Tolentreasures

Well I had started a challenge of 30 projects in 30 days and actually it had started on the 3rd and I fell a little short of making it, unless I give myself a three day extension but with the mess that I still have of decorating, it is not looking good to make it. These are a few of the pics of the decorating that I did today and the bottom one is what I have to do yet. DH really does not like a mess or upheaval...I would say it is a little OCD, however I remember how he lived before we got married so I will rule out that diagnosis. He is at hunting camp and will not be back until tomorrow night so I have tonight and tomorrow morning to get this all in order before I go to work tomorrow and right now it all looks a little overwhelming. The good news is that the living room and kitchen are in order. I have the family room and the dining room to finish.

This bright idea occured to me on Thanksgiving Day. We decided to go to Walmart to get John's hunting license (we had our get together Wednesday night and were enjoying the quiet) I knew that I had to decorate the church today for Christmas and thought that it would look nice to have fabric hanging down from all the window sills. I had made small swags for all the window sills last year and thought that they need something more on them. This was not that expensive to do. The fabric was $4 per yard and the ribbon is craft wired ribbon that I removed the wire from before sewing. The little tassles are drapery fringe and I just bought enough to get the 8 tassles needed. Now to get to church early enough in the morning to get them all in place. The church is decorated thanks to some great friends that agreed to help me this year. It goes so much faster with help.

This little scarf is for Gracelyn, my granddaughter. I found this cutest little white fur coat for her last weekend and at the same time her other Grandma found the cutest little plaid coat for her so of course she needed a scarf to go with both of them. She is here tonight spending the night with Grammy and nothing is more precious than a baby falling asleep in your arms, even if it took three tries to lay her down and Grammy rocking herself to sleep in the recliner on the last try. Apparently I must have needed that cat nap, I was up to babysit the boys at 3:30 this morning so that my step-daughter and son in law could go Christmas shopping. Another precious moment is when those little boys woke up and came downstairs and were so happy to see me. It is the only time that I can get them to cuddle with me. This is the nativiy set that I have been working on for the last month on and off. I am counting it as two projects when it is done. There are 19 pieces to it. I had made

Shelby's tree is finally finished and although I wanted to have them to give to the girls on Thanksgiving, that did not happen because we had Thanksgiving yesterday. The other two trees would have normally been one project but since I am getting down the the wire on my 30 days, I am calling them two projects, hey my challenge, my rules right? Holly gave me this tree a couple of weeks ago and I am really excited with how it turned out. It is going to sit in my kitchen and keep me on track with the countdown. Thanks again Holly, I love it! Five more to go! Can I do it? I have a little scarf started for my granddaughter that should be easy to finish yet today and have in mind my other four...if I could only stay home for the weekend!

We actually had our Thankgiving last night. It is a tradition that we started as a new, blended family that has worked really well. The kids and their families all come here on Wednesday night and that frees them up for the other parents and in-laws on the actual holiday. When they are all together and having fun it makes me very thankful that they all get along and that we are able to have holidays as a family. We had a great evening of eating and of course playing with the kids. Holidays are so much more fun with these little ones around. The only pic that I was able to get of the three of them was in the tub together. They just don't sit still long enough. This was the end of the night at Grammies and Tyler thought that they all needed a bath, needless to say we were all soaked and my bathroom floor is clean once again and I have a whole load of towels to wash. I was hit with some cold and flu bug on Monday so I am way behind in my 30 day craft challenge. Hubby is leaving for ca

After going to church this morning, I came home to an entire day at home alone. The guys are off doing whatever it is that guys do to prepare for the start of bear camp tomorrow and I had the house and the remotes to myself which allowed me to watch whatever girlie shows that I felt like watching on the "good" tv. I started with a marathon of Whatever Martha..that is one of my new favorite shows, and then a concert of Matchbox Twenty in HD...does it get any better than this? Anyway I had all these ornaments cut out already and I was able to get them all sewn together today. They are for another of those small trees and I found the cutest little clothespins to hang them on the tree with, I just want to stain them just a little before I use them. The guys are back now, I have lost the remotes and of course football is now blaring. We are hosting bear camp this year at our home and although I don't have a fancy house, I have seen the camp that they normally stay at and this

I finally finished this runner this morning. This is for my youngest daughter for Christmas. I have really enjoyed creating this....hope she likes it. Still one day behind on my 30 projects in 30 days.

