In the beginning of a new Cross stitch.

I am beginning a new cross stitch sampler for my middle daughter in Colorado. It will be a family tree geneology of her immediate family. I do have a question that I would like to get a little feed back for. I am sure that there are many fellow stitchers out there that will have an opinion for me. When doing the names, is it okay to do middle initials or do you think that the full middle name should be stitched? I have made charts using both just curious on your ideas of this.
This is the beginning header boarder. The entire sampler will be about.18' x 22-24" That is still up to my as I go charting.  As promised I will take photos as I go.

On another note... I have an obsessive compulsive yellow lab that is crazy about tennis balls. Well actually it is all balls. Tennis, basket, bowling soccer, all of them. But tennis balls are her main obsession. She usually has one in her mouth all the time and at the same time bats one around on the floor with her feet. She is very good at this and has a bowling ball that she can maneuver around the room with her feet to put it right where she wants it.





Outside, she has a basket ball that she does the same thing with. We tried a soccer ball but it didn't last very long. When she gets one of her balls stuck under a chair, although she may have three or four sitting around her she absolutely has to have the one that is stuck and until she gets it she goes nuttso trying to get it out.


Now, to all my friends on the East Coast.... are you digging out from
the blizzard? It looks like you all really got nailed with the thick white stuff. I would rather have a light dusting of that then all this gosh dang rain that is making life miserable for inside dogs that want to go for walks and go outside and play. Now Phoebe doesn't mind the rain, actually she loves it. She will go outside and just stick her nose in the air and run and sniff and shake it off but keep on jumping. I am a fair weather walker myself so they have to wait till there are little breaks in the showers.  Yes, they are bored and driving me stir crazy as we have a procedure that we go through each time they come in. Go directly to the laundry room, sit down and wait your turn to get dried off and feet demudded. My word.
So I am getting back to my normal life and will keep you all updated on the sampler and the family. Hubby is back at work and looking forward to another long weekend and short vacation sort of..

                                Hugs and licks for all my family and friends and
                                                    Have a happy New Year

I have posted this picture before but this is where I have been today. It felt so nice to just kick back and relax after the holiday rush was over. WHEW!
Now I am just enjoying spending time with my  Dear Sweet Husband and enjoying the kids, my four legged ones, that is. and just not stressing at all. I mean look at me, do I looked stressed at all? Why is it  we put ourselves through the same stress year after year and each year we say that we are not going to do that again and we are going to just be stress free. Well, I am going to make that one of my New Years resolutions. I am not going to pup myself into any stressful situations that I don't necessarily need to be into. Life is too short to make it any shorter by added stress. Does it make anything taste better, look better, or will we like it anymore then if we just did it the way we had planned and let it go at that?
 I made stuffed Cornish Game hens for our Christmas dinner and you know what, I would have liked a nice bowl of chowder and garlic bread just as well, maybe even better. Oh it was yummy but when it is just the two of you, you can fix something that you both like and be just as content why go overboard just because its Christmas day. I fell into the Christmas theme of a fancy Christmas dinner with all the trimmings but I eat so little now that most of it is leftovers. Hum.... I guess I will have to rethink this next year.
My dear sweet Phoebe got a new container of tennis balls and a rubber tire with a rope on it that should have lasted her a couple of years. Would you believe it last her less then two hours. First she chewed the rope off then when I threw that part away she chewed into the hole that was left by the rope and destroyed   the tire.
So much for the two years. Oh well, its easier to replace a toy then a table or chair and she has never done that. They also got some puppy cookies. Wallace isn't interested in toys anymore because Phoebe just ends up taking them from him anyway and at 12 years old he just doesn't get into chasing balls any more.
So as this year draws to an end, I am going to be reorganizing my self and trying to start some new projects that have no deadlines. I prefer to work that way.
Hugs to all my friends, family and followers and hope that you have a happy and safe New Year.
Jan

