Chookie's Tree

My Mum has bought the Chook a Christmas tree bauble every year since she was born. It's becoming nice record of where she is at every Chrimbo - she's chosen her own the last 3 years.

This year she wanted that hideously tacky chihuahua in a shoe - it's all gold glitter and jingle bells. She thinks it's marvellous!!

my book win!

I won a book in the round 4 giveaway of the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-along (link in the side bar!) and it arrived nearly 2 weeks ago - that's how busy we've been, I'm just getting round to blogging it!

Me with the parcel picked up from post office. I'm excited...

Chookie helping me open it.

Ta-daaah! In all its bookish glory.

It's just magic, I've read it twice over Christmas and I'm full of ideas for new quiltie adventures. Thank you so much, Hats!!

Christmas projects

I thought I'd show ya some of my Christmas sewing. I was a busy bee!


This kitchen set was made from a tutorial at Tallgrass Prairie Studio and was for Oor Kid (my baby brother) who loves to cook. And plays the gee-tawr.

This Emmaline apron was made for the Kid's wife who loves to bake - gotta love the vintagey Amy Butler fabrics!

The lovely Sue's missus has a VW camper and after much searching I found a FQ of Heather Ross - woop!! Avril is known for her cushion love! Chookie and I couldn't decide which ones to use - the one with the dog (coz they ave a daft spaniel) or the white one (since Freddie the van is white) so we put one on the front......

....and one on the back!

The last 2 gifts are wall hangings also from the Tallgrass Studio. One for a friend with a new baby (and we all know the washing they generate!) and one for a friend with a newly refurbished utility room.

I've shifted round my wee room today to try and find some room for my new cutting mat. It's lovely and tidy and itching for a new project. If I could just shake this cold and find some motivation!!

and......relax!

So that's us all done for another year! We've guddled about in our jammies today and I've barely been near the computer but I thought I'd document some highlights from the last 3 days.


We have a tradition that on Christmas Eve after Chookie's bath (once Santa's elves have delivered her new jammies!) she gets to open the huge bauble that resides on our tree. I can't believe she's tall enough to lift it down herself this year!

And "AAAAAAAAW!" it's that panda Yoo-Hoo she has been coveting! How did Mummy know?! Heh.


This is Christmas morning as she spots her bike!! Notice Patch the Panda is present for the festivities! I forgot my camera at my Mum's so I have no other photos from Christmas Day - doh! Although, what with all the snow it's not been great weather for bike riding or roller-blading. The Nintendo DSi has had GREAT use, though!!

Mum's lunch was fantastic (although there was nearly an incident involving a Go-Go hamster running about the kitchen floor when lunch was being served!) and we had a lovely time relaxing with her and Dad and Oor Kid and the Vixen.

And me? Well, I asked Santa-Spouse for an iPod speaker. He bought me a cracking Sony one AND (and it's a big and!) a new Ipod Touch. Woop!!! Now I understand all the talk about the iPhone (I am adamant I don't like them - not for me, anyway). Looks cool, eh? The violinist was from Sue - she's a comic character from the Umbrella Academy (a favourite of mine) and I thought looked perfect on the new speaker/dock.

Vanya in all her homicidal White Violin glory.

These are my other from-friends gifts. All are just PERFECT, going to prove that although I have eclectic tastes? My friends have me pegged! So huge thanks and hugs to Sue, Biff and Val.

In fact, everything I was gifted this year was just spot on. Sewing stuff from my Mum and Dad (including new scissors, a bigger cutting mat and a 1/4in piecing foot!), my favourite Ruby & Millie make-up from wee Granny, black (black!!!!) star print jammies from my MIL and dinner and cinema vouchers from Oor Kid and his missus. I have the BEST family. And I get to spend Friday with them, too! Steak pies ahoy!

ponies!

By the skin of my teeth the pony quilt is finished! I can't say it's been without it's issues but the Chook will LOVE it and that's really all that matters! I had a lot of help with this one, fabric came from all over! The green daisies came from Susan in the kitten-fishing Arkansas wilds. The pink cherries fabric was sent specially by Karen in Minneapolis. And the pony heads were donated by the other lovely Karen in Vancouver.


Vancouver Karen also included the black ponies that I pieced into the back. I think I prefer the back to the front!!
For reasons of time (ie: having none!) the binding is machined on. I don't hate it but I do much prefer it stitched by hand. Chook won't notice, I'm sure! And that's not a massive pucker in the top right corner! It's just a fold line from it being stashed overnight straight out the drier!!
Thank you to everyone who helped. From fabric suggestions, to actual fabric gifting to ideas on how to quilt and where I may have left the thread! DONE!!

the deets:
The pattern is a simple sashed four patch.
The fabric is a mix of Heather Ross, Amy Butler and various gifted lengths - thanks again! Plus a khaki plain cotton. Backing is Heather Ross Westhill.
It measures 41in square.

more snow!

Well that was unexpected! We woke up this morning to another 2 inches of the white stuff (I know, I know - 2 whole inches!!). The Chookie had a ball at my Mum's making snowmen with my Daddy and having snowball fights while I toiled away at work (boo-hiss!) but our virgin back garden snow was too much for her to resist when we got home.

