Handmade Christmas Gift #1 and more

Hello!
I am starting working on several new projects. Some are Christmas gifts. So far I finished one.

This is the half way picture. And following, the finished scarf.

It is very simple pattern, since my knitting  skills are a little rusted.

It will be a Christmas gift  for my Mother-in-law. I love this shade of blue and hope she likes it too.

Now the projects I need to finish.

This will be one of the popular rainbow pencil rolls that are all over the net. I will use denim for the pocket and exterior.
Brenda will get it for Christmas. I will post the finished pencil roll when I finish.

And here are the 7" squares for a Christmas rag quilt. The back will be red flannel, and the top red corduroy  and the Christmas paper dolls fabric.

I also started a new crochet basket, this time using t-shirt yarn. But I run out of t-shirts and the basket will have to wait.
I have some other projects that will be finished soon.

Now, some new treats I got recently.

A friend gave me this beautiful Moda Jelly roll. It is from the Hometown collection. It is the first time a have a jelly roll and I am trilled. It is a quite pricey little thing, really a treat because I only buy fabric by the yard at Joann using a coupon. I never buy pre cut fabrics and  rarely buy fabric at other places.  I don't have many choices around here.
I am still deciding what to do with this beauty.

I was crazy for this magazine. The new Just Cross Stitch Magazine Sept/Oct.  My husband stopped by a Joann super store on his way from work to get me one. The two Joann's near by don't carry Just Cross Stitch.

And look what I got in the mail today. The Christmas Ornaments Special Issue and the new Halloween book. They are beautiful. I ordered about  two weeks ago!  Silver Needle was very busy.
As you can see, I have enough to keep me busy for a while.
Thanks for stopping by!

Ana Paula.

Summer and Little House on the Prairie Activities

I am back on blogging. Brenda started school yesterday and now I have more time. Lots of projects waiting! :)
I want to share some of my summer stuff. Yes, now when summer is almost over.
I really don't have a lot of summer decor items, but here it is.

This is my beloved  Summer Sampler in Cross Stitch.  I got it on e-bay. It is From Janlynn. I got both Summer and Fall Samplers from a Canadian lady.  A real bargain.

My friend Jodie made the seahorse and the picture frame I got at Hallmark.  The little sailor girl is from Boyd's Bears.

The picture of Brenda at the beach is in Brazil, about 4 years ago.
That was it.  I will do better next year.

Now...  we gave Brenda the first five books from Laura's Little House for her birthday.
We started to read the books together and I decided to do some related activities.
My inspiration was this :


"Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday."

Little House in the Big Woods, pg 29

So, we started our work for the week, Ma's  style.
I was lucky to find a washboard at a Peddler's Market.

Our wash day was a blast! Brenda loved to scrub her doll's clothes.

She loved to hang the clothes too. She thinks doing laundry this way is so much fun.

For our Ironing day we used a Barbie iron. I could not find my vintage toy iron.

For mending day we did a  simple embroidery.

It was another favorite. She was very excited.

For Churning day we colored the cream like Ma Ingalls did. With grated carrots.

Now shake, shake, shake! After all the  shaking the butter was inside the container. Like magic!

Now it was ready to eat on bread.

 No pictures for cleaning day. It was a very hot day.
 For the baking day I made muffins... way too hot for Brenda to be at the kitchen.  Also, no pictures. Sorry.
For resting day, we went to church, as we always do. Here is Miss Brenda all ready to go.

She wants to do the activities all over again, specially washing day.
Hope you are enjoying your last days of Summer. Here in Southern California the heat will stay for awhile.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.