The best bargain EVER!

good morning!

How was your Christmas? I hope yours was good. Ours was really nice, the family was here, we had too much good food as always and we had some fun, isn't that what the holidays are supposed to be! We did for the first time ever a white elephant exchange, it was really fun and some neat things were brought, we can't wait to see what comes back next year!

These were some cupcakes I made for dessert....mmmm they were good, chocolate cupcakes are the best!



I am sure you are wondering about the best bargain EVER! Well let me tell you, I was running errands with Dear Hubby yesterday and we stumbled across a Thrift Shop....more like I YELLED HEY THERE IS A THRIFT SHOP ...STOP THIS CAR!!
He immediately pulled in and in we went. It was a Salvation Army store that really needed some updateing, but you never know what you will find.. My first find was a Just Married Picture frame for his neice that is getting married in July, I thought it would be cute on top of the real present! For just $1... a great deal....but not the best deal EVER....

As I was looking thru the sweaters I saw this great grey sweater.... this is the original tag on it




Can you see the price $139.98....

I paid $3.49 for this hand knit wool sweater that was BRAND NEW!!

It will look great with a red turtleneck and black pants! What is the best deal ever you got a thrift shop?

This is the week for cleaning the Creation Station....I have lots of to put away in there, but the rest of the house is spotless, so nice. Well I have to get going this morning and get the cleaning done so I can get working on the New Years Eve Mystery Quilt.

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!


This photo is from 1996 when my mom and mother in law would go to Target on Senior day and have coffee with Santa. The girls had so much spirit and loved the holidays so. I truly think they really did keep Christmas in their hearts all year.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and you make lots of memories this year and reflect back on some memories from past years, and smile just a little at those memories.

Merry Christmas!
Dorothy

Merry Christmas Eve!

Good Morning!

I am up early today, lots to do, vacuuming, dusting and getting ready for the family coming tomorrow. We did get a ton done yesterday, dear hubby worries about such crazy things, he put in a new door bell ....like we wouldn't know the family was here, heck they walk in aways! Then we put a new light in the dining room, thank goodness I hated the old one. Then we touched up paint the hallway. He just gets really too crazy about things I think people won't even notice.
But that is the way he is and you just have to deal with it. I got lots done and even got the guest room cleaned up -- just in case it snows and someone stays over. I had a ton of fabric in there from the Creation Station, so all that stuff went right back to the Creation Station and now that needs to be cleaned. Thank God for 2 story homes, they don't need to be up there.

How is your holiday cleaning going?

When we got up yesterday there such a thick fog and as the fog left this is what our back yard looked like. I just loved the frosty winter look, so perfect for Christmas time.

Remember last week when we had to vacate the house becuase of the wood floor being refinished. Well of course we went to some quilt shops and here are some neat chairs that this one shop had in their classroom, I won't tell you where I was - because I was not sure if I could take some photos, I just did it.....bad me?!?!

Aren't they neat? They had many chairs with different quilt blocks painted on them. I had purchased some old chairs at garage sales this year that I was going to make into planter chairs, but I think these are fun too. So after the first of the year I am going to try my hand at some of these chairs.

Well I better get back to work, the quicker I start the faster I will be done. And we also have a few errands to run today. How are you doing on your Christmas errands? Are you all done yet? Seems like my mind keeps going on more things I can do.....crazy but fun time of the year!

I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

2 More days Til Christmas!

Hello

Are you ready for the big day?? I am almost ready we have about 20 coming here so it will be pretty wild. I thought I would show you some of my decorations and what I have been up too.

When I was taking pictures of trees, I forgot to take a picture of our main tree, it is the traditional 6 foot tree with a collection of ornaments for our entire lives - and then we have the 3 foot Cubs trees, with all Cubs oraments.

This is my Quilting Theme Tree, it is in the Creation Station and I just love looking at it. I have white lights and it is really bright. I leave this one up the longest, just because I like to look at the ornaments a bit longer.



This is my newest tree - I have been collecting cute Gingerbread Ornaments for the past few years, always threatening to have an entire tree of gingerbread, well this summer I was lucky to find this nice tree for $5 at a garage sale and I thought PERFECT for my gingerbreads! This is in the dining room. I need to make a tree skirt for it. Maybe today. I only have 6 or 7 things that need to be done today. So I am hoping I can get it accomplished.



My Niece needed a little bib for her daughters 1st Christmas and she is going to wear a penguin outfit, so here is the bib. I hope she likes it.

