Thoughts of a Grasshopper

I invited the Activity Day Girls to my home for a Christmas storytelling party.  I asked them to bring a favorite Christmas story to read.  Most remembered to bring a book and they took turns sitting in the chair to read us all their favorite story. Thanks to Pinterest, I found Grinch themed party ideas that I thought would be fun for the girls to munch on.  I wish I had used a little bigger heart on the Grinch cake but, come on, his heart was two sizes too small! We also had Grinch cookies, Grinch puppy chow and Grinch punch.

I went to a quilt shop that is over in the east mountains and saw patterns for adorable tea towels.  I ordered the pattern for holidays and planned to make them as a Christmas gift.  Needless to say, it took a bit to find tea towels for each holiday, to buy the various fabrics, rick rack, etc.  I've been working like made making yo yos for them and have come to realize it may be next Christmas when they are actually given as gifts. These yo-yos are for the bunny towel.  There are three different color backsides of bunnies and the white is for their little cotton tail.  This is going to be a big project since I'm making 4 sets of the towels.

Our DAR Chapter has a Christmas luncheon today.  I wanted to make an ornament for a "favor" of sorts.  I thought it would be nice for everyone to have something.  When fabric went on sale in July I bought what I would need for this project.  One part of me really would liked to have used Christmas fabrics but I kept in mind this is for a patriotic group and they can hang it off a door knob or cabinet, etc. and use it year round.  I hope they like it. I tried to remember to take pictures as I went through the process.  I made 64 of these ornaments in an assembly line sort of way in that I did each step for all of them and then moved on to the next step.  The Main Fabric is 10" x10"        Center fabric (lower right) is 5" x 5"        Accent fabric measures 4.5" x 4.5"        Backing is 5" x 5" (not pictured)        Ribbon is 8" Start by folding the fabric in ...

We had a Christmas open house.  It was nice to sit and visit with friends and enjoy the beginnings of the Christmas season with them.  We had fondue pots with oil to cook beef and chicken.  We had sausage been dip, spinach dip, cranberry meatballs, Asian meatballs. A cheese fondue to dip bread and vegetables in and a chocolate fondue to dip fruit, marshmallows and cake in.  There were cookies and fudge, too. The picture reminds me we also had a Mexican layer dip. It would be hard to leave this house hungry.

Ha!  I found a draft of a post from 2016 that I never posted.   My niece is having a baby in April and they had a shower for her today.  They are a couple of thousand miles away from us but we wanted to send a gift.  When we learned she was expecting, I told her I would make a quilt for her baby and this is it! I really like the material.  The main images are from the book "Guess How Much I Love You."  I thought this book might be special to her, although I wasn't sure because it came out a couple of years before she was born and it was popular in the elementary school in Virginia and in New Mexico.  I took that as a good sign it was known on the east and west coast.  Some day I'll have to share a list of popular books that my husband is surprised I didn't read and I was surprised by what he hasn't read.  I figure it must be because we grew up on opposite sides of the country. It is a nice blanket and she was happy with it. ...

A friend invited everyone over to make candles at her house.  I was excited to go and do something new.  When I walked into the dining room I saw their table filled with different colored chunks of wax. They have a dozen molds.  It was an afterthought to snap a picture after others had already started. We started by dropping the wick through a hole in the bottom of the mold and inserting a rubber "chocolate chip" in keep the wick secure.  I had already trimmed the wick by the rubber piece before I took the picture. We then tied it around a metal rod to keep the wick tight and in the center of the mold. Then we put some black putty on the bottom that held the "chocolate chip" in and kept any wax from leaking out. We filled our mold with wax chunks. They had clear wax that we could tint with a waxy color and they had about 30 different scents to choose from.  The wax was heated to 160 degrees.  I used vanilla in all 3 of my candles. ...

I forgot to share the wall hanging I put together for November.  It seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving Day.  I really like the braided border on the top and bottom of the wall hanging. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

When my mother-in-law moved into her apartment she decided to donate these items because she didn't have room for them in her new place. The items were tarnished and I thought it would take a lot of effort to get them clean. I wish I took pictures of the actual procedure but I did take before and after pictures. I used 9x13 pans and a regular pot that I was heating water in. I lined all of the pans with aluminum foil, shiny side up.  I even lined one of the pots that I boiled water in to clean smaller pieces in. Whatever container you use, adjust the measurement based on the amount of water you use. 1T baking soda 1T salt 2C very hot water (I boiled mine) Stir to combine and put your silver pieces in.  The silver needs to be touching the aluminum foil for this to work. Rinse well to prevent pitting and dry with a towel. The picture above and below were taken after they were cleaned.  I have to say that the dirtier pieces caused the water to smell but i...

