Thanksgiving 2020

I love to decorate the top of pies. 

My favorite is Apple Pie! 

My daughters love Cherry Pie. 

There was so much filling that it covered the edges. 

I also made four pumpkin pies. 

So good with whip cream on top. 

Today is Thanksgiving, November 26, 2020.

We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday at our house with my oldest daughter and her family: Hillary, Gabriel, Aria, Wyatt and Julien. I love spending time with my grandchildren. Her two roommates joined our dinner: Jesse and Gabrielle. So it was a full house. Having everyone over was fantastic!

We had three tables set up: our regular table, an extra table we keep in the garage and our cute blue kids picnic table for Aria and Wyatt. My daughter held baby Julien. 

After eating I was extremely full and I didn’t even finish half my plate. I walked with my two oldest grandkids to the park. Even with the short walk it helped my not feel so full. The two cuties loved sliding on the slides.

The desserts were wonderful. We had dessert after the walk to the park. Hillary also brought cookies. 

The next day I went for a speed walk (5.40 miles)  to burn off some of that delicious pie. I was thinking about getting my kitchen back in order. I came home and saw that my husband and middle daughter put the tables away and did the dishes. I usually do dishes after the big meal but I hardly slept the night before so I was utterly exhausted by Sunday night. I was so relieved and thankful to them for helping. That made my day! 

Today we are going to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we are eating with Jason’s family a Thanksgiving dinner. My goodness this is a dream to people who love Turkey and all that goes with it to have three Thanksgiving meals.  Me not so much! I’m good with it once a year. I told my husband I’d rather have Mexican food. Haha he thinks I’m weird. I probably am. In truth I do love the Thanksgiving meal with Turkey, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, black olives, rolls, fruit salad, casseroles

 and other sides.

I want to make a shout out to my second oldest daughter, Kymberleen to who is serving in the army and has to work today. She’s in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. 

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! 

Neighborhood Quilt

My finished quilt on a full bed.

The back of the quilt is beautiful.


Hand sewing the binding.


Top of the quilt. I was so happy it was all sewed together. Lots of love put into this (many hours of sewing)!

I accidentally sewed two rows together the wrong way. 


This fat quarter bundle I bought at the 2019 Houston, Texas Quilt Festival. I also bought this pattern. I look forward to going again. For the sashing, boarder, binding and backing material I ordered the matching Connecting Threads fabric online.


This quilt has so many pieces. The houses had 6 pieces to sew together and the trees 9 pieces. The finished product makes it all worth it.

This neighborhood quilt is my second quilt. My sister Elaine is a master quilter. She taught me how to quilt. She is a really good teacher. I love seeing all the quilts she has made when I visit her in Texas. 

Greenery Wreath

Greenery wreath with the polka dot ribbon. I bought the wreath at Hobby Lobby. You can use any ribbon to hang the wreath. 

Apron

Yes! I made my first apron. 

I love aprons and use them all the time for cooking, baking, cleaning and painting crafts. 

I studied an apron I had in my pantry. 

I folded it in half and measured it. 

I drew an apron out on poster board, a tad larger than the original. 

Here is my poster board cut out. 

I payed the poster board on top of my ironed fabric. I traced it with my vanishing ink pens. 


Next I line my ruler up with the ink marks. 


You can see the ink marks. This ruler works so good with the cork backing. It doesn’t slide as easily as quilting rulers. I just wish it was longer. 

Here is a picture with just the ink marks.


Using my rotary cutter I cut the fabric. See why I want a longer ruler. (I do have a 24 in sewing ruler and a sewing yardstick that I do use a lot, yet I prefer my pink ruler because of the cork back.)

Me sewing scissors I used to cut the rounded edges.


I used my iron to get rid of the ink markings. Then laid it on my cutting mat to make sure the measurements were good.


To make the neck strap and apron straps I cut fabric strips in 3 inches. I folded one side halfway and ironed.


Here you see the other side folded halfway and ironed.

I folded the two folded sides and ironed it.


I don’t have a picture of the ends that I folded a quarter inch and sewed the ends. I then sewed the long side of the strap as you see here. 


This is the top. I folded over a half inch and then again with my iron. Then I sewed the top. 


A little tricky to fold and iron a rounded edge. 


I sewed the side strap just like the apron I used as a guide. 


The neck strap the same. 


My finished apron.


The back of the apron. 


I modeled the apron but it’s not the whole apron. My husband and children were asleep so I couldn’t have someone either model it or take a picture of me.


I did see the side straps like my apron guide yet I don’t like how it looks. So I did some extra stitches on both straps. You can see in the next picture.

I folded over the strap and sewed the strap on both sides. 


This is before doing the sewing the straps the other way. 


I remembered I forgot to add an apron. Aprons with pockets are awesome. To show off the pocket I put my ink pen in it. 

My finished adorable apron. Thanks to my daughter who modeled the apron for me this morning.

I’m glad to have a use for this pretty floral fabric. 

I absolutely love my new apron. 

Fall Pillow Covers

My fall pillow covers are darling. 

My pillow inserts are 12 in. x 16 in. I bought them at Walmart for $3.94 each and the yard of fabric was $3.97. So that means just for 12 bucks I have two adorable pillows. 

When I am done with fall decor I can take off these pillow covers and add Christmas pillow covers.

At all crafts stores and other retailers cute holiday pillows are for sale yet I think about having to store your pillow or pillows after the holidays are over until next year. 

When you make different pillows covers you can save so much space. I like how I can wash the pillow covers verses many store bought pillows can only be spot washed. 

Gorgeous Wreath

This wreath was easy to put together. 

With my glue gun I added grey ribbon with white polka dots (you can hardly see in these pictures).

I used my glue gun to add the berries and greenery.

The wood bird I added last. I used my small wood stapler and stapled floral wire to the back of the bird then wrapped it around the wreath.

I think it turned out pretty good for the first time putting together.

Quilted Pillow Cover

Look at this beauty...

I had this idea to put different pieces of fabric together and make a pillow cover. I picked different fabrics and sewed them together and used white fabric for the back. 

Usually I made two pillow covers to match but I wanted one to use with my rocking chair. 

This pillow is super pretty to me. I love the variety of colors.

Halloween Pillow Covers

Last week I sewed two Halloween Pillow Covers. 

I plan on sewing more pillow covers for different holidays. 

The nice thing about making holiday pillow covers is you don’t need to store decorative pillows for a year, just the covers. 

Grocery sack holders

I found a tutorial on Pinterest and made this grocery sack holder. 




After I made the teal polka dot bag holder my daughter wanted one. I had her pick material and she picked this  hot pink polka dot material. 




I’m happy with these. They work great.