An Auburn Santa Finish

The Auburn Santa is finished. I took a Prairie Schooler "Partridge in a Pear Tree" to make my own version to fit my Alma Mater.

The Auburn Santa version is decked out in our school colors of Burnt Orange and Navy Blue and yes, we always say orange before blue. It is not blue and orange:)

The partridge became an eagle. A golden eagle. The eagle is not our mascot, but our battle cry. There is a whole long story which every Auburn person completely understands. Auburn is also a vet school so they house all types of injured birds. The bird that flies over the stadium has been a golden and a bald at times. We say Waaarrr Eagle when he flies over. Our actual mascot is a tiger...hence the stripes!

The pear tree became a live oak tree which grace Toomer's Corner at the corner of Magnolia and College Streets in downtown Auburn and begins the beautiful entrance to campus.

After an Auburn victory, students go to Toomer's Corner to roll the live oaks.
This is after the national championship in 2010 where more than the corner got rolled. IT looked like snow afterwards.

I remember fondly going there myself as a student to roll it. I actually walked between the trees daily for my years at Auburn to get to school from my apartment.

So that is the story of the orange and blue Santa with an eagle, a tree with toilet paper on it. 

It's great to be an Auburn Tiger,

Sandy

A Random Post

I have so much to blog about which is quite unusual!!! I am popping in today with a whole bunch of random. I probably have a couple more posts in me before Christmas, and then I will stop and just enjoy the family time.

I coaxed my daughter into taking a few pictures of her Christmas decorations. She had one more place decorated, but she didn't send it to me and I didn't push it:) She is busy after all.

The window mirror is from an old house that was on a family property. I took two of them and made mirrors out of them.  The other one is at our Auburn house. She saw this idea on Pinterest last year and made this for her dining area.

Her tree with Tucker's new ornament.

I made the tree skirt for her. You can read about it here.

I had hoped she would have the bookcase behind the couch because it is cute too, but I am not asking for more. 

Onto other things...

I still have roses blooming. I am not complaining at all. They are spindly as I don't fertilize them after the first of September, but they are still offering me some delights.

I brought some inside to enjoy.

December is usually a gloomy month in terms of weather and light. It is often rainy and foggy in the evenings which it has been, but the sun popped out this weekend and I am just loving the sights and sounds on the bayou. The birds are flocking in and making all kinds of racket. My idea of perfection.

It is autumn in northwest Florida.

I am almost finished with my Santa ornament. It is in the making and should be done today to hang on the tree.

I will be back with at least one more post before Christmas.

An Ornament Finish

I completed the baby ornament yesterday as planned.

I think I am getting better with the finishing. Just gotta keep practicing.

The backing is a table cloth I bought on sale at Tuesday Morning one time. It has been sitting in my sewing room closet for a project such as this. I thought the fabric was wonderful and I wouldn't be able to buy fabric with that quality or price, so I picked it up. I would like to make some cloth napkins from it. Maybe one day:)

Delivering today and getting some sugar too.

I have several more posts in me for December if I can just find some time. I like to document the house decor as well as maybe get Lindsay to take some of her house.

I am back to my Auburn Santa and itching to start a winter one that caught my eye.

I don't plan to stitch the word wisdom...maybe winter. I just loved the pinecones and birds.

Be back soon.

Sandy

Trying to Catch Up

We left on Thursday afternoon for our Auburn home to getaway for a few days and to visit the annual antique tent sale. I feel like since the calendar flipped over to December I have been on a fast moving treadmill. It has all been good, but last night I fell asleep on the couch around 8:00. I think that is a good indicator that I need to slow down.

I have a few errands to run this morning and then I hope to settle into a nice quiet day at home with Christmas music in the background. HOWEVER, the painter just showed up. Oh yes, the never ending saga... He has doors to finish so I know my nice quiet day will probably not be, but at least I will be at home.

Last Wednesday on my shopping trip in Fairhope, I realized that my daughter would like for me to cross stitch an ornament for Tucker. I sent her a hundred (not really a hundred, but lots) of pictures for her to choose from. I was going to go all fancy. She chose a rather simple one. I whipped it out over the weekend in Auburn. I had hoped to fully finish it yesterday, but I had to take Mama around town for quite a few things and like I said I was pooped yesterday evening.

I will fully finish today and share tomorrow hopefully.

That little boy is growing like a weed and changing every day.

