Who?

'Who' needs a silly winter hat?

 

 

Keeping this short today...

time to make Christmas cookies.

I haven't made cut-out cookies for years.

But if you have a granddaughter singing about

grandma's house and a cookie...

well you know.

b

Wrapping things up...

It's a wrap!

 

 

Well...really it's a scarf that I am glad to be done making.

 

 

Make that two scarves that I am glad to be done making.

Don't forget...

we have twin granddaughters.

 

I'm sure their mother will be thrilled that I made them snake scarves.

But these girls love snakes.

 

How is everyone holding up?

It's crunch week here at our house...

like now or never week.

b



Christmas fun...

 

New to me this year...

making Salt Dough Ornaments.

 

The granddaughters loved helping with them.

 

 

I have lots of Christmas cookie cutters.

 

And in my mailbox yesterday...

 

 

This super cute mini-table runner out of vintage fabric

from daughter knit and pearl.

 

Don't you love a fun surprise in the mailbox this time of year?

 

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The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

 

 

While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.

 

Santa pillowcases for the granddaughters,

and so fun to make.

 

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forecast: snow

This is pretty much what we did at our house this past weekend...

 

 

While the snow came down and blew around

we stayed safely indoors enjoying our first blizzard of the season.

 

Pearl said she's glad she's not an outside kitty.

 

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Christmas Greetings...

 

Today I am beginning to think about our Christmas cards...

 

I love hearing from relatives and old friends.

And generally I enjoy getting our yearly news

 together to send out in a pretty Christmas card...

but this year I'm drawing a blank.

 

A penny postcard with a penny stamp

sounds good to me.

 

b



1988

I'm finally getting to do a little Christmas decorating today.

Wow! Do you make a mess like I do?

 

Mr. b went to work still looking a little peaked...

but I think he remembered what a day is like at home

when I get it torn up to do my decorating.

 

 

It wouldn't take so long if I didn't seem to get so sidetracked.

 

I love digging out ornaments that we have collected

from here and there on trips we have taken.

 

This one is from our California trip in 1988...

our kids were 9 and 10 years old.

Looking back I can't believe I loaded up both kids

and drove to Reno, Nevada where we met up with

Mr. b who was already there for his job.

 

Our kids were my navigators as I drove over the mountains...

they definitely learned how to read a map on that trip.

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tis the season...

 

for a pot of paper whites.

 

 

I'll find a dark cool room for a couple of days for these to take root

before bringing them back out.

I will look forward to their pretty flowers after Christmas is all over.

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bronchitis

 

A little Christmas...

 

 

x's 2.

 

Still no decorating done at our house?

 

Mr. b took up my day yesterday with a trip to the emergency room.

 

He'll live...

with a serious case of bronchitis for a few days.

 

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Joann Fabrics

 

On sale and free shipping!

 

Have to love that deal.

 

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ridiculous

  

absolutely true...

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gnome



There's no place like Gnome...

 

I declared myself

"Princess for the day"

and

really haven't accomplished much.

Although my homemade vegetable soup

 on the stove smells wonderful.

b



The Bird Cafe

From our front window...

 

Mr. b's bird cafe was a busy joint this noon.

 

 

Woodpeckers...

 

 

 finches enjoying

 the peanut butter and bird seed pine cones

 the grands made this weekend...

 

 

blue jays...

 

 

I put up with the mostly dead tree in our front yard

because I know how valuable it is to our little feathered friends.

 

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NOT for Sale

These are a few weekend art projects...

NOT for Sale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

peanut butter pine cones...tin-can robots...foam reindeer...snowmen...

chick pine cones and salt dough ornaments...

Our granddaughters love doing art (craft) projects!

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a grateful heart

I am cleaning and cooking today with a grateful heart...

 

I am thankful to be able to clean my house today...

my prayer for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

 

I am thankful for the energy to be cleaning...

my prayer for the young woman down the street dying of cancer.

 

I am thankful for family that will arrive this evening...

my prayer for all the sick babies that our daughter-in-law will stay home to take care of,

she is neonatal nurse in an intensive care unit.

We will miss her.

 

 

 

I am thankful to be living in our small town, in South Dakota and in this country...

My prayer for world peace.

 

Happy Thanksgiving All...

from barb of knit and pearl



autumn cottage

I like to match my yarn project to the magazines I'm reading...

 

 

No, I'm kidding.

But aren't these colors gorgeous?