And of course I have been baking cookies, here is the first round, and these were all mailed out. So today I am making 3 batches of cookies for some of my friends in town and for the family party.

Here is another tray. I just love to frost and decorate them.

I hope your holiday plans are going smoothly. And that you have a happy holiday!

Happy Stitches!
Dorothy

Antique Block Pattern

Hello

How have you been? Are you ready for Christmas?

Well hubby had to go to the DR today- and this is a specialist about an hour away and they have many quaint shops in the town. So after hubby had a good check up, we headed to an antique store that takes up about 2 blocks, it is HUGE! We looked for quite awhile and I ended up purchasing this Carolina Lily Block for $1.40 it was marked $2 but it was on sale! My lucky day!

I might make a pillow out of it. Not sure or maybe frame it.

We are off to go up to WI for a few days we decided since everything was looking so nice we would get our hardwood floors refinished before Christmas. I know you must be thinking we are nuts, yes I know this is nuts. But we have most everything done, and we will be back on Saturday. So Sunday I will bake and get the out of town presesnts ready to ship and ship them out on Monday.

We will be going to a Top Ten shop this trip I am looking forward to that and to a German town.
Take care and talk to you in a few days!
Happy Stitches
Dorothy

Christmas is getting Closer!

Good Morning!

Well we survived the Kitchen and Dining room painting. It is all "green grapes" and we like it. Yesterday was the final day of working on this project, I washed the drapes in the dining room and put them back up. We cleaned everything in both rooms and I manage to put some things in a box for goodwill, it looks a lot nicer and cleaner and I organized a few cabinets to get some stuff off our counter tops and just like Martha Stewart some items like the bread machine and meat slicer that we only use on occasion has found a nice home on the shelf in the basement. It will be good excercise to go down there and get the larger items we just don't have the room to store in the kitchen.

Friday night we decided to look at Christmas lights and and had heart about a new display at Mooseheart. It was only about 40 minutes away so we decided to take a drive and check it out. I had no idea where or what we were going to. Mooseheart is a 1000 acre place, where 225 children live, they have 30 homes that house the children, they have a school system there, they have a gift shop, and I believe they have a farm there also. It is founded by the Moose Clubs, I had no idea this is what they do. It really is an awesome place. The brochure says these children have lost their parents or were taken from them do to poor living conditions. Really an awesome place. That I had no idea about.
They have 1.8 miles of a road you follow and these were some of the decoration we saw, you might need to click on them to enlarge them. This was the first year they did this, they charged $10 a car, a little pricey but the money goes for a good cause and they gave you 3D glasses, wich when you put them on, you saw Snowmen EVERYWHERE, everywhere there was a light you saw a snowman on it, really cool.
Enjoy the pictures... this is entering the facility there is a HUGE Moose statue and words in lights that say Merry Christmas...

This one is a neat Gingerbread house...

Here is Cinderellas Pumpkin Carriage

And here is a HUGE Castle...

Well that is all for now, Oh I did stop buy JoAnn fabrics and got some wild fabric for a valance on my kitchen window....hopefully I can get that sewed up today and you can see it tomorrow.

Hope you are safe and warm ...we are under a winter storm warning...

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

It's Green

Good Morning

Well remember yesterday when I said, hubby wanted a cranberry kitchen and I was leaning towards butterscotch......well we both liked Green Grapes, so that is it. Our kitchen is now Green Grapes!



It is bright, and I think hubby thinks it is a bit too bright,but he thought that the last time with the bright goldy yellow it was. It will tone down some when I put my roosters back up and stuff like that. Kitchen is done and I am taking a break and then on the dining room. The quicker I can get this done, the quicker I can get back to sewing!

Thanks for stopping back to painting for me!
Happy Stitches or Happy Painting!
Dorothy

Mug Rugs and More

Good Morning .....

Such a hectic week last week - hubby ended up in the hospital with celulitis for 4 days and was able to come home on Sunday, he is feeling so much better. Great to have him back home and happy.

I was in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap 2 on Flickr and this is the great mug rug I rec'd from Kathy along with some nice teas, but those have already been enjoyed. Isn't this the cutest the mug rug ? I just love it. I use it every day.




Here is the mug rug I made, I just love this snowman applique - I got it out of a Christmas book and have used it for several items.


And here is the mug rug and the goodies I sent to my partner, I was a little late on getting this mailed due to hubby in the hospital. I hate being late on swaps. I hope my partner understands.

