Happy Thanksgiving!

picture found at http://www.examiner.com/

I just love this picture! Isn't that why God put dogs and cat's on the planet? So we can dress them up in silly clothes and laugh at them???

Here are the top five things I am thankful for:.

1. My children who are healthy, intelligent, semi-well adjusted, independent souls. (yes I count that as one!)

2. A husband I have loved for 28 years who has classes 3 nights a week so we don't drive each other crazy. (What am I going to do when he gets his Masters in May? Maybe I'll encourage him to go for his Phd!)

3. Parents who are relatively healthy who have always given me unconditional love.

4. Heat. I'm in Michigan and winter came early this year...need I say more?!?

5. My two best friends, Betsy and Rochelle. Even though we don't spend much time together as we all lead busy lives, I value their friendship and am glad they are on the planet with me.

I hope everyone can find at least 5 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes...you just have to look for them!

Wanda Sykes On Bailout Stock Market

I totally stole this idea from Cindy is Cafty and She Makes Things too! I love Wanda's ideas!

Project Progress and the Incredibly Giving Winnings

I have finished the projects I wanted to for my Mother's birthday on Thursday. I mentioned the apron I wanted to make for her painting class since she keeps putting her boobs in her paint! It turned out really cute and was incredibly easy to make.


I also made up the ornament I mentioned. It turned out really cute. It's hard to see but the background material for the snowman is actually a pale blue with sparkly snow flakes, which is why I couldn't get a good picture of it! I learned a valuable lesson while making this. Don't talk on the phone to Gamer (who is at college) while sewing, otherwise you won't pay attention and WILL stick the eye of the needle viciously in your finger! That was two days ago and my finger is STILL killing me!


I also decided to use a darling panel I had on hand that I bought at my LQS recently. I had originally planned to make a wall hanging out of it for myself, but decided my Mom needed a fun Christmas table runner instead! It's very simple, just a little quilt as you go where I added the borders, but I love the way it turned out!



A while back I won a penny rug giveaway from Trudy over at Bits of Wool. After much concern over the fact that the mail decided to move slower than a snail...I got it! Look at all the wonderful things Trudy sent me!

Beautiful magazines, lovely ribbons and mini ornaments, buttons and chocolate! Even though my fingers are itching to get started on the stitching on the penny rug, I am being a good girl and I have put it away until I finish all my Christmas things! Now I have a lovely thing to look forward to making after the holidays! Thank you so much Trudy! You truly have a loving and giving nature!

Make sure you stop over to Trudy's blog as she is having another giveaway - you really don't want to miss out on the opportunity.

Christmas is just around the corner...

I can't believe that we only have 40 days until Christmas! We're talking just over a month away! I also have my Mom's birthday on the 20th of this month...Baby Girl's birthday on December 29th...Runner's birthday on January 15th. I have decided to make a list in my sidebar to keep me on track with the projects I need to complete before/near Christmas. I am also going to show you what I plan to make with links to the tutorials online if I have them.

There are countdowns poppin up all over on the internet. If you run across one, please let me know! I'm hoping to put the buttons in my sidebar linking to as many as I can find!

The first project I am planning/working on is an apron for my Mom. She wants something she can wear while she paints. This is what I found via Tip Nut's website:

I am also making an ornament from Peppermint & Holly Berries by Nancy Halvorsen

I also have this planned for Gamer from Sew-Mad:

I am going to make it into a holder for his PSP.

Stay tuned for more projects!

We have a winner...

My Daughter drew a name out of the bowl. The winner is...

You know I just have to say something, don't you just hate it when people are having a giveaway and they wait until the afternoon to tell you who won!?!

And then, instead of just telling you who the winner is...they have to tell you all this stuff that you don't really want to read?

You know who I mean...those really annoying...I have something important to tell you...I know you won't mind waiting...Since I have your full attention...type of people.

I mean really, what ARE they thinking??? All you really want to know is if you won or not. You don't really care about all the other stuff they have to say, show you, link you to...on and on and on...

I just wanted you to know that I find that type of person really, really, really annoying! I would never do something like that to you! I mean really that would just be SOOOO rude. One thing I pride myself on is being polite...and nice...and thoughtful...and fair...and most importantly I pride myself on getting to the point! I would never just blather on and on when what you really want to know is if you won my giveaway.

So, since I am not like those people and I really do have important things to say...

Congratulations to Jane from Jane's Fabric and Quilts...you are the winner!

You all should go check out Jane's site! She is putting up a Christmas Village and documenting the whole thing...too cute!

Thank you everyone who entered. I will be having another giveaway right after Thanksgiving for the cutest little thing you ever saw...so stay tuned!!

The 12 Days of Junkie

Over at Tip Junkie they are having the most amazing giveaway! There will be something given away every day for 12 days and there will be 2 winners everyday! You have to check it out!

Funny Cat Video

Only one more day to enter my giveaway!