Look, Ma, a snow angel!!

Tah-daaaaaah!!

And I'm going to point out to Floss who has many, MANY acres of a yard that the patch you can see above? That's HALF my garden. Compact and bisous, Mostin! (Brit joke there!! Heeee!!)

my Christmas bangle.

I had such a list of things I was going to document this Christmas and I have failed miserably at it! However, I did manage to take a photo of my Christmas bangle.

I've been collecting bracelet beads for about 3 years now and have quite a few. A few too many some would say (like the Spouse!) but I don't care. There's a post on another bracelet here. This one is only worn for the month of December - I love it and wish it got more wear (and I know I could just wear the damn thing but some of what makes it special is I only get to have it on for a little bit. So it's a good sort of longing the rest of the year - with me?).

I mix and match my beads so they're from all different manufacturers but I'm careful to buy hardwear (the actual jewellery they're worn on) that fits Trollbeads. They are my absolute favourite. Probably because they're the most expensive! Bizarrely there's not a Troll on this one!! The Angel (a Pandora), Star(a Truth Bead) and Pig are representing the Chook's Nativity performance rolls, the Tree(a Biagi) because one of my favourite parts of the season is putting my tree up and the Gingerbread Man was a gift from Sue. The glass ones (from l-r: Snowball, Fairylights, Candycane and Hollyberries) are fairly self explanatory! And the wee bird is a partridge since we have a pear tree in our back garden! He came from Kim Miles and most of my glass here is from A String of Beads. I do love those little torque bangles because you only need a few beads and they're nicely full!

snow!!!

A whole half inch fell overnight and at noon the Chookie's wee pal the Giggler was round with her sledge. My boss gave Chook his kids old sledge about 3 years ago - this is the first time it's been used! Scotland without snow, what a sad situation. Anyhoo, off they shot and after 20 minutes I went to check up on them.

They were having a ball! Taking turns at pulling (since there isn't nearly enough for a proper downhill run!)

Don't they look like kids like they used to be? Not a Nintendo or batteries-needed thing in sight.

Does my wee heart good, so it does. All we need is another few inches for a snowman!!

just past the mid-week mundanities.

It's 3 months since I did one of these!!! Must try harder...

my general mood? Is slightly harassed! Nearly done with the Santa shopping so hopefully more chilled after the weekend. I'm also cheesed off that my H key on my wireless keyboard is playing up. I use a lot of H's!!

what am I wearing? Boyfriend jeans, a green Scouts t-shirt and green monster slippers. You know it's freezing when I'm not barefoot!!

what have I been watching? No great telly on currently (I've still David Tennant on Buzzcocks to catch up on - woot!) but I got season 1 of the Muppet Show on DVD today. Brilliant!

what am I reading? Sherrilyn Kenyon's "League" series. Downloaded for my E-reader from Waterstone's online. I'm trying so hard to not add to the paper library!

what have I been listening to? My last 2 downloads are the Temper Trap Sweet Disposition and Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name. Yes, I'm part of that "stupid" (Simon Cowell quote!) number trying to NOT have another X-Factor Christmas number 1 and get the deeply innapropriate Rage there instead. It's exciting watching the charts for a change!!

what have I been creating? Christmas gifts! I still have to quilt Chookie's pony quilt (stumped how to do it!!) but my real task for the next week is to finish last years scrapbooking! 1 layout to go!!

stars in every meaning.

The Nativity went brilliantly! Apart from one microphone not working too well - like every time the Chook and her buddies went to use it! Hmph. But they were so professional; with misfiring mics, forgotten lines and crying babies in the audience. Little stars all of them - not least my very own Christmas star.



"In Bethlehem in a Stable" is my baby girl! My incredibly tall little girl!!



In other news, she's been promoted at Beavers and now is the leader of the red lodge - not bad going for the only girl there!

anxious shopping.

The Chookie has her matinee Nativity play this morning. As I'm typing, in fact. She has LINES. She is the shyest child - I'm keeping everything crossed she doesn't choke when faced with a hall full of parents. So I've been shopping online (in my coffee break at work) and bought the Muppet Show first season on DVD. Woop!!

plop.

I've spent 2 days swearing at the pony quilt before conceding defeat. In my wisdom I had decided to give it a fleece backing to make it all snuggly for the Chook. I knew it would be more difficult than cotton to quilt - how much more difficult I wasn't prepared for. So today for an hour I did some reverse quilting (thank you Trudi for the term!!) and made what I was originally going to do for the back. I had to piece it coz it's bigger than I originally planned. Grrrrrr. However, we're ready for more pin-basting tomorrow and I love it more than I did with the fleece back.


I did stumble across this at the weekend. Made me laugh lots!




Yay for Beaker!!!! And Rizzo the Rat, obviously. Our girl up there in the banner was named for him (not Rizzo from Grease like has been asked! As if!!!) I miss the Muppet Show.

and the winner is.....

......entry number 1, Susan/Flossieblossoms/Bum-girl!!

Well done, Sooz, I couldn't believe it when Wilson picked your name out!! I got so excited I forgot to take a photo. *grins*

Parcel in the post on Monday. Woop!!

cookeeeeeees.

