Christmas Swap Sneak Peak

These are some of the fabrics I am using for the swap items I am making for the swap at Pink Stitches.  My partner is swaping with me so I've gotta be kinda discrete until she receives the package in the next week or so.

I love all of these fabrics and I have been holding on to them for a while.  The Red Snowflake and Beige Christmas Toss fabrics are from the 12 days of Christmas collection by Kate Spain and made by Moda. I love the colors and the patterns within the items like the Christmas tree and stocking.  The Stripe and the Dot are Candy Cane Christmas by Stampin' Up!. I love how these two totally seperate collections coordinate.  I had been saving these fabrics for special projects and the day to use them finally came!

I'll be posting the finished projects in the next few days so sit tight and thanks for stopping by!

Bloomers for Trinity

Just embrdoiered these bloomers for someone in San Antonio.  I wish I had had an embroidery machine when Micaela was a baby, her bloomers would have all been embroidered!

These are available in my Etsy store for $13 and available in any thread color combination.  More sizes coming soon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Master Gardener

Hallelujah!  I am done with my Master Gardener classroom training.  WooHoo!

This was a long twelve weeks of homework and quizzes but final exam and graduation was last week and I was so busy I forgot to post about it.  I am now officially an intern.  Now I have another 65 hours to do in volunteer work before I am certified but somehow that seems easier than all that classroom training! 

I have learned so much!  I am dying to get in the yard and start working.  I have so much I want to do!   I am also looking forward to sharing much of what I have learned in the green seminars I host in the community for work!   Thanks for letting me share and thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving Rainbow

Thanksgiving rainbow. Thanks be to God!

This appeared outside my in laws back door while we finished dessert.   Hope you have had a great Thanksgiving. 

Legally Blonde, the musical

Took Micaela to see Legally Blonde, the musical at McKinney Boyd High School last week.  It was really terrific.  We really did love it.  We pretended it was Broadway and got all dressed up. 

I thought it would be great fun because Elle Woods is like a Barbie doll with a cute dog and Micaela loves both. 

Well, I TOTALLY forgot about the gay pool guy accused of the affair with the stepmom, the wife accused of killing her husband PLUS the daughter that kills her Dad.  It was hard to explain all that on the way home.  I tried to focus the conversation on the incredible music and singing.  Wish someone had warned me, putting this out there for any Moms out there who might research ahead of taking young daughters.   I will say, the musical was really wonderful, it's just not totally appropriate for young children. 

We just returned from four days in my hometown of Mission.  We traveled there so I could attend my 25 year High School Class Reunion. I graduated from Mission High School in 1988... gulp!  Of course it's hard to believe it's been 25 years!

We had a 500+ mile drive each way and our daughter had to miss two days of school but it was so worth it.  The reunion festivities were spread out amongst three days.  On Thursday we got to tour the school campus and see all the changes and additions that have been made since we left. 

The campus is giant now and even includes a collegiate campus which allows students to get their associates degree while still in high school. 

After the tour we were hosted at a small reception with alumni from other classes. We felt pretty young next to the classes from 1962, 1973, 1983, but a little old next to the class from 1993.




After the reception we attended the Pep Rally.  That was great fun and I was so excited to hear the Mighty Mission Eagle Band play the Fight Song-- weird little things make me happy!








That evening we attended the football game and got to walk across the field-- walking across the field was fun and corny.

Here we are at the football game.  You can see everyone shows thier Mission Eagle pride by wearing marroon and white.  Notice the guy in the red STL hat?  That's Troy showing his hometown pride, LOL.

The next day was our big party.  We had a social hour, sit down dinner, presentations, live band and a photo booth.  It was terrific. 

 

All the walls at the venue were decorated with poster size copies of our yearbooks, it was great!

 

Here's a picture of Troy and I.   We really had a good time.

 

About 20% of the people there I had known since kindergarten, the rest from junior high and of course high school.

Here's a picture of my kindergarten crowd.  This is one successful bunch, we've got people in every field, pharmaceutical sales,  nurses, lawyers, entrepreneurs, pilot, restaurateur, law enforcement, oil business, etc.  Our elementary was one of five at the time and we had the most representation.

I can't tell you how much fun this weekend was for me,  Troy was a good sport to come along to all the celebrations-- he did well getting to know the few non Mission spouses that were brave enough to attend as well.  I look forward to the next celebration in 5 years!  Thanks for stopping by!

100% Baby Boy Set

One of my cousins is expecting her baby boy in the next week. I stitched out a few items for her before leaving town. Here is the set.

  I love this fabric, it has cute boy words all over.  Here is a close up of the zipper bag.  

 

And the finished hem on the opposite end of the burp cloth. 

 Thanks for stopping by....

Getting into Christmas Spirit

Many stores are already decorated for Christmas and I've had a few items in my Etsy store listed for over a month.  The other day I was surprised to get an order for three Christmas Santa Towels from a grandma in North Carolina.  She wanted them for her toddler grandchildren to go in her Santa themed bathroom.

Here are the towels...

She was so happy when she received them, this is what she wrote:

They are GORGEOUSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! OMG, they are going to look fabulous in their Santa bathroom!!!!! WOW!!!! I am sooo crazy about them!!!! GREAT job!!!  I absolutely LOVE them!!!!
Thanks so much!!!!!  My Grands are going to FLIP over them.......... their Mom too!!!!  Thanks again!!!  Regards,  Barbara :-)

It's always nice to get a note from happy customers!  Thanks for stopping by!

