Sunday Threads

For when I am weak, then I am strong.
1 Corinthians 12:10

WOYWW 286--Coffee and Cross-Stitch

A nice morning is coffee, cross-stitch, and a little phone conversation with my sis. I am having some time off from the office this week and getting ready for turkey day. I've already had my big mug of coffee--that is actually a little mid-morning treat in a small mug with a splash of caramel mocha, oh yeh.
Have a visit of work desks around the planet at What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday.
It's the day before Thanksgiving, so I'll be making ahead a few of the dishes for our beloved Thanksgiving dinner! The cranberry sauce is very easy to make ahead with fresh cranberries, orange zest, water, half sugar and half splenda, and a little simmering on the stove, then right in the fridge it goes. Baking a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and making hubby's favorite spoon cornbread is on the list of make-aheads. It's a few less dishes to worry about while the big turkey's roasting. And when it's time to relax, it's back to those little reindeers. Have a happy week lovelies!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Around the House - Planning Turkey Day

 This is my spa--cross-stitch and coffee. Tonight, it's actually a decaf caramel mocha. I love these little reindeers stitching up so quickly with variegated floss in any color really. Very relaxing and very festive.

Before that first early frost hit, I had to pick all the tomatoes from the garden. They are ripening on my cool greenhouse sunporch as I'm planning Thanksgiving dinner for this year.

We have the Butterball turkey - a fourteen pounder. We are planning an early evening Thanksgiving dinner time this year. The Butterball will start roasting around 1 p.m., stuffed with oranges, onions, and rosemary and basted throughout the cooking time with a butter, wine, and olive oil mix. The stuffing bakes in its own pan, and the day before I put together the cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries and orange zest for an amazing flavor, and the spoon cornbread. There will also be a fresh veggie tray to munch on, smashed potatoes and our famous bubble buns which rise for hours and get topped with butter when they come out of the oven. I'm already hungry! I'm also baking a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and probably some brownies for the kids. Happy turkey day everyone!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Sunday Threads

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
She can laugh at the days to come.
Proverbs 31:25

WOYWW 285--Organizing Snippets of Sentiments

Well happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday to you! Thank you for visiting me. I feel so blessed to have gotten the loveliest visits last week with happy birthday wishes and sweet thoughts.  Thank you so much! It made my week and made turning (uh-hum) "54" a lot more like turning forty fourteen!

I am posting a quick one today - I've been cutting out sentiments from some old books bought at a library sale, for that very reason. I'm gluing the snippets to card stock to keep track of them, and then I will Mod Podge them. They will be ready to cut out and use in all kinds of projects!

I found an old large martini glass, and it went right on my craft table to hold some skeins of floss I'm working with. I thought that was festive--but it might be a little more festive with say, a mangotini in it!

I'm also still cross-stitching reindeers and watching Gilmore Girls! Netflix makes it so easy to watch a whole series you've never seen before. It was fun to hear that some of my UK crafty pals watch it over there too. Have a wonderful week!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Sunday Threads

God is greater than the burdens you are carrying.
Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you.
Psalm 55:22

WOYWW 284--Lovely Piles

Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday! (join the fun over at Ms. Julia's blog, Stamping Ground)

My sister's birthday is the day before mine.

Weeks ago I seemed to have entered the messy desk dimension of the universe, and I can't find my way back out! For some reason, I have to have everything right out in front of me--the gelatos, markers, aida cloth, gelli-printed tags waiting for embellishment, my datebook, and even nail polish. Somehow I started watching Gilmore Girls while doing the treadmill two miles every morning; realized there are billions of episodes (I never watched the series before) and so now I find it a relaxing thing to watch while cross-stitching and tag making at my table too. 

The cross-stitch reindeers are coming along (thank you Gilmore Girls) and under the stack of tags is a brand new Mollie Makes! Thank you to Lunch Lady Jan for sending me my first issue ever...because then my Barnes & Noble started carrying it, and my daughter got me this latest issue for my birthday.

But when it comes to this piled up craft table, at some point, you realize, this is all going to have to be cleaned up, reconfobulated (is that a word) and some serious things happening like diecutting and sewing, and using those wonderful cutting mats that are all buried right now. That's life in the crafty corner.

My daughter and I on my birthday Monday--hello 54!

Toodles and have a wonderful week lovelies!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Happy Birthday - It's All About the Present

It's my party and I'll blog if I want to! ♫

Here's the great thing about a birthday that falls on a Monday--you tend to celebrate all weekend to make up for the fact that poor-you, your birthday's on a Monday!

So other than having a great weekend - here are my five tips for being uber thankful it's your birthday!

1--It is indeed your birthday, a celebration of the day you arrived on the planet, and many people are so happy to have you here! Remember that whether you celebrate like the Queen of England or the Queen of Frugality! You can't put a price on love, happiness and thankfulness. But you can have them if you wish.
2--It's a great opportunity to be a blessing to others - since you're so thankful for another birthday, pay it forward and do something nice, be kind, and make someone new glad that you're here.

