Living Life Beautifully

It's only a few days until Christmas and then, a week later we start a new year.  Every year you hear people say, "I'm ready for this year to be over so I can start over". It was a tough year and yet our family is safe, we have a roof over our head, food, and our strong faith.  I keep trying to remind myself that that's enough.  All of us know someone who is going through a more difficult time than we are.  Trying to live up to our expectations during the Christmas season is probably the hardest thing about Christmas.  We think of the perfect meal, the perfect gifts, the perfect Christmas card, the perfect decorations, etc, etc, etc......  The build up to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is full of all kinds of pressure.  We spend money on gifts and then try to figure out how to pay our taxes a month or so later.   I was watching a show yesterday that was talking about stress causing your heart to fail.  We hear about stress causing ...

 This is the last Santa of the season.  He's a cutie patootie. I won't be making any more of them this year.  And since Bruce and I missed the Farmers Market this morning.  Sigh.... Oh well.  He is available and is $65.00. Bruce rented a wood splitter for the weekend.  Bring on the cold weather.  I'm ready to sit by the wood stove with a good book. We still have a huge pile to split and cut up.  This stack will only last us about a week of cold weather. As a kid I used to love when dad started up a fire.  He didn't do it often.  It was it's own little holiday for me. I didn't do as much decorating as I usually do for Christmas.  I put up the most important things.  It's funny, when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to decorate for Christmas.  We would get all excited and the tree was a mess of ornaments. (until we went to bed and my mother totally redecorated the tree) My boys don't help with the tree ...

Bruce and I will be at the NB Farmers Market this Saturday Dec 3rd with our own little booth.  He's excited and I'm nervous.  I worked on a few things this last couple of days. All will be at the booth this weekend, along with a bunch of the things I've posted pictures of in the last few months.  Bruce will have a bunch of rustic benches, tables and corner shelves that he made. Unfortunately, I will not have any large Santa dolls there, because the three I had are sold. Although I have another started and, if I have time, I might finish him.                                                                 This is a tree top angel. These little guys are m...

 The other day we were looking online for pajamas for our chihuahua because he's always so cold and thought it might help if we could find something that totally covered him. We found some that were really cute and reminded me of a pair of pj's that Alex wore when he was a baby. Alex asked me if I still have them.  So I went hunting for his pumpkin pajamas in one of the baby clothes totes I have in my closet.  We spent about 30 minutes going through all of Alex's baby clothes.  Alex was amazed at how tiny everything was.  Then he asked me if I would save them for when he has a child. I said, "of course.  That's what I kept them for." Actually I kept them so I could go through the tote every once in a while and see how tiny he was. :)  I love mismatched pillow cases.  When I shop thrift stores and find the old ones with the embroidery on them, I'm thrilled.  I don't just fold them up and put them in the linen closet for special occ...

Here is Santa number 3.  He's probably the biggest out of all of them. His coat is cut from a new unused quilt. One of the hardest things is having to cut the quilts.  I have so many quilts.  I'll cut one that is fallingapart or I will cut a new quilt, as long as it's not expensive.  I will not cut a handmade family quilt in good condition unless someone wants a Santa from it and I have their permission.  Because I make quilts, I know what goes into putting them together and quilting them.  I'll drive by a home and see someone covering their outdoor plants with an old quilt and I want to scream.  Bruce's aunt used to do that so I went to her house and traded her the old quilt for a blanket.  The quilt was in horrible shape but it ended up making some beautiful crafts.  I have a Santa that is made from a ragedy quilt, a pair of one of the boys jeans with holes in the knees and a pair of the boys b...

 This is Santa number 2.  He has a little ball of a nose. He looks kinda like a brainy smart Santa. His coat is from a tied quilt that was given to me, with a couple of other quilts, in exchange for a Santa made from this same quilt. When I gave her Santa to her, made from her family's quilt, she started to tear up and said it would be passed down for many years.  That was truly my favorite Santa doll story.        Here is a better picture of Santa number 1. Here is a better picture of the little Santa with his bag. I love the eyes. And this is all three together.  I pinned a star painted like a flag on Santa 1's hat just for fun.  I was thinking of making him a bag with a patriotic theme. Well, that's all for today.  I'm pooped.  Each Santa takes about two days to make.  I kinda want to make an Angel tomorrow, but they take even more time to make because of the hair.  Not sure I'll...

 This is the first large Santa of the season.  He's so cute!  The one next to him is one that someone else worked up and he had been badly mistreated.  So I gave him a fresh new look.  Kinda felt like I was doing one of those Oprah makeovers on him.  :) He has a belly button.  I'm not sure why. He has hand painted eyes. The Santa bag goes with him. My craft room is busy messy.  I have 5 large bodies sewn and ready to assemble for more Santa's or angel dolls, depending on my mood. I have lots of little rag doll bodies ready to go.  Most are bunnies that will end up angels.  The Santa's will go to a nearby shop in Gruene.  If you see one you like, let me know before I take it to the shop.  I sell them to her for anywhere from 60- 75 depending on what is used to assemble them.  I'm not sure what she sells them for. OK.... I'm off to work up another. I'll post more pictures as I go. Hugs Shannon