HAPPY BIRTHDAY & MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm completely recovered now from my unfortunate bout with food poisoning. Alas, I am hopelessly behind now, so I have scaled down my plans and expectations. Actually, I'll admit that the older I get, the more relaxed I am about holidays and entertaining in general.
Today was Morgan's 4th birthday. She's such a cutie. Can't believe it's been four years. I remember being in the birthing room with Wendy right after I had foot surgery. I had my cast propped up on a chair and was cheering from the sidelines! We'll celebrate the weekend after Christmas at Chuckie Cheese. Oh, boy!
Welcome to our home. Glad you stopped by. I copied this wreath from one at Horchow's for $96.00. I even bought some of the flowers at Dollar Tree. It's very rewarding to replicate something expensive with cheap-o things.

I've been wanting to share this St Nicholas/Father Christmas with you for a while. My mother made him for me several years ago. The face is soft sculpture with a wool robe and fur trim. She collected little odds and ends for a while including the lantern.

I especially love the toy sack filled with all kinds of little goodies. My mom has always been very creative and passed some of those genes on to me. It's sad now to see her diminished capabilities. I try to remember the way she was while I was growing up. I am glad she is living here with us and I can spend time with her and make sure she is taken care of.

Here's another Santa. Gail, my sister, found this on sale at Home Depot (of all places) and bought him for me. I have a large Santa collection which I haven't put out this year, but this guy will be a great addition. Maybe next year, I'll be more organized and I'll show you all my santas. I have several that are antiques and many that are more modern. I'm always on the look-out for ones which are unusual and different.

I think this will be my last post before Christmas. Have a wonderful and blessed holiday. Hope all your prayers and dreams come true. I'll be back on the 26th. Lots of love, Nerm

UNDER THE WEATHER

Sorry I haven't been around this week-I've been under the weather. Finally caught the nasty cold my whole extended family has had for a month. And I thought I was the lucky one! But today I feel ever so much better, so I wanted to say hi. Can you believe that Christmas Day is a mere three weeks away? This is no time to be out of commission. heavy sigh.

Even tho' I've been on the couch all week, I have had plenty of time to crochet and knit some goodies for Christmas. Here are some little ornaments. These were all done in Lily cotton yarn. Love that stuff. The ornament shaped ones came from here.


I made up the tree shape and the little dress. Isn't it cute? It'll be for one of my granddaughters.

Next you can see I've been making dishcloths. These are so wonderful to wash dishes with or even used as washcloths to bathe with. The red/cream one is crochet; the green is knitted. I like the pine tree design. I'm working on a yellow one with a star in the center. Fun, fun.

I hope you are all staying well and proceeding toward your Christmas plans with no obstacles.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get some decorations up. 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

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas a day late! I'm always just a little behind. Here at the Nerm and Kitty house, the entire family group joined in for Christmas day dinner. Boyfriends and family friends joined in throughout the evening and filled all the rooms with laughter and conversation. We had unusually warm weather and even opened a window in the kitchen because it got hot with all the cooking. I had a fire in the fireplace anyway just because ya have to on Christmas Day!!!

Here is Tanner arriving in his new "sports" duds including the coveted Nike Shox. His dad spiked his hair and he was one cool dude!
Here's our sweet Madison with her Bitty Baby changing table. She'll make one great mommy someday.

Sisters Kitty and Amy sharing some sisterly secrets and laughs. Aren't they darling? I know I'm a little prejudiced.

Kitty, with Mekenzie and Morgan. Morgan received a dress-up kit complete with dress, heels, jewelry and tiara. She also has a wand complete with JEWELS. It was hilarious the way she acted and walked. They learn so early how to be girly-girls.

I love all my family and have loads of photos, but don't want your eyes to glaze over. Just had to get a quick greeting out to everyone. I thank the Lord for all my blessings and for having such a close and loving family. Nerm

ONE WEEK AWAY!

Hope your week is going well and you're getting all those last minute things finished up. I'm working my heart out or at least my fingers! I have had so much fun this year doing all these handmade gifts. Good thing my sweetiepie hubby likes to cook, since I'm usually tangled up in thread or yarn when he comes home. We make a great team.



