New Year, New Blog

I've been super quiet for the past couple of weeks. It's been a nice time of rest and relaxing with the family. I've gotten some projects done and had a great Christmas with a few stitchy gifts given to me:) More on that later...

One thing I've been wanting to do is change my blog name/address. I'm not sure why other than the 'Homesteading' title just doesn't suit me anymore. Do we live on land which would allow for homesteading? Yes, we have 10 acres, we still garden - though on a much smaller scale than before, we've even raised some farm animals for meat and eggs (as well as 4-H projects:). Currently, however, we have gone away from the 'homesteading' lifestyle/goals and really paired down on the animals - if you consider 12 cats, 2 dogs and 2 rabbits paired down!!

Also I am becoming more and more focused on my handwork at the moment and even have some design ideas in mind that I would like to try and make something out of. Not sure it will become anything big, but as I look forward to my next stage in life (dd is getting close to being done with homeschooling and it is getting time for me to decided what is next for me), this is really the direction I'd like to try and go.

With all that said, I will be closing up this blog and be starting another one. Tomorrow I will be posting the link to it, and would like it very much if you'd join me on my 'move'!! I'm super excited about this change, however little it may be, and can't wait to see what direction it may take me!! :)

12 Days of Christmas Swap

As you know, I participated in Chaotic Goddess Swaps' 12 Days of Christmas. THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the Chaotic Goddess team, this was so much fun!! Not only getting goodies to open for the last 12 days, but putting together a package for my exchange partner was super fun as well.

Here are some pictures of what my partner sent to me...

Lots of fun goodies!!

 

 The cutest little sewing kit:)

 

 I love these fabrics and buttons!!

 

And I just LOVE that April's kids drew me a picture!! So cute!! This was such an enjoyable exchange, I plan on doing it again next year.

 

As I mentioned last week, I forgot to take pictures of the items I made for April:( Oops!! *Maybe* if I hadn't been still working on one of the gifts in the parking lot of the post office, 20 min before they closed on the last day to ship out, (this in NO WAY proves that I'm a procrastinator!!), then I might have remembered to take pictures, but I guess there's no way of knowing. ;) Hopefully April will post on her blog some pictures of her package of surprises. She blogs over at 'It's Just April'.

 

Tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!!! So I will bid you all a Very Merry, Peaceful, Happy Christmas and other seasonal holidays!!  

Oh, WOW!!!

Okay, I was going to wait until Dec 24th to post anymore about the 12 Days of Christmas exchange I participated in (hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps), but what I opened today needs to be blogged about!! :)

I received hand-dyed floss from my exchange partner, April Knap. And it isn't just any hand-dyed floss, April hand-dyed it herself! The colors turned out beautifully...

 

This is so cool!! :) Okay, just when you think you've learned all you want to learn with fiber art, you go and find something else you *need* to learn how to do!! I'm thinking dying floss is my next endeavor, after I learn a bit more about knitting!! Or maybe dying fabric? Hmm...

A Few Things

Took a little time off of blogging in order to get some of those extras done that always pop up this time of year. I'm just about done with all the shopping but still need to do the decorating!! I've never waited this long to put up the tree, but we kept thinking we'd get a small live tree and well, we waited too long and now the trees available are drying up and not looking so good. So we will put up our artificial tree and be happy with it:)

I've been getting a bit done in the stitching department too!! I've gotten two ornies done, but I can only post one of them as I know my sister-in-law checks out my blog every now and then and one of them is for her:)

This is 'Snowbirds' by Country Cottage Needleworks and can be found in the 2013 Christmas Ornie issue of JCS. My mother-in-law loves birds and so this one will go to her.

I have one more ornament I'd like to stitch up for my brother and his wife, but I have a bit more time for that since we aren't getting together until the Saturday after Christmas.

I've also been having lots of fun with the 12 Days of Christmas exchange that was hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps. I got a package in the mail from my exchange partner, April Knap of It's Just April,  early last week, but we were to wait until Dec 13th to open our gifts. When I opened the box this is what I saw...

And here are the first few gifts I've opened up...

Fun, Fun!! I love that April's kids drew pictures on my card:) I can't wait to see what else I have in there:) I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the few things I made to give to her, but part of this exchange required that we all post the results on or around Dec 24th, so I'll put a link to her blog once it's up.

Hope you are all having a very blessed holiday month!!!

Relaxing Sunday Morning

This past Sunday morning I dropped off dd at church and then headed home to a nice quiet house. Hubby had gone to his parent's house to help his nephew work on a truck, so I got some much need alone time to work on some hand-mades.

But alone time is pretty rare here and after a short bit I decided I needed a buddy to share the quiet with...

 

This little guy is named Cloud (it was storming when dd named him and his siblings. They were named Cloud, Thunder and Lightening:). This one is smaller than his siblings as he got sick late this summer and stopped growing for a time. He's all better now and catching up in size pretty quick!!

Cloud doesn't like to sit still!! We aren't suppost to bring cats in the house since we are all allergic to them, but dd and I sometimes like to sneak one in now and then. This one is usually the one we bring in, but since he gets into EVERYTHING, he can only stay in for a short time!!

 

You can see how helpful he was trying to be. :-/

 



 

I was working on some knitting and some stitching. One of the stitched pieces is mostly covered up since it's for an exchange partner. I'm not sure if she checks my blog or not, so I don't want to give too much away. 

Hope you are able to carve some peaceful crafting time into your schedule too:)

December Goals

It's the last month of the year!! Can you believe it? I was just thinking on how fast 2014 has gone by this year and to think that 2015 is just around the corner!! Of course, with the holidays this past week and ones coming up in just a few weeks, December ends up being one of the busiest times of the year. So I decided that I should write down my goals for this month in hopes that I can keep my head above the water:) (hoping that won't be snow!!!)

Craft goals-

-Finish up with a few hand-mades that I have going for my 12 Days of Christmas exchange partner.
-Decide if I need to make any other hand-mades for friends and family.
-I had hoped to get a few blankets done for my friend's foster kids. I'm not sure this can get finished at this point, but I will add it to my goals:)
-Get my scarf knitted before my neck freezes!!
-*MAYBE* knit a hat for my dd.

House Goals-

-Get the tree up - usually this is done the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we ended up at my parent's on Saturday and then hubby went to work on a truck at his parent's house on Sunday. It not only takes getting the tree out of storage, but some re-arranging in the living room as well. So maybe this coming weekend?
-Umm, clean? Or not, not sounds better:) Okay, I really do need to clean up some. I have a schedule made now, and it sounds really good, I just need to actually follow it!! LOL
-Help hubby build a better shelter for the outdoor/stray dog. I'm thinking he's not a stray anymore:) He won't come in the house for more than a few minutes at a time (and this is after really working on getting him to come in at all). We have a temp shelter for him to get out of the wind/cold, but it needs to be insulated better. Actually he could go to the lean-to, it has straw bales and it protected from the wind, but it isn't very close to the house and he likes being right by the front door. The cats all have a few places they like to go already, so now it's the dog's turn.

School Goals -

-Have dd finish Health, get ready for Science for next semester.
-A couple of Math tests.
-Finish 'Early American History', be ready for Modern American History
-Actually work on German!!
-Continue on in English

4-H Goals -

-Finish up enrollment
-Turn in the last of the paperwork for the year
-Christmas Caroling/meeting next week
-Gather donations for local Soup Kitchen
-Pass out and collect money for T-Shirt orders

Okay, I think that'll  do. Obviously I didn't add things like shopping for Christmas and all the extra holiday things, but this should get the 'have-to's' out of the way. It always makes me feel better to get it all written down:)