Shopping Marathon

I hit the stores at 10:15AM this morning, returned home at 5:30PM then back out until 9:00PM. I think we are very close to being finished with our Christmas shopping. I need to input it all in an excel sheet to see if there are any holes in the gift list. We will exchange names within the family on Thanksgiving day for all who will be in town for Christmas this year so we will need to pick up 2 more gifts after Thanksgiving but other than that I should only have to get it all wrapped. I haven't totaled everything up yet but I am thinking we are still under budget but not by much. If no monkey wrench's get thrown in tomorrow I will finish up and call it complete. WHEEEE, I could use a hot bath and a tall glass of water!!

I do have some sewing projects that I would like to complete for our big girls and a few baby gifts that would be nice to finish up before Christmas but I refuse to stress about any of that. Thanksgiving dinner is the next biggie on the list followed up by decorating the house and yard then we are home free. We are pumped to hold the newest addition so it's all hands on deck until next Wednesday when "baby bubba" joins us

Back to checking my list, everybody has been nice, no one has been naughty, it would be cheaper if we would have had a few stink pots on the list!!

Why is my list growing??? grrrr

Hubby is once again rebuilding his helicopter, while I worked on some sewing projects. See how close we were working, we may survive re-entry after all!

Tyler is adamant we have no pie for Thanksgiving, he calls each day to check on Thanksgiving dinner progress, so funny

Tyler needed/wanted a new handsome shirt for Thanksgiving this year, we couldn't find a thing for little boys who are the size of a 9 year old, so Nanny worked this into the to do list today.

$5.00 Wally world shirt has been transformed into something appropriate for a 5 year old fella who loves holidays

No matter how hard I try I can't get to the end of my to do list. Every day (sometimes each hour) something new lands on the list. Lots of deep breaths and rearranging things to get it all in. As we sit watching Alton Browns Thanksgiving special tonight we are both wondering who will fall asleep first, I think he is sure to go first!

We worked in some Christmas shopping Saturday and Sunday. We have finished doing Daughter #1 shopping for her. She is so larger with "Baby Bubba" we want her to stay off her feet as much as possible, having a 5 year old and 1 year old to keep up with as well as a full time job it's not easy to work in any down time!! She will come over and spend some time doing her wrapping and her Christmas to do's will be done. The whole family will get together the Friday after Thanksgiving to help them get the house and yard decorated. "Baby Bubba" will arrived only 3 days later, we hope having everything done around their home will give them some down time to enjoy baby #3.

Hubby and I got a good dent made on our own shopping, I'm thinking an additional day should do it. SOOOO hope to have it all in the house before turkey day, then its on to the wrapping. I think we will stay under budget, however our budget is pretty large compared to what seems to be the norm of $500.00. If I left it up to hubby there would be no budget at all, he goes crazy at Christmas. So whats the budget you might ask....if we can keep it under $500.00 per adult child (son-in-laws included) I would be a happy camper, but it's a struggle to keep it that low. I know that might seem an extravagant amount to spend but compared to the past its much more frugal (blush) and its a cash only deal in our house so no pile of bills will hit the mail box in January. The grands receive one gift each from us and a Christmas ornament in their stockings at our home. Everything else is home made (lots more to do)

The other budget rump kicker for us is all son-in-laws Birthday's fall over the holiday's, Son-in-law #1 BD is December 23rd, Son-in-law #2 BD is November 23rd, special boy friend's BD is October 31st. Can our girls pickem or not!!

Off to bed to work up the new revised list for tomorrow, I'm gonna whip this deal no matter what

Bits and Pieces

Table runner I wasn't able to post yesterday
Cut fabric for this little jewel out during nap time today

While the babies napped this morning I dug around in my room for fabric that would work on the Santa table runner pictured above and did a little cleaning up. Why don't I put things away as I go? I realized while cleaning up I have very little red fabric, hum... red is not my favorite color but it does come in handy now and then.

During their afternoon nap I got busy cutting up the fabric so I can start piecing it when I have a free moment here and there. Not sure how much free time I will be having until the first of next week. The evenings are still filled working on the little girls Christmas stockings, SO HOPE to finish up the piece and needle work by the weekend so I can begin the sequins and bead work, my least favorite part. sigh..

Hubby arrived home this afternoon with a pile of laundry and a hankering to head to the grocery store to by our turkey before they sell out. The laundry is underway, I talked him into waiting until tomorrow to do the grocery shopping. The man can not be trusted in a grocery store unsupervised.

Tyler also had Thanksgiving on his mind, he called after school today to check on the size of turkey we were having also suggested we needed ham, no potatoes, green beans or sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows, he wants mini marshmallows on the side. Also a big no! on pies, he wants super hero sugar cookies instead. He explained to me Thanksgiving was for praying and having a feast with all your favorite foods. "oh ya Nanny and don't forget Thanksgiving day sprinkles for our ice cream" Need to update my menu plan for the big day!! Gotta love what 5 year olds come out with. Hubby thinks Ty is right on with some of his suggestions.

