More sweet gifts

A few days ago I posted about the sweet strawberry mug set from my mother-in-law.  I didn't mention that this was actually a birthday gift, but it was.  And now I must share just a few more, these from my daughter Carrie.  Carrie is one of the world's most thoughtful gift-givers, as is her sister Joanna.

She gave me these lovely reversible place mats from the Pioneer Woman line,  a set of six.

Aren't they pretty?  I can see myself using the yellow side most, but both sides will look nice in our dining room.

There was also an Amazon gift card to buy myself a book or whatever I might like.

And then!  Well, I've already given it away at the top of the post, but as I unwrapped the box, I guessed that it might contain an electric wax warmer.  I never guessed how special it would be, however.

Back at Christmas, Carrie had given me two of these gorgeous plates which she actually had found at Walmart.  (I never saw them, but then I barely, if at all, went into the Christmas department there prior to Christmas.)

She had also given me several more fun gifts in the tree-on-a-vehicle theme.  You can see them all and read about them here: Oh, what fun.

Anyway, now I'm opening a birthday present, guessing it may be a wax warmer, and oh joy, it matches those adorable plates!

Isn't it so much fun?  Know how wax warmers have holes in them where the light shines through?  On this one, the light shines through the station wagon's headlights.  Can't wait to use it next year!

Recent simple crafting

Guess the reflection of the window got in this picture.  But I'm using it because I like the way the glitter shows up on the roof of the house.

Here are just a few recent crafts I have completed.  It's slow going, as my crafting time is limited due to other responsibilities.  But I sure do have fun whenever I am able to take a few minutes (or even, happily now and then, a few hours) at the sewing machine or crafting desk!

Snow themed mug rugs I made as a fun little surprise for my daughter.  I had just a few scraps left of a  number of blue snow-themed fabrics.  They went beautifully with the snowman fabric -- also a remnant from another project.

The back of the mug rugs.  I found this remnant of pretty fabric with its design of frost patterns (or frosty tree branches, I can't tell which) at an antique shop when our family was visiting this past fall.

The most recently completed pieced place mat.  This is turning out to be such a fun use for the various bits and pieces of Christmas fabric in my stash.  It doesn't really matter what the center circle is since it will be covered with a plate, but I like the vintage look of the birch-bark-like print on this one.

This is a little plastic house I painted eons ago.  I decided to spruce it up with some snow medium and glitter so it will look nice with my other glittery houses.  For now, though, I'm keeping it on my crafting desk where it sparkles in the lights of our little bedroom tree.

Hope you've enjoyed these crafts.  I'm trying to finish up a set of ten of the pieced place mats, and have tons more ideas for mug rugs, so hopefully I'll have more pictures to show before too long!

Sew Crafty Friday for September 21

This hasn’t been the most accomplishing week craft-wise, but I did finish a couple of things. I’ll show you some of them.

I did finish another dishcloth in the “Gumdrop” yarn, but those are old hat by now. I probably won’t post another dishcloth photo until I finish one in a new and different color -- like the “Faded Denim” one I’m currently working on.

I also finished a crocheted snowflake -- but won’t post a photo of those until they are all stiffened and glittered and completely finished. They don’t look like much right now.

The apron I’d been working on for a friend is finished and I gave it to her yesterday. She loved it and it fits perfectly. I detest this particular apron pattern as far as working on it goes -- but I love the apron itself and the pattern, though it’s a pain, is far easier than similar aprons I’ve made. I had planned to cut out another one right away, but decided to give it a rest for awhile.


(On the window beside the door where the apron is hanging, you can see my el cheapo window treatment composed of a napkin and 2 placemats from the clearance aisle at Walmart. I had used 2 napkins -- no placemats -- on windows in other places, but had bought 2 packs of placemats ($1) by mistake, so combined them with the napkins It is different, but I think it looks quite nice.)

The other crafting I did this week was a set of 6 of these green print place mats.

I downloaded a free pattern from Craft and Fabric Links.com
and they truly were very, very easy. It only took me a couple of hours to finish all six of them, and I sandwiched it in and around other activities on an extremely busy day.


(Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I did not make the log cabin mat in the center of the table. That was made by my friend Marilyn, and is just gorgeous. I’d like to take up quilting some day, but that’s a future project!)

In addition, I have also made a bit of progress on an embroidered dishtowel and my cross-stitch sampler, but not enough to post photos yet.

Remember, if you’ve done any crafting this week, even if you haven’t actually completed anything, head on over to http://w8ng4him.blogspot.com and share your projects. It’s such fun and so inspiring to see what others are working on!