Let the decorating begin!

An unexpected day at home on Friday meant that I was able put away the Fall decorations and start taking out the Christmas ones. This year the first item to be hung was my Redwork Santa.

"Over the river and through the woods" was the second item that I decided to take out. I am so glad that I finished this into a pillow top last summer.

 Of course, my magnetic Advent Calendar had to come out for December 1st. I have to add the bell to the tree today.

 Last night I pulled out my Christmas dishes and put them in the corner cabinet in my kitchen. I use them every day during the month of December and put them away on January first.

My crafting is still extremely limited. I have been going a little stir crazy to say the least. I started thinking about what craft I could possibly work on that doesn't require the pinching motion that is so painful.....crocheting, knitting and holding a needle or fabric are not possible right now. I remembered that last year I had completed some no-sew fabric Christmas ornaments and I had one that was barely begun. I pulled out the little crocheted basket that it was in, cut some fabric and have started working on it again.

 I have two rounds done on each end. I hope to add the red row sometime today. It is made with lots of straight pins and folded 1-1/2 inch squares of fabric.

It doesn't hurt my right hand to hold the Styrofoam ball and I do most of the folding and pinning with my left hand. What a relief that there is some craft that I can work on.

Just the other day this little bunny came to visit our back yard again.

 I love that the bunnies are comfortable just sitting out in the open in our yard. I wonder what will happen when my daughter visits with her puppy at Christmas.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I have shared some past stitching in this post, but I will be pinning my ornament today not stitching. I will also probably try to get some more decorating done today. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Family time

With my son and daughter home until Sunday, we decided to do something holiday oriented.

We went to Old Westbury Gardens' Holiday Marketplace. The mansion was decorated for Christmas and there were vendors on the grounds with unique items for sale.

I took some pictures of the holiday decorations in the mansion.

 Flash photography is not allowed so the pictures are somewhat dark. The mantel decor is beautiful.

 This tree is huge!

 Several rooms have trains.

 This doll house is quite elaborate.

 Isn't this ceiling gorgeous?

 This mantel is beautiful also.

 The embroidery on this coverlet is quite pretty.

 Can you believe how they decorated the bathroom? There is a pony in the tub!

 You can't visit the third floor, but the staircase is nicely decorated.

We didn't buy much at the Marketplace. I bought a gift for my daughter's fiance and my daughter bought some different flavors of ravioli to bring home.

Afterward we went to Hick's Nurseries to look at the Christmas displays. They have a walk-through area that has different scenes displayed for adults and children to enjoy.

 Aren't these adorable?!

 Look at these stuffed animals.

 Santa has quite an elaborate sleigh.

 This snowman and pup look cold, but the pup was wagging its tail.

 Then there was the shopping. Elf anyone?

 or maybe a Santa?

 or a snowman?

 or a Nutcracker?

 This is one of many decorated trees.

Of course they have Department 56 villages also.

 The hockey players in the bottom corner actually skate around the pond.

 I love the village below.

Here is Christmastown from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer....my favorite Christmas cartoon. 

 There's Rudolph!

 I love looking at the villages!

 I have always liked these figurines too, but not enough to buy them.

 I like this Santa too.

 I really love this Santa. I have a small collection of Santas that I display each year. This would make a wonderful addition....hint, hint, Hubby.

I hope you enjoyed the picture tours.

There isn't any crafting to show you right now. My right hand has been painful every time that I attempt any craft. Even the food prep for Thanksgiving bothered it. I am planning to go to a different doctor soon for a second opinion as I don't feel like my current doctor understands how important my crafting is to me or doesn't care. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

A new family member

My daughter and her fiance adopted this adorable puppy.

They named her Ruby. They believe she is part terrier, part dachshund. Hubby and I haven't met her yet. We will get that opportunity next week when we travel to see them. I am also going wedding dress shopping with her on Saturday. The happy couple will be getting married next Fall, so they are now in the throes of wedding planning. So much fun and excitement coming up.

