Merry Christmas, Everyone!

No stockings hung by the fire--we have baseboard heat and I wear pantyhose--and it's raining at the moment--but Christmas spirits reign supreme! I so enjoy the last-minute wrapping (alright, the making too, obviously!) and I just found my favorite Christmas CD: The Spirit of Christmas by Amy Grant. It was a Hallmark CD from 2001. Full orchestral sound, a little Vince Gill thrown in for good measure--always gets me in the mood.

I'm going to take a chance and show you a few of the gifts I made for this year--I don't think anyone who is getting them will read this before receiving them. If you guess who they are, please keep quiet!!!!

Quilting Arts Gifts had a great idea for luggage tags. One of my friends has several (!) Featherweights and has named them all, so I made her a different luggage tag for each and did custom cards with pretty script with their names. They were easy to make (don't tell her!) and I think she will really like them.


I have a friend who collects ladybugs so I made her this delightful pincushion! The pattern is by Hatched and Patched from Australia. And, yes, I can embroider--I just try not to make a habit of it! The whole thing is only about five inches! The company also has patterns for several other pincushions that are equally as cute.

Last year I got back into knitting because of a ladybug dishcloth for this same friend. This is a new design that I found on the internet for this year. I love the seed stitch border--it lies nice and flat.

At 9:30 tonight I finished a pair of wool socks for my mom. Just in the knick of time! I actually made the second sock in just a few hours with a very concerted effort. Now I have just a hat and wrist warmers to make but I have a couple days to do those. I know I've said it before, but I still can't believe that I am knitting socks!

Here's a fresh off the digital camera picture of Lynnie.

She was trying to help wrap presents (actually she was trying to see why Callie could get up and help but she had to stay grounded). This is what was going on above her eye level:

I'll just say that it takes a lot longer to wrap presents with a cat helping! LOL!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope your holidays are full of fun, traditions, great gifts and lots of laughter. God bless us, every one.