So today is Sunday... a Slow Stitching Sunday...right????

Well this is now the third day in a row I thought it was Sunday... Friday seemed like Sunday and Saturday seemed like Sunday... good thing my phone tells me what day it is... Thanksgiving got me all discombobulated... but I'm back on track... at least I think I am.

Even though I didn't have the actual meal at my house there was shopping and prepping and cooking that needed to be done for the feast... and it was quite a feast. We all went to my DIL's parents home... they did turkey and lots of sides and I brought prime rib and sides... we had mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole and stuffing and couscous salad and pasta salad and green beans and cranberry sauce and rolls and pie... and we were all in a food coma from 2pm on... it was a great day!!

For Black Friday I continued my tradition of staying away from any retail establishment... instead I cleaned out the mums in my window boxes and cleaned out my garage... it looks sooooo much better... I'd show pictures but I think most of you know what trash cans and leaf bags and garden tools and extra paint and other assorted items that are" too good to get rid of but you don't want them in your house" look like.

I did get a little bit of crafty stuff done this week... and several thinks are almost finished... not completely done but close, very close...

I finished that sock I showed  before and got past the heel of the mate to it, so it is almost a pair...

I almost completed the WTN&T In Santa Claus Land cross stitch...

I ran out of the CC Eggshell to finish that last hill. Now I know I bought TWO extra skeins of that color as I didn't think I'd have enough to finish, but I can't find them anywhere... so I ordered another one which means they will show up some time next week.

My biggest project was a re-do  of my windows boxes for winter. For several years I've been unhappy with how sad they look empty all Winter... they have petunias for Spring and Summer and mums and pumpkins for Fall but nothing for Winter. I've looked a a bajillion pics of window boxes on Pinterest and Instagram and knew what I wanted but didn't want to spend a bajillion dollars. Fresh evergreens are lovely but pricey and they dry out before Winter is over... sooooooo... I came up with this solution... faux trees and evergreens and berries... I almost stayed under my budget and I'm hoping I can re-use all this stuff again. Now usually I don't like "artificial" flowers but in this case I'll make an exception.

Let's start with a close up of one of the boxes...

I started wit adorable little fir trees... got them at Target... needed to hit two Targets and since I needed so many .... 36 to do all 5 window boxes... I got 5 evergreen garlands at Michael's and bought  27 berry picks and another 30 evergreen picks...  Luckily everything was on sale at least 50 -70% off, I really like how it looks and from the sidewalk or the street it looks pretty realistic. Now my window boxes will be happy and full all  Winter.

And to overload you with pictures as this is the biggest accomplishment of my week... here is the Living room window...

And here is the two boxes on the side of the house with two of my inflatables... I think the gingerbread man is cute and I have a hippopotamus because I adore that song "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"... only a hippopotamus will do...

And for your enjoyment here is the original video from that song sung by Gayle Peevey...

Now it will be an earworm for the entire holiday season...LOL


I've got lots planned for the upcoming week. David of Quilting by David  sent back my Fat Quarter Cubes quilt with the Heather Ross Sugarplum fabric and it looks fabulous...and yesterday he emailed that he finished the other 2 quilts I had sent him and put them in the mail... that means I have THREE Christmas quilts to bind... good thing I'll do them all by machine.   If you want to see pics of the quilting you can look here and here.   He does great work. I'll be sending more tops his way after the first of the year.

I also have an appointment or two every day this upcoming week... how did life get so busy??? I'm 65....I'm suppose to be retired with nothing to do... well I don't really want a life with nothing to do but I would like to stay home a bit more... some fun stuff is in store... tickets to the theater and a movie... and some stuff that needs to be done... doctor's appointment and meet with the tree trimmers for the  65 year old oak in my son's yard.

My goal is to get the Fall decorations returned to their plastic bins and break out all the Christmas stuff.  I'm hoping that having all those new Christmas quilts in the house will be motivating. I want to hang the Ho Ho Ho Santa one on the wall in the living room... he just so cute.

And speaking of cute ... here is the Dude ... I went to put the new pillowcases on and he was breaking in the Christmas quilt on my bed (the only decorating I've done so far)... it had just been washed and I guess all that good smelling, warm crinkly-ness was irresistible...  he did deign to re-locate to the couch in the living room so I could get the pillowcases on ... this quilt always makes me smile as lots of Santas keep me warm.

My first indoor Christmas decorating... so much more to do...

So off to get dinner started... we are having prime rib sliders with the leftover from Thanksgiving... should be tasty...I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts ... and checking out what everyone else is up to... hope you have a great week ahead.

happy stitching-
carol fun