Category Archives: Everyday

In Progress Around Here

The first week of January has, of course, flown by!  With my daughter still home (by the way, I love having her home; I am not at all complaining, just mentioning it. 🙂 ) I am not getting as much done as I normally do, but I am making some progress on a sweater dress for the Little Darlings, and also writing a pattern as I go.

I finished up the embroidery on the sweater dress yesterday, and got the buttons sewn on.  I chose a pink wool heather since I needed some pink in my life after all the red and green Christmas colors, and before that, autumnal colors.   The very subtle shades of lavender and warm red in this pink heather make it a yarn choice that I go to again and again.

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This is the only piece of the ensemble completed.  I’m still trying to decide on either a headband or beret.

Right now all three of my Little Darlings are clamoring to model this ensemble for me.  Hmm, I wonder whom it will be . . .

On another note, yesterday was a day of putting away Christmas and making an “Unthanksgiving Dinner” to get rid of extra Thanksgiving ingredients that have been hanging around in the freezer and pantry.  The end result was so much like a real Thanksgiving dinner; the only thing we didn’t have was a pumpkin pie!

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My daughter turned her dinner into a healthier version with turkey (no gravy) and a zucchini sliced like spaghetti.  She uses a spiralizer to make her “zucchetti”.

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Even though it’s great to get the house back in order, it’s sad to put all of the decorations away.  The house seems so dark without the Christmas tree lights twinkling in the living and family rooms.  We do leave the strands of  white lights around the kitchen bay window; I enjoy them very much on these dark days.

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Sigh . . . I cannot wait until next November when we do it all again.

I hope you all are having a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting!  Bye for now!

Happy New Year 2017!

I must say that I am happy to see 2016 go.  Even though it wasn’t all bad, for me, it brought many sad events.  I hope your 2016 was better than mine was.  I still miss my mom and dad every day, but I know they’re in a better place . . . and they’re together.  When I think about what my family and I were all doing last New Year’s Eve, it literally makes my heart ache.

So,  bye bye 2016!  Hello 2017!  You will be good to all of us, right?

I wanted to show you a recap of my work from 2016, but I have 76 ensembles and 6 patterns from 2016.  I guess I got more accomplished than I thought I did in 2016.  Hmm, not sure how to put all that in a little collage.  I’ll simply mention a few things that were notable to me this past year.

My Little Darlings got spoiled the most in 2016.  I made 30 ensembles for my three Little Darling girls and wrote four knitting patterns for them.

This was my first ensemble of 2017 and holds a special place in my heart.  It was the last embroidery my mom saw me work on.  She told me how beautiful it was, it’s something I’ll never forget.

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This was another favorite that I made for the Little Darlings.  It’s so springlike and happy and pink!

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I made one or two handfuls of ensembles each for Amelia Thimble, Fairyland’s Pukipuki, Tonner’s Patsy, Wilde Imagination’s Patience, Kaye Wiggs MSD Gracie/Talyssa, Kaye Wiggs 11″ Millie, Linda Macario’s Penny, and a lone ensemble for Kish Bethany.  Penny and Amelia Thimble have each gotten a knitting pattern too.

I think this was my favorite for Gracie.  I’m partial to plum as I know a lot of you are too.

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But then, this one is a favorite too.  I think Gracie could wear a brown paper bag and still look adorably sweet.

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This year brought lots of new accessories for my ensembles.  I had a lot of fun making flower bouquets, crocheted baskets to hold apples and cut flowers, banners, wands, sheet music, and many drawstring purses that held hankies and treasures.  I even figured out how to knit mushrooms . . . that was fun!  Oh, I cannot forget to mention that knitting my first Christmas stocking (and filling it with goodies) was so much fun too!

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At the end of October I published my first knitting pattern!

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It takes tons of concentration and quite a bit of time to write out my knitting patterns and get them to their published state, but I really love sharing what I know how to do with you.  I feel blessed that I can share some of the gifts God has given me.  Thank you for trusting in my work.

My sweater coat pattern for the Little Darlings is just about ready to be published.  And with it a one-of-a-kind winter ensemble featuring the sample sweater coat that I knit for the pattern.

My Little Darlings are getting lots and lots of attention lately.  Let me know if you’d like to see any of my other knitwear for other dolls in pattern form, or something else for our sweet Little Darlings.

I wish you all, my dear readers, a healthy and happy new year.  Thank you for your support in 2016!  I appreciate you all so much! ❤ ❤ ❤

I’ll seen you in 2017!

It’s Christmas Eve!

I hope you all are having a beautiful Christmas so far.  My little family is all together and we are enjoying each other’s company.  Right now my husband and daughter are making a pizza for dinner while I am writing a quick blog post to all of you.

I took a few photos of our Christmas tree and some of the ornaments hanging on our tree.  They are always so pretty and magical with the Christmas tree lights hitting them.

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This is my favorite cross stitch ornaments.  I designed and made it for the 1999 Just Cross Stitch’s Christmas Ornament issue.  I remember being thrilled when I saw my ornament as one of the cover ornaments.

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We have many vintage glass ornaments that have been in the family.

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My husband brought back the Royal tara china snowman from Galway City, Ireland two decade ago.  I have a Santa too; they are special to me.

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And our little tree that sits on the vintage drum table in our living room.  I have a lot of my mom and grandma’s ornaments on this tree.  My grandma loved pink ornaments!

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Pizza is done!  It smells delicious!

I wish you all a magical Christmas!  Anyone else having a Christmas Eve pizza?

Bye for now!