Cathy's Countdown to Christmas

Cathy inspired me to get busy on Christmas last month. I have been working on Christmas presents for other people, (but I can't show them yet!) and some stuff for my house. Did you know it's only 86 days until Christmas????

I bought this vintage looking Michael Miller fabric a couple of years ago on EBay and never knew what to do with it. So I made cloth napkins for us to use during the Christmas season. I ended up with 22 napkins.

and then I used the rest of the fabric for 6 patchwork hotpads.
I'm making a table runner too, but I don't have the backing fabric yet so I'll show that when I'm finished.

Thanks for the inspiration Cathy!

Family Day

I don't think I blogged about this before, but we FINALLY....... after 2 long years, got a car! Not a knew car, but a car that runs and holds all 5 of us!! So for the last couple of weeks we have been doing lots of overdue and much needed family activities. Yesterday the library had a Book Sale and Free Bouncy Bounces, food and a clown.

Here's Mallory and Jace at the start......

and here's how they ended up

Mallory turned into a cute and as always a very funny clown

and Jace transformed into a Red Power Ranger.

Ezie is to "old" now (at the age of 11 1/2) to participate in things like this so he went into the library and played on the computer. I would have jumped in the bouncy bounce if they would have let me....I'm not to old!

Apple Pickin'

Apple picking is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Every September we go at least once to one of the many area apple orchards and pick apples, buy cider donuts and just have a fun day together as a family.

This year was no exception!
I'm looking forward to going again hopefully next weekend!

A Fun Fall Banner

I participated in Cindy's Fall Banner Swap and these are the super cute, creative banners I received. My partners were Cindy and Tamera.

Tamera and Cindy made these 2 sets. Cindy made an extra set for someone who dropped out of the swap.

I have enough to make 2 banners so I can decorate 2 of my big windows. I'll take another picture after I string them and hang them up.

Thanks everyone who participated! I love the different creative styles and can't wait to put it all together!

and these are the ones that I made

Thanks Tamera and Cindy for a wonderful Fall Banner that will definitely make my house feel warm and Fall like!

A Giveaway!

Kelly at Kelly's Recipes for Life, is having a wonderful giveaway. Stop by her blog for a visit and Be sure to check out her giveaway....she has some beautiful things.

It's the First Day of School

Ezie and Mallory started school today.

Ezie is in 6th grade and starting Middle School......

lockers, changing classes, lot's of new kids, new school......

Mallory is going into 5th grade

and this is the first year she is in a school without Ezie.

She is very excited to be back in school though!

Jace is home for another year much to his dismay.

He does although go to his pretend "Little Kid's School"

and Miss Murray from the tv show Little Bill is his teacher.

Earl's hours change back to 10-7.

It was nice getting up with him and making him breakfast this morning,

but I hate him getting home after 7:00

and then having to still go to his other job.

Oh well, that's life.

I hope they all have a really great day!

Jace and I will be anxiously waiting for them to get home

and tell us all about their new year.

Thank you Cathy!

Guess who is getting this package in the mail?

Yep! Me!!!

I won Cathy's Christmas Countdown Giveaway this month!

Make sure you start workin on some of your Christmas projects and then check out Cathy's blog for the rules for next months giveaway. You can also be entered for leaving Christmas tip and hints so get in the Christmas Spirit and visit Cathy's blog.

The deadline for next month's entries is October 7.

Thanks Cathy! I'm excited to check out that pincushion

and I'm really glad I got started on making Christmas stuff!

I'm Starting on Christmas!!

Cathy at Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much is hosting a Christmas CountDown and a Giveaway for anyone who participates. Today is the deadline for this month and then Oct, Nov. and Dec 7 are the upcoming deadlines to enter. I appreciate Cathy getting me inspired to get started on my Christmas stuff!!

I made 13 drawstring bags for our family to use for Christmas gifts. I've made several of these in the past, but not any for our family. So I got out my Christmas fabric and got started. I have various sizes and prints. I also made some "Cars" bags for the little guys in my family. I still need to make more....some now and then I will probably add a few every year.

I think this will be a nice alternative to trying to find boxes, buying wrapping paper and tape and spending hours wrapping gifts every year. I think it will also be fun to get the bags out every year and remember what you got in that bag the previous year. A new family tradition that I think will be fun and a lot easier for me in the long run.

I have my next month's project cut out and ready to sew. I'm excited to get started and Thanks again Cathy for the inspiration!