Plugging away

I have stayed busy this week.  Sometimes with pushing and prodding, but progress is being made.

The craft book for Vacation Bible School, 2014 has been copied, printed, distributed and the first meeting of the planning committee has been scheduled. The weekend plan is to make up some of my ideas for crafts to present to the committee. Some supplies have been gathered to get those samples done.

I've joined the One Christmas Project a Month. The obvious goal is that you make one Christmas gift each month to help with gift giving.

These little sweeties are my projects for January.  Aren't they adorable? They will make a lovely little addition to any gift.

WIP - work in progress.  This is block #6 of 7 for this series of block of the month. All the hearts will be appliqued to the block and should be done this weekend.  Work continues on Bethlehem Block 1 as well.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative weekend.

Day #6 - No School . . .

Wednesday morning will be similar to the last two - no school.  Our school system allows for five "calamity" days.  We used #5 on Tuesday. The state government is working on adding an additional three days so that days won't have to be made up at the end of the year. The only problem I see in that scenario - it's only January !! We can still have similar weather into the end of March and even April. Doesn't that sound like a really long winter ?  :)

I was telling a fellow blogger today that the best thing about winter is all the time we have to work on stitchery and quilting and all things indoor - at least here in the Northern Hemisphere.  I'm not exactly sure how the Southern Hemisphere deals with their winters.  My assumption is that it's cooler and wetter, but I'm going to have to research that.  I'm becoming more acquainted with many bloggers around the world and these are all things, at least for me, I don't know and have to learn.

So on to today's progress report :)

This cold zaps the energy, so after a slow start, Newton and I had oatmeal for breakfast.  Once that was cleaned up, I started making dinner:  Hamburger Vegetable Soup. Love soup in the winter months.  Filling, satisfying and guaranteed left-overs :)  It's a pretty much dump recipe

2 lbs. ground beef - cooked and drained

1 medium onion - chopped

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

2-3 cans mixed vegetables, un-drained

 (or separate cans of each - I used green beans, peas and corn)

32 oz. beef stock

4+ cups of water

season to taste

I browned and drained the meat, sauteed the onions then dumped everything into the crock pot on low all day.

I precooked 2 cups orzo, but you can use any small pasta or rice.

I like the rich flavor of stock, so I use very little if any water.  Sometimes I just double up on the stock and forget the water.  Make it as broth-y as you like or as thick as you like.  It's a very forgiving meal.  I served it with bread and butter.  A salad would be good too.  Enjoy :)

This came in the mail today. Very excited. I will probably prep this one tonight. It's a treat for me.

On to Bethlehem. . .

I hope you don't tire of my progress reports on this project.  It evolves and changes daily and everyday I love it more.

Yesterday I shared my camel because I was in love with his eye lashes.  And doesn't my little mouse just look adorable.

This is the goat. I worked on him today and he needed some personality, so I gave him an eye brow :)

So many of the colors are muted and this affords us some creative license otherwise, everything would just get lost. So we find other ways to bring some life and personality to the subject.

Once I got the goat done, I went back to the horse and gave him some eyelash too.

The are three chickens in this block.  If you know anything about chickens, only the males have combs.  I didn't catch that when I was drawing off the design.  Well, there has to be at least one female in the bunch, but I'd already drawn them off.  So I decided to make her comb bright pink :)  Here feathers are variegated grey.

She also needs some lashes to flutter at the new babe. I'm debating about the pearls :)

Just tickled pink with my progress and how easily the creativity is coming after the first step of the camel's eye lashes :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Stay warm and safe.

Artic blast - Round 2

Winter appears to be here to stay for us this year.  We are experiencing another round of sub-zero temperatures and wind chills are expected in the -40 range again. There is no school today, so we'll struggle to find things to keep us busy without spending all day watching television or playing video games. The hard part with this kind of weather is that you really don't have much motivation to do anything. Having said that morning chores are done and plans for the day will be as moods dictate. I have projects to work on, so I'm not too worried.

First on the list is to finish another quilt block from the "Hearts" series.