 

The antique sale was fortunately a bit overpriced this year. I say fortunate because Hubby would want to buy something and quite honestly as much as I love stuff I didn't need a thing. Well, I did want a pair of barley twist candlesticks for the Auburn house mantle.

I did get those, but that was the only purchase.

We had planned to take an old desk to Auburn to put in the master bedroom that I once had in my sewing room. When that was remodeled it sat in the pool table room in the way for almost 5 years. We did take it up there, but it ended up at the back door where I was going to buy a shelf to just drop off the purse, keys, dog leashes, etc. I think it looked good there and will be a win that we have a place for it since it belonged to my mother-in-law and we didn't want to get rid of it. I didn't take a picture. Maybe next time.

We did just go to Hobby Lobby and purchase some shelves for the master bedroom on each side of the fireplace. I didn't really want any big purchase since there is a huge closet with shelves there. I don't really need a place to store much more since we just vacation there. I figured these could be used anywhere down the road if we change our mind.

I will shop home here to find things to put on the shelves.

I really need to do something with the cords and I will eventually.

IT rained like cats and dogs all weekend and was very cold, but I guess the upside is that it wasn't snowing like parts further north.

One of the things I like about Auburn is I get to see a change in seasons without too much travel or too much cold.

I haven't shared my house for Christmas and I always like to document that although I don't think a whole bunch has changed. My mom always took pictures of the house so I love looking back and seeing how things once looked. I have always done that too.

Planning to do some stitching and finishing today!!!!

Needing to hold a needle in my hand,
Sandy

Stitching, Dogs, Tree, and Family

I have been more than busy....so busy that this is all I have stitched in two weeks. 

However, I am going to make some time this week and even tonight to remedy this situation. Stitching is my stress reliever and I am in need of it.

In good stitching news, I received this little bit of wonderful in the mail from Andrea at The Craft Room.

I was over the moon to win her giveaway. It is an amazing finish. I have a long way to go in my finishing skills, but just something to look forward to.

She also sent this wonderful card which I think might be homemade as well. 

I posted last that I had bought my very large Christmas tree. I don't think I listened at all when Hubby said it seemed big.

It is very wide.

It is not my best pick ever. It seems to have some gaps in it, but I have never met a tree I didn't like so perfect it doesn't have to be.

You may notice the paint buckets in the background. That is a big portion of my stress! Wow! There is a story there...I just don't think I will tell it today.

Here it is at night.

I posted the following picture on Instagram. Hubby sent it to me while I was still at church. We put the tree up on Saturday evening after Thanksgiving. I thought Gus was old enough to not disturb it.

He had taken a strand of garland off the bottom of the tree as well as one ornament. The ornament was a cotton boll, so it looked worse than it was with the cotton shredded. He took the red berries and pulled them from the garland, but it was all easy to snap back on, so he got lucky. 

I have made sure to put a barrier of chairs around the tree when I leave the house now.

You may have noticed there are no presents under the tree.

That is because I came home to this another day...

Gus had taken the shoes out of the box. Fortunately, he didn't care one thing about them. He liked the box and paper bag. 

He has been on a tear recently.

I have been wrapping away, but storing all the presents on the pool table:)

It is funny Lemony doesn't even get alarmed anymore when we come in because she knows WE KNOW who is responsible for the problems.

The little sweeties sitting next to me on the couch. Notice Gus is on a leash...the painter had the back doors wide open painting. Gus had to either be in the kennel box or on a leash.

I am hoping we reach the end soon.

Lindsay had some pictures made of Tucker and their little family. I will share a few along as they were so cute.

I hope to blog a bit more regularly in another week. I have a lot going on and this week should be a continuation of the busy times, but hopefully after that I will settle in for December. I have so many things I have thought of to write about. That is they way it works...no time...lots of ideas...time... no ideas.

Heading to chair to stitch my Santa,

Sandy

I Have Been Busy

I decided to pop in really quick with a couple more finishes and updates around here. I will definitely be just reading blogs until next week as this is probably my last quiet slow paced time left this week.

I finished my half window ornament. Y'all I just love it in all of its large Aida retro goodness. It turned out just as I wanted.

I also finished my other Prairie Schooler Santa. I decided I want this one in a basket with maybe some blocks, so no ornament for it. 

As for now, I am going it done. If I come across some cute button or block it may get something added. I think it will be all about the display for it.

I just loved this Santa.

So that was three finishes in a few days for me. Wow!