Woo Hoo! ! ! ! I finished it

I started working on this about 5 years ago and I finished it today. I had to repair some of the antique crochet work and then I added a linen backing to give it some added strength then I had to stitch around 99 linen doilies. It is a beautiful antique Italian bedspread that my daughter gave to me when her dog tore it. I decided to repair it and give it back to her. I do hope that she will appreciate all the time and work that went into restoring it to a usable spread again. I sure do. It is so heavy and will fit a king size bed. I am so happy to be done with it. I has been sort of like an albatross hanging over me for so many years. The only pressure came for myself but I just felt the need to get it done. It was something that I wanted to do for her.
Anyway, it is done and on its way to San Antonio.
I didn't get all the bears for my Granddaughters done but they will come a little later. I am only one person and there are 11 grandchildren. Whew!
Well, I am just going to try and catch my breathe and get ready for a great new year. but for now I am going to bed. Nighty nite my friends.

Least We Not Forget

Least we not forget

In all the hustle and bustle of our preparations for Christmas day, we have a tendency to forget what we are really celebrating. We all become so stressed and wrapped up in making sure that Carol has gotten all she wanted and Bobby has got that special DVD that we forget to give a gift to that one special person on our list whose birthday is the reason we are celebrating this special day. I am absolutely not beyond reproach and I had to stop and take a step back this morning as I started to stress about the fact that I haven't been able to afford to send all my gifts that I worked so hard on to make sure that they were done for Christmas day. Well, they will all get sent and the recipients know that they are coning but the one person that I forgot to get that most precious gift for needs to be recognized and something special done. I can't afford to make any contributions but I can afford to donate a gift or two and to also make a special effort to let Jesus Christ know that I am so grateful to his birth and his presence in my life. He has always been there when I needed him and has helped me so many tough times throughout my life that I am planning on attending a church service in his honor. I don't normally worship in a particular building and don't feel a need to, just to prove that I believe 

to anyone other then myself. 

I also just receive a phone call from my Daughter in Colorado that had some wonderful news to share and rather then tell you all about it maybe you can take a moment to to and read about it for your self on her blog.

http://fivegreatkiddos.blogspot.com/

So in closing this Christmas posting I just want to take a moment and thank all of you, my followers and friends and fellow bloggers for joining in on my swaps and exchanges and thank you all for being there when I need your strength in my low times. You are all so dear to me 

Merry Christmas to you all and I wish for a Very Happy and

prosperous New Year too.

Big Christmas Hugs and Licks from our family to yours.

Jan, Greg, Phoebe and William Wallace

Merry Christmas

I also want to share some pictures of my entry room tree that was given to me by some very dear neighbors when they went to cut their tree they got one for me too. 

All the ornaments on this little tree are ones that I received this year and some from the past. Also, just thought I would mention that our little Phoebe turned 1 year old on the 6th. She is just a little 90 lb lap puppy 

Counting down the days

Don't you just remember the last few days before Christmas. You were dying of curiosity of what was in that huge box and that really heavy little box. Hum..... I wonder if I just carefully lift this piece of tape up I bet I can just slip out the box..... Oh, hi Mom.... I was just looking.... hehehehe. Guess I will have to wait till everyones asleep.To this day, I still know whats under the tree before Christmas day arrives. Those that know me never put anything under the tree until Christmas eve. I hate suspense movies and I hate the suspense of wondering what is in that big box or that pretty little box.  Thats just me.  

  

          I do have one horror story though. When my husband and I were 

dating.... he had put a big box under my tree.  I promised not to open it and I didn't 

either. Well, Christmas day arrived and I was just beside myself with anticipation. I opened 

this huge box and what was inside....another box..... and then another box..... all the way 

down to a jewelry size box.... I was just dying by this point and when I saw that wonderful 

little box I just knew it had to be a ring.    WRONG! ! ! !  It was empty.. absolutely nothing

 in all this mess of boxes and wrapping paper.  Well it wasn't totally empty. There was 

a little note inside the box. It read...

Nothing can compare to the Love I feel for you!.......?

 Holy Crap! ! ! ! !