Well yesterday I cleaned everything out of the kitchen today hubby is going to use Kilz on the grease stains on the walls near the stove and then Thursday we are going to paint it, what color you ask, depends who you ask, I am looking towards butterscotch and hubby is looking towards cranberrry......mmmmm how do you think stripes would look!! We are going today to get the paint.

Have a fantastic day!

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Le Petite Project - Butter Churn

Good Morning

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a nice time and I will share some photos of what we crafted that day in the next day or two.

I wanted to post about the Le Petite Project today, here is my Butter Churn project.


I used some red snowflake fabric that with using the steam iron was bleeding a bit, not real happy about that but I really like my little project. It will be on the dining room table as soon as I get it cleaned off. You can click on the photo to see it in better detail.

I really enjoy working on these little projects, they take less than a day, and they sure do turn out cute. I am so glad I joined this group - it is wonderful to try a project that you might not have tried. To be honest the photo on this pattern really doesn't do it justice.

I know we are supposed to use charm packs for these but sometimes I don't like the really scrappy look, I thought since this was only 24 inches I would like a more planned look.

I can't wait to see everyone elses Butter Churn Project.

Off to the Creation Station....I have lots of things in the works!!

Happy Stitches
Dorothy

Happy Turkey Day!

Hello

I have been busy sewing up a few things... here is a bib I made for my nieces baby. Too cute. We won't be with her this Thanksgiving, she is going to her in laws. But the rest of the family will be together in Iowa. Should be a fun day, first time we are going to be together at this brother in laws house, they just moved back from CA last year.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are with people you love.

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Friday Night Sew In

Good Morning

Can't believe I have not posted since Monday...it was a crazy week. Had to deal with some issues of my unemployment, apparently they said I had not worked at all, so twice this past week I was down at the unemployment office with proof (w-2's and paystubs) proving that yes I did work.. So I guess early next week I will get a check, about time since I have been off since Oct 16th!
So needless to say the week has been a bit stressful in this house.

I also got my entire creek side garden mulched - I shoveled about 5 yards of mulch onto our snowmobile trailer and then re-shoveled it into the garden! It took 2 trips to the free mulch pile, but the great news is the tree trimmers were just in our town and it is all wood chips! so my creekside garden is all cleaned up and looks great! Can't wait til the day after Thanksgiving so I can put up my snowman bird feeders.

Friday was a great day, my quilting buddies and I signed up for a Lisa Bonegan from Primitive Gatherings workshop and we worked on a wool Christmas candle mat - it was a great day stitching with my friends. Lisa was a great teacher and alot of fun. Unfortunetly the shop owners were quite the poo poo heads. They did not even say thank you for coming, they did not walk around the room to see how we were doing and all of Lisas patterns and kits were in rubbermaid totes w/0 prices and you had to ask a price for each thing. It was really a horrible experience with them. But again Lisa was fabulous. I have never been to this shop before and never will go back. Kinda sad in this economy I would think as a shop owner you would be as friendly as possible to get the folks back to your store, especially since there were 7 in our group and most have not been there. And my one friend spent over $400 on Lisas kits and patterns. Oh well enough said on that subject. Here is what I got done between the workshop and last night at Friday night sew in.



Then this morning was the BOM but with the unemployment issue I have chosen to stay home :) I am very sad about it, but I don't need to be tempted. I did get my mystery quilt up to the step it needed to be last night at the Friday Night Sew in also. I love the fabrics and can't wait to have my friend bring me over the next step maybe later today or tomorrow.

Well I have to get busy sewing today......I have lots I want to get down for Thanksgiving. I got the neatest vintage stamp fabric at JoAnns last week and my brother in law works for the post office and has for 30 years, so I want to make him and his wife a table runner from this fabric. So I am going to sew this morning. So far I have cleaned up the kitchen - amazing how things get so messy when you are not home and hubby is here by himself!

Enjoy your day

happy stitches

Dorothy

Happy Monday

Good Morning

Well Happy Monday, that is not something you hear everyday right? Usually Mondays are the worse, I got an IM from my sister in law and she said she hates Mondays. I can understand that, but with being off this winter, I worked all weekend at a craft show, so my Monday is happy. I am going to work in the Creation Station today -- first thing I need to do is clean it up, it is almost to that point that it will be a disaster at any moment. Well...really I have to run some errands this morning and then I will come back and do some cleaning.

