December WIPocalypse

A day to two late:) Not much to show off this month, and that's really sad since it's been a couple months since I've blogged a WIPocalypse post!! Right now I am working on the first of what will be two blocks made from the same pattern. This is for LoveQuilts and is for a young man who's father is a police officer, of course this means the young man is very interested in the police theme too:)

I rearranged the moffits for this block because another stitcher also signed up for this pattern too, but it wasn't noticed until after we both had the pattern in hand. So I said I could play with it and make it look a bit different. The second block I am going to make with this pattern will have just the words placed randomly. Sometimes we have a hard time finding suitable patterns for the kids and need to make some changes so we can make sure to have enough blocks for each child's quilt.

I have been busy here lately with other things too, but most of it is Christmas gifts, and since I have a pesky SIL (Marianne) who sometimes checks on my blog, I can't show off what I am making yet:)  As soon as I get the Christmas things all done and gifted to their rightful owners, I'll show off what I've been up to.

A New Fur Baby

Actually it is my daughter's fur-baby. She is just so cute!!

Her official name is Nikki (according to her papers), but my dd liked the name Nutmeg better, so that is what we are calling her. She needs some extra work and special cuddle time as she is still pretty jumpy, but dd is really doing well with her and she is coming along nicely.

Nutmeg will eventually be introduced to this handsome fellow...



Fargo:)

We are keeping them completely separate right now as Nutmeg isn't quite old enough to be a momma, and Fargo is just a wee bit too eager to meet her!! We are hoping for several cute babies from these two to build up dd's collection for showing for 4-H.



Finally Got It Done!!!

I have a real problem with finishing my projects. I guess you could call me a Super Serial Starter!! :) I love to start new projects, some of them I only get just a bit done, a few I will stick with until I am around 3/4 of the way done, then I sputter out and start something new. I start many more new ones than I finish:) BUT, I did finally get one all stitched up that I started around 3 years ago.

I originally did this one for a friend's daughter's wedding. I ended up getting them something else since I knew I wouldn't get this done in time. So now I need to decide what to do with this one. I really like how the colors worked together with this, so I may end up keeping it myself:)

Now I get the fun of searching through my basket to find another older project to try to get done.

Still here!!!

Well it has been a busy autumn so far this year!!! Lots of activities and paperwork on my part dealing with the beginning of the 4-H year and working on getting our Secret Sister's group up and running for the year. It's a lot of fun once the planning and organizing part are done, but it does make for a busy and a bit stressful beginning of the year. But dd loves both of these groups and does help to make them run smoothly.

On top of that, my dd has her other activities. She is in her second year of working the nursery during our local MOPS meetings. They have had up to 17 crying babies in the room at one time!! Thankfully that is only twice a month:) She also has Youth group 2 times a month. And she found her favorite activity now too. I finally call our local zoo and she is volunteering 2 mornings a week with them.
What is nice about it from my point of view (besides that she is doing something she really enjoys) is that it gives me 2-3 days a week to go to the gym (we live about 30 min outside of town, so unless we are already in town, I don't go to the gym) and almost all her activities are in the morning/daytime now. That means we are home when hubby is home!!!

I haven't just been running around like crazy though!! I've gotten a bit of stitching and crocheting done as well. I finally got my dd's crocheted blanket done....

You can't see it very well, but this (cotton) yarn has sparkles woven through it as well. I started it almost 2 years ago and had promised it as a birthday gift that year, but, well, she just got it last week!!! Actually everyone in my family knows that I procrastinate lots and lots, so this was expected. I have a cross stitch I started for her about 8 months ago that she may never see again:)

I have been working on the Mary II Sampler from Plum Street Samplers, and I'm currently trying to get caught up on it. Should be about there in a day or two. I also have another cross stitch finish just within reach, maybe by the end of this week I'll have a picture to show on that one:)

I've started seeing a few challenges and SALs for the New Year start popping up here and there. It seems weird that we are really that close to the end of this year!!! It always seems to go by faster and faster each year:)

Well, back to some stitching for me!! Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Finally - A Finish!!



 You've seen the 'Girl in Blue with Flowers and Butterflies' before - okay, I'm made up the name, not sure what it was originally named. :)  It was one I did for the Flower Blog hop. The second one I changed the colors on a bit as the girl had on a red dress, but I wanted her to match so I made it blue. I think these are very sweet!! Still need to make a needle case out of them, but I'm glad the stitching is done!!

And I finally found where one of the patterns for these are!! I found a finished pic of the other too, but can't find the pattern for it. Not a surprise as Frimousse has over 600 freebies on her site. And it's in French, so umm, yea - I can't read it. My internet connection speed (and the connection itself) is hugely flaky, so using the translator doesn't work well either. I looked for it for hours, but no luck. I'm sure it's there though, so if you really want the pattern you can look around for it:) Here is a link to the girl in the veggie garden. And HERE is a link to the picture of the girl with the butterflies.

I may have another finish in a few days!!! Actually it's not all my stitching, but my part of it should be done:) It's the last section of a round robin I've been part of this year. So hopefully I'll have that to show off in a few days. I'm also waiting on a pattern to come in the mail for a couple blocks I will be doing for Love Quilts. It's been a while since I have stitched for them and I'm pretty excited to get back to it!!

Christmas Mystery Sampler - Part 2

I decided to do option 2 on this. So far, other than placement I haven't seen any differences. I think Paulette said there would be a bit more stitching on option 2, so maybe next week:)

I am really enjoying this mystery sampler. Just enough stitching that it is exciting to see then next part, but not so much that you have to work super hard to get it done in time:) Hoping that I can keep up in the weeks ahead!!

Christmas Mystery Sampler - Part 1 DONE:)

I am super excited about the Christmas Mystery Sampler that Paulette from Plum Street Sampler is hosting/designing/giving away:) I decided to do Sampler II and below is Part 1 done!! I am doing it 2 threads over 2 on 36 ct Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linen. I made one small change already:) I thought Joseph's robe looked too much like a dress, so I made it not so full and shortened it just a bit. I can't wait until next Sunday to see what Part 2 will be!!!

 

My dd's first day to volunteer at our small local zoo was today. She was super excited and just a bit nervous this morning. I can always tell when she's really looking forward to doing something when she gets out of bed without having to be told 500 times. This morning only took one time of my going in and telling her it was time to get up:) She got to go to a pre-school and help with a 'meet-an-animal' program and then back to the zoo for a 'behind the scenes tour' and to clean out the deer pen. She said one of the deer was super friendly and kept licking her!!

While she was busy, I had a couple hours to myself, though I had to stay in town because the drive is a bit long to go back and forth. I spent most of my free time at the library working on lesson plans for next week. But I went to the grocery store for a few things as well and found these pretty flowers on sale. $1.99 for this very pretty bouquet:) I hardly ever buy flowers since I usually kill them within a few days, but for that price, I figured it'd be okay.

 

I actually tried to hand them to hubby and told him I bought him flowers, but he didn't think that was as funny as I did. :)