Speaking of ornaments, I have one more Santa that I really want to get done this Christmas. It may be harder to do since I am stopping all projects, small and large, to try and do something for Tucker. I found some cute Safari animals Saturday at Hobby Lobby. I am not sure if I am going to try and do a birth announcement or ornament. Stay tuned. 

I did start the other Santa yesterday just because I wanted to see if the idea would look good. Oh yes!!!! I have a vision in my head of it. 

***Arlene (Nanaland), I am going to need to apologize for it now. I bet you didn't know the PS Santas were going burnt orange and navy blue and that a partridge would be turned into an eagle and maybe even a live oak instead of a pear tree. Yikes!!!

I am putting all my projects away until after Christmas so that I can concentrate on the two things mentioned above now. I will have much to look forward to after Christmas as I have so many things I want to stitch and finish.

I am taking care of many items on my to do list today as the hubby, son and girlfriend are fishing. I have a very long list. I start cooking tomorrow and our niece and her family will be in on Wednesday. They haven't met Tucker yet, so all will be here for pizza on Wednesday night since Lindsay will be eating with Tyler's family out at Rosemary Beach on Thanksgiving. Tyler's twin brother will be meeting Tucker for the first time as well. His family decided to get a condo out there so Lindsay and Tyler could wait a little longer to travel with Tucker.

Arlene, you will get the last laugh on the Auburn thing this weekend as I am not even looking forward to the game. I will probably put up my tree during the game so something happy will be going on simultaneously to the clobbering:)

I will leave y'all with some doggie pictures. 

Is Gus loving the baby or making sure he is still the baby? 

It was a little of both. The Disney sheet is one that I had when my kids were little. I pulled it out to put on the crib at Grammie's Daycare.

This morning view of the doggies in their respective spots.

My husband found this on Saturday morning...Twitter I think.

It is my scenario with Gus at least everyday. Lemony is a sleep in kind of dog.

Have a happy Thanksgiving,

Sandy

Winter Pillow Finish

I finished the final pillow of my Little House Needleworks monochromatic seasons. I started just after Christmas last year with the spring pillow. I had asked for these for Christmas. I made a wish list on 123Stitch. I enjoyed stitching each one of these. The called for colors of thread were with each pattern. I loved each and every color.

When it came time to do the winter, I just felt it needed something other than tan for the linen. The blue was perfect.

I ran down to the quilting fabric store down the street and found the fabric for it. It has a house and snowy trees motif on it. I thought it was just perfect. 

Since fall didn't really arrive this year in northwest Florida I took all my fall decor down yesterday. I decided I had to get the pillow finished and it is already on display early for the season. Considering where I live it will take all I can do not to place spring out early next year, so I decided why not?!

I love how it turned out. Here are all the seasonal pillows. I really enjoyed stitching these. Isn't it fun when you enjoy your stitches?

I am leaving you with a Tucker picture today. He is one month old. I will share more Gus and Lemony later. BTW, they love him.

I am on a finishing roll today. I have my other Prairie Schooler Santa in progress and the half window ornament only needs its cording added. I should have them to share next week if all goes well.

Today was really a beautiful day, so I guess fall was here today. Sunny and a high of 69. I should be ashamed to say it didn't show up this year, but it really was a flop.

Finishing fool,

Sandy

A Random Collection of Goings On

I did not intend to be a week away from posting. I intended to have some cross stitch finishing to share, but life interruptions have occurred and I have been one busy mama.

Let's see...

First up was very long day with Tucker. He is all good, but we spent an entire day doing doctor visits.

Everything is fine and I can't say enough about all the good people he saw that took us in immediately, ran tests, and read them ASAP. It was a long day spent heading to Pensacola in the rain but all is good.

I spent Monday with Jeff off from work. We visited with Lindsay and Tucker most of the day, then Christmas shopped at the outlets (I actually got quite a few gifts behind me), and went to a movie.

Tuesday morning, I got up and went to the gym and was relaxing when my day went crazy with the Pensacola trip with Tucker. I learned a LESSON!!!! When you  get home from the gym, go shower and get dressed instead of being lazy in your gym clothes. You might have to wear them to lots of places all day:)

I have spent most of yesterday and already most of this day running errands and taking care of things for other people. I am pooped.

Oh, the movie we went to was "Bohemian Rhaosody," the story of the group Queen. I am not sure how to review it because I know some of you who read my blog wouldn't care a thing about a movie that tells the story of a rock group. It does have some flavor that would go along with that topic and some of that goes with the story of lead singer Freddie Mercury. The other band members were schooled in dentistry, astrophysics, and electrical engineering. Funny that they would end up being one of the greatest rock groups ever. I did like the movie and the music was great! I would issue a warning that it is not for everyone though. I knew Jeff would want to see immediately though as he loves his high school/ college years rock music.

