LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Hi everybody--hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and you are full and happy. Ours was very low key this year with only nine family members. But the turkey and fixings were all there and I think there are still a few lingering in the fridge.

If you'll remember a few posts back, I mentioned my niece was having a baby and I made the sailboat baby blanket for her. I decided to add a little hat to match. It's always hard to remember how tiny newborns really are. Can't wait to hold this one. Picked up these tiny socks at the Target $1.00 aisle. How cute are they?
On Friday daughter Wendy had to work, so I kept Morgan all day. We had lots of fun. Joined up with middle daughter Amy and her girls and went shopping. Something I said I wouldn't do. But she got to see her cousins and I got some time to visit with Amy. We had a big day and Morgan slept all the way home.

Hubby and I are having a quiet Sunday afternoon watching football-our Tenn. Titans are playing Arizona and it's a close game. So I'll get back to it and we'll talk later. Tomorrow I've got to hit the ground running. Christmas is hurtling toward me with lightning speed. Nerm

I PROMISED YOU A PILGRIM!

Tomorrow's the big day and I am prepared! The dining room table is set and decorated just awaiting our hungry crew to arrive. I'll get up and make the pumpkin pie and a few side items and be ready. Sweet hubby is smoking the turkey all nite & I'm sure it will be yummy.

Here's my pilgrim dishcloth compliments of Lily Yarns. Don't you love that cotton yarn they make? I have many different colors and can't wait to do something for Christmas.
Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.sugarncream.com/pattern.php
By the way I took the photo outside so it would look more realistic -Hey, the original folks ate outside, right?

Many Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours. Nerm

MORE DOGS

I know Thanksgiving is day after tomorrow, so why am I talking about my dog collection? Well, if you'll look back to my previous post about cleaning my dining room, you'll understand. I spent my whole day in there putting all my sewing and quilting stuff away so we could eat in there on Thursday. I am SO tired. Hence, the dogs. I had these photos ready for another post that never came, so I thought today was a good time.
I love little china dogs, most of which are from Japan and made around the 40's and 50's. The one below here was an ashtray and is very unique. I love this guy. Looks like he's saying "who me?"

This one (kinda blurry) looks kind of like my shih tzu. He's sweet too.

Here they all are assembled on a shelf in my new green family room. There's even a vintage dog print below the shelf that once was my Grandmother's.
Thanks for indulging me. I promise to show some pilgrim decor soon. HA HA Nerm

ONE WEEK TO GO

Thanksgiving is one week from today and you wouldn't believe my dining room. I've been busy sewing in there for weeks and have several projects spread from one end to another. Yikes. I'd better get going this weekend. I envy all those good bloggers whose homes are decorated for the autumn/Thanksgiving celebration. I do have my front door done, so I'm good from the outside. Ha, ha. (slightly hysterical laughter)

I will show you something I HAVE done: continuing in my bird & nature theme in the bonus room, I have made a little arrangement which is on a shelf over the TV. I found an old 1 x 4 in the garage (thank goodness, hubby is a builder) and attached these letters to it. Painted it all with my favorite antique white. Then out to the yard for misc. grass,weeds, and sticks to make the nest. No, I didn't use a real one. Glued my birdie in and voila, there it is! I'm pretty proud if I say so myself.

Thought I'd share one of sewing projects with you: I love making pillows. So many choices and possibilities. Also so fast and easy! This one has red and white ticking on the back, making it more cottagey feeling. It was for a friend's birthday.

Guess that's all for today, friends. It was a glorious day here--cool but sunny. Perfect fall day. I am going to be sad to see them go. Nerm

A TALE OF TWO DOGS

From the outset let me say, please forgive the quality of these photos. I'm having issues with my camera and I seem to be turning out fuzzy pics.
As I mentioned before in my last post, Gail (sister) and I spent most of Saturday at Christmas Village, a fundraiser with hundreds of booths and goodies for sale. Also hundreds of people to push thru...nevertheless, it's always alot of fun and we get some good sister time.
One of the favorite things I purchased was this angel. It's wood which has been antiqued to look old. I really love angels and have several. This one's arms move up and down. Wish it was a better picture.

