My Christmas 2012!

Our family is having the most wonderful, memorable Christmas time this year. Our Sailor is home for the holiday and will also be with us to ring in the New Year. Blessed, yes, we are very much BLESSED. I know the good Lord knew this transition of letting my Son go...and him joining the military would be hard on me..so he BLESSED us that he would be able to come home for his first Christmas since he has left home. This is making the transition a little bit easier, but still worry for the Christmas he won't be able to be home. I know in my heart it will be very difficult for me when that day arrives.
Until then though, I will count each Blessing and enjoy each and every minute I have with both of my children and my husband with me, together as a family....and celebrate we did!!
The tree was decorated before our Son arrived home...

Cookies were baked....

 Surprises were made....

(I used Avery iron-on paper, printed out a Navy Emblem, and a picture of our daughter's pet bird and made them tops to wear!)

Charleston was hopping around looking for his hidden gifts :)

He posed for a picture too!

Received a box from family with some special gifts, memories from the past...two of my favorite things from Christmas time when I was just a little girl! 

Funny how the smallest things can remain so BIG in our hearts....

A feast prepared for our Sailor Son and our little family...

Christmas cards arrived in our mailbox too...I just love to receive greetings from far and near!

The mouse moved each day on our 22 year old Advent Calendar...

An amaryllis bulb was planted..and it is slowly emerging, looking forward to seeing it's beauty unfold!

Some things I stitched on Christmas break...

A pretty sachet filled with old pine needles from our Christmas of last year: It smells delightful!

A pin pillow using a My Big Toe design...

"Dandy Dreams" by Silver Creek Samplers...

some surprises I received and so grateful for!....

An adorable new "Annie" for my collection :) Thank you Jackie!

A Jim Shore Santa too!...

 A new crochet book to make lovely dish cloths from, along with cotton yarn and hook..

Mag eyes!! So far they seem to be helping with my stitching..

Two beautiful new table runners, one for Christmas, another for the rest of the year with bunnies on it..how did someone know that I like bunnies? :) Thank you Maggi!

I want to thank all my followers and visitors for sharing in my life's journey. I appreciate each and every one of you. For those that take a moment to leave a message, it delights my heart! I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and May you be Blessed abundantly in the upcoming New Year!

Much Love, 

Raggedystitcher's Family xx

Our New Addition to the Family!

Meet Charleston, our new baby! He is a Holland Lop that was born October 11th of this year.
We just brought him home and we are already so in LOVE!!
He is so sweet and soft. :)
I am happy we are once again a family with a bunny :)
Merry Christmas and Hoppy Holidays! :)

I am Happy

I am happy. Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our Sailor was home for a visit which made it all the better! I have missed my son so much. I am happy that he will be home again for Christmas. Each moment together as a family means so much in my heart.
We had a really nice day, and the meal was delicious. A lot of work..but delicious! It was wonderful to spend time with our son again.
My Dear Husband worked before Thanksgiving day on painting the dining room and putting up molding on the walls. He also built a half way between the living and dining room area. There used to be "pillars" ..but we took them down. They were not load bearing, and meant for decoration only. It didn't fit in with my country likings, so down they came..little did we know that they built the wood floor AROUND the poles!! Yikes!
So, yes, there were holes in the wooden floor.
Hubby is so creative, he put up half walls to cover the holes in the flooring. He is an amazing carpenter, among many other things.
I have always loved a blue dining room..but I didn't think blue would look right when the dining room is very open to the living room...so we continued on with the butter yellow color we painted in the living room and foyer. It does look pretty and very bright, which is good, not enough light comes into our home.
Here is a picture for you to see..