I have located 7 of 12 blocks. I don't know if I have the last 5 or not. I'm still a bit disorganized, but have decided that I'm not going to stress about it. Once these are done, I will put them in a bin and set them aside. I can start on another series and as I sort through and reorganize my sewing space I will keep a watch for them. If I locate the other by the end of the year, I'll finish them. If I don't then I will drop back to a contingency plan for finishing the project and either make a wall hanging or a quilt following that plan.

Unfortunately, I didn't get this done today, but you see what's first on the list tomorow :)

Second, I'm working on Bethlehem. My goal is one block per month. There are only a few days left in this month, so I need to kick that goal into high gear.

I feel like I'm making progess. I finished the camel. . . 

Don't you just love those eye lashes?  I do :)

Third, I want to start a new quilt.  Here is the link. Block #2 will be published around the first of February.

This is block one and the instructions say can be completed in a weekend. Just have to make the time to do it. Unfortunately, that didn't get done either but I do have my fabrics chosen.

My penny mat is on display.  I am very pleased with my end result of this one.  It took longer to make than I thought it would, but that's ok. It's a finish !!

So even with the weather throwing yet another wrench in the works, we are managing to find things to do, stay busy and productive. What are your plans and goals for the week? Hopefully, you are warm or staying warm. If you are dealing with the same weather conditions we are, please stay safe.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a productive day.

FNSI

Did you have a productive FNSI?

Here's my original list:

1.  Finish Valentine penny rug  

2.  Finish hexie pouch

3.  Finish quilt blocks (2)

4.  Make a new pin cushion

And the results are:

1.  Penny rug - DONE :)

2.  Hexie pouch - DONE :)

3.  Quilt blocks - DONE :)

4.  Pin cushion - Still on the list.  Hopefully, this week :) 

We are looking at some really cold Artic weather again this week.  

Although, we did get a bit of sunshine on Saturday afternoon. We awoke to about 3 inches of snow, and then that much again this morning.  Now, we wait for the Artic blast to arrive. 

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

It's Friday Night Somewhere . . .

So why wait?

Well, I must - I have chores to do and errands to run.  After a productive morning, I'm finally home.  In the kitchen at the moment preparing our evening meal . . .

Chicken Paprikash

It's a family favorite and once the initial prep work is done it can just sit on the stove and simmer :)  It's one of the few one pot meals I don't put in my crock pot, but I think you could.

While the chicken was frying for the first step, I put away my groceries and got my FNSI list together.

 stitchery supplies - this is a new project.  You can find it at Little Miss Shabby.  It's a counted cross.

snacks

new patterns

 and my sewing buddy

My goals for FNSI:

1.  Finish Valentine penny rug

2.  Finish hexie pouch

3.  Finish quilt blocks (2)

4.  Make a new pin cushion

Do you have your list of projects and supplies together? Do you have a good movie or two or three to keep you company?  Or some good music?  What about snacks? 

I did my chores and ran my errands during the morning hours.  The fear was there would be no school again because of the cold.  Newton home from school changes plans a bit.  We love our children, but if we're honest, things always take longer and plans have to change to accommodate them.  But he went to school, so everything was accomplished before noon.

Do you Pinterest? It's an obsession of mine. There, I said it.  I find recipes, decorating ideas, gardening help, patterns, patterns and more patterns.  Lots of ideas for craft projects. Lots of really great blogs. In fact, many of the blogs I read I originally found on Pinterest through "pins" and the rest I found from reading those blogs. I wonder if Heaven has a craft room because I will never, ever, in six life times, get all the things I want to make done before it's my time to leave this planet.  The talent that God has blessed us with constantly amazes me. These images are from this blog:

 This is one of the sweetest journal covers.

I fell in love with this owl.  I know they are a really popular right now, but what I really like about this one is how dimensional it is, it's not just flat fabric - it has "feathers".

For years I did counted cross stitch.  I cut my stitching teeth on it.  It's always so clean.  These are beautiful examples.

These are just some of the reasons why I will always have UFOs and projects to complete for FNSI :)

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative FNSI.