Last Day of 2016

As today is the last day of 2016, I wish I could say I had finished a lot of projects and was ready to start the new year fresh. But, I cannot! I have a teddy bear in the works, I still need to border the mystery quilt, and I am testing a quilt for a dear friend. I've been frantically cutting the pieces all morning as it is an urgent test. Her pattern comes out this weekend, I have tested the first couple of installments, hopefully I will get it finished before she needs it complete.

 

I love being busy though, it keeps my mind going and my body moving. With this stinkin' arthritis, I need to keep moving or I won't move in the end. I am still able to to everything I love, cutting, sewing, hand-stitching, drawing, and knitting. I also made a card and envelope yesterday, that was fun after not making them for so long. I rubber stamped and embossed it for a nice thank you card. And, of course the church keeps us very busy with Bible college classes, Sunday School teaching, ladies meetings, family and teen camps, and follow up care for our new ones.

Hope your New Year is filled with all the things you love doing. What is it you want your year full of? Can't wait to hear from you. If you have a talent you want to share, please let me know and we can get you going here!

Have a safe and happy new year,

Debi

Prayer Bear Done

This prayerful bear is finally finished. It took a few days to decide how to do the face. I also needed to determine if I would even keep it as I thought the arms were a big mistake. I really do like it just the way it is and will keep it and the pattern. It is pretty sweet and I hope it brings someone a lot of comfort along the way. Now to name the adorable bear....something about praying or a word in a different language that means prayer, hmmm...  I still need to make a prayer shawl for it and finish "decorating" it. 

It was a lovely hot day today. I got six loads of washing done, three loads of sheets in that. Having a houseful at Christmas means a lot of sheets and towels. I got it all dry outside, except the socks and underclothes (who likes to hang out a weeks worth of socks?!?!?!?!). It is meant to rain tomorrow, I will be in my sewing room designing a bear and bordering the mystery quilt. I have been lazy for the past three days, time to get back to work! (It is much too much fun to be called work though!)

Hope your day is amazing and you have some time to something you love. What are you busy working on? Share...I am wanting to learn a new craft!!

Beary good day,

Debi

 

Prayer Bear...

I designed a new bear and did a few things differently than I normally do. I moved the arm joints and made the feet huge. I made huge ears and a four piece body to have more control over the podgy-ness. However, I moved the arms too far forward. I now have a prayer bear. It was an accident, but I love the end result! I haven't finished the face yet, but you can at least get an idea about how it will look with its hands folded for prayer. I love these kind of mistakes! I may use the body again as it is a nice "beary" body and is adorable. I will change the joint marks though, change the ears, and maybe the feet too. We will just have to see what kind of a mood I am in!

Now with Christmas over and the New Year quickly approaching, I am just hanging out in my sewing room and enjoying the break from baking, cooking, and cleaning.  I plan to finish this bear, design another quilt and bear. I want to make a handbag for Mrs. French Bear. I also would love to figure out how to make a really cute tutu for Ms. Ballerina Bear. I am working on her ballet slippers, I have some really good ideas on those. I just have too much to do! I'm thankful it's all fun! 

What are your craft plans for the new year? New craft to learn, finish all those UFOs (un-finished objects) or WIPs (work in progress)? I hope, whatever your crafty plans are for the new year, you accomplish your goals and maybe even make some pocket change (or more!!) in the process!

Have a great day and New Year!

Debi

Names Needed...

This sweet poppit is Peppermint Patty. I think she is adorable, although I thought at the start she would have to have a different nose. I wasn't too sure about the two tone nose, but with her beautiful collar, it's just perfect. I usually use perle cotton for their noses, but trying a two-tone nose, I needed something that wasn't so thick. So I used regular DMC floss in two colors. I didn't separate off any strands, just left it in the original six strands. Sweet, eh?

 

 

These poor wee teds don't have names yet. Just thought I would show them to you so you can help me. All suggestions are good! I make so many, I can't keep up with naming them.

Aside from making all my Christmas gifts for next year, I want to learn at least one new craft. I need to do the research to decide what I want to learn tho. I am also busy writing quilt and teddy bear tutorials for the Crafter's Thread. Time consuming, but fun for me. I love teaching, writing, and crafting! What are your crafty goals for 2017? Please share....

Happy naming,

Debi

Done!

Well, just before Christmas I told you I needed to finish that quilt top for the mystery for Quilters Club of America. I am so happy to say it is finished. All I need to do now is decide on the borders. I wish I could show you a pic, but that would spoil the mystery for those who want to sew along. The next two mysteries are called Beacons in the Night and Spinning Baubles.

When I have more information on dates, I will let you know. We wanted to let everyone have the holidays without worrying about the next clue. We are ready to go with Beacons in the Night now, just need that date from QCA and they usually provide a prize for the Viewers Choice Award...