I thought I would show you a few things I have been working on...

I got this pattern from JoAnns last week when it was 99 cents....I made this cute little doll for my neices baby for Christmas....I think she turned out really cute.



This little doll quilt was just a quick 4 patch, I love the border fabric so I wanted to use it. It also fits nice on an end table in our living room. Quick and cute.





I am in the Candle Mat Swap on Flickr and these are 2 that I have made, my secret partner wanted oranges and greens, so I made 2-- one to keep and one to swap.
I am putting one of these in the mail today.

I better get going on my errands, have a super day!

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Salute a Veteran today

Good Morning

Happy Veterans Day 2010. I just wanted to tell you a few things about my favorite Veteran, my Dad, Robert True Frye. He served in the Navy and was on board the USS Curtis Dec 7th 1941, yes he was in Pearl Harbor. And he was very proud of that fact, in fact this is one of my favorite photos of him, wearing his Pearl Harbor Survivors Hat. This picture was actually taken by the local paper when they did an article about Pearl Harbor years ago.

He and I were best buddies, I truly was a daddys girl - he had to retire early due to health issues and he got a paper route 3 days a week and I went with him, we really had some good times while we delivered those papers. I worked 2 hours a day with him and I got $3 a week, then the paper went to 5 days a week and my pay stayed the same!
He was a good man, he loved to garden - we had the best veggie garden in the neighborhood, he was a great home improvement type man, he knew all about tools and fixing things. And he loved to go to Wed night Bingo at the American Legion in town with my mom every week. They never missed.
He and I always went Christmas shopping today, Veterans day, it was our tradition he wanted to get out before the big crowds.
And when he got sick, I never really knew how sick he was, he hid it well.
I was only 18 when he died at age 60. Somedays it seems like yesterday, sometimes it seems like forever.
But I know today he smiling down, wishing we could go shopping again, just one more time.
Thanks for reading about my favorite vet today.
Dorothy

It's Beginning to look a little like Christmas!?!?!?!

Good Morning

WOW this time change really did a number on us, I think we were asleep by 8:30 last night!

I was a vendor at a local craft fair this weekend and got to see alot of old friends. Sales were ok, but it was great to see some people I only see once or twice a year. I am vending at a much larger show this coming weekend, so I have lots to get done!

One of my new items I made this week is this cute little angel. She is made from chenille stems and a little wood head, her dress is hand sewn. I sold several of these so I need to make some more.



And then when I went to the thrift shop this past week, I did get one other item. A tree skirt, for are you ready..... now this is homemade.....are you ready for the price.....$2

Yes I can not believe it either, I used to make tree skirts for craft shows and they cost a lot more than $2 ....so I had to buy it. I can use it for my sewing theme tree I havc in the Creation Station. I just washed it and dryed it this morning and it came out just fine.


Well I have lots to sew this week....so I am off ....
Happy Stitches
Dorothy

Thrift Shop FInds

Good Evening!

I promised you photos of my Thrift Shop Finds....here they are, well some of them I had too many pictures to add to 1 entry. But these are my favorites.

This is some vintage red fabric I found 2 yards for a total of 90 cents! Sure can't beat that.




Here is a picture of a really cute snowman plate I got for 95 cents, and I also bought a glass of some sort like a margarita glass maybe for 60 cents.....



And after a quick stop at Walmart for some glue for $4 I ended up with a cookie plate! I just love it and I am heading back to the Thrift shop on Monday to get more plates and glasses, the glue I bought works great. And I have lots of glue left. We are having Christmas at our house this year, so I can see several of these around with cookies on them.

Then they just put out the Holiday mugs etc and I hit the jackpot! I got these 4 mugs all perfect condition for 75 cents each! I see a nice coaster and a few hot chocolate mixes in the mugs and I have some great gifts for some or my quilting buddies...or maybe I will make a fancier mug mat for them...stayed tune for more info on these items.

I did make some tablerunners and some really nice angel ornaments for the craft show tomorrow. Well I have to go turn off the lights and get to bed -- need to be at the craft show at 7 for set up tomorrow morning

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Potholder Holiday Swap

Hi there!

I belong to a Flickr group that swaps potholders and there are some very creative folks on that site.

This is the AWESOME set I rec'd from Kristi...I LOVE THEM! Thank you so much! I will use the ornament on the Christmas tree and then on my little Valentine tree too! Her workmanship is just great, she did a wonderful job!
Thanks!



