Blog Hopping

I'm blog hopping with Jessica's Coupons this week. I'm actually excited about checking out some new blogs...what better way to find some new inspiration than to find a new pool of blogs to read!

Hope you all had a great Christmas!  I hope to be back to blogging a bit more next week.

Happy New Year Ya'll!

Quick Knit Ornament

I promised the other day that I would share the pattern for the sweater ornament with you....Here it is:

Cast on 13 stitches

Work 3 rows of K1P1 rib

Work Stockinet stitch (starting with a knit row) for 9 rows

Knit 13, Cast on 10

Purl 23, Cast on 10

Work in Stockinet stitch 3 rows

Purl 13sts, Cast Off 7, Purl 13

Knit 13, Cast on 7, Knit 13

Work Stockinet st 3 rows

Cast off 10, knit to end

cast off 10, purl to end

work 10 rows Stockinet St

Work 3 rows of K1P1 rib

Cast off

Using a contrast yarn, and long stitches, add initial to front of sweater

Fold sweater in half, with intial on the inside and sew up the sides and sleeves

Turn right side out, add a hanger (I would just use a loop of yarn) and you're done!

You may have noticed that I didn't give you a yarn or needle size....that's because you can really use any size yarn. For the example I used Cascade 220 and size 6 needles. I have also done with with Homespun (Lion Brand) and size 8 needles....the size yarn and needles you use will determine the size of your finished sweater. I think using some scrap sock yarn would make REALLY cute little sweaters.

I can finish one of these in about an hour so there really is still time to get some done before Christmas.

If you run into any trouble with this pattern, please let me know so I can correct it. Also, I'd love to see any mini sweaters you knit up.



North to Alaska!

YAY!! The bulk of my Christmas crafting/shopping is done and on it's way to our Alaska family. It's always such a relief when I get that Christmas box mailed out. All I have left to do is 17 stuffed owls, 5 wreaths, 1 set of placemats, and another market skirt...did I mention making chocolate covered pretzels, turtles, baking cookies, the church Christmas program, one shopping day with a good friend and getting ready for Christmas dinner? I think I can handle it!

Hope you're all making lots of progress on your to-do lists too.

Only 10 More Days

It hit me today....we only have 10 days till Christmas!!! EEEEEKKKK!  So much to do!! After I had a mini-meltdown (ok...maybe a little more than "mini") I got to work and got quite a bit accomplished. As usual there are things I can't show you...but here are the ones that I can:

I made a couple of great t-shirts for some young boys...I'm pretty impressed with myself on these. I looked at monsters online and then just started doodling. I had probably a hundred to choose from so both the boys get the same little blockheaded monster - they live so far apart they won't run into each other at a party so I think I'm safe



This one still needs to be stitched down, but it's all fused



Here is one that's finished....SO cute!!



I also made a market skirt from this tutorial over at MADE. If you haven't checked out her blog, you really should...Dana has some amazing stuff going on.

This skirt is actually WAY cuter in person!

This skirt was SO simple! It went together really quick and is going to be perfect for the girly little girl getting it for Christmas. I was going to put pockets on it, but I ran out of time....this and one of the monster shirts had to be delivered last week....oh well, pockets will appear on a project soon.

I made these boxes for one the projects that I can't show you....I just couldn't find anything else to fit it (them) so I made my own. I found the directions over at Not So Idle Hands. It took a bit of trial and error to get the measurements just right. I never thought I'd make my own gift boxes, but I think it was worth it!

I've also been working on knit sweater ornaments. I have to trouble shoot the pattern a little more, but I'll try to have it posted in the next couple days. Honestly, I wrote the pattern and knit the first one in just a couple hours, so there is still time to get a couple done for last minute Christmas gifts.

This one is for my secret santa at work....if you know her shhhhhh!!

A little side note:  The cat has found a new napping spot...on my basket of fabric. If you get something from me and find a hair or 2 I'm sorry....just think of it as Bonnie saying hello.

I promise Bonnie is still just a kitten....but she looks awfully big laying there

I joined these parties....check them out for some great ideas.

More Christmas Crafting

I'm reluctant to even call this a craft, but it's my favorite new Christmas decoration....and I kinda made it.

Sorry the picture is sideways....just turn your head to the side and it looks right. I don't know what the problem is I just can't get it turned upright - sorry. Anyway, all I did to make this totally awesome tree was pick up a felt cut out tree from the Dollar Tree (greatest store ever!!) and use a little glue (I used my scrapbooking roller tape) then stuck it onto a tall glass candle holder - if you don't already have one they sell them at Dollar Tree. Eek!!! I LOVE this...it looks great on our entertainment center.

These are a couple of the owls that I'm making for all the kids in the family....I love these guys....I think they are SUPER cute! I might even have to make a couple for myself.

On the stuffed animal front, I also made this snake for my super cute little nephew. I know, I know it's not sewn up yet in this picture....as my Grandma would say "it's all done but finishing"

These are the start of a couple other gifts that I have started....of course these are ones that I can't really give any details about since they are for people who might be checking in here.

Hope your Christmas crafting is going well....As of tomorrow we have 3 weeks to finish, wrap and deliver all our crafty gifts.

You can find this posted linked at

Shutterfly Christmas Collection

Shutterfly has revealed their holiday cards for 2010 and I'm excited! There are a lot of fabulous designs this year. We normally don't send out photo cards, but I've decided that we need to. Heck, if you know me very well, you probably know that I have great intentions to send cards every year, but they don't always make it to the mail. That's going to change this year....seriously.....I've been working less on planning and more on follow through.

