Year End Clearance!

Inventory Reduction!

SALE!

40-50% off ALL ITEMS!

You have no idea how I LOVE those words, even look forward to them. I look forward to seeing them in print and getting emails that contain them. They make my heart race. They make my mind start planning and plotting. They inspire me to fill virtual carts all over the internet.

This year though, those words taunt me. I should probably just ignore all the emails and store fronts. I should concentrate on using up the fabric and scrapbook supplies that I already have. I feel bad for the store owners. They are making an effort to bring in some much needed money, clear out their inventory for tax reasons and make room for new things to come. I understand that. I understand too that I can get some incredible deals on things I have long admired. It usually benefits both parties. I don't want my favorite stores to go out of business, whether online or brick & mortar. The thing is I just have to show some restraint this year. More than I have in past years. I am fortunate to have a stash of fabric that I can pull from to continue sewing and an abundance of scrapbooking supplies to use. Maybe I should spend more time at my sewing machine and my scrap table and less time on the computer being tempted.

I hope to make a big ol' dent in all my supplies before the next year end. I hope that this economy has turned around. I hope that our house has sold. I hope that all my favorite shops will be in business still and sending out those ads and emails and that their store fronts have those words I love so well.

Praise - I thank God for the abundance that He has showered upon me and my Prayer is that I would remember that. Day by day, moment by moment I need to be thankful for what I have. Prayers too for all the small businesses that are trying to make ends meet.

Some last minute gifts

Happy Day After Christmas! Some people refer to it as Boxing Day but I never really got that. My sister would call today Merry After Birth - but that's just wrong on so many levels. She is twisted that way. ;)

I did venture out this morning, not too early though - to WM where it was not crowded really and the cashier said that it was the busiest it had been all day. I got some lights for 50% off and a big red metal tray and a red metal 'tub' (also 50% off). I plan to plant bright yellow and orange flowers in it this spring/summer! Then I went to the LQS, where all fabric was 50% off. I think my college girl and I were the only ones in there. All I wanted was a yard of some beautiful red wool that I saw on Black Friday but didn't get. I looked at all the other fabric anyway but I resisted. For now. The sale DOES go until the 31st ;)

After reading this apron tutorial by JonaG, I decided to make a couple of her aprons for the gal that owns the gym that I go to and the gal that teaches classes there. A couple of fun gals and I wanted to give them a little something. I made them on the 23rd and we went in on Christmas Eve, on our way to the movie and set them on their desks.

I have some more aprons to sew and I should be working on them now, so I guess I will push myself away from the computer.

Praise - all the holiday travelers that I know arrived at their destinations safely and before Christmas. Prayers - for safety for all those dealing with the unusual weather. Many family and friends are getting snow instead of their usual rain.

Merry Christmas!

I do hope that everyone is enjoying a day with loved ones celebrating THE reason for this season.

It has been snowing here all day on top of the 2' of snow that we already had. Nice quiet day at home.

Looking forward to tomorrow and the LEFTOVERS!

Praise - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life - John 3:16

So we need a larger angel

but my son has always been partial to this one for some reason. I don't even care if there is an angel on top of the tree but he always wants this one up there. She looks so teeny up there and it all looks out of proportion.
At the peak the ceiling is 13.5', my son who is trimming the tree there is 6'5". I TOLD you the tree was big!

We are still enduring BITTERLY cold temperatures. Right now, at 11pm it is ONE degree. Today was beautiful though, sunny and blue skies, with a high of maybe 12. At least it wasn't windy. I went out in the shop to find a piece of fabric to use for curtains for my son's room. OH.MY. It was really cold out there! I was all bundled up but that didn't seem to help at all.

In our last house my huge stash of fabric was stored in the garage, which never froze or had moisture in it. I assumed the shop was going to be the same but the walls behind my boxes of fabric had ice on them (or a heavy frost) so when that melts....ugh. I am thinking I have to get that fabric OUT OF THERE! But where am I going to put it??? That is going to be my project this coming week I think. Make some room in here for it. It is going to be a complete hassle to find anything if it is in here. The closet goes way back in and the boxes are going to have to be stacked to the ceiling - so to find anything it will mean taking out all of the boxes because you and I both know whatever it is you want, it is always in the very last box. :) I am not thrilled about this and I didn't need a new project.

