Felt, Sequins, Beads and Louisiana

Long time no see!  It has been awhile since I have been on here.  I tell myself that I am going to post more often but then time just seems to fly by in between my post.  I have been keeping busy. 

First I want to show you a picture of my cactus.  I keep calling it a Christmas Cactus but really it must be a Thanksgiving Cactus as it blooms right around Thanksgiving.

I have been busy working with felt and sequins lately.  The man who owns the building that the store is in where I work and he also has a business next door came over one day with a felt Santa that he was trying to sew sequins and beads on for a stocking he was making for his new grandson.  He had made a mess of the thread!  He said that he has made these stockings in the past but that was 19 years ago when he was 50.  So he asked me if I would make the stocking for him.  I told him sure thing.  Here are some pictures of the stocking and closeups of the objects on it.

He and his wife were very happy with how it turned out.  Working on this socking got me in the mood to work with felt, sequins, and beads.  It has been years since I had done anything out of these supplies. 

First thing I made was this beautiful redbird pin.  The picture does not do it justice.  Sequins just don't photograph well.  At least not for me.  It really looks a lot darker and sparkly then this photo shows.

I also made these gingerbread people ornaments for my best friend in Minnesota.  She lost all her Christmas ornaments and decorations.  This was a great loss for her.  I put the word out to all her friends so they would send her a special ornament to rebuild her collection.  These are the ones I sent to her.

I also made several of these little Kokeshia dolls that are lanyards.  Below are two of them.  I forgot to take pictures of the other two I made before I sold them.

Below is the Nativity scene I have at work.  It is clear acrylic and I love it!

We made a trip to Lafayette, Louisiana this past weekend.  We went to celebrate the graduation of my nephew, Ross, from college.  My husband's twin came down from Michigan.  My husband had not seen him in almost 3 years and their sister and her husband came from Arizona.  They had not seen her in quiet a number of years.  It was a nice little family reunion.

My husbands twin Mark and my husband Clark.  Do you think they look alike?  Everyone says Mark looks older then Clark.  That is because he lives in Michigan with all that dry air.  I told him he needed to move back to the humid South!  He said he looks older cause he is older as he was born first.  hahaha

 My husband with my niece's rat on his shoulder.  My nephew put that rat on my shoulder and it climbed into my hair!  I was screaming at him to get it off!  I hate rats!  I told him not to put it on me in the first place.

 Mark & Clark with their sister Jackie.  My husband is on the right.   All three of them kept taking off their glasses for the pictures so I told them to leave them on for one!

 My nephew Ross and me.

 Me, my son Keith, my husband Clark, my daughter Amber, and my daughter Tara.  My husband was loving that yacht in the background.  We had the party at a small yacht club that my nephew is a member of.

 Here is the whole clan.  My nephew Ross, my brother-in-law Claud, my sister-in-law Jackie, my brother-in-law Mark, Clark, Keith, Tara, me, Amber.
My camera does not take very good pictures at a distance.  My nephew's friend took some really good ones with her camera and is going to email them to me.

 My husband's sister Jackie and her husband Claud.  This was at breakfast the next morning.

 The sunset on the water at the yacht club we were at.  It was beautiful!

We had a great weekend.  It was a long drive and I tell you having three grown kids in the back seat is worse then having three little kids back there, I think!!!  They were always fussing about something.  Mostly about how croweded it was!  Poor Tara is the smallest and she had to sit in the middle.  She said she felt like a sardine crammed in between her brother and sister!  hahaha  I was so glad to get home and get out of that car!

Hopefully I will post again before too much time has passed again!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Magnolias & Earrings

Have you ever noticed the seed pod on a Magnolia Tree after the blooms all fall off?  I hadn't until recently.  There are a couple of Magnolia Trees at the nursing home where my Daddy is.  The past few days I have noticed the pods with red berries on them.  I figured it must be seeds and not berries.  Today I pick one off the tree.  Following are some pictures I took of it.  The red color is beautiful!  I think I am gonna try to plant some of the seeds.  I looked it up on line how to plant them.  My cousin, Minnie Mae, has a huge Magnolia Tree at her house.  When it blooms it is so beautiful and smells wonderful!  I have always loved Magnolia Trees.

I have tatted a few more pairs of earrings.  I hope you like them.  I am having the most fun picking out thread and beads to make my earrings.  Although it seems to take me forever to decide which thread and beads to use!  hahaha  The pattern for the first two pairs of earrings is by Jane Eborall.  Here is the link to the pattern if you would like it : http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/Palmetto3DEarwigs.pdf  Jane does beautiful work and has some great patterns!

CHRISTMAS RED DROP BLOSSOMS - $20



JUICY WATERMELON DROP BLOSSOMS - $20



MOCHA BROWN DARK - $15

MOCHA SWIRL CHANDELIER - $12

The next pair of earrings is my first attempt at macrame' earrings.  It has been a lot of years since I did any macrame' at all and I never did do very much of it.  But when I saw Donna Littlewood's, of KnotGypsy Designs,  beautiful creations I had to give these earrings a try.  I bought the pattern from her and got right on them.  I am afraid my knots are not very good.  I had the hardest time with the Double Half-Hitch Knot.  I still can't seem to do it very well.  I sat and worked on another pair of earrings last night and just finally gave up on the knot.  Maybe it was because it was late and I was tired.  I'm gonna give it another try today. 

