over, so I settled with a purle one and rotated them.

Daisy Quilt-Ready for Binding


Completed Daisy Quilt


Today, he is going shooting with his friend and co-worker, Mike, then they are going back to Mike's house and Mike is going to teach and show Jarom how to do some stained glass. Jarom wants to take up stained glass art as a hobby as well as wood working. Now, he get to try his hand as stained glass and see if it is really something he would like to persue as a hobby. He has some simple wood working patterns he wants to try too and if it is something he wants to persue also, we can look at getting better tools for him to work and some good quality wood. It would be nice to see him pick up some good crafty hobbies. Then, we can work on our seperate projects side by side. i told him not to rush home because I have so much to work. I just wanted him to be safe. It has been foggy in the mornings and the further north you head the more dense the fog gets; plus I know they are safe when they go shooting, it's just the other people I worry about. It is a free range and just out in the winlderness. Another thing he has to be watchful of is all the crazy Christmas drivers. I was almost hit yesterday in the Safeway parking lot. The guy totally wasn't watching both directions and just kep moving forward. He kept looking to his left but not his right, where I was. I had to honk my horn and sped up, but he still didn't see me until I moved passed him. What is it about the holiday season that makes people stupid? Sheesh.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share some projects that I could share that wouldn't give away the recipient. Have a great weekend!

Usually we decorate the house the day after thanksgiving and Jarom gets the lights up over the weekend, but since he had to work on Friday I spared him this year and we did it all on Saturday. Well, with one exception. The garland is not hung on the stairs yet, but it will be. I need to pick up a little more. These aren't all our decorations in the house but some of them.


Hope was checking out the jingle bells hanging at he bottom of my snowman door hanger.




The year before last, before we got the pellet stove and Miss and Minnie joined our family, Gus and Hopes stocking were hung on the firplace with our old bear and snowman stockings-as you can tell they are quite sooty. Last year, Miss & Minnie's stockings were added and Jarom and I got new ones.


Our crooked little tree. Jarom thinks this is the last year for the poor thing and then we need to think about getting a new one.


Our house all decorated iwth lights. That lit up blurry little thing by the red light covered bush is a blow-up reindeer. He is quite cute. Little trees line the drive.


Our Christmas Postcard-I found the poem while looking for additional Christmas invitation ideas to help out Natalie with the RS invitations. I loved the poem and thought it would be nice in our Christmas card and then I decided to make a Christmas postcard and save a little money on postage this year and put it on the front of the postcard. The snowflakes all had to be punched out of green swirled paper with a snowlfake paper punch. I even punched some out for the back that had some irridescent sparkles in it.

This year we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving, but we exchanged gifts the day before. Wednesday morning, Jarom sent a shout-out to me wishing me a happy 10th anniversary on KNCI. I spent the day and evening baking, a cherry pie, chocolate lush, harvest cake and iced pumpkin cookies for Thanksgiving. After dinner, I gave Jarom his gift, a new wallet. Last Christmas, I bought him a trifold wallet but he didn't like it-if I remember correctly he said it made it too fat, so this year I found a nice bi-fold one. He came to thank me but asked, "You couldn't find a tri-fold." I can never win. Later in the evening, Jarom needed to get some ammunition and brought back a nice fall bouquet of flowers that I had told him I would like.



I'm not good with pie crust unless it's a graham cracker one, so this was a nice surprise to have this one turn out so well. I didn't have a cookie cutter so I had to cut out the hearts myself.


The icing didn't turn out very pretty because my hands were cramping from all the stirring, chopping, etc.


In the morning, Jarom went with the Day boys to go shooting. We had Thanksgiving with friends. They made a great dinner with some german flavors infused into some of the dishes. In between dinner and dessert, I helped Ameilia and Trinity decorate gingerbread cookies. After we got home, I went over to the neighbors to have a glass of wine and chit chat while Jarom stayed home.

Ameilia's Decorated Cookies


Trinity's Decorated Cookies


All the girls enjoying the gingerbread cookies (L to R): Ameilia, Destiny's friend, Destiny and Trinity

Tuesday my sewing machine was acting up and giving me trouble. The stitched on my projects lookj great on one side and really sloppy and loose on the other. We played with the tension and different things and still couldn't get it fixed. When I turn my item right side out the stitching can be seen and that is why I'm not very happy about continuing with my machine. It costs $80 at least to be serviced and if anything has to be replaced it can go up from there, not to mention it takes at least 3 weeks to come back. Thanksfully, I have some great friends nearby that have all volunteered my machines, I just need to get over and pick one up.