Another card I saw on Pinterest.  I didn't go to the site because it is simple enough that a picture will do.  I think it is a classy card for the Wise Men.  The site attached to the picture belonged to Jennifer Brum. Stamps:  Wise Men from Afar Ink:  VersaMark CS:  Basic Black, WW, Gold Foil Misc.: Gold embossing powder

The color isn't the best on this photo.  I saved a card VERY similar to this several years ago on Pinterest and I finally made it.  I'm working on using up some old Christmas designer series paper.  Stamps:  Bells and Boughs, Greetings of the Season CS:  Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, DP, Silver Glitter Paper Ink:  Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler Embossing Folders: Stripes, Designer Frames

A rather simple looking card, but then the birth of our Savior was simple as well.  The base for this card is white.  I covered the base with the gold.  To cut the Night of Navy cardstock, mark the left side at 1/4" and 3/4".  On the right, mark at 3-1/2".  Most measure from the top down, I measured from the bottom up for that measurement.  I wanted more of the gold paper to show.  The bottom right corner I made a mark at 1/4". On the inside I gold embossed the star and stamped the sentiment in black. Stamps: Wise Men from Afar CS: WW, Gold, Night of Navy Ink: VersaMark, Tuxedo Black Markers: Pink Pirouette, Hello Honey, Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Delightful Dijon, Marina Mist Embossing Powder: White, Gold

I needed a quick thank you card.  This turned out to not be as quick with the fussy cutting of the flower and leaves.  A nice card for this time of year.  I really like the wood textures DP.  My mantle is so full with fall decorations it was hard to find a spot with enough room for this card. haha Stamps:  Painted Harvest CS: Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Wood Textures DP Ink: Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Cajun Craze

I'm not one to use pillow boxes but I loved that the paper for the box because it was embossed.  It made for a lovely backing on the card below.  I always need thank you cards in the fall and was delighted to be able to use the kit for the that.

A few of the things that make you think of Halloween.  I love the candy corn "flowers".  I appliqued the Boo letters with orange.  I really like the pop of color rather than just plain black.  The black cat with the moon behind on the "O" is too cute, too!

September was a busy month for me.  It was as if October, November, & December were combined in one as far as busyness goes.  One happy event was a baby shower I had for a new mother.  I knew her the last time we lived in Albuquerque and she was a teenager then. My girls took a few pictures for me to help me remember what we did.  The food wasn't all out when they took the pictures but that is okay.  I felt bad that most of the food was store bought.  I would have preferred for it to be homemade but time did not allow for that.  I would have liked to have streamers go the width of the table but it was rather frustrating because the crepe paper had a mind of its own.  This is as much as I got up before I called it good. haha I love balloons.  I think they make it so much more festive.  I had two dozen balloons and half a dozen mylar balloons in the atrium, living room and dining room. I hung a clothes line with the clothe...

Another beautiful wall hanging that I enjoyed seeing about our door.  The letters on the burlap are attached to the twine.  The ends of the twine are tacked onto the wall hanging.  It didn't get to hang too long before the one for Halloween went up. 

I made this wall hanging in July and hung it for August.  I'm going to use it again for January because I'm not into having 2 snowmen and a penguin above my door.  I'm sure I would feel differently if I had little ones or I actually lived where the snow stuck around for more than a few hours. The wall hanging itself I think is adorable.  My favorite section is the beehive with the bee buttons "flying" by the hive.  The "Home Sweet Home" is loose and hangs on the button.  I need to come up with a better way of storing these wall hangings. than carefully folding them.  I would like to leave them laid out flat, I just need a container for that. This next picture of the Bloc-Loc I had to share because this is the BEST tool to have for half square triangles.  It makes squaring up go so much faster.  I've had several projects, one with many squares and these make it go so much faster to square up and move on to the next step.  I was told yo...