Holiday Park & Christmas Tree Mountain

Ready or not,Christmas is literally right around the corner!  I hope you are all ready,and have a wonderful Holiday with family and/or friends :@)

Last year I had planned on posting about a Christmas Tradition in the town where I live,somehow that post never happened....so a year later here it is...

The largest park in town is right on the Arkansas River,and aptly named Riverside Park.  However during the Holidays (from the Friday night after Thanksgiving,until just after the first of the New Year) it is also known as Holiday Park!

This tree is decorated with miniature crocheted hats.

A Patriotic tree,all decked out in flags.  This view is looking back up the walkway towards the entrance of the park.

 This tree is decorated with plastic candy canes and cupcakes.

Electrical switch plates that have been decorated with red paint. Stand out from the other decorations on this tree.

This photo is taken at about the halfway point on the walkway,you can just see Mr. P checking out the decorations on one of the trees.

This is one of the trees that is a memorial to a loved one.  There are numerous photos of a solider decorating this tree.

A tree with handmade sheep decorations all over.

How about a tree that is decorated with non other than real skis!  Goes perfectly with the snow on the ground.

The angel adorning the top of this tree is made from a re-cycled Dr. pepper soda bottle.

As you can see the trees line both sides of the walkway,down to this spot where there are usually flowers surrounding the tree behind the sign that is there now.  The trees also continue around this center part,and also the outer circle.

The sign reads:
                                     Started by two sisters to commemorate their mother.  Holiday Park has become a much-anticipated part of Salida's Holiday Celebration.  Community groups,organizations,and businesses decorate their adopted trees to highlight their products,employees or members.  Families and individuals adopt trees to Memorialize a Loved one.  All of the trees reflect the spirit and community that is Salida Colorado.  Welcome to Holiday Park ~ Salida's Holiday Tradition

Christmas Tree Mountain:  Every year after the Parade of Lights (also on the Friday evening after Thanksgiving) ends in downtown Salida,Santa flips the switch and Christmas Tree Mountain once again lights up for the Holiday season!  The heart and the S in the photo below are there all year round.

Merry Christmas to All,and to All a good night!  See you after the Holidays...

A Moment of Silence ~ For Precious Lives Lost

Burnt cookies :(

Yep,that is what happens when you (I) have way to many things going on at once!  Thank goodness it was only the last 5 cookies!

No not these five,these are some of the good ones :)  The recipe for these can be found here the cookies in the recipe are Lime Shortbread cookies,but this week Mr. P asked me to make oatmeal cookies and just put the filling in them.

The rest of the Maxine goodies for my friend.  Napkins,coasters and also two napkin rings for the napkins.  The napkins are 12x12 instead of the usual larger size.

I also decided to make up a couple sets of hand warmers for her :)  They are filled with rice,and just the right size to fit in the palm of your hand.  A nice thing to have in your pocket after taking the trash out during the cold months.  Especially when the dumpster is a few hundred feet away.

These little ones are perfect for little hands!  I started out with 2 1/2 inch squares,so they ended up being a 2 inch square.  It seemed to take me forever to sew the openings closed on these 11 sets.  I am a very slow hand sewer.

They look big in my hand,but I do have small hands.  If I can find the time these will be listed in my etsy shop.

There were also a few other finishes this weekend,but I am saving those for another post.  Hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)

Fabric Lottery/Christmas came Early

Where did the week go?  Isn't that always the way,when you have a zillion things to get done,time just zooms by!  Are you ready for Christmas yet,or are you feverishly sewing gifts hoping to beat the clock?

At this point in time,I am somewhere in the middle :)  This dish mat is one of the smaller projects from my to do list,now it is on the tadone list ;)  I used another one of the huck towels that Gil brought home from boot camp a couple years ago,and gave to me to use as kitchen towels.  I cut it in half,which is the perfect size for my counter :)

If you wanted to make your own,you just need some 2 1/2 inch squares.  For mine I used 15 squares,5 of which are cut on the diagonal to make the edges of the tree.  The trunk is a 1 inch wide strip that is 5-6 inches long.  Sew the squares into strips and then sew the end pieces on each end.  Press the seams open  Starting with the bottom/longest row,place it RST/or wrong side up on the towel and sew it using a 1/4 inch seam.  Press towards the top of the towel,lay your second longest strip RST on top of the strip you just sewed,continue to attach your strips in this manner.  The top of the tree will be the last two triangles,sewn together,without any squares.

I used a decorative stitch on my machine to stitch around the edges,which attached the sides to the towel.  You could use a zig zag stitch,or applique too.

I have a friend that really likes Maxine (or as Jolene & Gil call her "the Crabby lady")  So when I saw this fabric at Joann's...  some of it became ornaments,some more of it will soon be napkins and napkin rings!  Hope she likes them...



                         ~ SPOILER ALERT JOLENE ~

A new set of pillow cases for Mr. P and I :)  Mine is the snowman print on the left,and the Santa/coke print is Mr. P's,these went on our pillows last night.

So,now that a certain young lady is not reading any further...  These are going in the package headed to J & K's (Jolene & her Hubby)  I found the little elephant pincushion pattern while on vacation this summer!  Although she is super busy,every once in a while she finds a few minutes to sew :)  The second item is a elephant book mark.