I was busy Wednesday with different projects that done need sewing on the sewing machine. Thursday I was busy and met up with Natalie to helpher with the Relief Society Dinner invitations. It was nice to visit with her and Nicole and catch up. All the kids are getting so big, I hardly recognize some of them. i continued to work on and finish the invitations on Friday and Saturday while watching Christmas movies on the ABC Family channel.



Friday morning, I went to the second showing of "Twilight". i just couldn't wait to see it and I knew it wouldn't be very crowded if I saw a morning show, plus it is half the price. I don't want to ruin it for anyone so all I will say is that there were a few changes but not enough to make a big deal about. It followed the book really well and I really enjoyed. It was as good as I thought it would be. I hope that they make the rest of the books into movie form. I plan to see them all.

Friday afternoon, I was at the vet with Gus; I got home from my movie just in time to take him. He gets these inter-digital cysts and lately they have been occuring more often and they are getting bigger and more painful. Well, we went to have that looked at and then other things came up. He has an ointment we have to put on twice each day. It seems to be working, but if they continue to get bigger we may have to have it removed surgically. They they looked at his ears because I told the vet that we have to clean them out a few times a week, so they cleaned and flushed them out put in some ointment to help them from getting to yucky so much. The poor little guy was found to have had a flea on him and we had to give him a flea treatment, Jarom vacuumed the house real well and just to be sure we got them all, we are going to bomb the house this week. They have never had fleas before, so I'm really frustrated by that.



Jarom brought home a quick dinner from McDonald's for us and then our friends Mark and Sydney picked us up to go on a date to see the new Bind movie-"Quantum of Solace". It was okay. There were a lot action sequences as is the norm, but there was a lot of killing in this one. Daniel Craig is bad on the eyes, either. After the movie, they took us to Tops Yogurt for frozen yogurt. It was yummy. I had chocolate frozen yogurt with warm marshmallow, chopped peanuts and a little chopped butterfinger. It got rich but I finished almost all of it. We had a great time. it was so nice to catch up and see them. It had been a few years.

Saturday evening was a nice evening together. Jarom made chicken fettuccini (sp?) and garlic cheese toast and we watched the new Indiana Jones movie. It was good, but different from the other three. I still enjoyed it though. I can't wait to see Wall-E. it is waiting downstairs for me, too.



I've been working on the different parts of our Christmas card or rather postcard. I should be able to start assembling them on Tuesday and they should be ready to go in the mail by the end of the week.

This week, I'll be busy with our Christmas card and making desserts for Thanksgiving. I'm making four desserts so I'm spreading them out and making one each day. Tomorrow, I'm making pumpkin cookies with an icing drizzle. Tuesday, I am going to make a Harvest cake or rather an apple cake. Wednesday I will make a cherry pie and Thursday morning-chocolate luch. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with the Schaefer's and it should be fun. I picked a gingerbread kid and gingerbread house kit to do with the girls to keep them busy while everyone is cooking and getting dinner ready.

Come Friday morning, I will drag out the Christmas decoration and decorate the house, then back to all my Christmas gift making. I have so much to do still and one needs to be mailed out by Saturday.

It should be a fun week. I always get excited for Christmas and by the time Thanksgiving comes around I can hardly wait to decorate and do all my holiday baking. I have so many leftover supplies from last years baking that I didn't have to buy much other than sugar and flour and cinnamon. The Family Channel had the 25 Days of Christmas countdown movie marathons and Lifetime has Christmas movies too. I love it all, decorating, singing, baking, wrapping, giving etc.

Here is a picture of the moose coasters I made. I have one set made and a second one still to make. I've been having problems with my sewing machine. It was just services in June and it took 3 weeks! I don't knwo if I need it serviced again or what, but thanks to Miss Jacque for letting me borrow hers I can complete more projects.

I have 3 quilts, one with bead work, 2 fleece blankets, 3 pillows, 4 neck warmers, 4 sets of coasters, and 8 more cross-stitch projects to do and all Christmas gifts will officially be complete. I've completed 10 bookmarks, 2 sets of coasters, and started the fabric yo-yos so far. I've been trying to sew during the day and cross-stitch at night or make fabric yo-yos at night. With my sewing machine problems, I've been playing with tensions and settings and experimenting to see if I could fixe the problem and when I couldn't--carefully removing stitches with my seam ripper. This has set me back a bit, but I know I can get it all done, I just have to be more strict with myself and stop taking so many breaks. I was quite lazy this past weekend and didn't work on anything. It is just hard to sit for so long.

With no further ado, here is one of the moose coasters:

A fellow Swap-Botter shared this tutorial for making these cute owl coasters and since I'm trying to sew more and use my sewing machine. When I had it serviced in June, they told me that sewing machines need to be used regularly not to just sit around. At least I have a nice upholstered case to keep in dust-free and clean in--it has a nice home. Anyway, here is a picture of the owl coasters I made (pattern by Karyn at http://fatorangecat.wordpress.com); before I sewed up the opening at the top.

