Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a beautiful day. I hope you all had a beautiful day and got to spend it with those you love! Today was so great. I enjoyed spending time with my family and friends who I consider to be family. And of course I ate more than I needed to, although I think I did better than I do most years. Definitely something to be thankful for. ;)

Things will be great when you're downtown...

I like this downtown. It's Old Town in Winchester, VA. I love walking down here and visiting the library. It's a pretty spot. I got these pictures before all the leaves fell...it's not this pretty anymore. :(
This is one of our Newfoundlands, Solomon. Notice the drool...he has a problem with that. It really hinders our relationship.


I like to think about what it would be like to have lived back when this town was young and bustling. It still gets busy down here, but on the particular Sunday afternoon when I was down there it was almost completely empty. It made taking pictures a lot easier.

Django

This is my sister and brother-in-law's dog. One of them. They have two, but this one came first. He's a rescued mutt, but he is beautiful. And smart! Too smart actually.
I like my sister's dogs. :)

My 'New' Sewing Machine!

This is my Janome. My birthday gift. I haven't used it yet (I don't know where the instruction manual is), but I love it all the same. I think we're going to get along really well. It was my Grandma's but she gave it to my mom. When my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said I wanted Grandma's sewing machine. So she gave it to me a month and 25 days early for my 2oth birthday. Thanks, Mom!
My grandma is one of the most interesting and wonderful people I know. She is getting close to 90. She had 11 kids, raised 10 to adulthood and has about 25 grandkids and is expecting her second great-grandchild (my niece!!!). My earliest memories of my grandma include her crocheting doll clothes and aphgans and sewing quilts (we each have a quilt and an aphgan from her) and knitting baby booties for new cousins or babies that she knew of.
I remember one time she was visiting she decided to make herself a quilt. She went to the store and bought her fabric and brought it home and started cutting. I was watching her and was in the way. So I said, "sorry, I'm kind of in the way," and started to move and she put up her hand and said in her very New England accent, "you're never in my way." Somehow, when she said that it made me feel like a million bucks. :)
She helped teach me to crochet and I always wanted to be able to make things the way she could make them. I have a letter from her that she sent me when I was probably 9 or 10 telling me about this Swedish embroidered blanket she was working on. I finally got to see it a few years ago and it was pretty remarkable. Yes, my grandma did all kinds of textile arts: sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, quilting, cross-stitch, and all kinds of stuff. She also loved to bake and make candy. I want to be like her. She not only raised a large family, but she came from a large family so she always had nieces and nephews at her house along with her own kids and then their friends were over too. She certainly had her hands and heart full. I can't wait to use her machine to make things for my family and friends.It can do all kinds of stitches that my current machine can't do. I think this is going to be a lot of fun!

patchwork scarves with fleece backs!

These were fun to make and pretty quick too. I made them for a craft fair my coworker was participating in. None of them sold so now I can take pictures of them for all to see. Real exciting, right? ;)

(I am keeping this polka dotty one! It's nice and warm in this freezing weather!)

It was really nice to do some sewing again! I'm going to try to sew a dress before Christmas. As usual, I have good intentions, but they don't always pan out the way they're supposed to. My goal is to make a dent in it during Thanksgiving week. Other goals this week include:
1. plan a Christmas event for my Campus Crusade for Christ group at school.
2. finally get my room cleaned and organized (hoping for a miracle here...organization isn't exactly my forte...)
3. get a head start on my final projects.
4. start planning Christmas gifts.
5. do some baking for Thanksgiving and enjoy my family and friends!

There, that's not such a big list is it? I have to work on Tuesday, but I have the whole rest of the week off. It's going to be beautiful!

So...

I've taken a very long break from crafting and blogging, but this past week I did do some sewing. :) I sent it off with a friend for a craft fair she was participating in and since the weather was so bad I didn't photograph any of it. I talked to her this morning though and she said she didn't really sell anything though, so perhaps I will still be able to take some pictures and post them here, which is a small compensation for not making any sales. I did sell a baby blanket to my doctor and she has asked me to make another for a friend of hers! So even though nothing has really sold this weekend (my friend thinks this is largely due to the state of the economy) it was still fun though to work on some stuff and hopefully will put me back in the mood for crafting. Especially with the holidays coming up.

I got a sewing machine for my birthday (photos and story of that to come as well) that I can't wait to use. I haven't figured out how to load the bobbin (it is a front loader instead of a top loader and I don't know if that is actual sewing jargon hee hee) yet so I'm still using my old machine which is slowly but surely falling apart. I am really excited to start using my 'new' Janome soon!

In the meantime, happy Sunday. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and ready to face a new week!