Handmade Christmas Tree Ornaments Inspired By Nature

These beautiful Christmas Tree Ornaments are mom's latest additions to our Boutiques.  All are inspired by nature:

A pretty white bird on a glittered pinecone!  These sold out in just a few days last year so mom has redesigned them for 2011.

These Partridge In A Pear Tree ornaments also sold out in a heartbeat last year.  Again, mom has redesigned them for the 2011 season.

This is a large ornament measuring about 7 inches wide.  Perfect for a very full Christmas Tree!  We only had one red bird so mom only made one of these Red Cardinal Bird Ornaments. 

In other news, I hope to have my Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls all finished up the end of the weekend.  I'll post photos as soon as they're ready!

Pinterest

Just a quick blog post for today.  I have a list a mile long of things I need to get done.

I wanted to share this awesome website that I found.  Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can post photos of things you find all over the web and organize them into your own catagorys such as recipes, home decor, craft ideas, things to buy and so on.  It's really fun to collect these photos in one place.  A link back to the original source is included so you can go back to the website if you want to.

 This is a lot of fun!!!  If you join, look me up!

Back To Stitching On Kitty Dolls

After a lovely weekend in Galena, I'm back to my normal routine!  I finished stitching on my Pink & Black crazy quilt kitty doll:

Be sure to click on the image so you can seem my little spider up close!

I have one more cat doll to stitch and then I'll sew them all together!  I hope to have plenty of stitching time this afternoon!

Home From Galena Illinois

Other than the rain all day on Saturday, Galena was beautiful as always!  Scott and I had to have walked miles and miles and miles!  Main Street in Galena is 1 mile long in 1 direction and if we walked it once, we walked it at least 30 times!

I was rather annoyed with my AT&T phone service though.  I had no internet access west of Rockford and once in Galena, I had no phone service most of the time.  What is up with that?  For what we pay for these phones and our service, we should be able to have internet and phone in the Sahara desert!  I will be contacting AT&T today with a complaint!  I was able to get a few text messages through to my sister.  She said that we were at a getaway and I shouldn't be worried about phone service and internet access.  LOL!!  Yeah, right!  I wanted a getaway in Galena.  I didn't want to leave the planet!  Ha, ha, ha!

Here are a few photos from Galena:

Post Civil War home of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (1869 - 1877).  We toured Grant's house a few years ago when we where here.  It's beautiful inside but surprisingly small!
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Statue of U.S. Grant in Grant Park. 

Well, that's my post for today everyone.  Enjoy the photos and if you'd like to learn more about Ulysses S. Grant, you can read about him here.

Good Morning From Galena Illinois!

Yesterday, we drove 2 1/2 hours west of where we live in McHenry, Illinois to Galena, Illinois for the weekend.  We always come to Galena for Labor Day weekend.  Unfortunately, it rained all day yesterday so walking up and down Main street was not quite as much fun as it usually is.

We spent some time at the Antique Mall which is on Route 20 (Grant Highway) just east of town.  I found some really great goodies there!

I found some pretty ruffled lace and an old hat with velvet millinery flowers which I'll take off and use for my crazy quilting and other crafting projects:

 I also found a little bit of old lace which will be wonderful on my crazy quilting:

Next, I found some vintage embroidery patterns.  It's fun to fine some that I don't have since my collection is now quite extensive:

Next, I found some gorgeous vintage hankies!  I love vintage hankies!

Last but not least, I found this pair of embroidered pieces.  I thought perhaps mom could make something pretty out of them.  The stitching is very nice!

Thankfully, it will be sunny all day today so we can walk up and down Main street and enjoy all the wonderful little shops and boutiques!

Before we head out for today, I thought I'd share photos of this pretty Praying Mantis that we found outside by the hotel door:

I was afraid he would get stepped on so I picked him up and moved him to a safer place.  He didn't want to let go of me though!  He has little barbs on his front feet for hanging on to things.  Scott had to carefully pry his little feet off my finger!

These are beautiful, harmless creatures.  We usually only see them in late Summer and early Fall.

If you would like to see some photos of downtown Galena, you can find them in my blog post from last year when we were here.