November 21,2011 - Turkey Project -

This is the turkey project I've been working on for quite some time. He is made out of plastic canvas, yarn, and a bit of fishing line. 

I have been on the lookout for any turkey related items I can find and think I can make. This turkey pattern came from http://www.freepatterns.com/list.html?cat_id=8
My mom collects chickens and turkey things and when I saw this turkey, I thought he'd make a great addition to her collection.
This pattern was pretty easy to follow along with some minor adjustments. The pattern wants you to complete the body before putting the wings and legs, and the tail feathers on. I found that by leaving the closing of the body easier to attach the legs and wings as well as the tail feathers till the end, the attachment of the tail feathers especially, made this project much easier. This pattern also wanted you just glue the tail feathers to the body, I chose instead to attach them with clear fishing line and leave the stitches inside the body. Also instead of using a rock, or some sand in a plastic bag, I used 3 cups of kitty litter in a ziplock bag. Another difficulty I had was when stitching the tail feathers and the bottom of the turkey together, the plastic canvas would tend to shread if pulled real tight. other wise, by using the pattern and my own colors, it made for a more colorful turkey.

Today, mom picked me up and when to a spinning wheel group. There were a few (5) of us there. It was fun to get away from the house. There were three people spinning, one working on different projects and me working on finishing my turkey. The ladies in the group thought it was a pretty neat turkey. Thank you mom for taking me with you today and I really look forward to going to the next with you.

November 11, 2011 - Pizza Party -

Today was our family's pizza party. This was planned for sometime and were really looking forward to getting together with everyone that could attend.  Here are the photos from those that were able to come:

Papa

Kim

Sammy

Sarah

Mom

Alex

Chris

Maxine

Yesterday, I was trying to make a pumpkin spice cake in a bundt pan. The idea was to make two cakes, then when cooled put it on top of the first with the bottom sides together. Then I was going to make up a really nice frosting in orange and a little batch in dark orange, and another batch in green. I've been planning out this cake for some time and new that I would get it to work. After talking with my mom, I decided to instead make just one pumpkin spice cake and decorate it as I was going to do originally. So I made the cake. Normally I don't have any issues with the cake setting up. This one decided to be a problem. I had the oven temp. right, and the cake filled the bundt pan 3/4" as it needed to be and cooked it like it was supposed to be. The outside was done, but the inner was about jelly thickness. So I put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. It didn't do anything but burnt the outside edge of the cake. It just decided that it wasn't going to work for me. So then I decided that instead I'd just make bars.

In the meantime, I made some bread sticks and wanted Chris to make some dipping sauce. They turned out really good. Soft, a bit heavy on the garlic and parsley, but they sure looked good.

This morning, Chris was making the things he needed for his pizza's. It smelled so good in my house. So then I  made up the pumpkin spice bars in a cake pan. At first it wasn't going to work out either, so Chris put it in the oven for another 20 minutes and it was perfect. I then whipped up some plain white cream cheese frosting to cover them. My house smelled like a combination of a pizza place and a bakery.

We got over to moms and just had so much fun!!! We laughed, talked, and just had a great time hanging out together. Then Sarah and Maxine (sister and niece) were able to come and the fun just increased. It was just so much fun to hang out together. It was then time to bake the pizzas and get ready to sit down and eat. Chris's pizza was a big hit. We had that, salad, bread sticks, cookies, bars, pumpkin bread, a snack mix, apple crisp and punch. It was so good and everyone just got stuffed. After we all eaten our fill, then we continued to visit and hang out. We laughed so much from the different stories that were told. Family time was so relaxing.

November 10, 2011 First Day of Snow

It's now 6:30am and while I took my dogs outside to do their business, I snapped these pictures of our first day of snow. The dogs forgot what they were supposed to be doing and instead were playing in the snow.
We received about an inch of snow all over and its pretty.

November 9, 2011 First Snow flurries of the season

It's 10:30pm and its just now starting to snow enough where you can see it. Wonder how much snow there will be. Looking forward to tomorrow morning to find out....

November 8, 2011 - Home style Christmas

So for Christmas this year, I have decided that I was going to see just how many Christmas presents I could make with the things I currently have. Way back in January, before I started the Round Robin Quilts, I had started making Christmas gifts. Then I was so busy working on the quilts that I didn't get back to making more Christmas gifts. So yesterday I went through my room and found all the gifts I had made and figured out to whom they were going to. I was pretty amazed!!! I had made 11 different gifts. I didn't realize that there were so many, so it was really neat to see everything I've made before wrapping them up.

I've decided that one of my biggest struggles is to NOT give them to the people before Christmas. When asked what they are, or what colors, or what do they look like, I struggle with trying to give clues that have nothing to do with the items. It's kinda funny and so when Christmas does come, I hope that each gift will be really liked.

I've been thinking that after I am able to give the gifts, that I plan on making more of each and selling them online. I guess I'm waiting for Christmas time first to see if the people that receive them will like them first. I figure that if they like them, then maybe others will too.

Maybe If someone other then my family responds to this post, I'll give one away. That being said, it makes it really hard to know what that person(s) getting if I don't put any pictures of the items up first. The reason is pretty obvious because they are Christmas gifts to my family. So of course, if I added pictures to this blog or on Facebook, then my family would see what they were getting. Which of course would take away the present.

Till later.....