I was getting behind in my projects. I had to take the time to clean a little today. I am having guests tomorrow through Tuesday and thought that they might not appreciate the cobwebs and dust as I do. So, after I finished cleaning I got out the paints and did these. Painting is a lot faster for me than anything so these were a good catch-up item. The sleds are these great little rusty sleds and they needed no prep and the snowmen ornaments are paper mache ornaments. I found all of these yesterday at Pat Catan's craft shop. Thank goodness there is not one of those closer to me...I would be broke, well stocked with craft projects, but broke. Still one day behind!

Family craft night is a loose tradition that we have had for the last few years. We manage to do it for awhile and then it stops for awhile. We decided to have it Thursday night to make these little picture frame ornaments. We thought that everyone was going to make them but Shelby decided to entertain the baby instead of crafting. I am not sure who would be doing the entertaining there. We did actually get some tags made and here are mine, however I still have to get pics made for in them so I can't actually count this as a finished project. These were just those punch out tags that I bought at a craft store and I had used the solid tags on the insides of them and didn't know what to do with the outside frame and this idea came to mind. I used scrapbook paper and made the photos sepia tone on my computer. These are going on my pencil tree in the living room when I get them done. There is one for each person in the family and I want to get a few extra ready for "new"

These are number 19 in my 30 projects in 30 days marathon that I started with my sister. Hard to believe I am over halfway there. I did not really think that I could do this, but thanks to the fact that I have not really cleaned house and I am down to my least favorite underwear and socks because I have not done my laundry, I am persevering! I did not like making these so I will probably not be making any more of them. They are going to be given to my daughters. We are having craft night tonight at Shawnee's house.

I finished this tree pillow up this evening. I have had these buttons laid out for awhile and then when I saw Char's tree tutorial, I had to get busy on this. It was sort of a challenge to get them all laid out just right but it was almost like a puzzle. This is my Christmas present to me...at least until one of the girls sees it and claims it. I'll enjoy it in the meantime. This should be Project #18, but I think that I lost count somewhere. I actually managed to change my background. Not bad for just learning this, I found this from http://shelsscraps.blogspot.com/ through Holly's blog. She explains it so clearly!

This is Dianna's tree that I just finished yesterday. This actually has me still one day behind in my 30 projects in 30 days marathon. The little wooden tags are stenciled, something I don't normally do, but they were just so fast that I couldn't stop myself. The little balls are drywall covered styrofoam balls and they are sprinkled with DiamondDust. I cannot get enough of that stuff but I really need to vacuum my house soon, It looks like the pixies have been having a party and it really cannot be good for grandchildren crawling around on the floor.

Now I am off to work on this penny rug runner that I am making for Shawnee for Christmas. These ornaments are for the Shelby and Shawnee, both of them have primitive trees and I found this great tin of buttons at a yard sale this summer for 75 cents. What a find it was and I have used so many of them. There are 24 of these and they are made from scraps that I had in the stash. #16 Then I made these big candy canes the same way but decorated each one. I would like to find some fatter ones, but this was all that my local store had. #15 I made these little jar arrangements from the plastic candy canes that I first saw last year when I visited my friend Marie's shop in Canada. Char from The Pickled Pepper Patch just had a pattern for them on her blog and I remembered that I wanted to make some of them. These were made from the small candy canes that are ornaments and I covered them with Diamond Dust. I love that stuff. That is the first that I have bought and used that. I am callin

My mom started these Santa blocks for a quilt twelve years ago and I have been doing the blanket stitching around all of the design for her. It has been quite an ongoing project. There is a Santa for every month of the year. When I started this 30 day project these were the last three and on my initial list, I listed them as one project. I am so glad that they are done! Now the unfinished project is hers....she has to put them together and quilt it. I am so glad that my part is done. The blanket is for Logan to keep here. Tyler has his own fleece blanket here and Logan did not have one yet so I made this last night for him. They are staying with us this Saturday night and I wanted this done for him. These would be 12 and 13. I still have not figured out exactly all the little aspects of posting these, the pics at the top I added later so that the embroidery could be seen on the blocks.