I am so happy with the outcome of the work my husband did. I really love the color yellow on the walls!
I have been crocheting scarves whenever I get a moment to sit and work on them. I think I like the purple ones the best (I guess because purple is my favorite color!)
I haven't been walking as much as I would like to...lots of people around here leave their dogs to roam free and the last time I walked I was terrified when a dog approached me!
I really thought he would bite me..but kept following me which made me really nervous.
Not sure what I can do about it, especially if I don't know who owns the dog.
I just pray the next time I go out walking it won't be around!
Been getting ready for the Christmas season...
putting up the Raggedy Ann tree, and little decorations here and there...

 

A basket filled with stitched ornaments in the hall bathroom....

 little ornaments on a vanity shelf....

One of my favorite pictures ....

 And...a special wreath my son the Sailor made me when he was little. It is made from tied pieces of tissue! I hang this every year...

 A sweet Santa and Reindeer made by my daughter when she was little....

So many wonderful memories of years ago...
Sometimes I close my eyes and reminisce about the days when my children were toddlers. Oh, how I miss those days so much!
I know how blessed I am that God gave me children to love with my whole heart.
I look forward to a wonderful Christmas season, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.
May you all enjoy this wonderful month filled with miracles,
Blessings to all of you!
Louise

Mail for me :)

I received a door prize in the mail from My Big Toe Designs !
I entered for a chance to win at the Online Needlework Show. Deborah of MBT sent me two beautiful charts, frogging tools and marking pins...in the color purple! One of my favorite colors!
I love MBT Designs, they are gorgeous! Deborah is a very talented lady indeed.
Thank you Deborah, your kindness means so much!
Blessings,
Louise

Counting the days...

Our Sailor Son will be home for Thanksgiving!! YAY!
I am counting the days....Oh, what to make? What to make?
Of course turkey with all the fixin's, and I will bake apple and pumpkin pie too!
I will have dips and crackers, and all sorts of treats, especially the favorites that our son loves.
I can't wait. It has been too long since we have seen him last. I don't cry as often, but I still do every now and then. I am proud of the man he has become, to go out on his own and serve this country.
In the Nuclear Program of the United States Navy, there are many study hours. It is not an easy undertaking. I admire my Son so much.
I can't imagine seeing him again, to give him a big hug, I just know I will cry!!
I am going to start the Thanksgiving list today, I don't want to miss a thing!

I am trying to keep busy at home with my stitching and crocheting. Working on more scarves at the moment. This is a little piece I have started for myself...

This is a Design by Notforgotten Farm. As most  of you know I love rabbits and miss my Peter Rabbit terribly. I am stitching this in memory of him. The fabric is 30 count coffee stained raw linen, a piece that I had won from Notforgotten Farm. I love the primitive look of this piece so far.
Fall has really set in, and now you can really see almost through the woods in our backyard. It is wonderful to sit out back and have this awesome view!

 I have been enjoying watching all the leaves flutter to the ground, sometimes in masses. Although not trying to think about all the raking that will have to be done! :)
Another finished pin pillow for a dear friend completed...

If you crochet, you must stop in to your local Pharmacy, or Walmart. They have tins filled with candy for the Holiday seasons...I have found that these tins perfectly hold crochet hooks! I love using them...(especially because I lose everything all the time) Ha! But, to keep them in these tins, they will hopefully never get lost again :) I picked up this one the other day...just love the pale yellow color of the tin!

As you can see here, the hooks fits quite nicely...

 I am very excited, I received an email from Debbie of My Big Toe Designs stating that I am a doorprize winner from the Online Needlecraft Show! I couldn't believe I won!! I am not sure yet as to what my prize will be, but I am happily waiting in anticipation, because I know it is going to be wonderful!! :)
I will keep you all updated on that...
I had a reminder this morning that God is always present...
I went to make myself some eggs for breakfast, and when I opened up the carton for eggs, this was printed inside! I have never taken notice of this before, but isn't it wonderful?!!

I purchased these eggs from Aldi. It is a wonderful grocery store that has fine German chocolates and their prices are so much more reasonable than other grocery stores. I shop here weekly.
The last time I visited there, I was at the register and spotted these....

