Frost patterns

Today is a blustery January day, temps in the single numbers so far and very windy. Needless to say, with the wind chill factored in, it feels well below zero. This morning there were some lovely frost patterns on some of our upstairs windows. I should have taken these photos much earlier in the day, but didn't have the opportunity until a few minutes ago.

This side of the bathroom window makes me think of an evergreen tree with snow falling.

This one has more of a snowflake effect.

This bedroom window is decorated with rather stylized snowflakes.

I love frost patterns, even if their presence does mean our house doesn't keep the cold out too efficiently. We were able to put in some new windows downstairs this year, so there are no pretty patterns on those windows!

Embroidered pillowcases

As observant readers may have noticed, I have been on somewhat of a pillowcase kick for Christmas gifts. A couple of years ago I decided these would be great gifts for elderly parents as well -- those who really don't need anything. We usually give gifts of food to our elderly parents, but the pillowcases have been appreciated too. My mother spends a lot of time in bed, and it's nice to have a pretty embroidered pillowcase. Nurses and aides sometimes comment on them.. a nice conversation starter.

This year I decided to embroider one for my mother-in-law as well. The Lord provided this single pillowcase in the form of an unfinished project in an old sewing box someone had given me.

I made a set of these for my parents. Bought the cases at Walmart.

The design is a very old Workbasket magazine transfer; so old that it didn't transfer at all. I traced it onto tracing paper and then embroidered through that. Not my preferred method for such a detailed design, but it worked!

This set with the Queen Anne's Lace is one that I embroidered for some good friends.

The design is free from Posie Gets Cozy. You can download it from the "free" section in her sidebar. I want to do more of these, but when I do, I'll use the trace/embroider through tracing paper method. It should work very well for a simple design like this one. Wouldn't it be pretty on dark green or navy blue? I chose the brown because our friends' home is decorated in earth tones.

Crocheted potholder fun

It's always fun to learn something new. I have crocheted for years, but hadn't done a lot of crocheting recently. Back before Christmas, I found a link on Tipnut for this pattern for a crocheted pot holder. The retro look of this holder really appealed to me, and it looked fairly straightforward, so I attempted to crochet one. To my surprise, it was relatively quick and easy, even though the finished product looks quite complex. I ended up making three of these, 2 yellow ones and a blue one. The neat thing about it is that one can make color changes at any point in the pattern, so every holder can look kaleidoscopic and quite different.

Here are the 2 yellow ones I made. You can see how the two look quite different due to the way I arranged the colors.


And here is the blue one.

I do want to make more of these, since they are great for using odds and ends of cotton yarn left from other projects. Maybe someone else would like to try this, too.

While working on these, I happened to remember a pattern for a crocheted snowflake hot pad I had made years ago from an old Annie's Attic magazine. I hunted it up and made one of those, too.
Wouldn't this be pretty in red and white? I may just have to try that!

Some recent sewing projects

Now that the Christmas gift exchanges are over for our family, I want to show a few of the crafts I made for Christmas gifts. I'm going to start with a few vintage-style pillowcases which I made for grandchildren. But first, here is a train quilt I made for one grandson (age 1 1/2):

This is just a panel, but it came out so cute. It was free, too... the panel and matching fabric came from a thrift store.

This shows the back.

From matching fabric I was able to make 2 pillowcases for the little guy's siblings.

Two more pillowcases -- one for a girl and one for a boy.

Two more... the pink fabric on one, and the kitten fabric on the other are both vintage fabrics handed down from my grandmother. She would be pleased to see how I've used them. I'm not completely satisfied with the border print on the kitten one, but it was the best I could find to coordinate with the kittens.

Lastly, a snowman pillowcase for a little boy who wanted to build a big snowman. I do apologize for the blurry photo. The fabric is really cute.
More crafts to come later on both blogs...

Happy New Year!

We are not really celebrating New Year's Day as such; rather, tonight is going to be our Christmas get-together with our daughter and family. We are basically just having an appetizer meal with Christmas cookies and fudge for dessert.

My daughter will bring jalapeno poppers, stuffed potato skins, artichoke dip for tortilla chips, and cheese pizza, all homemade.

I am making a cheese log and a buffalo chicken dip to serve with crackers, plus mini spinach fritattas, sausage biscuit bites, and almond cheddar appetizers, and will also serve grape tomatoes and baby carrots with ranch dressing dip.

Also, we will have eggnog and a mulled cranberry juice beverage.

Happy 2010, everyone!

Goals for a New Year

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do like to set some goals at the start of a new year. When I thought about setting goals for this year, I decided to go back and look at last year’s goals. Guess what? Most of them are exactly the same for 2010. I’ve made progress on many of these, especially time management, but all of these areas still need work, and in some of them I’ve actually regressed. So...

Here are some of my goals for the coming year. They are in no particular order, and I'm sure I will think of more later, but for now:

1. To go to bed earlier than I do now.

2. To exercise and drink plenty of water every day.

3. To make my daily quiet time with God ever more meaningful.

4. To continue to grow in the areas of godly speech and diligence in work.

5. To continue to grow in the practical skills of homemaking, money management, and time management. One specific goal in this area is to spend less money on groceries in the coming year, remembering the principle that money not spent is money saved.

6. To get back to and then stick with the housekeeping routines that work for me.

7. To continue to grow spiritually and to use my talents and my spiritual gifts for God's glory. To spend more time in Bible study in the coming year, and to apply what I learn to my daily life.

8. To use my God-given interests and abilities to help bring in some household income.

9. To be more of a help to my husband; to make our home more of a refuge from the world for both of us.

10. To learn and profit from the lessons that God has for me so I that I won’t have to learn them more than once.

11. To do something creative, no matter how small, every day.

12. To stay in closer touch with my friends and to be a better friend.

A blustery day

Yesterday was a very blustery day; cold and windy with wind chills well below zero. It was a day to stay inside and work on housework and crafts. I vacuumed the entire house and washed the floor in the front hallway. I also washed the stairs, something I like to do a couple of times per year. I got quite a bit of sewing and embroidery done as well, and spent time working on the Sunday School lesson for the coming week. Supper was a hearty ground beef stew, served with rolls.

Here's a fun vintage card to enjoy.
Stay warm, everyone!