Swap Ornaments

I took a little time this weekend to make my ornaments for the Swap.



I had a vision of a tiny stocking with some fantastic embroidery across the cuff, but I couldn't quite make the fantasticness materialize, so I went with some holly.

Thankful

The Season of Swap

It's swapping time again!
I am signed up for 3 so far this Season, and I may join one more if it repeats from last year.
I have already started receiving Christmas ornaments, and I haven't even begun on mine.
I do have an idea cooking, so I don't feel too bad, but I gotta get going as a couple of my swap partners are abroad in England and Australia.

So far I received this wonderful package as a part of the Daisy Quilts Christmas Ornament Swap, and a super cute little felt Christmas tree as a part of the Fourth Annual Cake & Pie/ Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament Swap.
I also signed up for Meg's Holiday Traditions Swap at Sew Liberated.
I may come to regret my decision to join these swaps as I have house showings to clean for, and work knitting to finish, but the pay-off in the wonderful piles of creativity coming in the mail every week up to Christmas is well worth it!
I must get myself to my needle!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving if I don't see you,
Jess

Fun day of fun at the zoo

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your kind comments about my Rocketship to Dreamland!
And thanks too for your kind thoughts about our moving adventure.
I'll keep you all up to date on any developments in that arena.

Almost Late for School

because she was reading at the table.
I would gladly have driven her if she'd missed the bus.

One Yard Wonders

So about a year ago, I submitted a pattern to a couple of ladies who were putting together a book of sewing patterns.
I got in, and the book came out a couple of weeks ago.
They threw a party at Crafty Planet last week, but I was recovering from the flu (I thought I had THE FLU, but it seems like maybe I didn't) so I missed the party.
This was a colossal bummer, as I hadn't seen the book yet.
Anyway, I went in to Treadle Yard Goods today, and they had a copy, so I quick searched through it and there was my pattern!
The book is One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! and my project is the Rocketship to Dreamland.

It was super fun to see my project in a book, but also super duper fun that they put a tiny Tin Tin and Snowy in the pocket of the rocket in the photo.

All the contributors get a copy of the book, but mine hasn't arrived yet.
I can't wait! I flipped through the rest of the projects and this book looks terrific!

Whoosh

I have had a very interesting couple of days.
We decided to sell our house.
We have a house where our two Hug-a-Bugs are sharing a bedroom and the Elder has been asking for her own space for a while now.
Something about finishing the bathroom must have spurred us on, because we were able to fix the ceiling in the living room where the lack of any watertight walls had allowed water to leak slowly for what must have been years and years.
We also were able to get rid of the horrible stall shower in the basement where we have been showering with centipedes for nearly 6 years.
Somehow, we're able to totally let this house go, safe in the knowledge that the house is in good shape for its next owner, whoever that might be.
It all has been a bit of a whirlwind, and we'll see what happens, but I am allowing myself to get a little excited.

Hello November

October in Minnesota was a little on the completely unexpected side.
We had snow, we had wind, we had rain and rain and rain, and then a perfectly lovely Halloween to top it all off.

Yesterday the weather was a wonderful 65 degrees and we high-tailed it to the playground.
We have been stuck inside for almost a month with the ridiculous weather and sicknesses, it felt so good to just be outside.

Finished!

Long ago I warned that I would bore you all with pictures of my bathroom remodel, and the day has come.

These first two are from the day we went through with the inspector. You can just barely see the Elder Hug-a-Bug in the blue sling.
She is 10 days old.
We decided to buy this house after my water had broken, but before we went in to the hospital.
Yes. We were a little crazy.
The floor was this lovely (not really) green linoleum tile that was peeling up, but we didn't need to worry about that happening around the toilet, as there was no floor covering there at all.Now there are easily cleanable tiles on the floor. We also got a new vanity. The old one had out-lived its usefulness.


We decided to ditch the gold veined wall board, and went with tile around the tub (where none had existed before) and a soft green for the walls instead of the garish yellow from before.
We have been here for nearly 6 years, and even though it might mean that we eat spaghetti 3 out of 7 nights, and never go out to eat again, we have a functioning shower and a beautiful bathroom and I am over the moon.

Here ends my bathroom worship, thanks for humoring me.

As a clarification, I did no work.
I hired a lovely man to come in and do everything.