Secret Santa Swap 2012 by The Apronista

As you all know I participated in a couple of Halloween Swaps last month and loved it.  Now I am hooked!  The other day I was literally googling to see if I could find others and found a really cool one at http://flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com/ by The Apronista, Shawnee Halligan.  I am so excited.  Her swap is a little more structured and I am required to post my questionaire and info here on my blog so here it goes....

1. What are your hobbies?  Making a house a home, Sewing & Embroidery, Texas Native Gardening, Baking, Scrapbooking & Paper Crafts (card making).
2. What are your favorite colors?  Rich Ruby Red, Dark Green and Vintage Gold
3. Do you collect anything? Seasonal Dishes & Tabletop Items (love snowflake and gingerbread items), Vintage Sewing Memorabilia, and commemorative postage stamps since I was a child
4. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals?  None
5. Do you have any pets?  Yes, a black & white Piebald Daschund named Oreo
6. Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate?  Not a fan of dark chocolate, coffee or tea (yes that is weird).  Love Milk Chocolate...
7. What do you like to read? Yes, magazines & books mainly anything from Better Homes & Gardens or Good Housekeeping... not much into fiction but like biographies from women I admire.
8. Do you prefer Cookies or Candies as a sweet?  Love anything with pecans, candy or cookies....anything with caramel, pecans, walnuts, and fudge.
9. What is your favorite holiday treat?  Candy Cane Kisses by Hershey's
10. Describe your favorite holiday tradition. Traditional Mexican Catholic Posada on December 24, Virgin de Guadalupe mass and Las Mañanitas with live mariachis on December 12 at dawn and christmas shopping with the family afterwards
11. Did you believe in Santa as a child?   Yes, very much so until I was about 8-9 years old.
12. When do you open presents?   We open some on Christmas Eve and some on Christmas morning.
13. Do you put up a tree and when?  We put up several trees in our home.  A large one in living room and small ones in kitchen, dining room, and some bedrooms. 
14. Does your tree have a theme?   Living room tree is traditional stuff in red, gold, bronze and green, kitchen one is gingerbread and cooking items, daughter's bedroom one is whimsical bright stuff like hot pink, lime green turqois, etc. 
15. What has been your favorite gift to give? to receive?    I love the Texas-shaped Waffle Iron I got from my husband and the Cricut I got from my parents many years ago.  Gave Micaela a Janome mini sewing machine last year and a dollhouse many years ago- she was over the moon for both. 

Secret Santa Swap package should be a minimum of $15 in value before postage, and include the following:
At LEAST One Handmade Item

Something to Read (book, magazine, poem)
Something for the Tree (garland, ornament, topper, skirt)
Holiday Goody (candy, cocoa, tea, coffee, chocolate)

Challenge: Include one gift for each letter needed to spell out a word from the season (SNOW, JOY, FAITH, LOVE, HOPE, GIFT, TREE, JESUS, STAR, SANTA, etc). Of course, the perfect gift for an "A" is an APRON.

Zipper bags in school colors

Made these zipper bags for my two God-daughter's in their high school colors, royal blue and gold.  We got together with them a few weeks ago and went to a football game at Highland Park High School.  HPHS is an old very established high school and it was a nice change from the schools in our area which are less than 5 years old.  The band was incredible, the drill team was incredible, the football team won by a landslide and it was so nice to get together with my Comadre and chat. 

Emma is a junior and is on the drill team, Nina is involved in choir.  I thought these bags would come in handy for make up or stuff in their purses.  I love making these little zipper bags, can you tell?  Thanks for stopping by!

Owl Dish Towel & Pot Holder

I found these cute little owl dish towels and pot holders the other day and just had to buy them, I thought the applique was so cute.  I personalized 3 sets of these for my mother in law and two of hubby's aunts. 

I need to stock up on these because they turned out to be great quick gifts I could stitch up in no time when I need something fast.  Thanks for stopping by!

2nd half of October is a blur...

Sorry about my absence the last few weeks.  As I mentioned before, we've had some big changes at my work which has dramatically increased my responsibilities and work load... 

Since my last post, I have been a little busy with the following:

• My Master Gardener certification class is almost done, we have three more class meetings and then I am done with weekly tests and homework.
• Hosted a litter pick up event (Trinity Trash Bash) with 150 volunteers on October 20
• Co-hosted a water conservation event (Water Wise Irrigation workshop) with 5 other cities on October 23
• Hosted another city wide event (Recycling is Fun Day) with about 300 attendees on October 29
• Hosted another city wide event on Halloween (Be Green on Halloween Costume Contest) on October 31
• Hosted a Lunch & Learn for city employees on November 1
• Presented to elementary student body and went on a field trip with daughter's school on November 2
• Was intending to catch up on November 3 (yesterday) since we had nothing going on except a pot luck at church but while I was grocery store, daughter had an accident and ended up in emergency room with 3 staples in her head!  (all is okay now but last night was a little scarey).

So now that all that is done, I am going to get back to regular posting.  I have so much comp time accumulated at work, I am going to take two weeks off in November.  Woo Hoo!  Thanks for hanging in there with me, I appreciate it very much.