Nothing could have hidden my disappointment! To this day he knows better then to ever do that again. I am sure that her thought he was just being a little clever and maybe just a little bit romantic in his cute little verse that he wrote.  He won't ever do that again. Now, you are probably saying aw... ....how could I be so mean as to give him this special  award .Well after being so good, and not even sneaking a peek, and not that I would have seen anything anyways,  and then just knowing that when I finally got to that one pretty little box all wrapped up so

 sweetly that I just knew it was going to be an engagement ring, that to this day I am surprised that we ever got married. Hehehehe. It took me weeks to get over the disappointment.it was about 8  weeks until wefinally got married and then, to this day, we have never had one argument in 22 years. 

 I guess once was enough to last a life time.  I love that man so much now that I can't imagine

 my life without him unless he gives me another empty box and then.....Well... that would be 

another story....HO HO HO

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you enjoyed this true story. It makes us laugh, just a little bit,

 every time I think of it. Just a little bit. Can you imagine the look on my face. Can you imagine,

 even more the huge smile and anticipation on his face as I was opennig that

 horrid little box.   Hehehe

One World One Heart

I am so excited to be participating in the fifth and final OWOH event this last time. I missed out on it in the previous years but am looking forward to making my trip around the blogging world to visit many wonderful blogs and make new friends around the world.
To become a part of this great and final event I have added the link so that you too can become a part of it all.  It all begins on January 30th and each participant will offer a door prize or prizes. Consideration needs to be made that you will need to mail your door prizes somewhere else in the world so weight should be considered
I will be post photos of my door prizes on or before January 30th.  I will also post a reminder to this wonderful and final event on January 30 just to remind you.
If you too want to be a part of this great journey around the world of bloggers please check the link below.
http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/2010/12/annoucning-the-fifth-and-final-one-world-one-heart-event-.html#comment-6a00e5538b84f388330147e0ab93d5970b

Ran outta hot glue sticks, Dang

Yes, it happened. I ran outta hot glue so thats all for the gold leafing for now. Running out of hot glue is almost as bad a running outta duck tape. heheh.
I remember when my daughters were young and we were just moving up to Oregon, we had an old ford van that was great in California but not for the wet Oregon weather. It leaked like a sieve and if it hadn't been for the duct tape we would've been soak and wet. I swear that van was duck taped together in more ways then one.
Another great use for duct tape, I found, was to collect large scrapes from the dumpsters at the carpet store and flip them over and make some awesome mosaic rugs. You just cut all the pieces so that they are like a crazy quilt and duck tape them all together on the back side. If you do it right it looks awesome.
Anyways, as usual, I got distracted, I ran out of hot glue so no more cinnamon/gold leaf ornaments but I got these done before I ran out.
Well, I am going to be cutting out bears and sewing doilies today so I am going to be busy.
I hope that all my friends and followers are having a great Holiday season so far and I pray for continued happiness and be safe when out driving. Be sure to hide your packages in the trunk and maybe save someone from spending time in jail by just being cautious. There are so many out there that are less fortunate and feel such desperation that they will take your gifts to give to someone else.
Have a great weekend where ever you are.

Another wonderful day in the neighboor hood

I wanted to post this picture of my little setting atop of Phoebe's kennel. Its a large kennel and is just another piece of furniture in our living room so I decorate it as if it were a mantel peice, so to speak


The card that is in the middle with the photograph is a picture of dear friends of ours of whom the woman in the photographed passed away this year  and we just wanted to make sure that she knows that she is not forgotten. I always post photos of family members that have passed on our tree just so that we can always remember to share our Holiday seasons with those that are no longer with us in body but will always be with us in spirit.
I just finished another Cinnamon ornament, I still have more to finish but they take time and the drying time is the longest as they are fairly thick.

These are a few that I have to complete and another that I already did for a friend of mine. I also have shown what I use for the gold leaf. I use a hot glue gun to design where I want the gold leaf. I draw it out, let it cool then appy the gold leaf. I sticks to the dry hot glue. Don't let it get cold before applying but not sticky.