Also, I've decided that there is no reason to not send updated photos to people just because we don't have kids....I hope people care about us too.

Anyway, here is the design I think we're going to use:

Of course that isn't Brad and I....but I don't want to ruin it for everyone.

If you're in the market for Christmas cards you really should check out Shutterfly. They also have some great gift ideas including calendars and canvas wall art. If you want great personalized items be sure to stop by their website and look around....I'm sure you'll find something you like.

PS - If you have a blog you can go through this link, make a post on your blog about Shutterfly and get a code for 50 free Christmas cards.

OH....one more bonus.....if you're a member of Upromise, you get 8% of your Shutterfly purchases back!! Love it!

Christmas Crafting

Well, it's that time of year again....and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!!!

It's time for Christmas Crafts!! I have a TON of inspiration and probably too many planned projects to ever complete.

Here is a glimpse of what I'm working on

I know you can't tell much about the actual projects, but I'm afraid that some special people may read the blog and I don't want to ruin anyone's Christmas surprises. I'll see if there are any that I can share and I'll try to post them later on.

For now, it's back to the craft table....

A Recap....with pictures

Let's see if I can get all these promised pictures for you posted in some order that makes sense.

First of all: Apple Time

We started with apples....a half bushel to be exact.

I cooked down the apple pulp, put it through the food mill and then it went into the oven for a couple hours, that didn't cook it down the way I thought it would, so I stuck it in the crockpot overnight

While the apple butter was in the oven I decided to try some Cran-Apple cider jelly....it came out great!! Personally I love it!

When I got up the next morning the apple butter still wasn't done so I put in a pot and cooked it down (nearly 2 hours). Then it went into canning jars, processed 10 minutes and then YAY!!! apple butter is done....and so tasty!

Brad's Birthday Banana Pudding Cheesecake

I found the recipe at examiner.com

The way I figure anything that starts with 4 blocks of cream cheese must be good

Nilla Wafer crust, a layer of sliced bananas then the creamy cheesecake goodness....bake and eat

It was REALLY good! Next time I'm going to leave out the sliced bananas and put them on top instead.....they were a strange consistency after they baked.....Yummy, but rubbery.

Brad's Birthday Eve

Tomorrow is Brad's birthday. Yay!!! I can't wait for him to be "old" like me. I am excited about his birthday this year. We are having dinner at my grandparents after church. The birthday boy has chosen the menu....fried turkey, potato salad, baked beans, corn, green bean casserole (thanks Becky for whipping this up for me) and for dessert we're having banana pudding cheesecake....yep it's a mouthful. When he first said that I was like "what the heck is that....how am I going to make that?" Then I Googled it -- there are a LOT of recipes out there. I chose one and, after a quick trip to the store, I got to work getting it baked so it had plenty of time to chill in the fridge. I can't wait to taste it!
I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow....for now I'm going to bed, but if you see Brad around tomorrow make sure to wish him a happpy day.

Apple time

It's that time of year again. I know I told you before that October is crazy busy but I really love this time of year! I got a ton of errands done today and now the house is filled with the smell of cooking apples. I have apple butter cooking down as I type. This is my first attempt so I'm anxious to see how it comes out.

I still have apples left so I'm thinking about trying to make and freeze a couple pies so they are ready for the holidays.

After the apples are all taken care of I think I'm going to try making grape juice. Sounds like fun to me!

Our visitor

As I walked into the kitchen this morning to start a pot of coffee something out the window caught my eye. It was this guy. Sorry the picture isn't great I took it through the kitchen window. I tried to sneak onto the porch to get a better one, but he heard and me headed to the woods. I was so hoping he'd hang out and let me get a couple more good pictures. I'm not too worried though, he'll be back soon.

As you can tell in the pictures fall is definitely here. All of a sudden we have leaves all over the yard and the trees are starting to look bare. Our summer's been so dry that the "experts" say that the leaves probably won't change color, they'll just fall off.....I'm VERY glad to see they were wrong. Our colors aren't as dramatic as they usually are, but they are still beautiful.

Busy days ahead

It looks like this fall is going to a busy one. I was just looking at my calendar for October and I have nearly every day off planned out already. Here's the rundown:

Deer season starts (bigger deal for Brad than for me)
Clip for the Cure, Breast Cancer Research fundraising day at work
Covered Bridge Festival (probably 2 days)
Lunch with Indy area HP gals
Doctor's Appointment (or 2 or 3, hopefully)
Fabric Shopping Field Trip with Ladies' Sewing Circle
Family in from Alaska
Color Cafe hairshow

That covers the highlights but doesn't include all the fall to do list (redo flower beds, clean leaves off the porch, put up gardening stuff, etc) or the normal household chores (laundry, cooking, dishes, etc) or working or hobbies (quilting, knitting, starting Christmas gifts). Yep, it's gonna be a busy one!

3 years....already

I can't believe it's been 3 years since my last post! So much has changed, or maybe everything has changed so much we've come full circle to where we were....Brad has worked everywhere from Iowa to Alabama and finally is back in Indiana. The dogs are both doing great, over 70 lbs each and still playing and wrestling all over the house. We are still trying to have children, but that's a long story probably best left for another day. The sheep, singular now, is in need of a new home or a barn-mate. We have newly born kittens, but they are the grandkittens of one that was new born at my last post. Strangely enough, Brad altered the bar, but we are getting ready to change it again....funny how life works.

I'm going to try to keep things more up to date from here on. We have internet on the farm now. We just became high tech since they decided to offer something other than dialup out here. YAY!!! It's so nice to be part of the 21st century.