I was looking for something to make me laugh this morning. I went on youtube and found this. The video quality on it isn't the best, but it sure made me laugh out loud! Hope it will make you laugh too! Enjoy!

One word meme's...

I grabbed this list from Jenny over at Allsorts, you have to check out her cute little dollypops!
You should play along too, come on, you know you want to!

Where is your mobile phone? charger
Where is your significant other? bed
Your hair colour? blond
Your mother? teaching
Your father? reading
Your favourite thing? crafting
Your dream last night? disturbing
Your dream goal? rich
The room you're in? kitchen
Your hobby? crafting
Your fear? drowning
Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
Where were you last night? friends
What you're not? confident
One of your wish-list items? furnature
Where you grew up? Michigan
The last thing you did? clean
What are you wearing? comfies
Your TV? off
Your pets? loveable
Your computer? new
Your mood? retrospective
Missing someone? Betsy
Your car? Mustang!!!
Something you're not wearing? thong
Favourite shop? Joanns
Your summer? short
Love someone? lots
Your favourite colour? burgandy
When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
When is the last time you cried? yesterday

There are only four more days until I draw a name for the apron set. If you are a lurker, sign up! It won't hurt...I promise!

Thanksgiving Traditions and a Giveaway!

For those of us in the US, we have 22 days until Thanksgiving. We (my family) celebrate Thanksgiving by spending time with family (even when we don't want to), eating too much food (one more piece won't hurt me) and in my family, falling into a "I ate too much" stupor on the couch while we stare sleepily at a Christmas movie on tv.

Last year, because my above description is accurate in my home, I decided that we should make Thanksgiving about more than just eating and sleeping in front of the tv. We do that all the time...lol! So for starters, I go to this site: http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/FictionNames2.htm and click on the button until I come up with a name for each of my family members that seems to fit. My parent's always come over for dinner so that means eight names all together! I then print the names out on suitably "thanksgiving-ee" card stock and my Daughter and I put the name tags at the table to indicate where people sit. Last year, I confess though, that I came up with my own name for my accident prone Mother: Runs with Scissors! We all had a good laugh over that one!

The second thing we do is prepare a Thanksgiving tree. It simply consists of an ice bucket and an interesting twig from outside. I added fall colored flowers to the base for interest. We cut out leaf shapes from fall colored cardstock, enough for there to be at least two for each person. I lay these on the table in front of the "tree." Everyone is required...yes, I said required...to write on two leaves, two different things they are thankful for. This has to be done before dinner is served. After dinner, while still at the table, we read what we have written and then hang the leaf on the tree. It was awesome last year! We got everything from "I am thankful for my video games" to "I am thankful to be alive" (my Dad is a heartattack/bypass survivor). If you don't do something like this in your family, you should try it. It costs very little and is a great way to bring the family together while counting our blessings.

Here are a couple of pictures of my tree from last year:



So now on to my first ever giveaway! I decided to have a giveaway because I have been blessed lately with winning a few of the generous ones that have been available out there in bloggy-land. It's a small way of paying it forward. For this giveaway, I made an apron (my first ever) that turned out so cute! I also have a matching potholder (purchased). The pattern is from Debbie Mumm, made for JoAnn Fabrics..



1. Due to the nature of the giveaway, it is open to US residents only. I promise, for non-US readers that I will be having a Christmas giveaway in less than a month that will be open to everyone!

2. Just leave me a comment on this post telling me your favorite Thanksgiving family tradition! Don't have one? How about your favorite side dish? I'm looking for a new one!

3. For an extra entry, in a separate comment, tell about my giveaway on your blog and leave me a link to view it!

4. Make sure you leave me an email so that I can contact you if you win. All email-less entries will be deleted.

I will be announcing the winner on Wednesday, November 12th!

Good luck!

And Fun was had by All

Here are the only two of my four munchkins that went trick-or-treating. Baby Girl was Dorthy and Boy Genius was a scarecrow. They looked so cute! Boy Genius is such a good brother! He took good care of Baby Girl while they were out!

Runner was not with us Friday night. He was staying in a hotel near the Michigan Speedway. On Saturday Runner participated in the State competition for cross country! It was the first time that a squad from our area qualified for states and we are very proud of our Son for being one of the 7 runners that got to go!! What a great way to go out on Runner's senior year!

Gamer spent the whole weekend at his anime convention and apparently had a blast! He made some new friends and hooked up with some old ones! His costume was a huge hit...people kept wanting to take pictures with him!

King Leonidas and I, Queen Gorgo (300) Went to our costume party on Saturday. We had so much fun! Spartan Fan won best costume (which was actually a prize for me since I made the costume for him!!!). I got sexiest Aunt! I ended up driving home (thank goodness I stopped drinking early enough) as Spartan Fan was...well...feeling no pain!

Now that all the necessary sewing is done for Halloween, I can work on a couple of other projects I have planned. One of them is a surprise for those of you who follow my blog...so stay tuned, I will be telling you about it in the next couple of days!