Now to get back to playing with my teddy bears. I have one almost done here, should finish it up today. It is an average bear (around 25 cm/10 in) with a very light fur in a dark background. It is going to be so cute. I made the feet exceptionally huge for the podgy body and the face will have huge ears.  Makes me excited to get back to it! Still looking for the perfect bag or accessory for Mrs. French Bear.

Have a fantastic day!

Debi

Merry Christmas!

Praying your day is full of family and fun. Also that you remember the true meaning of Christmas...the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. His birth means we can be born again and never die. 

Remembering our family in the States,

Debi

Christmas Eve

And I am busy baking for tomorrow!!! I cleaned the house yesterday and my husband vacuumed. We made beds for our guests and plan a very nice Christmas. We will be going to church tomorrow for one sweet service at 10:30am. 

I am already planning next year's gifts. I hope to make them all thus, I must get busy as there are a lot of us. We also have our church's family camp coming up in February and I need to be sorting out the menu and accommodations for that. So much to do, so much fun to have, so much growing needs doing.

 

Speaking of growing, I am pretty amazed by our garden this year. I have zucchini as big as my hand and my tomatoes are going crazy. I love watching the cabbage heads and the broccoli form. The strawberries have been so sweet and yum!! Looking forward to using blackberries in pies and crumbles...

 Merry Christmas my friends,

Debi

Christmas...

As Christmas quickly approaches, it is hard for me to get into the spirit. We will be sharing our first Christmas alone in a very long time. We are very fortunate to have a family in our church who will also be alone to spend it with us. We will have a house full tomorrow for baking and then Christmas morning with them. Looking forward to that. We will miss our own family though. God always provides for us. In Luke, God promised that if we gave up our family to serve Him, He would bless beyond measure and He has held true to His  promise.

I have been busy trying to catch up on a lot of projects I have been lazy with. I have been spending time making my teddy bears and not working so hard on my mystery quilts for the Quilters Club of America. I finished the instructions for the third one I have done and it is with the testers now. The fourth one is in the machine waiting for me to finish it up, which I am going to do just after I post this! The pic is black and white because the mystery quilt is right there in plain sight!!!!!

I have also started with a bullet journal. We will be having a busy year in 2017 and I want to keep track of everything. I started with this spiral bound pad, but quickly decided I couldn't use a spiral bound one as I couldn't write close to the binding. I went on the hunt for a non-spiral journal that would lay flat and found one, then began the tedious work of transferring the info from one journal to the other. Fortunately, I had only done two days in the first one and was able to quickly and painlessly transfer my work. For more info on bullet journals, see bulletjournal.com 

Staying busy,

Debi 

Your Thoughts??

Been thinking a lot about the blog and where I'd like to see it in a while? I would like to see guest bloggers with tutorials and fun things for us to try. I am setting goals for 2017 and one of them is to learn a new craft.  I just haven't found one yet....if you have something you do and would like to share, please let me know. I love to sew, quilt, make my teddy bears. I know how to knit (barely), cross stitch, make cards (rubber stamping, etc), I can make a mean srapbook, and I enjoy sharing my craft. If you are willing to share a post, please let me know as well. If you are willing, let me know what you would like to post about, we can sort out pics, tutorials, etc.


I will post again a couple more times before Christmas, then back at it after the first of the year. I hope your Christmas is fantastic and family-full. Let's all remember the reason for the season. Jesus came to die and be our Saviour. 

Hope to hear from you,

Debi

Finally!

I guess it is about time for me to get back to the blog. I have been away for over a year. It has been one of those years one doesn't want to re-live soon. We have had family trials where we have had to walk through fire and pain. We have also had many blessings in this year as well. We are back in New Zealand where we started in ministry in 1992. To make a very long, but exciting story short, God made it very clear we belong here and so we sold what we could, took our savings and retirement, and moved our lives back here. We are happy and loving every minute of being back. We have been here since February 2016 and God has shown Himself faithful as a miracle working God along the way.

I have made several bears in the past year...too many to show here, but I will show you a few. I am currently working on a Mr. and Mrs. bear. They are French (because I found a really neat beret for him) but I am having a hard time making her look French as well. The names are flooding in on Facebook, for which I am thankful. I think my favourite for him is Jean Pierre (John Pierre), but for her....still searching for that perfect name. 

I have also been working on designing mystery quilts for the Quilter's Club of America. I have done two now and have two more designed, one of which is ready to go, having been tested three times and clues written.  One is designed and I have made it, but my testers have yet to get the clues I need to write! I will get there, hopefully between Christmas and New Years.

Hope you got your Christmas crafts and gifts finished and you're happy with your finished products. Next year, we will have tutorials and patterns on the blog. Also, maybe some guest bloggers and giveaways.... hang in there with me, here we go!

Happy Crafting!

Debi