Here's where the dog part of the title comes from: my favorite dog of all time--Snoopy!! Gail took this photo of me giving the pooch a big hug. They were promoting Peanuts on Ice and I had to push lots of little kids aside to get this photo taken. (just kidding). I told Snoopy that I loved him and embarrassed my sis to death! LOL

Now on to the 2nd dog: Please meet Niko, an Olde English Bulldog. Can you see the tongue hanging out through the blurred photo? Kitty is dogsitting this animal while his owner is serving his time in Iraq. Meanwhile Kitty is out of town for her job for a few days, so hubby and Nerm get the honor of keeping him. We have two Shih Tzus who are small and quiet. This dog is very earthy (do ya get what I'm sayin' here?) and nervous b/c he doesn't understand why he's here. All I can say is I'll be very glad for Kitty to come home and reclaim him. Hubby and I are getting several laughs at his quirky personality tho'.

Have a great week-Nerm

FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Actually Friday the 13th doesn't do much for me or to me, if ya know what I mean. My faith is not in superstitious malarky! It's in Heaven above. Today turned out to be a good day for me. The weather was great-sunny and 60's. I ran some errands and enjoyed a little alone time which is such a rare thing for me.

Since nothing outstandingly exciting is happening around here right now, I thought I'd share some of my projects recently completed. My neice is having a baby next month and our whole family is going down to Alabama for a baby shower in her honor the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She knows she's having a boy, so I made a blue baby afghan with sailboats on it. I know this photo isn't the best, but you get the idea. It is so-o-o soft - wish that could come across the blog.

Those of you who have read my blog before know I attend a church knitting/craft group regularly. We make baby blankets, hats, etc. for indigent mothers at the local city hospital. This was a twist on the regular granny-style afghan. Instead of squares it was circles of different colors. This was so much fun to make...I love all the bright colors. This poor baby will probably be hyper from overstimulation. LOL I may make myself one of these some day-I love it that much.

Tomorrow is a busy day. My sis & I are going on our yearly outing to the annual Christmas Village show. It's held at the fairgrounds and covers several different buildings which are full of all sorts of Christmasy goodies: food, clothing, crafts, gift and a million other ways to spend money. We have done this literally for years. Afterward we look at our spoils and say, "what is this and why did I buy it?" ha, ha. But it's one of the few times we really spend all day together without interruption, so we treasure it.

I'll report back on the results tomorrow! Nerm

NERM'S SALON DE BEAUTE

Did you all know that I was a closet hair stylist? Keep threatening to go to hair school-LOL.
This sweet head belongs to Morgan, granddaughter #3. Age three. Never had a haircut in her life!! I got the honor of the first snip. Very traumatic for her mom, but not Morgan. Please note the cousins and aunt looking on.
Maddie lends support as the trim proceeds.

DA-TUM! The princess with her new 'do!! Look at those eyes.

The happy twosome pose for the photo ops and autographs. Another successful cut!

Now that's a very happy ending! Nerm

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Hi everybody! It's so good to be blogging again. I really missed y'all! I know I've been absent for a while. Where has the time gone? It just seems that life gets in the way. I've missed talking with all my blogland friends. I've been checking in on you tho'-now I'll leave a comment or two.



Is it really November? Is next month December? Does that mean this year is almost gone? I am in BIG trouble here. Oh, those New Year's resolutions! All those good intentions! Boy, am I behind! I just finished this fall quilt. Now I bought this pattern last year , but true to form, didn't get around to making it until this year. Also it called for a jack o'lantern face, but I left that off so it could last thru the whole autumn season. I love the colors--it's very cheerful.



Now here's part of what's kept me busy lately. We have a big bonus room and it was way out of date. Money being tight right now, I decided to do all the work myself. This was fun, but took a little (ha) longer. The new color is a pretty green-very fresh and calming. Love it with the white woodwork.


In progress...

I took an old gold frame and covered it in small twigs attached by glue gun and added a little nest with eggs for a whole new look for an old print. Forgive the glare from the flash.

We had several old shutters stuck up on the attic. I painted this one with flat antique white paint and stuck some old postcards and vintage holy cards in it. Finished it off by gluegunning shells and a starfish. Love the look.

Got this idea from Pottery Barn kids catalog. They had a branch like this in one of the settings. I thought way not? Out to the yard again for more branches. A little scrapbook paper and glue gunning later and voila! looks just as good as PB.

When this chore was completed, our extended family (daughters & their families) had a huge yard sale. This was a tremendous undertaking. It helped to have several people to trade off cashier duty, etc. Granddaughter Mekenzie sold brownies and lemonade. Check it out:

This is what was left. Thank goodness for the Salvation Army and their pick up service. Believe it or not, we sold tons of stuff, but still had lots to donate. These things are exhausting. That's why it will be a long time before we have another one.

Well, that's gonna do it for tonight. I will be back again soon. I'd forgotten how much this was!

Thanks for visiting. Nerm

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