Rushing to finish

It seems like it is always like this. I am rushing to finis putting the last stitches in one thing and finish stitching up another quilted piece.

This is what I am working on now. I am stitching around all the individual scenes and then applying a border and a hanger so that it can be hung on the door or wall.  I love the intense colors and I think it is going to be awesome when it is done.
Played miss Susie homemaker today, scrubbed cupboard doors, did laundry and baked bread then sat down for a minute and woke up an hour later.... musta needed a nap.... or so my body thought I did.
Anyway, I just finished watching Eclipse on PPV tv and now I am going back to my stitching until I fall asleep again. But it is 10:30pm now so sleep would be a good thing. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.
Hugs to all my friends and visitors, stop by again real soon.

This is my James Christensen ornament

I don't know if you have ever heard of Jame Christensen but he is an awesome Whimsical artist, educator and he was a profesor at Brigham Young University. I don't know if he is still teaching there as the book I have of his was from 1996. It is called "A Journey of the Imagination" and the other book of his that I have is called
"Voyage of the Basset" It was made into a movie. If you ever have some time to spare take a look at his work at the Greenwich Workshop
http://www.hiddenridgegallery.com/art-of-james-christensen.html

I make these from Cinnamon applesauce dough then decorate them when they are dry with beads and stones and gold foil over hot glue. I looks like it is coated with real gold. I made this one last year but I have another in the oven right now. I will post pics when it is done
If you have that composition gold leaf sheets and a hot glue gun you can do some really incredible things like this. Just do your design with the hot glue let it cool a bit then lay the sheet over it and rub. It sticks like glue. The glue must be dry though. Weird huh. This piece here is about 3 years old.

This is the first of the Christmas cup swap photos

This is the first of the Christmas Cup Photos that I have received. I do hope that you all email me a photo of your cups so I can post them on the blog.  I think it will be fun to see what everyone got.
Thanks again.
This Is the cup that Pam received along with some extra goodies from Cindy Weeks.

Please send me pictures so I can post them too.
Thanks Pam

Here is Kathy's cup swap from Deb.

Red Velvet Sandwich-cookies at the Hive

I am absolutely going to have to make some of these. These look so much like a great cookie to serve up at a Christmas party. The recipe is posted at the Hive

http://creatingthehive.com/blog-post/44279/red-velvet-sandwich-cookies

Gotta check these out.

My new Christmas Stocking

I just received this in the mail today. I was hosting a Christmas stocking swap on another website that I am a member of called Dave's Garden. I tried to host it here but didn't get enough interest going so I did it there and wow. We had a great turn out. I will try it here again next year. Maybe we I can stir up enough interest to make it go here.
Anyways, It was called Christmas Stocking Swap with a Twist and the twist was that you could pick out your theme and color scheme that you prefered then your swap buddy  would do the same.
Mine was Ole time Christmas and colors were traditional red, greens, cream .
This is the stocking I received.
It was made from nice tapestry fabric with some very nice tapestry fringe. She also made a small one for my little 90+ lb lap puppy.  I can put a cookie it it for her but I will have to make a new one for Wallace. Don't you just love the fabric?

Well, I got it all decorated and lights are on

Aww.... I think its a sweet little tree and my sweet Petie likes it too. I mean, how many canaries have their very own Christmas tree.
He seems to like it too as he has his own little Christmas theme going on.
Well I just finished my last Christmas stocking that I was making for my Christmas stocking swap on another website called Dave's Garden.
All I have left now is the bed spread and my other daughter Christmas gift. I can't say what it is as then it wouldn't be a surprize.
Well, it's nap time for me and then will get busy again.
Hugs everyone and I hope that you have all had a nice weekend. Its been raining here for the past week. I guess thats why Oregon is so nice and green so I can't complain too much. I left the desert to get away for the dry drab brown landscapes.

