Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Special Time and Handwork...

 As a mom this time of the year is always so hard...back to school time.  UGH!  Our local schools start back tomorrow, August 1st!  It always breaks my heart to send my boys back to school each year, I always enjoy having them home with me during the summer.  


It is hard to believe that Hunter will be starting the 5th grade this year.  Just seems like yesterday Andrew was starting and he is 19 yrs old now!  :(  A few days ago as I was searching through some photos I ran on to these of Hunter when he was a baby.  The first one is of him in his high chair.  He had this thing that every time you scolded him he would lay his head over and smile, just trying to look sweet!  He was a stinker!  He would also do that if you asked him if he was sweet too.  So cute!  
Here he is in his camo!  I had 4 ultrasounds while I was pregnant with him and each time they told me he was a girl!  Well....HE wasn't!!  So I had to take back all of the pretty pink and purple dresses and Richard bought camo!  LOL!  
The past couple of days have just been spent having "special time" with my boys.  I did squeeze in a little bit of handwork, that I will show you later in the post and I also did a little bit of pondering...


Speaking of Hunter, he snapped this photo as I was setting the table for dinner after Church on Sunday.  He was sooooo anxious to cut into that cake, but of course he had to eat his supper first.  He loves chocolate cake, nothing fancy, just "cake in a box" as he calls it.  
 I did manage to get 4 baskets finished and this takes me to 33 of them.  I really need to take a couple of days and do nothing but prep more blocks.  I also need to dig through some fabric and look for more backgrounds for them.  
 I also did some pondering...as you know we moved into our house the middle of this past January and it is still not finished, but that is a total different story.  I realized that I have NOTHING quilt related that is Christmas/Winter themed to display during that season.  What got me thinking was that Hunter made a comment the other day that our house didn't feel "cozy" to him.  As a mother, I want my house to feel "cozy" to my kids.  I think a lot of it is the fact that it is not finished, we still have plywood floors, not a lot of stuff on the walls, the wood trim is not done, we don't even have doors for all of the doorways.  Don't get me wrong, I love my house and the kids do too, and we are very grateful, but I guess it doesn't have that "homey feel" to it right now.  So, back to my story.  I have a million magazines and books that have Christmas/winter related patterns in them but I just didn't feel like digging through them all right now.  Ordering fabric and patterns are not options right now either, but I did dig through some of the patterns that I already had. I found three that would fit the bill but probably don't have time to finish all of them.  
 The first one is a wallhanging/door banner pattern from Country Threads and it is called "O' Holy Night"  If you click the photo on the website it shows more detail than my photo does.  I love it!  I love what it represents.  This one is definitely on my to-do list before the holidays.  I'm sure I can find some fabric in my stash for it.  


The center one is called "Over the Hills and Through the Woods" from Crab Apple Hill.  This one I would love to make, but somehow I don't see it getting done before the holidays.  Maybe I could start it and have it done by NEXT holiday season....hmmmm.....that is a thought.  


The last one is a small wallhanging measuring only 15 x 17.  It looks like it would be quick and easy to do.  It is called "Here I am Lord" by Bloomin' Minds.  You will have to go to the website to see the full detail of it.  This one I could easily make from scraps.  


Of course I have a million other things that I want to finish soon, like my Wrapped in Red quilt and some customer quilts and they do need to be finished first.  I sure wish we would get a break in this heat so that I can work on some machine quilting, this is just crazy!  


Anyway....do you all have any Christmas/holiday projects that you plan on making for YOURSELF???  I have a few things planned to make as gifts but these that I have shown in this post are things that I want to make for ME!  :)


BTW...if you bought quilt books from me, the rest of them are being mailed out tomorrow!!!!  Hope you enjoy them!


Have a wonderful and Blessed day!
Kristie

9 comments:

Hazel said...

Kristie I have done the over the Hills one I've received so many lovely comments on it ( it's on my blog ) I've been asked to do one in red for a friend but I prefer the black for myself .It took me 6 weeks but I admit I spent every spare minute working on it .

Becky said...

I am working on the Over the River one as well. I saw it on Hazel's blog and just fell in love with it. I am doing the embroidery panels now and hope to get it done before Christmas. I had to take a 6 week break (literally) as I had a fall and broke my left ankle and right wrist. I'm just out of the cast and am itching to stitch!!

Janet O. said...

It was always hard for me to send my kids back to school--I loved having them around.
I like those Christmas patterns--especially that first one.
I am working on a Christmas quilt right now--may post about it tonight. I have another one that just needs the border and then it will be ready to quilt. I tell myself I can get them both done for this year--but we'll see. : )

Narelle said...

Yes, I always loved having my kids home on the school holidays ... they move on all too soon.

I'm working on 'Tis The Season' by Natalie Bird. 12 little stitchery blocks to make a wall hanger that I hope to have finished by December.

The 2 smaller wall hangings sound lovely and doable. Perhaps the middle project will celebrate your 2nd Christmas in your home.

Dora, the Quilter said...

I understand about the back to school thing--it just comes way too soon.
I have almost two weeks before heading back--but really had no summer at all because of so many appointments. It would be fine with me if summer vaction were just starting.

Yvette said...

Look how fast you are going on those baskets! I love them. I made two last weekend so i tripled the amount I have. LOL

School sure starts early there!

Michelle said...

I love all three of those patterns! I just finished a Christmas quilt that I'll keep for our bed...it was part of a UFO challenge, that's why it's finished in plenty of time for Christmas! :) I love to decorate with runners and wall-hangings to match the seasons!

lil red hen said...

I always felt a touch of sadness whenever my girls went back to school; wondered if we had made the best of our time together. You're a wonderful mother!

Dirt Road Quilter said...

When our oldest started kindergarten, I couldn't even drive home. I sat on the curb and bawled. Everyone else was thrilled to 'get rid of' their kids and they couldn't understand what was wrong with me. When I wiped the tears away, there was one other mom there who felt the same way and we became great friends. A few years later we ended up homeschooling and I treasured every day.
All three of your patterns are wonderful. I am going to look into them in more detail...for next year. :) I'm making one Christmas gift a month and hope to sneak in a table runner for our front room. I am making a yo-yo tree. It's easy to stitch a few yo-yo's and add them every now and then.