The marathon is winding down

After making meatballs, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner.  I made a pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Then made our favorite 5 minute treat.

Frito Scoops

Here is the super simple recipe.
Start with a family size bag of Frito Scoops. Spread over parchment paper or wax paper.

In a large pan place1 cup sugar and 1 cup corn syrup heat until it comes to a boil.  Add 1 cup peanut butter and mix until well blended.  Pour over the Frito Scoops.

Enjoy

And this concludes my black Friday marathon. Now I am off to play a board game.

Krumkaka Mission Complete

I asked for a Krumkaka iron for Christmas this year and my DH bought it and gave it to me early.  If I would have known how easy and fun it is to make I would have asked for one years ago.

It's one of those two-man operations that would be nearly as fun or easy going solo. Now what to do next?

No Black Friday Madness here

While I'm pumped up on caffeine and trying to get things done some family members are resting comfortably.

.Michele worked from midnight until 8:30 this morning so her afternoon nap is well desired.

Nothing beats a good cat nap.

OK enough already with the sleeping.  Let's make some Krumkaka.

40 Flying Geese

I just finished making 40 flying geese using the no waste method.

If you haven't tried this method and you find yourself making flying geese you really should try it and you can find out just how easy it is by hopping over to here. They are all trimmed and ready to go.

Marathon part 2

I thought I would post my accomplishments every so often though out the day just for fun.

I cut out some half eaten gingerbread men. I made these tree ornaments last year.

And listed some mini tape measures in my Etsy shop.

Back Friday Marathon

In honor of black Friday and me not liking hoards of people I thought I would stay away from all the craziness and see how much I could get done at home.

This is number one.  I knitted this wine sack a while back and it needed to be machine felted. It's from the book Knit One, Felt Too by Kathleen Taylor I have a front loading wash machine so my friend Kathy volunteered (or perhaps I begged, I can't remember now) but anyway she felted it for me. It's been sitting around for weeks waiting for me to decorate it with grapes, a leaf and vines. Now it's done and I can move one to something else.

Wool Felt Fun

I bought a Sizzix Big Shot a couple of months ago and started playing with it this week end. I've been using it  only for paper but started experimenting with other medias.

I cut these out of wool felt.

 

Can you see the possibilities?

My new favorite toy.

I tried cutting fabric but didn't have great results so I may have to do some checking and more experimenting with that.

Waiting for the cable guy

Actually it  was the the satellite guy.  He was supposed to come yesterday between the hours of 8 and 12. So I waited and waited, embroidered some work shirts (which I don't enjoy so I always procrastinate as long as possible) then I waited some more.  I started working on Tom the Turkey, then got a phone call at 12:01 from the tech that was supposed to be here saying he would be arriving between 12:00 and 1:00 and was that OK?  Ummm, what are my other options? I said fine then I waited some more, worked on Tom more, then at 1:15 started getting worried and a little angry so I decided to make a phone call. Their records showed he was at my house. After several phone calls back and forth (not to him, they couldn't find him and he wasn't answering his phone) the final story was he didn't have the right equipment and had to go somewhere it get it.  By now it's 2:15 and I asked where did he go and how did he know he didn't have the right equipment if he hasn't been here yet and shouldn't he have told me that when he called and shouldn't he have called again when he realized it was taking much longer than expected?
At 2:45 he showed up, no apology, just asked how I was doing. I told him not very good as I was very worried and where has he been?  I left out the part about being mad as I just wanted him to get right to work and do a good job, which he might not do if I started reprimanding him. He had been to a town 40 minutes away to get some equipment, at least that was his story. Anyway, to make a long story short, he didn't have the right equipment and will be back on Friday between 8 and 12. I hope they send someone else.
But on the bight side ..............

Tom the Turkey is done!

Like a Squirrel Gathering Nuts .....

I gathered a couple of little unfinished projects in anticipation of the 2-10 inches of snow they were forecasting. The snow pretty much missed us but I managed to finish my gathered projects anyway.

 This is a Crabapple Hill Design.  I absolutely loved their designs and have done my part to keep their company going.

This is a close up view where the pattern called for french knots, I added beads instead.

This little number was supposed to be an ornament.  I added sand and wool in to inside and mine will be used for a paperweight, or pin cushion or something.

This crazy quilt mitten I started last year and for some reason never finished it. Perhaps every time they forecast snow I'll finish three projects, but for every three I finish I start four more so I'll always have plenty to choose from. The mitten is an ornament and much smaller than it appears.

Paper Fun

I love working with paper.  It's more of an immediate satisfaction thing as opposed to working with fabric.
With these two little paper projects I had something done in less than and hour.  It seems like with my fabric projects I can work for hours and still have nothing to show for it.

This is a cute little post-it note holder I made for one of the girls that works for us.  She is turning 16 so I thought I would make this just for fun. It's made with a clear plastic 5 x 7 frame with some cute paper inside the frame and jazzed up with funky flowers and her initial.

I got the idea for these little pumpkins from a scrap booking store up in Brainerd. I used a two different sizes of Spellbinders oval shapes, then I made two of them just using my punches. I was just relying on my memory and I couldn't remember if they had the little tendril in them but I thought they needed a little something so I used some green wire I had on hand. I do remember they just used paper for the stems but I have a massive amount of twigs in the yard so I thought I would recycle some of them. These really do look cuter in person, trust me.

 This little book took more than an hour but was really fun to make.  It's filled with quotes and positive affirmations.

The pillow dilemma solved.

It all started with a pillow.  A very large simple pillow. My daughter bought it for her apartment and wanted me to make a cover for it. I agreed to make one even though I thought the pillow was fine the way it was.  So when I was shop hopping with my friends I found a super cute pillow pattern but I forgot one little thing - to put my glasses on when I looked at the size.  It turns out the pattern was much smaller than what I had thought it was. So I did what I do best, I procrastinated and soon the days had turned to weeks. I planned my strategy thinking I would just make it following the pattern then add borders.  I decided to bite the bullet and get started.  I decided to make a sample one first using the pattern to see what size I was dealing with, compared to what I needed. I made the prototype then the weeks turned into months. I had promised my daughter that I would have it done by the time she came home to visit (she doesn't come home often) I did more planning, more strategizing and more procrastinating  before I finally decided to bite the bullet and just do it.  Oh did I mention in the mean time, she bought a second pillow for me to cover as well? 

The pillow before.

 

The pillow after.

The pillow and the prototype.

I made them as slip covers so they can be taken off easily if needed. The are all finished at last and I must admit they do look pretty cute and funky.