These are called Fan Earrings.  They are not for sell as they are my first macrame' earrings and like I said before the knots are not too good.  Be sure and check out Donna's website and see all her beautiful creations!

Fall Festival

This past Saturday my town had it's annual Fall Festival. They have crafts, food, antique cars, lumber jack contest, games for the kids, and music. It is an all day event. A friend of mine and I had a booth in it this year. This is the first year I have been in it in years!

Below is a picture of me and the baby booties, hats, and bonnets I had for sale.
Here is a close up of my booties and hats.
This is a picture of my two Christening sets I had for sell. I sold both of them to a lady who goes to my church. Her daughter-in-law is having a baby girl in late February.
In the upper part of this picture you see some ribbons that my friend made. She embroidered the different school logos on them. Also there is a bonnet I crocheted. In the lower part of the picture are some little Japanese bags I made to sell.
These are some scrub tops and little pajamas my friend made.
These are some pillowcase dresses my friend made.
Here are some jumpers, diaper bags, blankets, bonnets and little slips my friend made.
This is one side of our booth. It is my friends canopy and "Sew On & Sew Forth" is what she calls her business.
We did not sell very much stuff, but we had a really good time seeing and talking to lots of friends that we don't normally see very often. The crowds just weren't very big. In the past few years the fair that comes to town yearly has been coming the week of the Fall Festival and a lot of people go to it. I really wish they would schedule it in October like they used too!

Amber and Keith spent the day with me at the festival. Keith actually sold a pair of baby booties for me! I had gone to get us something to eat and left him in charge. He said a lady told him she did not have any babies. He told her they make great gifts and so she bought a pair! I was so proud of him!

New Purse

Although the bag I made and showed in a previous post turned out beautiful, it was just too big for an everyday purse. So I decided to save it and use it for a tote bag when needed. Sunday afternoon I made this purse. I had bought this fabric on a trip to Mobile at Joann's there. I loved the large flowers on it. I thought it would be perfect for a purse. Hubby agreed with me. I showed him the flowered fabric and the fabric for the lining and the fabric for the pockets. I happened to have the last two fabrics in my stash.
Here is a picture of the whole purse. The lighting is not great. I think it is too bright or something. It does not do justice to the colors in the fabrics.
Here is a close-up of the front of the bag. I put an outside pocket on it. I love to have a large outside pocket to hold papers.

This is the back of the bag. I think it would have been really beautiful if I had taken the time to outline the flowers and veins in the flowers with embroidery floss, but I was in a hurry to get it made so I could use it on Monday.
Here is the inside lining and pockets. As you can see it is already full of stuff! I have lots of little pouches in it that I keep certain things in, like my pictures, check book, address book, stamps, etc. I just like to keep everything nice and neat. I also put a zipper in this purse as I am bad about letting my purse fall off my car seat and everything spills out of it. I had a really hard time with the zipper. I really don't like putting in zippers. I broke two sewing machine needles on it!
I really am happy with the way my purse turned out. It is just the right size!

New Bag Made

I saw this great pattern for a bag over at Freda's Hive blog. I thought to myself that this would be a great purse for me. So I ordered the pattern. Nanette's bags looked so lovely and so easy to make. I figured I could make one in no time. Now you need to remember that I have no sewing room. I do all of my fabric cutting on my bed and then I have to bring this little table in my bedroom and put my machine on it to sew. That is why I don't like to do much machine sewing. It is such a pain in the neck moving everything around and I can only do this when hubby is working. So I got the pattern, then got my fabrics out and while hubby was working nights I cut out my bag and sewed it up. Well, let me tell you! That machine quilting just about got the better of me! I guess I just don't know how to do it right! It was a hot night here and by the time I got through with the machine quilting I thought I was going to have a melt down! So please don't look too close at my quilting! I think I must have been doing something wrong. Surely it shouldn't have been that hard!
Here is my finished bag.
I wanted to use this bag for a purse and I am but it is really a little big. I did box the bottom and I guess maybe I should go back and rip out the bottom and cut it off some, but I just don't know if I am up to it. I think I will just use it as it is for now and think about it. I might make a smaller purse later and then use this one as just a tote bag. I love the design and I love the colors I choose.

Here is a close up of the back of the bag. Please don't look closely at the machine quilting. I'm afraid my lines aren't too straight! I don't know why these words are underling! I don't know what to do to stop it!
This is my favorite part! The button! I love cherry fabric! And this fabric made the perfect button!
This is one of the inside pockets. I made my pockets larger then Nannette did hers as I love pockets in my bags. I like all my stuff to be in pockets and be organized. Of course there are not enough pockets for everything, but I can put my papers and stuff that would get all messed up in my purse in these.
These are the pockets on the other side of the bag.
This little pocket looks funky, but it is in the side of the bag where the two sides join together. It holds my pens. I just hate for my pens to be loose in my purse! Is anyone else out there as crazy as I am about this? I know my best friend is reading this and rolling her eyes! She already thinks I am too nuts with some of my organization! But I love her anyway!
I have a couple more things to post about but that will have to wait till later as I have got to get to the grocery store!