I have hardly had time to do anything creative and have quite a pile of crafty things waiting on me in my sewing room. I did pick out a piece of fabric for my winter piece so hopefully I will get that pillow made tomorrow.

I finished my Christmas half window from the 1992 magazine. I love how it turned out. I did it on 18 count Aida as I wanted it to look retro. I chose to put 1987 as the date because that is when we built that house that had a window in our great room like that. We brought the kids home from the hospital to that house and they were there until middle school when we moved in our present home.

I will finish it into a circle ornament and at some time in the future hope to stitch the other two ornament that were in the magazine together.

I do hope to be back with more than just a quick pop in. The dogs are wanting to show off for y'all anyway. If you see them now, they have been cooped up in the house due to my running around as well as all the rain.

I am helping Lindsay take Tucker to the audiologist in just a bit. He didn't pass his hearing test at birth, but I feel sure he can hear. Then hopefully I will be home to clean my very messy house and get outside with the dogs. It is cold but the sun is shining finally.

It basically skipped fall this year. I will talk about that later.

Busy as a bee,

Sandy

Some Finishes in the Sewing Room

I am taking a break or maybe you could say putting off finishing up some much needed tasks.

I finally fully finished a piece I stitched ages ago. I actually had it framed and hated it, then pulled it out and it sat for months. I just am not too good at the the Priscilla style finishing even though I think some it is real cute. I am kind of a "plain Jane."

I spent only about $2. for the piece of wood. That was my first real issue. After I pulled it out of the frame, I spent a long time looking for a "just right" something or other to mount it on. Nothing suited my fancy. I was in Tuesday Morning one day when I saw this piece of wood. It was unfinished and a tray but the right size. I took the handles off and stained it with some stain I had in the garage. I have seen these for way more than I paid for it at Joann's even with a coupon. That was a win. Then I couldn't decide how to embellish it. That would be classic me. I spent way too much time thinking about it. I decided I wanted some rick rack, but I couldn't find the burgundy anywhere. I finally ordered this from Amazon. I thought it was wider, so that didn't work out like I wanted. I worked with it anyway. That was done. Then it sat again for a very long time while I pondered what it needed.

This is where I am just not a Priscilla. No matter what I did it looked awful and took away from the stitch. I finally went to my ribbon stash where I had the color ---win! and made a bow, added a button, and decided to quit. I am happy with my plainer look. You just can't change your stripes.

I am happy with it not being framed. It is just in my sewing room and makes me happy. You may remember I changed the bird to a redbird because sometimes I have a cardinal outside my sewing room window. He has been elusive lately.

I was in AC Moore here the other day and they mentioned they have a new framer who specializes in stitching. She laces and all. When I finish my space shuttle after the new year I will give her a try.

Now, for my other finish.

Lots of information before I share the picture...No scrolling people.

I made a lot of mistakes. He is a bit crooked, but I am happy with him. "Why?", you ask when he is crooked. I learned so much from doing this one.

Nothing ventured - nothing gained - right?!

I have hesitated to try one of these flat fold ornaments for several reasons.
I really really like the pillows.
I can never get the corners straight enough for my liking.

I decided that I was going to give it whirl. If I don't try things I will never get better. I can always restitch something that small and so, I played with it.

I laced it which I really loved doing even though I got it crooked. It was so much easier for ME than gluing. I could have probably put a dab of glue on the back to keep it straighter. I think this gave me much better corners.

I also had a whole piece of mat board downstairs in a closet. In all my listening to Vonna tutorials I picked up on that uses that. I really must say I liked the thinness of it. IT made the flat fold not so thick. I have a bunch of it from a project long ago, so I should be able to do projects for a while with it.

I felt better about the cording this time. I think I have it down how to make it now. I am just not good at figuring how to finish it off, but you know I am going to figure that out too with practice.

I am sharing it even though I haven't finished that yet. I think I will add an embellishment, but I am kind of tired for today.

Oh, and the other thing I didn't like was that I left too much margin.

I am not going to redo this one. I am just going to finish off the bottom and keep on learning. He was fun to stitch and will look fine on the tree.

I still have one other Santa stitched. I haven't decided if I will do him to match this one or do a pillow, but I am done crafting today. Now, I just need to get some energy to go and clean up my mess!

Sandy