I just finished this Ornament

http://hangingonbyaneedleandthread.blogspot.com/2009/12/quilted-christmas-ornament.html

I made this ornament last night from the instructions that I got at this you tube tutorial. It is so easy and fun to make to. It is a no sew project. I would suggest using a lighter weight fabric then I used. I used velvet in the center and a brocade on the outside. It didn't lay as nice as the one on the tutorial but I thing it looks pretty nice anyway. I added a crystal to hang off the bottom and added a hanger on top.

This is another one that I did today. Its done with some lighter weight fabric but it still hasn't turned out as nice as I would like it to. I just can't seem to get that perfect 3"x3" square cut perfect. I think I am going to have to invest in a rotary cutter and cutting pad.

Look at this wonderful giveaway I won from Hillcrest Home Prims from Tricia

I Just received this awesome giveaway from Tricia at Hillcrest Home Prims. It has a huge snowman with a scarf and holding vintage bells and three long candy canes and an awesome twig Christmas tree with ornaments and light that i need to get a battery for but that is great as where I have it there is no plug in. I also got a sweet scented bag of potpourri and two neat grungy pillar candles. It is a really awesome giveaway and I just wanted to say thank you so very much. You are so sweet and generous to create such a great giveaway. Thank you Tricia.      

 I also wanted to mention that you can get these adorable snowmen at Tricia's Hillcrest Home Prims store http://www.hillcresthomeprims.com plus so many other cute Christmas items. 

Whew we survived the big food day.

Whew, we are thankful for all the wonderful yummies that we were able to share with friends yesterday. I made my traditional Navajo Tacos and ambrosia fruit for dessert. It was very yummy and no one seem to be suffering too badly afterwards.
I hope that all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving day and although our Canadian friends to the North celebrate Thanksgiving on a different day, I do hope that you had a great day also.
This is a very vintage Christmas card that we received when we lived in Japan when I was 6 years old.  Yes I said it was very Vintage. heheh
Now on to the completion of the Christmas gifts.  I am very nearly done with most of them and hope to have it all done by the end of the month.
I am very thankful to all of you that took part in the giveaway "In the beginning there is a giveaway". I think it was a lot of fun and many had an opportunity to win something even if it wasn't the biggy.
 There will be another big giveaway for the New Year so keep checking back in. You will only have a week to sign up and then a week to wait so that means that sign up will begin on the 16th of December.  You will have to wait to see what it is till then. Don't ya love the suspense?
So, get busy and get your fingers working on the next project as Christmas is just  28 days 17 hours and 7 no 6 minutes away.
Big Prim Hugs to all my fellow bloggers and friends and family

And the Winner is

Yes, its been a long time coming but we have had such fun but rather then wait till tomorrow when everyone will be up to there necks in Turkey I figured I would just have my Dear Sweet Husband draw the name.
And the winner is..

Congratulations Val. Please contact me with your mailing address.You can email me at
primitivejan@gmail.com

Way to go. Remember, there is a surprise addition to the give away but no one will know what it is till you get it.

The lonely little Christmas cactus flower

Some time this summer a piece of my Christmas or Thanksgiving cactus broke off and I stuck it into my Aloe cactus plants container. Today I was in the laundry room folding clothes and I noticed something pink poking out from the back of the container.  I turned it around and low and behold this lonely little Cactus blossom was smiling back at me.. It this not just the most precious little flower. Yes, I admit that it is totally dwarfed by the size of my Aloe plant as it is a very healthy specimen.

Now, this is the mother plant that it came from. It has just begun to produce its annual Thanksgiving day
explosion of beautiful little blossoms. Minus the one that found its way to the Aloe plant.  It has found a foster home.

Phoebe first experience in the snow

My sweet little lap puppy got her first taste of snow this morning. Yep, it snowed here last night. I open the back door to let the kids out and she always has to be the first one out.  She stepped into it and bounded back inside. Wallace just looked at her and stepped into it and down the stairs. She look at me and then at him and skipped the stairs and bounded out into the snow.  She has been begging to go back out and play in it all morning.  Just like a kid..I know because of Her size everyone thinks She is a He but She is a sweet big boned girl...... as her dad says. She isn't fat she's just big boned. So Phoebe is a big boned girl.

