Ornaments on the tree day 1

One of the things I love the most about decorating the trees is handling each ornament like it is the first time! Then comes a memory and then finding the right spot....or not. Sometimes my ornaments move about the tree several times. To start let's look at one of the things all my trees have...

The Christmas spider. The main tree is the only one with a web. Through the years I have made these beaded spiders and sent them off to other trees literally around the world....to blog friends. Along with the spider I send the legend (one of the many that are printed).  The spider on the Ana Lee tree is red and the Southwest tree is bronze. Once I had a request for one in purple! One of the other must be on the main tree things is...Santa's Key

This has been a must as I have never had a working fireplace and how else would Santa get in to leave gifts! Many years ago one of my nephews asked about this. "Aunti Grace, I do not have a chimney and I need to be sure Santa can leave my gifts". My answer was that Santa would be a able to use my key because we are family and he will unlock the front door...(I was not going to give up my key and get no gifts!) This totally satisfied him and every year on Christmas Eve when he came to my house he would look for the key. I still place it in front and low enough for a child to find. So that my friends is the first of the ornaments. I love recalling this memory. So that is the first day of ornaments. Glad you could stop by and read about it, hope you will return for the others. Thank you for your kind words and friendship. Have a wonderful day.

Tree is decorated

Seems funny to have a small tree in the living room.....

This is the tree we bought when we first moved here to Arizona. That first year we were in an apartment so a small tree was best. It sits atop a table giving it height. This year with Mr H needing to be able to get around safely I thought this would be better than the full and tall tree. So, I chose specific ornaments to display since I was not going to unpack the large box to find ornaments. This year one of the new ones is the Southwest Canyon Santa, had to include one of the Mexican senoritas, and an origami star and for added sparkle the beaded pillow. My tree is not complete unless the Christmas Spider is included. A couple of years ago I made and sent out as gifts several spiders. Several days ago while visiting with blogger Heather I spotted one of the spiders I had sent out in her tree....it brought a smile to my face. That year I also sent Heather's little man some reindeer food. the offer for Reindeer Food is open this year for any child...if you would like a packet sent, email me the name and age as well as the mailing address and I will happily send some. I would like to say thank you for all the good wishes for Mr H who is doing splendidly. His therapy went well yesterday and he is starting to go outside to walk. I might add no more walker and he really does not need the cane. There was a special package in the mail yesterday. I received my exchange from Sherry. It will wait till Christmas to be opened. Hopefully my package to her will arrive soon. Well my friends, that about does it for today. So glad we had some time to chat....thank you for your friendship and kind words. Have a wonderful day.

This past month Mr H updated our kitchen cabinets. The trim was wearing around the knobs, the knobs were ugly and here is what it looks like...

the top left is what it was and now what it looks like. A bit of sanding and a couple of coats of paint, and new knobs. The knobs are now silver finish and a little larger which makes gripping them easier. Much happier now. The color in the top right is more accurate. We added a new canister set and a pop of color. 
We finally worked on the outside Christmas lights. Will post pictures next time. But I did want to show you our living room tree...

I think I am finished fiddling with it, but then again there is always an adjustment here and there. The tree topper is a metal angel we bought probably 20 years ago. Of course my spider is there. Always need the Christmas spider.  The Santa ornament is a light bulb Mr H painted for me... ready?.... 20 years ago. He did a wonderful job on it. You can see a little of the outside lights...a reindeer.  I find it difficult to get good outside nighttime pictures but I will try. 
Today is our Sun Stitchers Christmas Luncheon.  Then I must do a few errands but I also need to get more ornaments finished. I am thinking that the other bead order should not arrive today or I will want to make another bracelet. Speaking of mail, my SSCS has not yet arrived at it's destination.... getting a bit concerned as I did get it onto
Santa's sleigh on time.  Must get these other packages to the Post Office today/tomorrow. Surprisingly, I had no Reindeer Food requests this year.  Well, dear friends, must have my coffee and get back to stitching on an ornament I started or should I work on the tatted one? 
I must end with a birthday wish for my mom...EvaP who is 87 today....
Thank you for your friendship and kind words and emails. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

The middle of the week...

I really like Wednesdays...my day off, middle of the week; my day. So, what have I been up to....Monday was our Sun Stitchers meeting. I have organized an ornament exchange which will be at our next meeting November 25th, Worked yesterday and here I am today. Mr H has a doctor appointment this morning and we have a couple of errands to do. He is almost finished with the kitchen cabinets and now for new hardware. I plan to then stitch. Would love to do so outside....we will see. I had a migraine yesterday, haven't had one in ages. Finally started to ease up after I was at work and then by 6 it was gone....today just tired and no headache. Look what is new to the mantle...

a silver spider! I think I will make a couple more...someone must want a silver spider for their Christmas tree.
Are you wondering where my posts have been? Well, maybe not, but I will tell you. Sunday evening an hour after I used the computer (desk to), M H called to me that it wou7ld not turn on. Actually it was the 1 year old monitor that would not come on. Soooo, Monday afternoon off to the Geeks at Best Buy and the geek plugged it into a computer and it worked. He tells me to bring in the tower and monitor to be checked. So, back we returned and he sets it up and it all works. Go figure. Not a clue what was wrong. Technology is wonderful when it works smoothly.
I have no stitching update pictures, but how about this..

just another amazing sunset taken the other evening. Brilliant gold with a splash of orange.....
It has been so nice to chat with you today. Thank you for being my friend and always knowing just what to say! I love your kind words and emails. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Sewing and finished!

I really set myself to finish a few things. First from last year...

This embroidery was from the 2011 Challenge. I put it away and remembered that it needed to be finally finished. I love pillows. I know, I say that I love this and that, well I do. She will sit on the daybed. Then I figured while the sewing machine was ready I should also make this pillow...

It is Patty C's Design, her first one! and I fell in love when I saw the pattern. I could not get the back fabric true to color, but if you look at the bottom of the pillow front picture, that is the lovely shade of brown and the highlighted wings are gold thread. I thought, why not use this birds fabric... Birds of a feather flock together. I added a few copper colored beads to the umbrella and the kitty collar. The colors are so nice that Patty chose that I did not change them at all. This is also on the daybed.
The other finishing was for my BBD exchange and one for a Christmas ornament exchange so they can not be seen yet. Last week was so very busy at Jo Ann's. Great sales... broke all my finger nails on the fabric bolts! Yesterday as well as today is just gorgeous outside. Mr H and I sat out on the lanai playing Farkle  and Ms Zoe slept under  the chaise. The Travelling Bunny arrived at Annette's ( from Maryland), but I have not email for her or blog info... I am sure she will let us know when it is ready to move on.  I also began reading another book ...  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I have only read a few  of the 548 pages! so I can not judge it yet.
A few Christmas Spiders already crawled to a few co-workers.... I would like to share some with you. So... if you would like a Christmas spider, please send me an email with your mailing address and then I will surprise a few of you! Let me know if you would like a particular color...I will also include the Legend with it. Do any of you have little ones who still believe in Santa? I would like to send some children my Reindeer food for Christmas Eve...let me know and I will also be surprising some of the children.  Email me with their names, ages and address and I will choose some of them ... all of this will be mailed out by December 1st. So, do not delay. I want to keep it all as surprises as to who gets selected. If there are any questions about any of this... I know I am beginning to question myself! just send an email to me. I am tired now, so I will have a cup of tea and sit outside and read for a while. Thank you for sitting with me this long... have a wonderful day.