I like knitting with this homespun yarn.

 

 

Are you like me today...

trying to do cleaning and Thanksgiving cooking?

It's all about timing on holidays.

I like to get as much done ahead as I possibly can.

 

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a big little project

I have always loved little containers

and hated throwing them away.

 

When I ran into this pattern...

well, I knew I had to make these for the granddaughters.

 

 

It was a big little project...

tiny pieces, ugh.

 

 

A little mouse and his tiny teddy bear,

sleeping in his little Altoid bed...

So Sweet!

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sweet

Mr. b must have thought I needed a pick-me-up

with all the extra work we've doing in our basement-from-hell.

 

 

He brought me Taco John's

and flowers.

 

I loved it...

and the flowers too.

 

b

finding gold...

I finally found some ambition to begin cleaning out our basement.

At our house if you can't find a place to put IT...

put IT in the basement.

 

Add to that...the fact that Mr. b comes from a long line of hoarders!

 

Cleaning out the basement a week before Thanksgiving is a very strange project isn't it?

 

It was when I ran across this box I knew I had struck GOLD!

 

 

I know what you're thinking here...

and no, this box was not part of Mr. b's collection of junk.

 

 

But finding this box...

For a seamstress? It was like finding gold.

 

Approximate value of thread...

$175

and there is 10 more yards of thread on each spool than what is sold today.

BINGO!

 

b



A bowl of secrets...

There is nothing I love more than a secret.

Sometimes I keep it...

sometimes I don't.

Well, you know how that goes.

What good is a secret if you can't share it right?

This is my bowl of secrets today.

Aren't the colors gorgeous?

And the wool yarn is so soft.

Can you keep a secret?

b

San Francisco

If you're going to San Francisco...

 

 

be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

 

 

Daughter knit and pearl and her hubs vacationed in San Francisco

this past summer and brought back this coffee burlap bag, peace fabric and patch.

 

 

Then I got commissioned to make a bag from it.

I threw in the zippered pouch at no added charge.

 

 

I think it turned out very cute...

and she loved it.

 

Love and Peace...b

 

 



Veteran's Day

A huge thank you to all our veteran's today.

It seems that after this entense election they fought for our right to complain.

 

When you lose sight of the great country we live in...

take a close look at third world countries.

 

 

Mr. b is a Vietnam Veteran.

He was fortunate to not have spent time in Vietnam.

 

He and my brother Dave both enlisted in the seventies, a very scarey time to be in the US Army.

 

Mr. b has always said being in the service shapes a man...

in the best of ways.

 

Thank you...

b

 

 

 

nutty

It's been a little nuts around here lately...

 

 

I'm relieved to be heading into a three-day weekend.

As soon as get my story done on the stripper and the priest...

 ( yes, in my job a thesaurus is my most valuable possession)
 

I intend on enjoying the fruits of my labor.

 

Hope you all get to kick back like I will be doing!

 

b



blackbirds

 

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

 

This nursery rhyme goes through my head whenever

 I see all these birds in our front yard.

 

Then I think of the last line...

 

When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

 

and I get inside fast.

 

b

really?

I can never wait to turn on the Christmas tunes.

 

 

I really hate to squeeze out Thanksgiving by turning them on...

but really!

 

A month of Christmas music is just not enough.

 

So for now... I confess -

I'm in the closet listening to my Christmas tapes.

 

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patriotic duty

We voted early this morning...

before work.

 

 

I am actually excited over this election.

 

The ads didn't seem overbearing

and for once I watched all four debates.

 

And as the saying goes...

"May the best man win"

 

b



details details

I decided I am not good at little details...

 

 

I get a project 98% complete when I lay it down never to return again.

The above sweater I had finished all except sewing on buttons and ribbons

when it lay stored away for several years.

 

 

This little hooded sweater needed the sleeves sewn in and buttons put on.

 

 

I put a flannel on the back of this baby quilt and machine stitched in the ditch to finish it.

 

Cooler weather has been my inspiration.

I will show more socks in the next few days I hope.

 

b

TGIF

It's the perfect kind of day...

 

 

for a cup of apple cider.

 

b

oh baby

Trick or Treat!

 

Did you have cuties at your door last night like these two fairies?
 

It was a slow night here...

and me and the mr will be tempted by these treats for awhile.

 

Oh Baby...

 

Aren't these baby hats sweet?

And fun to crochet!

You know by now  I love making baby things.

b