Paint, Modge Podge, Fabric and A Christmas Card

    I got this odd size free piece of wood a couple of years ago from Lowes or Home Depot when I was shopping one day.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with it since I got it.  I found this card a couple of weeks ago and I started getting the idea of using it on this piece of wood.  I painted the board, decoupaged a piece of pretty light blue polka fabric on the front and then I decoupaged the card on top of that.  It was fun to make, but I don't enjoy painting because it takes so long to dry.

Christmas Kitties In The Kitchen

   I found this cute, cute, cute dishtowel at Hobby Lobby last weekend and had to have it.  I think it was 40 or 50% off.  Score!  I love the cat on this one.

I was going to cut it up into two hanging dishtowels then I got an idea.  I decided to keep it as one towel and make a hanging dishtowel that is doubled.  I folded it in the center and pleated it so the cat would show up real well on both sides.  Then I added a cap of the fabric below with two ties.

I love this old fashioned toile Santa/Christmas fabric.  It's so turn of the century, 19th/20th century.  Here is my finished hanging dishtowel.  I made this one with ties so I could tie it onto the refrigerator and I love that it's doubled so my hands will dry quicker.  I may make all my hanging dishtowels doubled from now on.  This took me about 30 minutes to make from first cut to last stitch.

I hung the kitty from the freezer handle so I could get to it better and see it all the time. 

Deathly Hallows Fabric

This is a project I couldn't share before.  For our trip to Universal and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I made my daughter and myself a water bottle holder and a small zippered purse out of this fun Deathly Hallows fabric.  I added a wrist strap and a small loop to the zippered purse so we could hook the purse onto a carabiner and attach it to our belt loops.

When we planned this trip my daughter had announced that she wanted to carry as little as possible into the park so a small purse for cards and water bottle holder would be all she needed.  I worried about how I would do this and decided I could stash stuff in my jean jacket pockets.  Being late November I thought it might be cool enough to wear a jacket in Orlando.

 But two days before we left for our trip, dear daughter decides that she can't possibly travel to the park without a big backpack and all manner of emergency items.  She had decided that she was going to rent a locker for the backpack each day.  She was much happier with this plan and I just wanted us to have as much fun as possible no matter what we had to carry.

The first day we were in the park we bought an small backpack (fanny pack size) because it was way too warm for me to wear my jacket and I needed something to put my cell phone and lip balm in.  We also bought a ticket lanyard, because you have to show your ticket all the time when you go from Universal to Islands of Adventure or to City Walk.  I ended up buying a Slytherin ticket lanyard because I am in Slytherin house and I'm owning it.

Here's a picture of my water bottle holder and purse.

The Black Lace Knit Scarf Is Finished

   I finished the scarf this morning before work.  It's a little over six feet long and it took about 1.5 skeins of Vanna's Choice yarn,  I love this.  It will join others in my wardrobe.  I made one in white, blue, and grey this year.  I will be making more in different colors.  It's an easy pattern and it is really nice doubled up when I wear it.

Heading To The End Of The Year

I haven't posted for a while.  After my last post, I was busy getting ready to go out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday.  My DD and I drove down to Orlando and spent the weekend at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure riding rides and have a lot of fun.  The four day weekend is a perfect time for us to drive five hours to Orlando.  It's a little crowded at the parks at this time but I don't have any vacation time left at work.  The parks were decorated for Christmas and Christmas music played.  We stay at the Doubletree within walking distance of the park and we had a blast.  We rode all three Harry Potter rides (Escape from Gringotts, Hippogriff roller coaster, Secret Journey at the Castle), had butter beer, lunch at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, saw the dragon in Diagon Alley, we rode rides at Dr. Suess Land, we rode the Men in Black ride (twice) and I even rode the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster (my eyes were closed almost the entire ride).  It was an awesome weekend.

I missed cooking a big meal for Thanksgiving, so this past weekend I made myself a homemade Thanksgiving dinner with roasted vegetables, homemade stuffing (just the way Mom used to make it), baked chicken breasts (because that was just as easy as a turkey breast), and homemade cranberry conserve.  It was wonderful.  I got up really early on Saturday morning, made everything and had Thanksgiving dinner for breakfast that day.  I'm still eating leftovers, but they won't last too much longer.

I'm knitting my scarf and my hat with the Vanna's Choice in black.  I decided to make the hat into a stocking cap and I bought another skein of yarn to add to the hat.  The scarf is more than half done.  Here's pictures of my knitting progress.

Hat

Scarf

Last night I played with some 5" felted wool squares that I bought.  I made some Swedish heart Christmas decorations.  I thought they would be cuter and I suppose if I used prettier colors they would be.  I made these to give to DD if she wants them for her tree.  I used the Missouri Star Quilt Company youtube video tutorial to make them.  Here's a link to the video:  Link here.  Jenny even provides a pattern you can print out.  She used 5" squares for her hearts as well and that's where I got the idea to buy the squares.

Lots of Snowmen

    I made the rest of the snowmen ornaments and used up every inch of the white felted wool I bought.   Very little waste on this project and I love these guys.  There are twenty three of them.  I made two banners of ten snowmen each with some bakers twine and they are hanging in my living room.  The other three are standing with my trees in my dining room.  So much fun.