Pillow Puff Quilt

     I have been trying to slip in some quilting on the days I am not watching The Nugget, who by the way has learned to sit up on his own! Albeit only for a few seconds:)

    
     This picture is blurry as he was swaying around a bit, but he is pretty excited about the accomplishment!
     I am working on a quilt I started a while back, before the move. It is made by cutting 4 and 1/2 inch by 8 and 1/2 inch rectangles of cloth. Fold the pieces in half so that good sides are facing in and sew up two and a half sides, leaving an opening. Turn right side out, lightly stuff with fiber fill and sew closed the opening. You end up with a little pillow!

     I am making as many as I can in red white and blue themed fabric from my stash and am using stuffing from my stash as well, all of which were given to me by various friends and family, so its a free project! To make the quilt you just sew the little pillows into strips,

 then sew the strips together, and the finished product will be a warm comforter type quilt that doesn't need to be backed or edged! Easy right?

     Here is what I have done so far. It is going to be a nice warm quilt, perfect for cold winter nights! I don't know if I will keep it or give it as a Christmas gift yet, I need to stop getting emotionally attached to my creations! I hope you Christmas crafters are getting stuck into your work load, time is ticking my friends!

Christmas Preperations

   Hello my friends, I know, I know, I am a terrible blogger! I have been absent so much these last few months, but I HAVE been reading your blogs:) We are busy here, just like everyone else at this time of year. Today I have a couple of little Christmas pudding that I made in teacups, steaming away in my crock pot. I am working on a couple of gifts, knitting a pair of slippers for my younger sister, and a couple of rice "socks" for my father who has a lot of aches and pains that need soothing.

     Our kitties enjoyed helping us decorate our tree, as usual :) They are good girls as far as kitties go though, they have never broken an ornament, or tried climbing the tree. They do, however, have a taste for the tree "tea" that can be found in the tree stand, hehehe.
     This Christmas I have decided to make a gingerbread castle,,,, I have only ever made a gingerbread house once before, and it is a LOT of work, but oh so much fun. I was a little over ambitious though, and made the four sides a little large, and have nothing suitable for a base! Lucky my Poot is coming to the rescue, and bringing home some cardboard from work tonight. Hopefully construction will officially begin tomorrow! I'll try and post pictures when it is done, we plan on eating it Christmas day.
     We have managed to budget a little spending money for gifts this year, and both have gotten the other our main "want" plus a few little extra gifts. We actually ended up with a little extra money, and instead of getting more extra gifts we decided to get something we have wanted for over a year,

     a little electric woodstove. Now our fireplace is actually a fireplace, and it makes the living room so much more cozy. I absolutely LOVE it! We also got a lovely soft set of flannel sheets, which will be used for the first time on Christmas Eve,,,, ahhh, talk about pampered! 

     Well, I had better get back to work, I hope you have a lovely, relaxing Christmas!

Valentines Day '11

     We had our most PERFECT Valentines day here in the Evans household last night. I am still smiling about it. I just LOVE Valentines day. To me it means SO MUCH MORE than cards and chocolates. (though those are very nice things) I posted on my facebook what it means to me:
   
Why I love V-Day,


I love Love,

I Love to Love

I Love To Be Loved

Do I only love, or get loved ONE day a year, absolutely NOT! 365 Days a year I share Love with the best Man, Family, Friends and God there is:) One day, its not too much to ask to focus a little more on LOVE than on laundry, bills, school, or work. I don't see the crime in it.
 
     Here in our little home, we LOVE to love on each other, and having a special day set aside where we both put special effort into showing our love to each other gets us excited! We stated planning for our special evening a few days ago.  Poot asked me where I would like to go out to eat, I said, HOME! I love eating out, but NOT on V-day, that is akin to going shopping on Christmas eve! Madness! So I created a special dinner menu.
   
Boneless chicken breast, stuffed with chive and onion cream cheese them wrapped in bacon,
My Yummy parmesan, garlic and herb rice,
Broccoli
With fruit and cream tartlets for desert.
 
     I spend the day, while my Poot was at work, cleaning and prepping dinner.I tried to choose foods that were elegant, but not too fussy or complicated. The only fiddly item were the tarts, and that was fiddly in a fun kind of way.
   Then Poot came home, and even before he stepped through the threshold, he handed me with a big cheeky grin on his face,,,
 

     I Loooooove roses, and for some reason I can't quite understand, chocolates always taste better when eaten from a heart shaped box. After hugs and kisses, and his saying how "gorgeous"(his words!) I looked he went off for his shower and I put the chicken in the oven. Then, he did something very special,,,
    He dressed up for me,,
 

    Usually, in the evening after his shower, he goes straight into Pj's. But, he saw I was making an effort to have a "restaurant" style dinner at home, even jokingly saying we were having dinner at Che' Shannon's Cafe, and he put his fanciest clothes on. Awwww :)
     Then we say down to dinner, (excuse blurry pics, someday soon I WILL be getting a new camera, grrrr

 

     Dinner came out better than I had hopped, the food looked beautiful and tasted delicious and Poot couldn't stop "MmmMmm"ing the whole time. He praised me highly, which I have to admit, I loved. I wont mention how he almost caught his arm on fire while going for the last bits of chicken on my plate I couldn't finish. Oh my! I happened to have a fork in my hand, and he wondered why I suddenly was trying to stab him!!!  Note to self,,,, get Taller candles, that cannot be easily reached over!

      Anyhow, after nearly killing me with fright he did manage to really surprise me (he's so sneaky)

After some nonsense about wondering who had called earlier he asked me to check the caller ID (located on the desk in the bedroom) There he had put a set of surprise gifts for me,

     In case you can't read what's on the note it says "WHO DO YOU LOVE BABY!"
On the evenings my hubby unwinds by playing PlayStation I usually like to either watch movies on netflix on the computer, or play SIMS, so these are a special treat!

    Oh, we had a lovely day! I hope you all enjoyed your day, and shared it with someone you love! Valentines doesnt have to be about romance, it just has to be about LOVE:)