Oor kid (my baby brother) turned 28 yesterday. He's had a resurgence in his golfing game (after a 12 year hiatus!) and had asked for golf related stuff for his birthday. Not one to miss an opportunity for random nonsense, the Chook and I proceeded to choose for him the most ridiculous club cover we could find. Enter the Cookie Monster!
I couldn't find any matching cuteness so I bought a plain golf bag towel and appliqued his Cookieness on it. Oor Kid was thrilled and figures if he's not known for his golfing prowess he'll at least be known for his cool towels. Heh.



The pony quilt is basted! I'll do a proper thank you round up when it's finished, 3 separate quilters have freely given fabric for it and need to be properly acknowledged. I thought you'd like to see how it's coming, though.



There's only one entrant in the loser giveaway (but what an entry it is!!). Are there no other cat-owning Arkansas Susans out there? *grins*

the special "for losers" giveaway!!!

That's right! In honour of my newest giveaway win (thank you, Heidi-Hats!!) I am hosting my very own, very first giveaway. The winner shall receive their very own made-by-me little something. That means I haven't quite decided what it is, yet. It's okay, though, it'll be cute. There are a few conditions to entering and they're quite stringent, I hope you don't mind.

condition 1: for shipping reasons I can only post to Arkansas state. Don't ask why, it's just because, okay?

condition 2: since this is a special little something I need to know you'll take care of it. Therefore entrants must be responsible for the care of a small creature. Like say, oh, I don't know, an excrutiatingly cute white kitten or something?

condition 3: we're having an eco-drive at work and I've already printed the address label. So all entrants must be named Susan. Saving the planet one address sticker at a time, baby!!

Leave a comment saying why blondes rock (ha!!) and the winner will be randomly picked by one of my pet rats on Friday 11th at 3.30pm GMT. Good luck!!

(disclaimer - this is obviously a bit of fun for a friend who never wins anything - there WILL be a proper anyone-can-enter affair on this very blog in the new year. That is all.)

all I want for christmas is yooooooo - AGAIN!!

It is STUCK in my head. I don't even like it!! This is my favourite Christmas song.




The blurb says it was first released in 1975. I was 1. Heh.

P.S. I'VE WON A BOOK IN THE ORB QUILT ALONG!! I never win anything and that's twice in 6 months. I cannae believe it!

Nearly there.

With the gift sewing, I mean. Yahoo! This is for my Mum (can we all cross everything that she doesn't suddenly become PC savvy in the next 2 weeks!!). There is a fabulous tutorial here at Cluck Cluck Sew. I would leave more white space next time but it's surprisingly quick to run up.

And this wee sneaky peaky is for someone who knows someone who reads here.

Just the pony quilt to sort and I AM DONE!!! Just a quilt. Ha!!

ungrateful scuts!!

I bought the boys a couple of fantastic alien covered hammocks from FuzzButt (and yes I know I could have made them but I have NO TIME!!) and where are they sleeping? On the shelves. hmph.

oh, tannenbaum!!

This year's Christmas tree is a bit of a mish mash of all my favourite things. Pink and blue and purple and green and for the first time has a fairy on the top - there's usually branches of holly berries parading up there.


The Gisella Graham fairy (up the top) was bought by my Mum for the Chookie when she was about 4 - for years her favourite colour was purple! A strange choice for a toddler. The huge green butterfly was also from Mum a few years ago - 2 of my favourite things!

My absolute favourite bauble, though, is the wee Tinkerbell we bought in the Christmas shop in the dungeon of Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland Paris when we were there in 2007. She has a mended arm and wings where a certain 5 year old dropped her!

I love putting my tree up - that and the wrapping of my gifts is my favourite part of the winter celebrations.

R.I.P. precious Sniffy.

I had to do another vet intervention today. Poor old Sniffy finally seemed to reach the end of her looong tether with her dodgy back legs and sore eye. She was a poor looking wee thing - thin fur and a bloody face, 2 gammy back legs and a big hip lump. And she smelled. The most fastidious of our girls was, not to put too fine a point on it, honkin'.



I checked back my photo files and found some cuties - she always was our favourite (which always made me feel guilty, not supposed to have favourite pets, are you?). Here she is the day we brought her home, all big ears and cute nose.


And later that same day sparked out. That's Rizzo behind her (the blog banner star) and Riley's white bum!

Me and the Snifter having an eskimo kiss. I especially like the toy pram in the garden - it is tiny (this is 2 and a half years ago)

But Sniffy was really the Chook's first pet. Bought for her 5th birthday and as friendly as the day is long. They were buddies from day one. Bless.

So, rest in prawn crackers precious wee creature. You made some special life long memories for a wee girl.

all I want for Christmas is YOOOOOOOOO!!

Yup, it's official. Santa is coming soon! I am at this very second hearing my first play of the vocal gymnast that is Mariah Carey (ack!), I saw the Coke "Holidays are Coming" advert this morning and it was minus 3 here last night and my car door was frozen shut. IT'S DECEMBER!!!



Proper post with photos of my tree later - my favourite part of the season is putting the tree up! Woop!!