Holiday Notes

Make yourself a little holiday notebook.

Just print off the page below or get the PDF HERE.

Fold it up like the Thanksgiving and Notion booklets. 

Keep track of gift ideas and holiday plans in a booklet small enough to fit any wallet.

Green & Red

Gorgeous colors of the season. :-)

All Set

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving. :-)

State of Being

Mostly, I am happy to live in a semi-chaotic state most of the time.

My house, somewhat messy, everyone going in opposite directions,

and my embroidery floss in a tangled ball. 

And then I go and invite everyone over for Thanksgiving

and I get totally nuts,

with cleaning, organizing and making everything

"just so".

I am happy the house looks so nice, but golly

it will be nice to pull out my messy ball of threads again. :-) 

Jammy Jars

I love red & white string and

I love the red gingham jar lids of Bonne Maman jam. 

I drilled a hole in the top of the lid and waa-laa I have a string dispenser.

Be careful drilling the hole because the drill can skip over the smooth surface.

I ended up with an off-center hole and had to even it up with tin snips. (not very easy or smooth)

I colored around the hole with a silver marker to cover-up the scratching I ended up with.

I made a second string dispenser for my sister

 which because of my practice with the first one was much easier and not as messy. :-)

Vintage Applique

Unbelievably small stitches on this vintage cloth hand towel. 

The rolls at the bottom of this picture are a collection of paper tapes by Martha Stewart called "Vintage Girl"

As usual, loving the gingham. :-)

Note Taking

Here is a little notebook for you to print out.

You can keep track of your plans for Thanksgiving.

I'm going to keep a grocery list, guest list,

and notes on equipment needed (dishes, chairs, etc.)

for our Thanksgiving get-together.

This little notebook is small enough to carry with me,

tucked into my wallet.

After you print it out,

 slice an opening along the center line between the center two blocks.

Fold to make a small booklet.

Please see my past post HERE to see pictures how.

***Sorry if you tried to print this picture and couldn't get it

--I had it as a PNG file and not a jpeg.

Hopefully changing it helps--let me know if you still have trouble.

Sunny Autumn

I finally put together a leaf collage from this years bounty. 

Over the weekend, a walk in a little nature preserve nearby was a delight.

Who doesn't love watching a sun-dappled creek. 

There are little creek trout in the upper center of this photo.

Years ago, when Meg was in second grade

 we kept a little creek trout all winter long in a plastic milk container.

When spring came we let it go in the creek we got it from.

I home-schooled Meg for a few years back then 

and have many fond memories of our time together. 

The pink along the creek is an old-fashioned kind of burning bush.

It has a very open, loose growing pattern

and smaller leaves than the style you see in many yards.

Little red berries hang from the stems in the fall.

Mouse Mansion

This is a gorgeous flyleaf from the Dutch book "Het Muizenhuis Sam & Julia" by Karina Schappman.

Please check out the posting about the book on Dutch Sisters HERE.

There are more pictures from the book there, including an adorable built-in bed.

The author's website is HERE with a bit more info.

I sure hope there is a plan to publish this book in English.

Wow!

This photo is from a pinterest board and I just love this mushroom house.

A gypsy caravan playhouse in one corner of the yard, and this in another.

I could so easily collect playhouses! :-)

Road Traveled

A milestone passes today.

One year ago I woke with Bell's Palsy.

It has been a long year.

The worst symptoms passed by April,

but I'm left with a bit of remaining stillness and/or twitchiness on the right side of my face.

This is minor, for which I am glad and also, I notice it more than others do.

At this point I can't imagine that my face will ever feel like it did on November 2nd, 2010 and for that I am sad.

But, it could have been so much worse

so I can deal with it

and thank goodness that I got my smile back which is what I wanted the most.

I was helped very much by those on the internet willing to share their experiences with the illness.

There is even a woman who video-taped herself each month trying to move her face in the mirror.

Unending thanks and love go out to my family and friends whose support I needed so badly.

And Now Featuring Autumn....Back Again For a Second Call

Weird weather recently.

We had another episode of thunder snow on Monday. 

I feel for those in the Eastern US though, with all the snow bringing down all those trees and wires.

Power outages stink! 

Cool old  fence wire that has become part of this tree

which was then downed by a storm some time ago. 

Does anyone know if a mushroom can start out in this star pattern

or does it take on this shape as it ages and cracks?

I wish I would end up star-shaped instead of just cracking and aging. :-)