I finally finished my daughter sampler too. I started it last year but finished it this year so this is finally going to go to its final resting place in my daughters home. Well, I off to finish some more Christmas gifts. I still have two more daughters to finish their gifts and some swaps that I still need to finish. I have a bed spread to finish and a Christmas wall hanging.  I was working on a Christmas tree skirt but it didn't work out, much to my disappointment.
Two days left till the biggy.  Are we getting excited?  I am... eheheh  HO HO HO HO.

.

Well, its almost time for the big drawing

Its been a long time coming but I think that I have kept it interesting and fun too.. there have been some fun giveaways along the way to the big drawing.. Now it is just four days away..
I just want to say that I am so thankful for all of your participation in this giveaway and I do hope that after it is all over you will still continue to visit.
I am so happy to have made so many new followers and feel honored that you would want to follow my blog..
I look forward to seeing and visiting all of your blogs too. I think that I am going to make one day a week, visiting day. I think its nice to stay up with what happening in everyones lives and I enjoy sharing most of my life with all of you too.

My sweet Lap puppy Phoebe is always ready to take a break and its usually on my lap.  I don't think she realizes just how big she is.  She isn't always very lady like but she is always lovable.
So, I will be drawing the name of the winner on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving day.. I won't expect to hear from you till Friday but please, be sure to contact me if you are the winner so that I can get you mailing address.
Have a great week my friends and I hope that you all stay safe, warm and watch out for all those wacko's out there that aren't watching out for you.. believe me,  they are out there.  Most of them are so preoccupied with the holidays and their cell phones that you are low on their list of priorities.  So just be careful and make this Holiday season a joyous one.
Oh Yea, I forgot to mention that there is going to be one extra special surprise in the giveaway but everyone will just have to wait till you let us know what it is.  So be sure to post send pictures so I can put them on My Primitive Nest..
Hugs everyone.

I am so sorry I forgot to give the names for the christmas cup swap

I am so sorry, Debbie reminded me that I needed to post the
names of the part ners for the Christmas Cup Swap.  This should be easy as we only had 6 sign up. Oh well, their loss.
Okay, here goes, I will list the name and then hopfully I have everyones addresses. If I don't please email them to me ASAP so I can send them to your partners.
Jan - Lori
Kathy- Debbie
Pam - Cyndy

Lori, you already know what you are getting, sorry but I am sure you will love it. I do. Heheh
I hope that you enjoy doing this even if it is a small turn out.
Thanks for being a part of it all and Happy Hollidays.

 1    Jan / http://my primitivenest.blogspot.com/ coffee drinker

  2    Lori/ http://makeprimhappen.blogspot.com/ coffee drinker

  3    Kathy/ http://katonaprimtwig.blogspot.com/ coffee or tea

  4    Cyndy/http://craftystitchers.blogspot.com/ coffee or tea

  5    Debbie/http://debbiesdodads.blogspot.com/

  6    Pam/ http://queeniesbeads.blogspot.com/prefers tea cup

The Fifth and final weekly drawing.

Well, we have reached the end of the weekly drawings. The next drawing will be for the biggy. I have moved up the final drawing date to Thanksgiving day. I want to give thanks for all my great followers and blogging friends and what better way to end this giveaway then to do it on Thanks Giving.
So now for this weeks drawing winner, I am reaching into the bag,........and I have a number that correlates to the numbers on the list on the sidebar. And that number is..........15.
And it is Wendy from Raven Wood Whimseys. applause **************
Congratulations Wendy. Woo Hoo. Oh, you want to see what you have won I suppose..... Well, okay, if you insist.
Please email me your address.
primitivejan@gmail.com

Just a reminder, don't forget to check in at least once this week and once during the week so that you will be eligible for the big final drawing. Just a little reminder of what you will be getting for the giveaway

                                                                      " In The Beginning
                                                                    There Is A Giveaway"