The pattern came from the Zakka Style book my sis gave me this summer.  Of course I changed it up a bit,instead of sewing it,I used heat and bond between two different fabrics.

This is what the reverse side looks like.  If time permits I also want to make a couple of those triangle book marks that go on the corners of the pages.

Remember the Ur Priceless blog hop?  Well the photo above was the Grand Prize for that hop...Which I WON!  Sadly,I have been sooo busy,that it never made it into a post!  YiKes!  So Sorry Madame Samm :(

I am not the photographer she is...  This is my Fabric Lottery!!!  Included in the package with the Red Thread Bundle from Andover Fabrics,were the Palace doors quilt pattern,and a cone of silver/grey Aurifil thread.  Ahhh,Fabric Love! :)  Christmas Came Early & I have been daydreaming about what to make with all this Luscious FQ Goodness.  However,there are usually a lot of QAL's to start off the New Year,so I am waiting to see what pops up,before I slice into this.

A little Christmas...

Just a quick post to show some quilty/crafty goings on :)

Twice the Flurry!  What you can not see is the Flurry of snow flakes outside :)  Yes I know I am a slacker for not having the tree decorated,but shortly after this photo was taken,that situation was remedied.

Inspector Midas, giving the Christmas Tree the once over ;)

Every year one of the ladies at work always asks me to make up some Christmas Ornaments that she can give to her grandchildren.  Here is a sample of what I made for her this year.

Another lady at work asked if I would make her a little pouch to hold a couple cc's and snack $$.  The only requirements were it had to be small,and it had to be black.  She was thrilled to get it today!

Hope everyone is on track and getting all those Christmas projects wound up ;)  I am off to work on some more myself!

Done & Done

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!  This past week was not such a great one,but my weekend is making up for it so far!  On the sewing front,anyway :)

Finally the two Granny Square Throw tops done!  Mr. P's on the left and mine on the right :)

Oh Happy Day!  Here is a shot of quilting in progress...As I type this up Mr. P is enjoying his throw,and mine is in the dryer :@)

While deleting old photos from my computer recently,I realized that although this was sent off to my PIF recipient a couple of months ago,along with a smaller pouch that is not in the photo,it never made it into a post!  So decided to include it in this one.  She loves to enjoy tea,so I thought that this fabric was rather appropriate :)  Hope she is enjoying them!

December Advent Calendar

Happy December Peeps!  Can you believe it?  Are you ready,or not?  Me neither,but hope to be soon :)

Remember this sneak peak from the other day?  Any guesses as to what they are?

How about now?!  An Advent Calendar has been on my to do list for a couple years now,well not any more!  After looking and looking some more I finally decided to make up my own pattern/version.  Overall I am very happy with how it turned out :)  The only thing I am changing is,the numbers.  The glitter paint I used was hardly visible after it dried :(  So I took it all off,what a chore that was...  So now I need to add numbers back on my little envelopes,but haven't decided what  to use yet.  (will let you know when the decision is made)  Suggestions are Welcome :)

A close-up of the first little envelope,this is before the glitter paint dried.

My advent calendar is going to have little cards in each envelope,with something to do each day :)  I made the cards from gray card stock.  All of the envelopes were made using scraps of christmas fabric! Sweet,right?  Love scrap busters,how about you?

If anyone is interested,and I have time,I might do a tutorial...

Can't see the forest for the Trees...

Hey everybody,has your week flown by too?  Have you started to think about your Christmas Card List yet?  Well if you haven't,I have a super cute idea for you!  This would be a great memory making project for you and the kids/grandkids.

All you will need are 4 items/supplies to craft up some homemade Christmas cards!  You could do anything from trees,snowmen,santa,stars,bells,gingerbread men,or any other Christmas shape you can think of.

Supplies needed:

• card stock
• glue/glue sticks
• pinking sheers
• scraps of Christmas fabric

Fold your card stock in half,or if you would like smaller cards,you could cut it in half first,and then fold each piece in half.  Then let the kids/your imagination go :)

My cards are all trees,because the scraps used were all triangle-ish shapes.  As I am sure you have noticed,they are also all wonky trees,or you could call them Charlie Brown Trees :)  Yes,I planed it that way,since nothing in this world is ever really "perfect".

A close up for you!  With Christmas Break/vacation coming up,you will be having to think of projects to keep the kids busy.  I would love to see your handmade Christmas cards :)

Meet the PineCones

Hope everyone had a great ThanksGiving and weekend too!  Not talking about that Black Day...

Early this fall,when Mr. P and I went to checkout the turning Aspens,I picked up some pinecones at one of the places where we stopped and got out.  These guys are so ugly they are cute :)  Their hats are the corners of some bags/totes that were made this summer,the eyes and noses are buttons from my stash!  I still have about this many more to make up yet,and since they do not want to stand up very well,they will probably get hung on the tree.

I also made up a few lanyards this weekend,the package of hardware had enough to make 25,so there will be more of these in the future.  They are really pretty quick and fun to make up.

This little stack is a sneak peak of something that is in progress at the moment...more on that soon!  Hope you have your craft on,as Christmas is fast approaching!!!