Now, I had a different kind of excitement this week that was not so much fun. I have been having pain in my right thumb by the palm so I headed to the hand specialist. Since I was going I also wanted to mention to him the knob on the knuckle of my left thumb. Well, I left the office in far more pain than when I went in as I had to get a cortisone shot in my right wrist to calm the inflammation from arthritis that was causing all the pain. Trust me that driving home Tuesday afternoon was the most painful thing I have done in years. I am now sporting this daytime fashion accessory.

The night-time brace is heftier.

The doctor also informed me that the knob on my left thumb is a cyst that needs surgery to remove (also caused by arthritis). That is scheduled for the beginning of January as I have to wait until the semester break from my university course. I need to be able to write and I write left-handed.

Today I decided to try to return to stitching. The pinching motion that is needed to sew is what bothers my hand. 

I finally added the teddy bear to Santa's sack. Isn't it adorable.

Santa's sack is full now. I need to add a candy cane as well as a gift and an ornament near the bottom still. You can see the outlines on either side of the sack.

I am also working on a secret cross-stitch design on my PC Stitch program. I am cobbling together some charts that I have as well as adding some of my own design to make a special gift.

 

This will be my next big project, but I won't be able to share it until it is gifted next year. Right now it is still in the design phase.

I hope my hands heal so I can spend a lot of time working on this.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I hope to add the candy cane to the Advent Calendar today. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow crocheting

I have been adding a row here and there to my Breezy Infinity Scarf. Now I have a square.

 I wonder whether I will finish this for use this year or not.

I am happy to show you that my son is using the quilt that I made him.

I think it looks pretty nice on his bed.

I haven't been stitching all that much lately. I joined a strength training gym in the hope of combining that with a diet program to lose some weight and tone prior to looking for a dress for my daughter's wedding. She and her fiance have decided on next September for the wedding which doesn't leave me much time to get in better shape.

Of course, adding a couple of gym sessions a week to an already crowded schedule means very little crafting time. I want to design and make a wedding sampler for the happy couple also. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I think I will work on the wedding sampler design rather than actually stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

Update

After a week in the hospital and five weeks in a rehabilitation facility, Mom is home. She is not as independent as she was in August and we are in the midst of coordinating aides to help her out. I wanted to thank everyone for their well-wishes. 

Last weekend Hubby and managed to make a short overnight trip to Boston to attend our daughter and her fiance's housewarming and to meet her fiance's parents. Here we are with the happy couple. 

It was a great party, but the drives there and back were awful. On Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. the normal half hour drive to get off Long Island over one of two bridges took over an hour. Then there was construction on Interstate 95 that further delayed us. What should have been about a four hour drive, give or take, took five hours. We were trying to arrive early as we were bringing a cooler, but we at least arrived right on time. Going home Sunday afternoon we encountered numerous roads with accidents on them. I used Waze to navigate around them, but at one point there were accidents and delays on every possible route. We spent 6 hours in the car to return home. Ugh!

Yesterday I made a whole bunch of food to package for Hubby and I and for my Mom and MIL. Here is a big pot of Meatballs and Sausage simmering on the stove. I want to cook some other freezer worthy items today so we have some easy weeknight meals and so does my Mom when I can't be at her home to get her meals.

 I also finally found a few minutes to add one measly piece to the Advent Calendar. Santa's sack finally got its brim.

I am hoping to work on this a little more today. The teddy bear in the sack between the house and the gift is the next item to add. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will make a cup of tea and go visit right now.

Thanks for stopping by! 

A Little Stitching

Mom is improving, but still in the rehab facility. They have her walking a little longer every day so that she can go home in a few weeks. I am still as busy as ever going to visit, doing her laundry and making some food for her, but I am not as upset as I was in the past few weeks as she is much more herself every day.

I did manage to add Santa's toy sack last week, but not it's brim. That will be my lowly goal for this weekend. 

I also finished knitting Mom's fingerless mitts. I have seamed one of them and will finish the other after this post.

 It is a little tight on me as Mom has much smaller hands and wrists.

Do you like my bright blue manicure? It is one of my favorite colors....Rich Girl, Po Boy by OPI.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Slow is the optimum word in my life at the moment. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I am hoping to add the brim to Santa's Sack. 

Thanks for stopping by!