Thanksgiving

We will be heading northward for Thanksgiving, so we went to the beach last night to enjoy a little of our Florida weather before we head into the cold! I didn't bring my camera, but we saw a wild boar (too fast to photograph anyway). There is always something we see on the way out there!

The water was a little chilly, but the kids got in anyway and we saw a friend there and her kids were in the surf as well. They said you get used to it!

Our Local Beach

We went to the beach and stayed until sunset the other day.
Here are my favorite two photos of the time there. It is a natural beach with a lagoon that we drive through to get home. That is where we saw that jaywalking gator!

Charles and the Pumpkin Patch

When I went to pick up the kids one day, there was Charles' teacher with a wagon and two rather large looking pumpkins. Little did I know, he had brought some of his own money on the fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. The one was enormous and way too large to eat. The other was more medium sized and he wanted to give a real pumpkin pie a try. So we cleaned and baked and pureed and mixed and baked again. And we saw that it was good! Now there are several more bags of pumpkin in our freezer awaiting their turn. I mentioned pumpkin soup, but the kids said no to that one! LOL We did taste some plain cooked pumpkin with a little butter and brown sugar and that was deemed to be ok, so hopefully I won't have to make a bazillion pies!

Well, I sent my gift to my Secret Santa in the Honeypot Swap from Bee Sew Whimsical. I was excited to send the few little things that I had made. I am even more excited for her to get my package and for us to be able to contact each other and not be secret anymore. I have been lurking her blog LOL I feel soooo sneaky! I really hope she likes what I made. I sent a chocolate bar in the package, just in case :)

Old Red Barn Co Quilt Giveaway

Check out the Old Red Barn Co from the button on the top left! They are giving away three absolutely gorgeous quilts! They also have a great blog with lots of gorgeous items. I know I would love to win one of those quilts... wouldn't you?

Christmas is Coming!

I am starting to get excited about Christmas. I love the sights and smells and the Savior, but for me, the giving of gifts to celebrate God's gift is what I really truly love. I have always loved making and giving gifts. Gift giving is my "love language" (find your love language here). I have so much fun deciding on the perfect gift for someone and have so many ideas traipsing around in my head. I wish I could spend unlimited amounts of cash on gifts for those I care about, but... unfortunately can't. I am able to buy some craft supplies, and ummm, well, I seem to have a few on hand *blush* Now is the time of year that I am delighted to have a fabric stash, a paper and embellishment stash, a yarn stash and a knitting needle/crochet hook stash! And I have limited myself to 3 types of craft stashes since our house is not that large. I can only imagine what I would own if I had kept supplies from all of my different crafty phases. Let's see, there's basket weaving, jewelry making, painting, and on and on. I am so glad that Christmas is coming and I can use up some of my supplies!

I have been working on a few things for a couple of swaps that I am doing, so I can't show them here, lest a dear reader or two get a spoiled surprise :) I know that some of the family may be out there lurking too, although I haven't seen any comments :( So I dare not post what I am making for them! One thing I am making is a cute star ornament that I learned to make from a fellow classmate at Big Picture Scrapbooking's Giving Well Class. It is interesting to fold and unfold, but once you do it a time or two, it's easy. Several people will be getting these, but I will keep them a surprise for now.

Free Knit Webkinz Sweater Pattern

Super Easy Knit Webkinz Sweater

I have this for sale on etsy, but I thought I would share it here too. Leave me a comment if you make one. Thanks!

Worsted weight yarn (two strands- can be the same or contrasting colors)

Size 13 needles

Cast on 16 for a lil’ kinz and 20 for a regular size webkinz

Rows 1-3: knit

Row 4: purl

Row 5: knit

Row 6: purl (you may add a few rows here to make it longer, alternate knit and purl rows)

Row 7: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 8: knit 2 together, purl most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 9: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 10: knit 2 together, purl most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 11: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 12: cast off all stitches

Crochet neck band with a size G or H hook (14 stitches) and sew sides together (first 6 rows).

Find the crochet version here.

Giveaway at Sew Katie Sew

There are a lot of great giveaways going on right now, here is one for some yummy looking fabric!

Giveaway at Threads of Friendship

There is a giveaway at Threads of Friendship for a really adorable pleated bag- and you get to pick the fabrics if you win!

These ladies are really great, so go take a look and enter into their drawing :)

Holidays at Home at Sew Mama Sew

Just wanted to share about Holidays at Home at Sew Mama Sew. All this month there are great project ideas for gifts and all next month will be projects, traditions, and all kinds of holiday themes from Sew Mama Sew readers.

One Christmas tradition we have that we started when the kids were preschoolers and have just kept is that we make paper advent chains the first week of December and hang them on the Christmas tree. We remove one of the paper chains every night until we get to the last part (usually a chain hooked to a star). It's a great visual to show how many days until Christmas!