that's a wrap

The end of another year is upon us...

 

 

It's always hard to comprehend that time can go so quickly.

 

We have been getting lots of snow here again in South Dakota.

If you know me you know that I love winters here.

Just tuck me in front of a fireplace with a cup of tea, a book

 and some handwork and I am one happy woman.

 

Happy New Year friends!

 

~b

 



Friday post card

 

Oh what fun it is to ride...

12 inches of new snow!

 

~b



Come on in

A Christmas open house...

Merry Christmas

from our house to yours...

~ b



Friday post card

~b

5 days

Santa has been super busy here...

all the little details on this doll house furniture he made.

 

(I better get some quilts made for these beds.)

 

 

Keep in mind that Mrs. Claus likes to keep Santa busy in his workshop.

 

 

Some might suggest she likes to keep him out of the house?

But that's simply not true!

 

~b

 



playing doctor

When our youngest granddaughters aren't playing chefs...

they like to be doctors.

 

 

I made them each a doctor's jacket for Christmas

These aren't the first ones I've made...

We had another Doc McStuffins fan a few years ago.

 

 

We are almost finished making and ready to concentrate on a menu.

 

~b

 

 



Santa's workshop

These toy trays came out of Santa's workshop last week.

They are just as cute as can be.

 

 

I downloaded the menus from the internet

 and glued them to the bottom of each tray.

 

 

Our two youngest granddaughters love playing with the kitchen set

their parents made them a few years ago.

These waitress trays will be a fun addition.

 

 

The two-year-old likes to steal her sister's apron

so grandma decided she needed her own and made her one.

 

~b

 

wee bear

I feel like this wee bear should come with a warning...

Do Not Attempt this at home!

 

 

He stands 5 inches tall with 11 total tiny parts

 to cut and piece together.

He didn't take all that long to make

 but making another one will be debatable.

 

He is pretty cute though isn't he?

 

~b



slow down please

I'm beginning to feel the crunch of Christmas...

checking the calendar everyday to make sure I can get everything done in time.

Why does it have to come so fast?

Dakota Man finished this sweet firetruck but I can't bear to part with it.

I think it's a keeper. How's your Christmas going?

~b

Friday post card

 

Winter in the Black Hills  of South Dakota is always beautiful.

Loving that red caboose.

 

~b



Scandinavia

Mr. b finished my Christmas/winter barn quilt.

I think it looks like a Christmas ornament.

 

 

Does this picture look a little Scandinavian?

I love this pixie I made years ago

 and have been contemplating making another one.

Anyway...

nice job on the barn quilt Mr. b.

 

~b



quick and cute!

No sewing skills?

Because anyone can make these holiday mug rugs.

You will need a sewing machine however.

 

 

I used a 5" charm pack called postcards

so I didn't even have to cut squares.

I think each coaster took me 5 minutes to fold and sew...

20 minutes tops for the whole project.

I love a quick project that is also cute don't you?

Instructions can be found on Pinterest...

Holiday Mug Rug tutorial - quick and cute!

 

 

Make a friend a set, throw in a tin of tea

and you have a nice gift.

 

~b

 



December embroidery

 

I don't know if I like redwork embroidery so well

 because it's easy or because of it's vintage appeal.

 

Redwork embroidery was popular in the 1800s

as red was the only dye that was colorfast, hence its popularity.

 Different colors came into use as the dying process improved.

 

 

Daughter knit and pearl embroidered this flour sack towel

for me while we were in Hill City,SD

to remember the 1880 train ride we all enjoyed together.

 

~b

 

 

Friday post card



 

I watched Polar Express last night...

so cute.

 

~b

What's going on?

 

Jalapeno cheddar dutch oven crusty bread...

recipe found on pinterest and it's very good.

Oh, and super simple.

I'm serving it with chili tonight.

 

 

I finished another purse organizer.

You can't just make one you know.

 

 

I have a whole lot of knitting to get done before Dec. 25.

I have just barely begun this project and am already wearing a wrist brace.

Yikes, gotta go. Bye!

 

~b

top secret

It's the time of year where a lot of the projects

 we are working on have to stay

 in Santa's workshop and under wraps.

 

 

I'm almost done with decorating the house...

I will spend the next 27 days tweaking, moving, redoing

or undoing what I have done.

Anyone else like that?

 

~b

 

 



make-do

Usually for me Christmas is all about making-do

 with what I have when it comes to decorating.

I wanted to replace this 3-foot tree but decided to instead see what I could do with it.

I had Dakota Man make a wooden box to put it in...

(why do the bases always have to be so ugly?) and I stenciled it.

 Have you ever priced  wooden boxes!?

 

 

We spray painted the tree hoping to camouflage

 the awful-not-anything-like-real color of it.

 

 

I put old and sentimental ornaments on it

 as I like to theme our large tree.

Yup...I'm very happy with it.

(But I may go back and rearrange some of those ornaments.)

 

~b



inspiring

This post is all about getting you inspired to do your Christmas decorating.

 

 

How many trees do you put up?

 

 

We took Friday off and headed to the nearest Hobby Lobby

 in Pierre which is an hour and a half from home.

Pierre is also the city of the South Dakota Capitol.

We have a beautiful statehouse but at Christmas time it is

a winter wonderland.

 

 



 

I came home inspired...

 

~b

 



Thanks

 

This is exactly what we are doing for our Thanksgiving

...eating beef.

 

Have a thankful day.

 

A am grateful for all of you that check out my little blog

 to see what is going on in my corner of this big world.

~b



toys

Dakota Man has been spending some quality time

 in his workshop already this season.

 

 

He was inspired to make these small planes

 from ones he saw while in Kellogg, Minnesota at Lark Toys.

 

 Lark Toys is about the most fun toy store I have ever been in.

 

 

 

This moose is part of carousel.

The troll is to be the first of many

 that will eventually be displayed with it in the toy store.

 

~b

 

 



Russian tea

I found some old Tang in the top of my cupboard the other day
 which prompted me to dig out my recipe for Russian tea. 



 

I picked up my Russian tea drinking habit years ago

while living in Iowa.

Some people call it friendship tea.

 

I do have some interesting Russian-Germans

 on my family tree so I will stick with Russian tea.

 

Russian Tea

2 cups Tang

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup instant tea

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

 

I will swear to this day that Iowans have the best recipes.

 

~b

Friday post card

 

Daughter knit and pearl in North Dakota

sent her chickens to their winter home while we were visiting.

 

Now don't assume they got to go south for the winter.

They went a few miles out of town to Farmer Brown's

 where there is a little more protection for them.

But they are still three spoiled chickens...

her and the girls see to that.

 



 

~b

so handy

I love this purse organizer I made yesterday.

It has seven pockets! No kidding!

And four of those are divided to help keep your junk organized.

 

 

It will be so handy to put inside your purse or bag.

No more lost keys.

 

I started another one today

while my pumpkin bread was baking.

November is my pumpkin month. I crave it.

 

 

~b

 

snow thoughts

Are you thinking about Christmas decorating yet?

I sent Mr. b out to his woodshop today

 to cut me these barn wood trees.

 

 

This is more of a winter scene than Christmas.

We have had snow and below normal temperatures

making it hard to not think about Christmas.

I say when there's snow on your pumpkins and mums

it's time to get out Christmas.

 

~b

old raggedy

No, not really old.

She is made new to look old.

 

 

I finished this Raggedy Ann this morning.

I have made quite a few raggedy' s

 starting when my kids were babies 40 years ago.

 

 

I had to have a bit of fun after I finished her legs.

 

~b