Making Do

The house was as clean as it needed to be today so I decided to start a Christmas table runner from a pattern I picked up last summer at one of the super sales, problem was I hadn't bought fabric to make the runner with. Time to dig into the stash and scraps to see if I could pull it off.

It took 92 (2 1/2 x 2 1/2) squares of green fabric pieced together to make the trees, the background white and tan fabric was leftover from something last Christmas, the red polka dot is something everyone should have on hand, can't go wrong with polka dots in any color.

I didn't have anything Christmasy (is that a word?) big enough to use for the backing so I pieced together 2 different fabrics then added 2 more trees to make it look a little less patched.

Did some free motion quilting, added some bling to brighten it up and bingo, its done. With ZERO cost, all from scraps.

I will have to post a photo of the entire runner on a later post, blogger won't let me post any more photo's on this post :( The runner turned out really cute and I got lots of exercise running up and down the stairs looking for fabric to use so it was a good day! I would like to say I used up a pile of fabric but in reality very little was needed, still have lots of piles that need to be cleared out. I have been spending WAY more than I should on fabric lately, of course the jumbo Harley quilt sucked the bucks right out of my pocket but I have begun stock piling fabric again. NO MORE!! I intend on using up what I have for a very long time. If I were to sew each and every day for a year I don't think I would run out. This bad habit is kicking my spending plans rump, it's so close to the end of the year if I don't get a handle on my evil ways we will never make our goal of saving 35% of our take home pay for 2011. There is still more Christmas gifts to buy, Baby Bubba to spoil, a new Mommy to pamper and very few paydays left in the year. Time to buckle down and be more thrifty. Today was a small step in that direction.

TA DAAAA

Lots of sewing the rolls of quilt squares

Ironing the seams, each and every one, not my favorite thing to do.

But it was all worth it to finish this quilt for one of our many wounded hero's

It's done!!! I am so excited to hand this quilt over to the long arm quilter to do her thing, then it will return to me for the binding, hand stitching, and the label. I found the perfect fabric for the back today, a nice flannel red, white, and blue plaid, PERFECT!!!!

While at the quilt shop I picked up supplies for 2 more "Quilt of Valor" quilts, one of the many goals I have for 2012 is to donate one quilt each month to our wounded soldiers. Sure hope "Baby Bubba" turns out to be a good baby or I am gonna have a plate overflowing next year.

I will be tightening our spending plan up a bit after the holiday's to include the cost of making 12 quilts. This will not be an inexpensive endeavor, but I will not use cheap fabric for men and woman who fight for my freedom to live in this country. Now on to putting the journal/scrapbook together as well as the quilt case required when it's time to mail this labor of love off. So STINKIN EXCITED, can you tell?

This and That

More quilt blocks finished

Some seam riping was going on

All the quilt blocks are ready to go!!

I snuck in a little quilting between loads of laundry, vacuming, mopping and general cleaning up. I do believe I will finish up the quilt top by the end of the week if things go as planned (doesn't happen often)

We pulled out what I thought was all the fall decorations this morning but now that I have broken into the tubs looks like I am missing a tub or two, durn. It's back to the attic in the morning so I can finish up decorating for Thanksgiving, then on to our meal plan. As usual hubby wants it all!! He is away from home so much eating restaurant food that it takes him a few weeks to get his fill of home cooking.

So far the only response I have had on Veterans Day blog candy is from Carla over at 1/2 dozen daily, Carla you get your pick of any of the three pieces posted, just let me know!!

Off to bed early again tonight, I can't seem to get my body on the new time, up at 5:30 then ready for bed by 9:00.

Weekend Wrap up

Cupcakes at Daughter #1 baby brunch

One stocking pieced and needle work done, second stocking is on it's way

Quilt of Valor cut out and ready to go

Finished 3 sets of quilt blocks, only 3 more design sets to go

We have had a steady weekend of running around, spending time with the Grands and even worked in an afternoon nap today before we head out to eat with some friends tonight. Having hubby home has been a nice change of pace. He will be headed to Savannah, Ga for a week tomorrow then it looks like he will be working out of the local office for awhile!! It will be an adjustment for both of us to live together full time but we normally do pretty good other than the TV blaring 24-7 grrrrr.

I'm happy with the progress of the Quilt of Valor, slow and steady works for me. I do believe I might be able to have the quilt top done this week!! I have 3 more sets of quilt squares to do, I'm thinking maybe 10 of each then its putting them all together. This week is looking to be a slow week around the house so I will use the extra time for quilting this special labor of love.

We had Daughter #1's Baby Bubba Brunch this morning, nice and easy, early enough in the day to have some at home time to relax, love that! Baby bubba received WAY to many clothes, if Mom changes him 10 times a day he still won't be able to wear it all, his closet is already overflowing with "cool baby stuff" as Tyler would say. They have come up with a name for the baby but it's a bit of a secret, the big announcment will be November 30th when he joins the family.

Remember to leave a comment or send me an e mail on what you did for our troops on Veterans Day this year to have a chance at some blog candy.