This is my new niece-Mia Taylor. Her mommy is my little sis and shes my first niece. You can see her big brother and her daddy in one of the pics too. Little Mia is not so little, she's a little over 8 1/2 pounds! I wont get to meet her till Christmas so i'll have to settle for pics till then.

stocking tutorial

Here's the stocking we are making!

I made my quilted fabric out of 2 Fqs...red print for the outside and blue for the lining. Basted and meander quilt-then cut out a stocking shape.
I sewed them together right sides in with a 1/4 seam then went over the seam with a zigzag to make it a little stonger, after all we want santa to fill them full up!
Measure the top edge of the stocking and cut a cuff piece-5in x your width plus 1/2 in. Sew short sides together using a 1/4 seam.
Fold in half so long edges are together..
Pin cuff to lining. Insert a 4in piece of ribbon to hang the stocking with, making sure the ends of the ribbon stick out the top of the seam like mine. ok, maybe not quite as far, but you get the idea!

Turn every thing right side out and top stitch the top edge to completly encase that seam and you are done!

More finishes!

I got 3 of these done tuesday.
And one of these on tuesday also. I'm trying to get lots of stuff finished so i can do cmas gifts with out having this stuff hanging over me.

Violet nursery tutorial

This is just a leaf snapped off mom's violet. They can also be cut with a sharp knife. Place in a small cup and keep the stem covered with water until you see root shoots starting. This step can take a couple of months.
Once the roots start put the leaf into some potting soil. Do not cover too deep-no more than 1 inch of stem in the soil.
Wait for the baby violets to start growing. This one is almost ready for splitting. When they get a little bigger, take them out of the cup and pull the babies off. Usually the babies are easily separated once you crumble most of the soil off. Most of the time you get 2-4 new plants off one leaf. You can repot the old leaf if you want more babies of the same type.
Newly potted baby violet! This is just in a dixie cup for now until it gets big enough to warrant a regular pot.

violet blooms

Some of my big violets are blooming nicely-i have 3 of the first plant, all in bloom. There is only 1 of the second one but its got more blooms than any other. The third one is almost done blooming and but the other plant like it is about to start. I've also got 3 other violets that are getting ready to bloom for the first time ever. I can't wait to see them. The last picture is my violet nursery where i've got several started both from my violets and from some my mom and some from my pastors wife. I decided that i have too many, or i will when these get a little bigger so i've got an ad in the local paper to try to sell a few. That way i can buy more dirt and pots and grow some more!

halloween trip and pics as requested

This is a partial pile of the things I've finished lately. 9 Halloween table pieces, an old Easter runner, and an experiment using hot fix ribbon.
Jason and Randy getting the guts out of the pumpkin, Jason was not happy to help!
All 4 of us at MIL's Halloween party, geez jason, did ya have to make faces?

The trip home, Sami and Tank took turns using each other as pillows.