I have no pictures to post today but I had a great day. I went shopping with my daughter and granddaughter this morning. Because of my Christmas work schedule, I have mornings open and then I work afternoons and evenings. I love this schedule for getting things done. Somehow is it so much easier to be at work in the dark and home in the light, seems as though I get more done that way. Anyway my granddaughter is the BEST little shopper ever. She never fusses and looks at everything and smiles at everyone. This evening I also had a nice surprise, a new piece of wood as a gift to add to my 30 project list and the nicest thing of all, a delicious supper of pork and mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. What a special surprise! Thanks Holly!

These are three projects that I finished this morning. The tree is for my youngest daughter and the sets of blocks will probably be gifts this year for someone??? This would be projects 9, 10 and 11. We have good news at our house, we will be having another grandchild early in the summer. I am so excited. Another little bundle of joy! God is truly blessing our family. This will make four under the age of four, what fun and activity they add to our home.

These are my ornaments that I make for in the Christmas cards for people at our church. I have been working on them for quite awhile, but they are still counting as #8 of my 30 projects. This pillow is for my daughter, Shelby, but a word of caution...I sewed the back with an overlap and made a pillow form for inside it. It was quite a morning aerobics class trying to get that form inside this pillow. More of a workout than I really wanted. I am now behind by two projects...need to go get busy...hmmmm what else is close to done?

This is going to be a pillow for one of the girls, I still need to make a pillow form for it so we are going to call it 6 3/4 for now. Wish I could find some more of that nice black wool, that was the last in my stash. The basket holds my ornaments that I am working on...it is a real mess but for now it is working.

I am getting lots of use out of that old chenille bedspread. I finished these two pillows and this snowman this morning and at this point I am caught up with my 30 in 30 days. It was a beautiful day in Pa today. It was close to 70 here with sunshine, certainly not a normal November day in Pennsylvania. I have all the windows open for probably the last airing of the house today. I managed to also cut out lots of gingerbread ornaments from the wool and some star pennies that I am going to use for ornaments on the little Christmas trees that were a yard sale find this summer. I am making them up in 3 different themes for Christmas gifts for 3 of the girls. I may have to hand those gifts out at Thanksgiving if I can manage to get them done by then so that they have them to use through the holidays.

What a beautiful day this has been. I have switched my work schedule so that I can be at home in the mornings and then at work when it is dark. I love that schedule. My mornings are so productive that way. This is one of my 30 projects that I wanted done. When I started cutting out projects I realized that I was dangerously low on browns, golds and blues in my unusually organized wool stash. I dyed these this morning using Rit dye. Probably not what a purist would use but I am always ready for the short cut. I was looking all around to see what I could hang them on when I spied this ladder that was part of the landscaping in another area of the yard. It worked perfect, however I will be collecting them in the dark tonight when I get home from work.....I hope that they are not damp. I see some really nice gingerbread men in those browns...can't wait to start cutting and sewing!

This was actually the first finished project in the 30 in 30 days race that I am in with my sister. This was made from all recycled wool and is sort of my own design. My step-daughter had seen something similar to it in Create and Decorate and I sort of adjusted it to my liking. This is for her for Christmas.

This is actually the second project that I finished in my race to get 30 done this month. I could not find the red pillow ticking that I had in my mind but found this background fabric at JoAnn's and tea (and a little brown Rit dye) stained it. The snowman face is made from an old chenille baby bedspread that I found at a yard sale for $1. How could anyone part with that. The lady told me that it had been hers when she was a baby. The rest of the design is recycled wool. thrift store finds.