Quilt time

Doris  called and told me that she would do another quilt for me if I would get the top sewn together real quick, so I got out the fabric that I want to use, and have been going through magazines trying to find one that works with it.  So far, I've found lots of quilts that I like, but not the ONE...the one that says...pick me for these fabrics.  I guess I've got to decide soon though, because I've spent a week looking at everything so far.  Tonight...I'll decide and get started.  Yeah.... another quilt this year.

Another day

This fall, Jeff took Mom and I up to North Heglar to pick chokecherries.  We got around 5 gallons, and mom steamed them and made a concentrated juice.  For Christmas, I made syrup from it, and put it in pint jars.  I then cut circles of flannel fabric to go over the top, and made these labels.  For a couple of the gifts, I added a pint of frozen raspberry jam and put the two jars in a black metal jar holder I picked up at WalMart.  For the people at work, I just gave each of them the chokecherry syrup.  They really turned out cute I thought.  I miss judged how much syrup it would make though.  I used three quarts of juice, and ended up with about 9 pints and 1 quart of syrup.  I finished giving the rest of it to Sally and her mother when they came out Friday night. 
The cool thing is, we had fun taking mom to pick the berries, and I got some nice homemade gifts from it.

I screwed up big time

Yesterday, Jeff and I were going to take a drive, so we got up early and thought we'd go to JB's and have breakfast (with our Braquel, of course).  We also thought we'd take our snow shoes that we got last year, but have never used yet.  So, we packed our snow clothes and were getting ready to leave, when I grabbed my camera bag of the counter in the utility...and had a terrible accident.  When I put my camera in the bag a couple days ago, I didn't zip it up, and when I grabbed it, the camera fell out onto the tile floor.  Crash...my heart stopped.
When I picked it up, the lens was broken, and so was my heart.  I started crying immediately.  I had saved for several years to buy a new camera, and now I'm holding it and the lens' is all cracked, dented, ruined.  I couldn't quit crying.  Even now, as I'm writing this I'm crying again. 
We went ahead and left, Jeff fed the horses, and then asked if I was still crying.  Of course I was!  He asked if I had a filter on the lens, and I said yes.  He told me he thought it was just the filter that broke, so we came back in the house and ...maybe...we can't get it to come off because it's dented.  But I took a photo, and I could see it on the screen okay.  I just don't know yet, whether it will be okay or not.
I remember that Robin said when she dropped hers, it ruined the camera.  So, I'm not sure.  I guess I'll take it to Idaho Camera and see if they can check it out.  Maybe get the filter off and see if the lens' is ruined or can be saved.  Or if the camera body is even any good now.  I'm just heart sick!

January exchange cards

You'll recognize my snowflake cards from my blog hop.  As long as I was making them, I decided to use them for my exchange cards also.  The theme this month was to use "scraps".  I always have a ton of scraps.  I loved using some of them up.  Why not join the exchange?

Photo shoot for Sally

 The whole family.

Sally asked me if I would have time to take some photos for her family.  Her sister Emily, had arranged for a friend to take them, but then she had to leave.  I love taking photos...but when it's an actual photo shoot, where people are depending on me to take "great" shots...I get very nervous.  What if none of them turn out, and it's the only time the whole family can get together, they had even bought all matching clothes...I was nervous.  Then when I got there, they were using a fireplace with recessed lights above it, which reflected on the marble...it cast alot of shadows...not all the kids wanted to have their photos taken...it was a bit of a challenge.  But all in all, they weren't too bad.  Hopefully her family will enjoy them and can use them.  Here are a few of the ones I took for Jason and Sally.  What a good looking family huh?

New year

This was a photo we took to try out our backdrop on Christmas Eve.  What a wonderful family I have!  It's a great time whenever we get together, and this year...I want to spend more time with all of them.

January Blog Hop

 This was my first "glittery" project.  I wanted to put glitter on some chipboard snowflakes and then use them for my thank you cards.  I started with a big bag of chipboard flakes...I think I bought them from Oriental Trading a year or so ago.  Figured it was time to use them.

 Next, I painted each of them with mod podge and then sprinkled them with silver glitter.  They turned out quite pretty I thought.  After they were dry, I sprayed them with a fixative so the glitter wouldn't come off so easy.

 I made twenty of them...along with that many cards.  I used  most of them, and then I'll use five for the exchange this month.

I made this snowman a few years ago, but Tori gave us the glass blocks.  I love them.  I took down my Christmas decorations yesterday, and then put up this for the month of January.  

 This is the last project I did.  I wanted to put something up in my cubby hole in the dining room for winter.  Today I went out and cut the SNW from wood.  My scroll saw broke though, and I had to finish them with the band saw, which I'm not nearly as good at running.  Hopefully I can get a part to fix the scroll saw.  Anyway, I painted them white, and then covered a couple of letters with glittery paper.  I then mod podged the N and covered it all over with glitter. I used a big bell for the "o", but I think I probably need to glitter it or at least spray paint it white so it matches better...but, I knew I was already way late posting today, so I just took a photo.  I really like how it turned out though.

The blog hop is a lot of fun, and I would love it if more people would do it.  It encourages me to do a little extra something each month.  Check out Ashley and Danelle's blogs for more fun ideas!