Owl Coaster Front


Owl Coaster Back


I'll post pictures of the moose ones I'm making too. They aren't applique though, Jarom found the cute fabric in the discount bin because it was what was left on the roll. There was about a 1/2 yard, but it's really cute and wanted me to use it to make coasters for his Mom and Dad for Christmas, but I have enough to make two sets-the other for Aunt Teresa and Uncle Paylor, too.

So, just when I thought I had it all figured out and complete I decided to add some additional accessories. Now, each gingerbread girl has a beautiful bead necklace and all the gingerbread boys have little green neck bows and the final pictures are below.

I'm finishing 3 sets of coasters Thursday and will post the pictures of those in the evening. The other 3 sets of coasters will take longer as they are made with fabric yo-yos; which I'm making myself. In addition to coasters I'm working quilts which I cannot post until after Christmas and wall hanging quilts which I can post. Next week, I should have the pillows posted and a neck warmer. As I finish them I will post more pictures of all the cross-stitch pictures.

Oh, and all those bookmarks I made will have fringed edges but I have to wait to do that until after I get the fusing fabric. Other than that, I'm really not doing much but working on Christmas gifts day and night; applying for some jobs each day. I've been a bit busy with SwapBot as the co-founder of two groups. One for dogs that is a permanent thing and the other for a sewing group that is currently temporary. The sewing group has been a little demanding, but fun, so it takes up about an hour or two of my time each day taking care of swaps and answering questions. My biggest project right now is a Secret Santa swap where about 8 people never received partners so I'm in the process of finding out who has what partners so I can figure out the other 8. The other founder had a full hysterectomy and is out until December. She assigned all the partners, but I didn't get the final copy in case there were any problems...so it is up to me to figure it out. I am extending the deadline, though to be fair to everyone. It has been a little bit of a headache, but I'm tackling it like any problem I would have in an office; still fun though.

Gingerbread Set 1-Final


Gingerbread Set 2-Final



Gingerbread Set 3-Final

Here are some more Christmas projects I've been working on. The last bookmark is the picture I took before the writing it, because if I showed it with the writing it owuld be easy for the giftee to find out one of their Christmas gifts. In that same light, there are other project pictures I cannot post for the same reasoning, but I will post them after the holidays. (Most bookmark desgins are by Dunmani Designs).
Bookmark #7


Bookmark #8


Bookmark #9


Bookmark #3 with orange added to bring out the desing better


Bookmark #10


The gingerbread ornaments are infused with Spiced Gingerbread oil from Bath & Body Works that we bought a few years ago. I dropped a few drops into the stuffing before finishing up the sewing.

Gingerbread Set #1


Gingerbread Set #2


Gingerbread Set #3

For the most part, Halloween was quiet. Most of the houses on our cul-de-sac were dark. We didn't get many trick-or-treaters this year, so my loot will be saved for next years little ghouls.
This was the decor outside. We have the big blow up pumpkin that a witch flew into and got stuck in. We had my eyeball lights in the window, the pumpkins on the doorstep and some little metal buckets on small tables opposite the door. These little buckets are painted and "carved" to look like a pumpkin, bat, ghost and Frankenstein. I put little tea lights in them and they are just adorable. In the kitchen I have four Halloween hot pads hung here and there (not pictured).



The Halloween loot we passed out instead of candy. There were necklaces, pencils, foam bracelets, airplane flyers, buttons, temporary tattoos, felt crown craft kits, straws, sunglasses, mini coloring books and yo-yos.

We enjoyed apples between trick-or-treaters, which were sparse this year. Jarom enjoys using my corer/peeler/slicer from Pampered Chef. We love fall because we can really enjoy fresh, crisp, juicy apples by the dozens.

I was able to get this picture earlier in the week. Miss will actually sit on her bottom like a person and cuddle with you. Jarom enjoys sitting her up.

I took these two on Halloween. I love it when Miss perks up her ears. Gus was the main focus of the other picture, but I got a good shot of both of them. It looks like they are smiling in that picture.


It was bath day for the dogs and I was able to get a picture of Jarom carrying Miss off for hers and then one of her laying on the edge of the bathtub. Later, both dogs were on the bed and Miss layed her head on the pillow I was using as a desk of sorts while I did some cross stitching. I love to watch her sleep...an there is that tongue again.




Gus get cysts between the his digits on his left paw and he licks it a lot. After cleaning it we decided to bandage it up to protect it from his bateria in his mouth in hopes that it will heal quicker.