My Birthday & Other Goodies

I had a birthday! I think I mentioned that January 27Th was my birthday. We just had a little cake at home to celebrate. Nothing fancy. Hubby ordered the cake and why he put Happy Birthday Diane & Mama is beyond me! Amber said it looked like the cake was for two different people! When I got home from work, hubby asked me if I had any candles! I managed to find this #1 candle so we used it. I figure it can stand for one year older!
Here is a picture of my lovely cake. Doesn't it look all patriotic with the red, white, and blue roses?

Here I am getting ready to blow out the candle.
All my kids gave me great cards and hubby gave me a card with some money in it to spend. I did get one gift, though. My best friend, Barbara, send me a scrapbook paper carrier and some fantastic stickers! She is so sweet and never forgets me. Another friend, Debra, took me out for dinner for my birthday. My brother has mailed me a gift, but it has not arrived yet as he was late getting it sent off.
Here is the gift from my friend, Barbara. I can't wait to get started using them!

I think I told ya'll that we had made our living room into my dad's bedroom. Saturday I had to get in there and rearrange some things to put my mama's stereo back in there. This is one of those old wooden cabinet type stereos. The lid raises up and there is a record player and radio. This stereo had been in my family for as long as I can remember. I know it is older then me and it still works perfectly! I have listened to many a record on it and my mama loved it. When we moved into mama's house after her death and made the living room into Daddy's room we put the stereo in this building on our land in the country for storage. Well, little did I know that hubby decided he needed to clean out some of this storage stuff and he gave my mama's stereo away to a man he worked with. Now one day when hubby and I were driving somewhere together we were talking about this stuff in storage and I told him of a few thing he could get rid of, but I said the one thing I do not want to get rid of is my mama's stereo. Well, he had already given it away and did not tell me. Another day we went out to this storage building for something and when I went in I did not see my mama's stereo. When I asked him about it he told me he gave it away! I started to cry and told him I just could not believe he had done that after I specifically told him not to give it away. He told me he had given it away before I told him that. I tell you, I could not stop crying. I was so upset. He immediately called the man he had given it to and the man said he had it in a storage building and would bring it back. Now this man lives 70 miles away. It took months before hubby and the man could get together to get my mama's stereo back, but finally last week hubby got it back! I was so happy! So I had to clear out a spot in Daddy's room to put it. I should have taken a picture of it, but did not think of it. I cleaned it good. And polished it. It has a few nicks that were not on it before due to these men hauling it all over, but I was so happy to see it. When I still lived at home with mama I would listen to Christmas records on it every year while I decorated the Christmas tree. My mama loved to listen to her Christian records on it. Well, I finally got things rearranged so I had a place to put the stereo and I get my son to help me carry it and put it in the spot I had for it. I spread a little throw over it so it won't get messed up and as I am doing this my dad walks in. He looks at the stereo and tells me that it is older then I am. Then he says he doesn't want it and I can just throw it away! I looked at him and said "I want it! And I am keeping it!" After all I went through to get my mama's stereo back it just blew my mind for him to tell me to throw it away!
While I was in Daddy's bedroom I came across this pillow in a chair. I got Amber to go get my camera so I could take a picture of it. I have mentioned before about my brother, George, who died at the age of 13 back in 1967. Well, there were tons of flowers at his funeral and on each thing of flowers was a ribbon. My Mama wanted those ribbons and so someone collected them for her. Then this lady, who worked for my Daddy doing sewing in his furniture plant, took the ribbons and made some of them into this pillow. It does not look at beautiful as it once did, but then it is almost 42 years old. The center of it did have a round red piece of ribbon in it but years and years ago one of our cats tore that out. I have said for years that I was gonna fix it, but I have not gotten around to it. Maybe I will do that tonight while hubby is at work.
This is a close up of some of the ribbons. You can tell how frayed some of them are getting.
This is a close-up of the center. I will post a picture of it after I replace the center ribbon so you all can see. When my other brother, Keith, died in 1976 at the age of 24, my mother collected the ribbons from his flowers, also. But the lady who had made the first pillow for George had moved away and we never had anyone to make a pillow out of them. The ribbons stayed in a closet in a brown paper bag for many, many years. Finally one day when I was cleaning out the closet for my Mama I asked her about them and she told me to just throw them away and so I did.
I had to put clean out some of Daddy's drawers Saturday, also, and I came upon this stocking that I had crocheted him. I made it probably 30 years ago or more. I'm not even sure now, I can't even really remember making it. But I know I did. I was into making things like this way back then and it has a label on it that I put on it that says Daddy. I took it in the den and showed it to Daddy and he said he had forgotten he had it. It just makes you feel good to find something you made back when you were young, doesn't it?
Here is a close-up of the top of the stocking.
Here is a close-up of the bow and tag i had put on the stocking. After taking pictures I put it back in his drawer for safe keeping