Give Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! It is that time of year again, when just thinking about Christmas stresses me out and hoping for a peaceful holiday is the best I can do. I thought I'd put that aside today and work on being thankful for all of the wonderful things in my life. I try to pick something each day, and think of it right before sleep, that I'm thankful for. Most days it is small things, like making it through work, getting a good hug, a wonderful conversation, ect. Today it is time to think of big picture things I'm thankful for.

#1

My adorable Hubby!

#2 My Furry Monster!

#3 My amazingly loving family. (Which I sadly have no actual group photos of.)

#4 My super supportive friends. (Again no decent pics, but you know who you are!)

#5 Creativity and the ability to express myself.

#6 My home.

#7 The chance to reach out and help others.

#8 My wonderful bloggy, Craftster, and Flickr friends!

#9

The art center I get to stay active in!

#10 Living each day to the fullest and knowing that tomorrow will be just as wonderful!

My New Stocking!

I received my new stocking in the mail today from Meg. It is so fantastic! My childhood stocking is slowly disintegrating so this is the perfect time to tuck it away for safe keeping and put up my new super cute stocking! I'm even more excited to decorate than ever!

I'm glad I had something to cheer me up when I got home from work. I'm starting to come down with a cold and it is really bumming me out!

WIP Sunday: Please Let It End!

The kitchen remodel is really starting to feel never ending. I know I'll be so happy when it is done, but I'm hating the waiting part! Our last cupboard is still roaming around the country on a big truck with no definite date it will arrive. It is holding up the entire process! The hubby managed to start the floor prep in the dining room. The floor will only take a couple evenings to complete. I'm going to go buy paint next weekend and get that done and out of the way! I really want my house back! It needs a good cleaning and then I can start decorating for the holidays. The cleaning will take a week or more since I haven't been able to clean properly since we started to tear up the kitchen. So much dust and furniture everywhere!

Here is an in progress shot of the kitchen. That is our dining room table shoved in there filled with boxes of food that can't be put away with out the pantry that is on a world tour. See the gaping space on the right by the door way? That is where the pantry goes!

After boring you to death with my kitchen woes I'll show you what is up next on the gift list. I have 3 wonderful friends that I get together to have coffee and quilt with on a regular basis. I bought this fabric to make them each something for Christmas. I can't say what I'm making as I think at least one of them reads this blog!

Oh, and the peacock quilt is off to the quilters hopefully tomorrow!

Angelic Finish

I am done with the last weeks assignment in the Art, Heart, and Healing course over on ning. I'm so sad to see it end. Luckily Tam is going to keep the group open and post additional lessons every few months and also invite guest teachers to post free lessons! I know I'll stay active on the ning site and I hope to get to take another of Tam's courses in the new year.

This weeks assignment was an invitation angel. Inviting needs to be met. I picked a rather simple need. The need for peace. It means so many things to me. Peaceful time alone, peaceful time with family, inner peace, and peace of mind. They are all basic things that everyone needs. The pictures don't do the angel justice as the lighting is terrible, but I couldn't wait for sunshine

to share!

I'm so happy with my face shading I must share a close up of her face. I'm still struggling with the eyes sometimes, but I'm so happy with this angel.

I used a lot of different mediums on this piece, but the most fun was the texture paste. I didn't have access to buy any at the time so I made my own. I dumped a bunch of baking soda into some gesso and ta da! It looks wonderful and is keeping well for future projects.

I'm undecided if I'm going to keep this angel or pass her on to someone for a gift. I have a feeling I'll be venturing out into fairies soon! Tam's course has inspired me and given me a whole new confidence in drawing faces and getting the shading right too. Tam's generous heart is the most inspiring thing of the whole course. Her wonderful spirit, patience, and gentle advice are priceless.

A Little House

I jumped at the chance to get to do more stained glass at the art center this week. We did a project where each person made two sun catchers. One is to be left at the art center to decorate the newly renovated art class room space, and the other to take home and enjoy. I didn't get a picture of the one I made to leave at the art center, but I will snap one when the art room is finished and they are all hung in the windows. My Mom, Aunt, and Uncle did the project with me so my family will be well represented in the windows of the art center!

This is the little abstract house I made to take home. It will live in the kitchen window when the kitchen is finished.

The idea was to make something from abstract pieces of glass. A good way to use up odd shaped pieces. I just was feeling a bit more literal than abstract and the pieces for this little house were just laying out in front of me. Here is a shot of it in my front window. Sadly, there isn't much sun here today, but you can see the colors and the textures of the glass.

I can't wait to put it up in the kitchen window and see it on a nice bright day!

WIP Sunday: Moving Along!

I really am making some progress with the Holiday gifts! I'm really feeling good about how things are going. Yes, I have a lot more things on the list, but things are coming together swimmingly.

First off, the peacock quilt top is done! Yay! Just need to press it out one last time, measure, and put my backing together. Then it is off to the long arm quilter for quilting! Then back to me for the dreaded binding. This quilt is pretty large, for a double bed, but so pretty! I think I'll have it quilted in a feather pattern. I couldn't get a decent pic as it is pretty dreary out and I don't have a place big enough to spread this out right now!

I'm also working on a special pillowcase for a special family member. My Great Aunt has a son that is handicapped and he loves the Steelers so I thought a pillowcase would be a fun gift for him. I'll have a bit of fabric left over of each color so I'm trying to think of some other little thing I can make up for him.

The place mats still aren't finished! I swear I will get the backs on them before next weekend! LOL The other giant WIP I have is still our kitchen remodel. Turns out the pantry we had to re order because of the companies mess up is now riding around the country in a semi. They loaded it first instead of last so it gets a trip around the country before it can get brought to my house!It won't be delivered until the day after Thanksgiving. We put away as much of our kitchen as we could today so at least things are in the cabinets we have! The Hubby took the week off this week to start on the floor! I'm so excited! We'll have it done before Christmas so I guess that is all that matters. I'll do a WIP pic of the kitchen next week!

Empathy Monster!

I just finished the final stage of week 3's assignment for the art, heart, and healing course I'm taking over on ning, with Willowing (Tam).

The goal was to make an empathy monster. Someone to tell things too and he'll never judge or nay say. I rarely make things for myself so this was a nice project. It was hard to let go of the perfection complex and just make something silly and funky. I started judging how he looked and then realized that was what I was supposed to be learning from the project! No judging or making myself feel bad! So here he is in all his imperfect glory.

In the end I'm very pleased with him and I realize he doesn't need to be perfect. He is mine and I'm not perfect either.

A little close up of his cutesy face. I really like his mouth zipped open, but forgot to take a pic of him that way.

He doesn't have a name yet, so I'm open to suggestions. Does anyone hear him yelling a name?