I finished another apron this morning and got it off in the mail for a after Christmas birthday. I made it out of that cute Alexander Henry Starling fabric that I got on Black Friday.

I haven't been getting much sleep lately so it is off to bed for me. No Sunday school tomorrow so we can sleep in a bit. Christmas caroling tomorrow night at the LifeCare center. We usually go carolling in a neighborhood and I am so glad that we have other plans. It is WAY to cold for that nonsense.

Praise - the college girls got home safely. What an ordeal that was. Prayers for my friend who is selling a house and has an interested party.

In case you don't have any

of your own snow to gaze upon;


Hubby took that picture on Monday. Wednesday we woke to snow and at 1 a.m. on Thursday it is STILL snowing. It really didn't amount to much on Wednesday as it was just a very fine snow. I think that is going to change overnight. Hubby will take some new pictures in the morning while he it out plowing.

I finished an apron for someone and got that off in the mail and I have another project (that I can't talk about) all finished too!! I am in the process of making another apron now. I am really just in the cutting out phase. I hope to have this in the mail by Saturday though (weather permitting). I love having my college girl home as she is a great model for the aprons. I did take a picture and will get that posted soon.

Oh yeah, we got the tree decorated finally! The real trees just don't' handle our heavy ornaments quite like the artificial trees do. We left quite a few ornaments OFF of the tree this year because of that.

Prayers - two young ladies from our church will be trying to get home from college on Thursday afternoon. One of them already had to be rescheduled due to the weather. Prayers that their flights are not cancelled, that they arrive safely and then the drive from the airport is safe as well. Prayers too for hubby as he is out plowing. It is soooo cold and plowing here is so different than the last house (drop offs into pond and creek and the main road with a bad curve right near our driveway). Praise - my son is FINISHED with his 3 college classes and he did really well in all three of them :D

We've got MUSIC!

Boy,oh boy that takes a lot of time too. I finally used playlist.com and added a player to this blog. Des at Quilt Taffy was the primary inspiration for me to do this. It wasn't hard to do at all but time consuming to find the songs. It is NOT on auto start so if you want some music (right now it is Christmas music) then just scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the play button.

That's it. No sewing news (although I did sew today) and no pictures. Hey you get music!

Prayers for my friend, PINK. She is having some issues with some individuals at work. Scary stuff. Praying for her safety.

Cancelled!

Yeah, they give us a winter storm warning and then they cancel it! Phooey! I was all stocked up for the long haul - food and fabric. Yes sir, the basic necessities.

This was taken yesterday about 3 in the afternoon. It started snowing at noon! It was piling up fast. The darkest tree right behind us is our Christmas tree.


It snowed for a long time, maybe until 10. But when we woke up this morning it had snowed some more over night. Hubby had to go out to plow. His first time at this new location. He said it is going to take some getting used to, more hills, more drop offs (into a creek or the pond) and he was still trying to figure out the best place to put all of the snow. He took a few pictures before he got to work on the plowing though.

This is looking up the creek. The rocks piled with snow look like marshmallows in hot chocolate. :)


So it looks like close to a foot of snow on the picnic table.

It looks so pretty out there. When hubby was finished plowing he and our son brought the tree in. It is BIG! It took some adjusting of the furniture and some pruning of the tree to make it fit. While I made a pot of potato soup and a pan of cornbread, hubby worked on the lights. Why are they always such a trial? Dinner done and the lights are on the tree. Maybe we will decorate it tomorrow after church. College girl is relaxing, my son is working on his last speech for his class on Tuesday and hubby is catching up on his email. We are going to watch a movie together later on. I am going to cut out some fabric for a project I can't reveal here just now. ;)

The last time I looked it was 15 degrees outside. It is supposed to get down to -2 tonight and the HIGH tomorrow is supposed to be 3. Yeah, you read that right, THREE degrees. Stay warm! That is what I will be doing.

Praise - we got SNOW!!! Praise that the young lady from church did not need surgery - yet. She has a baseball sized tumor though and is in a lot of pain. Prayers for her, for comfort and relief from the pain. Prayers that the tumor would shrink and surgery would not be necessary.