Just stuff I've been doing

After I made the gingerbread garland for my railing, I thought the other side looked a little bare so I made a tea dyed snowflake garland.

 Then keeping with my quick and easy theme I decided to make napkin rings.

 I've said it before, and I'll say it again I love gingerbread men!
And lastly project was neither quick or easy mainly because they started out a knitting project.

It all started one day when I decided I needed a pair of knitted fingerless gloves to wear around my house on those below zero days when my hands never seem to warm up. My friend said she had some easy patterns she would share with me.  Well after a few very unsuccessful attempts at two of the patterns, I then tried begging hiring a friend, then another friend to make a pair for me and when that was unsuccessful I thought I would try crocheting some. They aren't what I expected, but they will suffice for now.

Gifts

Remember the beaded bracelets and my endless supply of beads I have acquired?  Well, here's what I'm doing now.

They are bookmarks and a great way to use up all your odd beads.

And if you have an e-reader and don't read books anymore, you can use it to embellishment a bottle of wine, candle or anything you want to jazz up a bit.
I also decided to use up a few odds and ends of fabric and make a couple more pillow cases.

I love the sheep fabric that I made a set of pillowcases out of but didn't have enough for another case.  I thought it was just too cute to be laying in the bottom of my closet, so I just used it for the ends instead of the main color. The cupcake fabric was leftover from the potholders I had made last Christmas.

Receipt Dilemma

I have a receipt dilemma in the bottom of my purse, especially this time of year they just seem to take over. So I decided to make a little zippered pouch to take care of the problem.  I was inspired by these purses.

Many moons ago my daughter made and sold tons of these purses, at the same time we were drinking a lot of Caribou Coffee.  So I had a brainstorm idea to save the empty bags and make purses out them them. Needless to say, that never happened so I've been hanging on to multiple bags for years. Then when I started to have the receipt problem in my purse I thought it would be fun to make something to hold them and came up with this.

It was my kind of project, quick, easy, fun and functional .

Gingerbread Men

Slowly I'm getting my Christmas decorations out and about. I have a soft spot in my heart for gingerbread men, makes no different to me if they are editable or not.

So this little gingerbread men garland hit the spot.

Wool felt

I've been selling a lot of wool felt flowers and snowflakes in my Etsy shop so today I thought it would be fun to show you what Femia has done with hers.

You can check out her Etsy shop at Porshas Place

Let it Snow

It snowed here today and I was so busy with my snowman cookies I didn't get a picture of the huge beautiful lightly falling snowflakes so delightfully covering the ground.


This is just half of the batch of these very time consuming cute little guys that I will be selling this holiday season. Yes, that right, I'm selling candies, cookies and bars this holiday season. Since I love to bake and always bake more than my family can possible consume, I decided to bake for others that don't have time or just don't care to take the job on themselves.

 Not only are they cute but they are really tasty as well.

Beads Beads and More Beads

I have a lot of beads.  More beads than one person should be allowed to have. Since I'm always on some sort of quest, my newest quest is to use up a few of my gazillion beads.

 A knitted beaded breaclet

 Another knitted beaded bracelet.

This is a great way to use lots of beads as it takes about 200 for one bracelet.

 A beaded serving spoon

A button and beaded napkin ring

And now I'm off to conquer the quest and use more beads.

 

Retreat

This weekend was our annual retreat and here we are all packed up and leaving after a very productive weekend.

Jeanette always takes her work so seriously that's how she can get so much done.

She put the binding on this, don't you just love it?

Sally is hard at work making doll quilts for charity

 
These are the two tops she finished.

Then she started hand stitching a double wedding ring.

Evy got this scrapbook done before I arrived.

Evy - she's so happy she finished stitching on these flowers that she has been working on ever since I've known her and longer.

Then she started making hearts fast and furious - Evy style.

 She made a lot and they just kept getting cuter and cuter.

 I even got something done myself.

And then started a new project.

My Etsy Shop

I've decided to put a few more things in my Etsy Shop and with Christmas just around the corner, at least according to the stores that already have started putting up tress and such I'm going with a holiday theme. These are just a few of my newest treasures for sale, if you want to see more or have a closer look  just pop on over to Cindy's Stitches in Time.

Cutie Pies

Really! That's what they are called. I've been watching Martha again, yes we are on a first name basis.  She had Dani Cone on and she makes the cutest little pies in fruit jars.  So I decided to give it a whirl.

Aren't they cute?  

 They are not very quick and easy but boy are they delicious. They are made with apple, cheddar cheese and fresh rosemary and oh so sweet and savory. You can find the recipe here - Apple-Cheddar-Rosemary Piejars.

Over Achieivers

No I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about the Prairie Women's group that I'm in. Each month we received a pattern for a project that we are expected to have completed when we come back the next month. We've been getting together for quite a few months and I have yet to get a project done in a timely matter, in fact for the last five months I haven't completed a project and yet they still let me come back.  One project I started just wasn't working for me and I didn't like it, so I tossed it into the garbage. I hope that' not grounds for dismissing me from the group.I am raising my right hand and I solemnly swear and here by pledge to get a project done for next month.
Well, there are a few picturesof their projects.

Another fun day

Today was the monthly road trip to make cards with friends, Jeanette and Kathy. It started out with a fun, relaxing, uneventful drive to Alex with me at the wheel. On the way home we stopped for a wonderful meal overlooking Lake Minnewaska. Then things took a turn for the worst.  Coming out of Glenwood my low fuel light came on and with traffic ahead of me and traffic behind me and no convenient place to turn around, I made a executive decision to not turn around and find a gas station. I just kept driving and hoped for the best. As we approached a stop sign in a small town, Jeanette said the name of the town and in my mind I was thinking there is not station in this town and  trying to calculate about how far we were from home, when I pulled out in front of a car. We didn't get hit and no one had a heart attack so I thought luck was on my side. Then about 13 miles from home, the vehicle jerked and sadly, this is not the first time this has happened so I knew exactly what was happening started pulling over, then my sensor told me the vehicle was shutting down, I pulled over unto a gravel road and called my husband, as he was the one who last used the vehicle and has a history of leaving me without gas.

 While we were waiting for our gas to arrive, we had a chance to admire and critique our cards.

At last, our gas arrived and we were on the road again.

Once back at my house they had to check out my deck and new pergola. They were really good sports about the whole escapade and as you can see they are still smiling.

It's that time of the year again

Here are a few highlights from the state fair this weekend. I try to eat as much food in one day as humanly possible. I did remember to wear my step counter this year and put on 15,784 steps. I thought it would be more, but when there area so many people and everyone is moving at a snails pace, a person doesn't take as many steps as you would think.