Here is what I sent - I thought this little snowman would be cute and I think he turned out ok.
He will actually be spending Christmas in Australia -- I sure hope the lady I sent to puts him in the freezer or he just might melt down under!!
I also made a santa ornament.


Here is a close up of my snowman face.

I sewed this morning and then ran some errands, I got some neat stuff at the thrift shop today...photos tomorrow of my shopping trip.

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

I am a Winner!!

Oh my gosh, I just checked out the Le Petite Project Winners and I won! I am thrilled!

Check out the Paginis over at the Pink Pincushion www.pinkpincushion.blogspot.com

Tomorrow is my First Thursday Quilt Group!

Happy Stitches!
Dorothy

Did you vote today?

Hello

I just got back from voting today. I hope you vote today too. It doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican or Green, it just matters that you voice something.
This country needs help, and we need to work together as a country to pull this country out of the problems we are having.

With that said, I am off to sew!

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Le Petite Projects and More Pumpkins

Good Morning!

I hope you had a great Halloween! I just love the day of fantasy - you can be anyone you want to be for just one day. How fun! We had 125 Trick or Treaters. That is down from years past usually we get over 150 and I was worried I had 140 bags prepared and I ran to town to get some "extra" candy -- Hubby was glad - he like the "extra" I bought :)

I joined the group Le Petite Projects this year and our first project was Schnibble Pagini and I had posted a picture a while back and here it is again - still not quilted, hopefully that might get done today after I clean house and take down the outdoor decorations.

I love this little quilt, I had a fat quarter bundle of Thimbleberries, so I made it from that instead of charm squares. I really am trying to use up what I have. It looks fallish to me, so I want to quilt it and either hang it in the hallway where I have a Witch quilt or use it as a table top.




Here are my 2 little darlings, Rudy is the dalmation and he is almost 11 -- he is the love of my life. And he loves to make his momma happy, he had that costume on all day!
Poochie is my little red head and she was Elvis, she HATED it, in fact she has pretty much hated every costume I have bought for her, she was a bumble bee, a witch, the devil and Cruella DeVille and she hides and keeps her head down, so she only wheres her costume for a few pictures and then she either takes it off, or hides behind the couch. So I don't make her wear it all day.

Here is a photo of our house in the day no so scary, our fountain in the middle of the front yard, usually shoots up red water, but our light burned out the day before and hubby did not think it was a crisis to fix it this late in the season, as today the fountain will be shut down for the year. I thought it was an urgert crisis. But I understand.

And here is our yard at night all lit up, kinda hard to see but it is fun.

We did carve and paint pumpkins yesterday morning and here is my favorite that I painted. I paint these at the garden center I work at on pie pumpkins but I thought I would like to use this hat on a pumpkin instead of a scarecrow, and the hat was a quarter at a garage sale, so I really think he turned out cute. He will stay on my front porch til Thanksgiving

Well I better get moving today, my list is long!

Happy Stitches

Dorothy

Happy Halloween!!

Good Morning! Happy Halloween!!

We are almost ready for the big day here at our house. We get over 150 little trick or treaters, so the goodie bags are packed, the yard is almost done, just a few lights need to be adjusted and a few pumpkins need to be decorated.

Lucky for us - the next town over has a HUGE Pumpkin Fest - I think it is over 40 years old this festival and it was an awesome day yesterday to go and check things out.....

Here is a house about a block from the festival.... awesome!

Here is another house just 2 doors down from the house above. Really neat decorations!

And now on to the pumpkin show..... folks from all over enter their pumpkins -decorated to win prizes. Each school kid in the area decorates a pumpkin, the courthouse lawn is filled with hundreds of pumpkins..it is an awesome event.

These are my top picks...

Strawberry milkshake and a burger (click on any picture to enlarge)

Pumpkin Horror house...see the libbeys can on the bottom YIKES!!!

This years theme was pumpkins across America this flag is awesome!

This is really neat a giraffe eating, some people have such great imagination.

This is the Pumkin Beauty contest, like Miss America only Miss Pumkin.. too cute!

A cow, since we do live in farm country!

Speaking of dairy, you need your 3 dairys a day, chocolate, strawbery and vanilla - what a yummy banana split.

And now for the favorite pumpkin picked by me........

A sewing girl pumpkin! Such creativity.. I just love it.

Well off to finish my pumpkins and I will post a few pictures of that tomorrow.

Happy Stitches!

Dorothy