Here's our tree. This year we did it differently. Forever it has been in our den which has a cathedral ceiling and we'd get a 9ft tree. Very pretty. But...we really live in our bonus room, that's what honey's big screen tv is and the computer, etc. So we decided to do a smaller tree in there where we could enjoy it more. It is nice to look over and see it, but something is really missing in the den. The family doesn't like it in here particularly, esp. Kitty. I expect next Christmas, it will be back in it's rightful place, but, hey, you never know til ya try. Actually I'm expecting they are all going to want me to do two full size trees-one for each room. To that I say a resounding no way. Remember, folks, I'm trying to simplify!

Here are a few interesting ornaments. This is a rose with thorns, etc. hard to see. That's a full moon on the right of rose.

My favorite ornament-glassblown church. Quite large -at least 5" high. It is heavy so I have to be careful where I put it.

One afternoon after school while I was decorating the tree, Tanner's bus got here and he was more than happy to help. He comes here everyday after school for about an hour until Wendy gets off work to pick him up. Gives us good quality time in a low key, quiet way. Please note the chipmunk cheeks with Tootsie Roll Pop!

Last picture: This is the mantel in the den. The painting is of my great-grandfather. My grand- father painted it (he was an artist). I have several of his paintings. This one is quite large--it takes up the whole space above the mantel. I decorate around it with woodland things in keeping with the scenery of the painting.

Guess that's it for tonight, folks. Back to the knitting for me. Nerm

TIME MARCHES ON

I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last post. Shame on me! To say I've been distracted is an understatement. Poor husband has been very sick with bronchitis and coughing his head off. That means little sleep for moi. But now after a round of antibiotics, he's on the mend and I'm rested (sort of).
I've been a one woman Christmas machine... sewing, knitting, painting, decorating, etc. It's been such fun and very rewarding. I'm hoping everyone likes what I have produced for them. I just really want to have a more meaningful Christmas this year, not so commercial. I've heard several people say the same thing. Maybe it's a sign of the times.

Here's a pic of a set of little bags (Amy Butler design) which I have made for my sister, Gail.
I think they turned out cute. Very quick and easy to make.

Now here's the real fun--an outfit for Bitty Baby (American Girl baby) for Madison. Is this precious or what? I could make doll clothes all day long.

Still got alot to finish with just two weeks left, but hopefully I'll 'git er done'. I'll show some more pictures as I progress. We're putting up the tree tomorrow night and that will cheer me on I'm sure. We got some snow here last night. Of course, it melted today, but it was beautiful while it lasted. Big, fluffy, wet flakes which coated the trees and shrubbery. Should have gone out and taken a picture.

Going shopping with Amy tomorrow. Always fun to spend time with one of my daughters.

I'll report back soon--scout's honor. Nerm

BUSY BEE

Howdy, folks, as we say in the south. Hope your day was good. I've been a busy bee trying to catch up with some of my projects before I tackle Christmas. Here is the quilt I started before the "Enbrel drama" interrupted my crafting for a while. Originally I started out going for a sweet and soft, kinda shabby chic look. But then I found some bright colors and patterns which looked good together and I just couldn't resist. I wish this picture were better. Click on the photo to make it larger. Actually when it was said and done, it turned out prettier than I expected. I think the pink border helped. Now on to finishing it which I haven't decided quite what I'm doing yet. Here's something unusual I found and whipped up. The Happy Zombie has a website with quilting, sewing, family, etc. She also has several free patterns. I saw this one of St. Joseph and knew I had to make it. I love St Joseph and I also love redwork. It worked up very quickly and now he's sitting on a shelf, hopefully bringing blessings to our home.

This weekend is a busy time. I'm going to a Christmas open house with my sister, Gail, on Saturday. We'll see how I do. She promised not to get mad if I was tired and we had to leave. ha
I'm also making daughter Amy a Christmas stocking which I should finish up in a day or two that I'll show you. It's so much fun to be getting so much done.

Have a great weekend and we'll talk soon. Nerm

Merry Christmas!?!

Let's just say that I fell behind in my gift making this past Christmas. All those good intentions. All the planning and buying materials. Which have stacked up in my "sewing room". (We'll address my sewing room in another post). At any rate, this is a journal cover I made for Kitty. She's a big time journalist.

I made it from Michael Miller fabric which I quilted, trimmed in bias tape and added a vintage button from my stash. Viola! Only two months late. I suppose I could save it for this year's Christmas, but I can't wait. Now I only have one tote bag and a collage to finish and the 2007 holiday will be behind me. Sigh.