Advent calendars filled with real German chocolates. This has been a tradition in our home since our children were little. At the price of just 99 cents, I couldn't pass these up! Usually I find them with the birth of Christ depicted on the front, but living in the country now, there is not as much as far as variety here. I believe I used to purchase these at Hallmark in the past years.
I am off to prepare my lunch now..some leftover chicken and perhaps a salad or veggies.
Whatever you decide to do today, do it with all your heart :)
Blessings,
Louise

Crochet Projects and Cookie decorating! :)

Hi Everyone!
I have been busy doing some different projects. A dear friend asked me to help out with her grandsons birthday party by making special Spiderman cookies for goodie bags. I made a basic sugar cookie, rolled and cut them out with an egg shaped cutter for the head...

I froze the cookies in rubbermaid containers..there would be no way I could bake and decorate them all in one day...not enough hours in a day!
Then, a couple of days later..I laid all the cookies out on parchment paper assembly style on our kitchen table..

Next up was making the royal icing. This is an icing that uses meringue powder in the mixture. When you frost cookies with this icing, the cookies will dry hard. Good for stacking, or putting in goodie bags! ;)
I tinted the royal icing with Wilton Paste Food Colors. Paste food coloring gives a richer deeper color to your icing...

Then after coloring the icing the different colors I needed in separate batches...I began outlining the cookies to create Spiderman's face...

Moving right along.....I then filled in the rest of the cookies once the outlining "set up" well enough....

As you can see in the photo..I also made some "spiderweb" designed cookies and added blue sugar crystals to them :)
Of course I made a very special 14 inch, BIG Spiderman cookie for the birthday boy! :)

So, you can see I have been quite busy with that....then on the needlework front, I have been crocheting some scarves. I bought some variegated balls of yarn at Walmart in pretty colors. The back of the wrapper had the directions for this beautiful stitch. Something new for me to learn..it said "easy" on it for directions, so I thought I might give it a shot. It is definitely an easy stitch and I am having lots of fun crocheting each day while waiting in the car line to pick my daughter up from school...I even had a mom in another car come over to me and ask me if I could teach her! :)  It is getting pretty cold here in my part of town. This is the perfect time of year for some crocheting. Thought I might make up some of these nice warm scarves for gifts...
I like the purple colors best! :)

I am also doing some stitching..but just cannot post on that yet. I do have such trouble seeing on 28 count now, even with magnifiers. I am a bit worried about that. I would never want to give up my stitching..but it is a bit of a struggle now. I will have to have another eye exam one of these days.
Blessings to all my readers!
Louise

Autumn on Marigold Lane

I finally finished Autumn on Marigold Lane by Pineberry Lane Designs .
Not often these days that I finish something, so I am very pleased!! I stitched this design on 28 count dirty linen with DMC threads. For the flowers I used a variegated DMC #51..love the orange and yellows, it suited it perfectly!

My camera doesn't take the best pictures lately..not sure why, but the first picture shows the beautiful colors of stitching on this piece.
I really loved stitching this design being as I love all things Fall and Autumn themed. My favorite time of the year! Love the changing colors of all the leaves and the crisp cool air that Autumn brings.
We will be carving our pumpkin soon and roasting pumpkin seeds. The leaves are starting to change too...what pretty colors to see out our back door.

I ventured with my dear husband into our backyard woods the other day..we had a wonderful surprise! The owners of the land behind us have a beautiful horse named "Cherry"..and she came to greet us! I have always loved horses and always dreamed of having one of my own..I think God had a hand in planting us in our new home with a horse right in our backyard. I am delighted! I gave Cherry an apple and some carrots..she seemed pretty happy. Isn't she just the most beautiful horse you have ever seen? I think so!!
I was able to kiss her and pet her..it was such a happy day for me!

 

such a cute mouth and nose!! :)

I wish you all a blessed day filled with happiness,

Until next time...