Me and my precious mother on my first BD

3--Yeh...eat cake Marie Antoinette! I say, if you are pretty good about avoiding those sweets most of the time, this is the day you should enjoy yourself. I always think of my mother's strawberry cake which she had made for my birthdays most of my life. It was this moist, unbelievably rich cake full of strawberry heaven goodness with an amazing icing on top. Today is the first birthday I've ever had without my mom here on the planet with me. About this time last year was when her health had started failing, she was recovering from a hospital stay in a health center. It was a Sunday, and I made her favorite chocolate bundt cake and took it to her room--the whole cake--to celebrate my birthday with her. She talked about the day I was born, in beautiful, sunny California, and what it was like when she brought me home...we lived only a mile from the ocean. Today I realize how wonderfully blessed I was to have a mom like her, and I know she is well cared for in her new heavenly dimension--so now, I have yet another reason to be thankful on each and every birthday and think of her and how much she loved me and all the things she always did for me, and especially how she always looked at me with that sparkle in her eye that only your mother has for you. I really miss that. It's how I know she'd want me to have another happy birthday.
4--If you don't have someone special in your life right now to treat you well and celebrate your day--then treat yourself! There is no rule ever written that says you can't treat yourself well. It's part of being madly in love with your own life, choosing to be happy no matter what, and turning down all invitations to any pity parties. It's your day. Choose bliss. Celebrate your life.
5--It's all about the present. Now, I don't mean the birthday present...although there is one, right? That one thing you really really wanted? This year I just wanted a new bag--but--I wanted a Dooney & Burke. Low and behold I got one! (thanks to a sweet husband who always listens) I just have a thing for Dooneys and Coach bags--it's the feel, the smell, and how they last forever. Even if I could, I'd never spend ten thousand dollars on some designer bag...I'd rather feed someone who's hungry if I had that kind of moolah to throw around. But, a brand new very cute black D&B crossbody for my birthday is perfect!
Back to the point though...it's all about the present. That means, living in the moment, enjoying every moment, being aware of the sun on your face, the fresh air, the smiling face you're looking at, the smell of your cake, the sweet birthday wishes from others...yep. It's all about the present. Enjoy it. Be thankful for it. And at the same time be filled with happiness, joy, peace, bliss, hope, faith and love on your birthday.
Today, here where I live, it is a beautiful, sunny, windy, warm day. I'm going to take a walk today, for sure, go out to my garden, and kick some leaves in the air. Because tomorrow - we'll be plunged down into the thirties and forties the rest of the week! Remember, I'm a California girl - this Ozarks winter stuff is not my nature--but I hybernate in my craft room very well.
Back to today, it's nice and just what I ordered. The sun is out. I've already written something (you're reading it, thank you and bless you). It's my birthday. ♥


Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch
 

Sunday Threads

Behold I tell you a mystery...
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
At the last trumpet...
We will be changed.
I Corinthians 15:51-53

Friends with Flair Friday

Happy, wonderful Friday! I am linking up to Unity Stamp's Friends with Flair Friday for the very first time. It's a little last-minute, and I'm linking up a tag I made last week...most people make cards, and I certainly plan on making lots of cards this month. But in the meantime I was playing with an Itty Bitty Unity stamp for this gelli-printed craft tag. Fun! Have a great weekend.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Stamp

October Photo Journal

As one friend said, this is me blissed out in my craft room!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

WOYWW 283 - Tags, Stitches, and Missing Trees

 Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday. I hope you are feeling happy and productive. It was a crazy cold weekend for Halloween this past week in the Ozarks, and it was also the time change when we set our clocks back an hour. I love more sunshine in the morning - but not sure if I don't mourn the loss of longer evenings even more! Let's face it--I'm a summer girl and want the sun to shine high at least until 9 p.m. every day!
 

Stitching little reindeers with variegated floss

Just realized, there's some Halloween candy on my table! I have played a lot at my craft table with my gelli-printed craft tags and my reindeer cross-stitch which is going to become a little Christmas banner hopefully. Last year I stitched several Christmas trees, but then didn't do anything with them as that was about the time my precious mother became ill and passed away. It was a very strange Christmas for me as I've never had a Christmas without Mom (or a holiday for that matter), and now I have no idea what I did with those little stitched trees. No doubt they are tucked in some nook or cranny of my crafty corner. I am still searching for them and wondering if they entered the wardrobe and crossed on over into Narnia and the White Witch took hold of them (I played the White Witch on stage once). We'll see. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, my two lions, Minnie and Joseph wanted some camera time on the blog. Have a wonderful week lovelies!
 

Minnie likes to help Mommy.

Joseph (I actually call him "Butter") is feeling cozy.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Wear Your Crown on Tag Tuesday

Today's tag theme: Crown It

This -- from my stack of gelli-printed craft tags -- is all about being a craft queen! Since I was going to cover a lot of it up, I chose one that was not as heavily painted as the others. The first thing I did, after fussy-cutting a crown, was to stitch!

Then I layered on some diecuts from my Sizzix Bigz die with thread spools and buttons, a torn piece of music (I have a really torn-up old hymnal I love to use for layering and sentiments), purple gelato, royal blue gelato, blue eyeshadow on the crown, some fabulous sparkly flowers, crochet trim, ribbon yarn, and a few hand-stitch cross-stitches. I finished with a big flower from my stash of upcycled cardboard-into-sparkly-embossed-diecuts. This would be a cute little door prize for my craft group!

Visit all the crowning over at Tag Tuesday.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Bee Vintage

 In the boxes of precious vintage sewing patterns my sweet mother left me was a jewel: a stack of embroidery transfer patterns she bought back in the fifites and sixties.

The first one I laid my embroidery-loving eyes on was the Vogart bees. I'm in love with them now. I immediately fired up the ole iron, and guess what. They still transfer!

I think my favorite thing is looking at the transfers that mother bought two and three copies of the same thing. Those are the ones I know she really liked. I love imagining my pretty young mother embroidering her sweet tee towels for the kitchen, pillow cases and tablecloths. I know how stitching makes me feel peaceful and happy and that's how I like thinking of her.

This was 29 cents when mother bought it!

 

 

How cute are these.

I can't believe I had never noticed all these in her sewing stash before. Such a happy surprise.

Lots of sorting to do.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch.