December 23rd....Early Christmas and A Very Special Gift!

Jimmy and I finished up the last of our errands and some of our Christmas deliveries today. As we are going to Seattle in the morning to be with our daughters this Christmas, we decided to have our Christmas tonight. I suggested that we have our little Christmas party in my cottage. We are into new traditions this year, so this was fun for us.

The little lady in the photo is a new dolly this year. She is cloth and I just love her. She fits right in.

Yes, it is officially winter now. It was wet, wet, wet today but the temperatures were on the warm side.

I did put a little tree up and some colored lights...in Mary Engelbreit fashion. I'll probably add a bit more next year.  I'm not sure if you can see the rain on the window, but it really poured today.

My friend Peggy made this little LINDA LOU sign for my room.

 I thought we needed a bit of a snack for our new tradition...opening our presents in the cottage with goodies and Christmas carols. Of course, we needed some eggnog.

Jimmy is in a festive mood!

One of my cute little Christmas gifts!

My Jimmy surprised me with such a wonderful gift. He gave me two beautiful diamonds to add to my bracelet. Since we were blessed with two grandchildren this year, he gave me these! The Ava diamond and the Otto diamond. I was just shocked! They are beautiful, but represent something even more precious. Thank you my Jim...what a lovely gift to end this great year.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! It just all goes so quickly. Merry Christmas my dear blogger friends.

December 3rd and Another Sewing Project

December 3rd! Most of the decorating and clean up is finished for Christmas now, so I am taking a break to sew in my cottage today. This is my Mary Engelbrieght stocking I made last week. I love the measuring tape ribbon bow and I finally found a good use for the little ceramic pin cushion button I have had for years. I think it turned out pretty good. I have a little tree that I hope to decorate in ME style in a few days for the cottage.

Here's the finished project. It's lined in the black and white tea cup fabric that you can see on a bag in the background. I hope Santa finds his way to the cottage!

Jimmy bought me a wonderful cutter quilt in red and off white. I was looking for one to make stockings and some other items. I am going to try to finish the tree shirt today and hopefully, I will be able to do a blog post on the finished items tomorrow. The woodstove is going to get a workout.

We have a cold spell coming our way. It will be cold for a week and we may see a bit of snow out of this one before it's all over. 

Tea Time Thursday #21 and a Peek at My Cottage

I spent the entire day weeding and cutting back things in my front yard today. It was pretty hot out and by the end of the day, I was pooped, but the yard looks neat and tidy again. I needed to get it done while it was somewhat cool.

So, here it is Tea Time Thursday. I was going to give you a look at my cottage, but it's still not quite done. I am getting close! It was fun to actually use my sewing machine to make my curtain valance. I am going to really like having a place to sew.

Some of you know that I'm decorating my studio with Mary Engelbreit things that I have been collecting for some time now. Here's my teacup for today....it says "Everyone Needs Their Own Spot" and has adorable little dogs running around the saucer. How appropriate....as my cottage certainly will be my SPOT!

I promised some friends that I would show my sewing cabinet. One of the things that was important to me in my studio was to have a lot of space. I decided to get this great sewing cabinet that can open up to provide me with great work space when I'm sewing. Here it is all closed up.

I just opened it up to show the inside and the storage spaces. The machine goes down for storage. I'm still waiting for the acetate cut out that will allow me to have my machine flush with the table. It had to be special ordered.

This is the regular fold out...space on the left and right hand side. Don't you like my RED work chair? I love it!

Then if you need more space, the back will open up too for a very large work space. Sometime you need that when you're working on a quilt.

You can see my cutting table in the back. It folds up too. I just wanted lots of flexibility.

Here's a little shelf I got at the bins and LaVonne sent me some cute pot holders. I have a few more things to do, but will be sharing the finished room soon. It has been so fun to put this room together. This weekend, I am getting a cute cozy chair and my stereo system. Duane put speakers in the ceiling.
It's such a happy room that just makes me smile every time I walk in the door!

I hope you enjoyed this little look into my cottage/studio. I will be sharing more with you soon. Working as much as I can before baby Otto arrives! It's getting close.

And So It Begins......

Our handyman Duane took us to dinner and we discussed the work that will turn the cottage he built me a few years ago into my studio/sewing room! Lots of work ahead but hope to have it functional before that grandbaby arrives in July!