Happy Black Friday

Sorry, no sales here!!! Now isn't that a surprise?? Seems I'm the only one, I think, without a deal of some sort today. I have to admit that I was out and about earlier along with the rest of the "nuts", but no 3 am shopping excursion for this girl, thank you!! I think I left at 8 am and then I only went to Michael's which is really close to my house. I thought about stopping somewhere else, but the wind chill was only 4 degrees this morning, so I wasn't about to lolly-dolly around.

Today, like many of you, I'm busy with Christmas decorations and trying to get the tree up, plus trying to finish something which is turning out really cute. You'll see it on the next post. Right now though I want to show you my loot from the Mug Rug Swap that I got from Gayle yesterday. So cute and so typically me. (My hubby did steal the rug of the truck though.....seems he needs some Christmas cheer in his office upstairs from what I was told.) LOL I bet you'll all be jealous......huh????

I just want you all to know that I am thankful for all of you and for every comment you make on my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you!!! Life wouldn't be half as much fun if I didn't have someone to show my stuff to. (What a crummy sentence that was, huh??......don't report me to the English teachers, okay??)

Missing....2 turtle doves!

I know you are asking yourself, what is this crazy woman talking about now? Poor dear goes from one thing to the next with no rhyme or reason.......and you're right!!! But, my friends, do you remember this guy:

Ah-ha, now you know what I'm up to, I bet. Seems that I'm not such a hot shot drawer of turtles and need to work on that for a bit yet (thus the missing doves), BUT........(drum roll please........), I did finish 3 french hens so I thought I'd show them to you. (Incidentally, 4 Calling Birds are in the works and my brain is developing "however many geese a layin'" as I write this. (I always check the song to make sure that I'm pretty close to the original, mind you.) Seems my 12 days of Christmas will really be off numerically. LOL Oh well!!! Anyway, here are the 3 French Hens:

(The top one is supposed to be a french maid. Apparently, I'm not too "up" on my maid costumes!!) I do like the bows in the back though. :D And a close up:

Check out all those buttons!!! And I want you to know that I sewed them ALL on by hand too!

I hope that you all are proceeding with your colored mandalas from the last post. I finished another one this morning, but can't even take pics to show you since it's raining like crazy here. Hey, it could be worse! It could be snow.....ugh! Hope you have a fun week.

Now...back to my hens, geese, turkey, etc!

Missing....2 turtle doves!

Mandala #1

Isn't this blogging world a marvelous thing? I never knew I could get so much inspiration and grab so many ideas from my blogging friends. Just the other day, as I was reading from my blog list, I ran into something so interesting, I had to jump on it. My friend, Shayla, had created a beautiful embroidery from a site I had never heard of. Naturally, I had to link to it and I was amazed at the artistry. The beauty of the painted mandala was amazing. Now, I've painted in my life.....but I didn't think I needed to switch passions at this stage to obtain the same look. Thankfully, the blog owner had 5 free coloring pages ready for download for the public. (And guess what public person took advantage??) Man, I couldn't wait to grab those beauties from the printer although, I must admit they were a bit small for what I intended.

After looking them over, I decided to run to my local copy place to increase them to something workable and 135% was perfect! I'm telling you, I had already picked out colors in my head on my drive home.

For some reason, I've become a slacker, and it seems it's much easier for me lately to choose crayons than fabric. All those cute little things sitting on my table are so much easier than that dining room table loaded with decisions. Besides, I knew I'd never be able to piece such small stuff so it was a good excuse for me to do my trusty crayon method of making a quilt.

First, the pattern:

Naturally, as you've seen me explain in the past, I traced the image onto my fabric (and that took an age, believe me), backed it with freezer paper for stability and I was ready to go.

Oh, it was so much fun sharpening my crayons as I continued coloring. I'm telling you, that coloring process makes me smile every time. I guess I've never grown up! LOL

I wasn't sure if I should color in the background or not, so I didn't. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure at that point if I even really liked it. BUT, I sandwiched it anyway and decided to finish it. I started the outlining on the inside lines.

It sure was a challenge to try to get those lines smooth looking and I'm hoping the next one is better, but I tried my best. At this point, I was really wondering if anyone would see this. Sometimes stuff doesn't look so cool in process, but I was hoping it would "grow" on me. In any event, I had fun coloring so that's the way I was thinking!!! LOL

I actually surprised myself when it was done. I really liked it and then I was happy I had taken all these pictures along the way to show you. Now, I'm anxious to make another one and maybe one after that. After all, I did copy all 5 free coloring pages!! LOL

The buttons help...don't you think??? I bet you all are copying those pages yourself now, aren't you??? Ah-ha......I knew it!!! Enjoy!

Ummmm......

Oh me, oh my, what can I show you that's new? I have been working, but (again) I did make something for a swap and can't show you until my partner gets it.....and, believe it or not, I haven't even been assigned a partner yet for the swap. Nothing like being ahead of the game, huh? The theme is "Take Flight" which with my love for drawing birds, is right up my alley. I jumped right into that one, believe me and it is cute.......only about 8x10 though. Soon, people, soon....I promise.

I did make two more mug rugs though.....even though I can only show you one of them in full. I decided to personalize one for my partner and thank God she's already commented and likes it. Otherwise I'd have to find someone with the same name to gift. LOL (Can you just see me do that?) Funny!

I'll probably send that out soon after the 22nd mailing date, so I'll re-post him after that so you can see the whole thing.

Other than that, not much new. I have a new project planned that I want to try with my beloved crayon technique and who knows if it'll work. Then, too, I want to do some more little quilts for the 12 days of Christmas. I have some crazy ideas!! Can't you just imagine the 3 French Hens!

Until next time, thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!!! I better get crackin' on some creations!