Mel's Own Place

Nann of a Quilted Pomegranate sent these gifts to Urban, Brock and I!  She had donated an Outdoor Activity Bag for my Autism Fundraiser and thought that Urban and Brock might enjoy one.  

I haven't had much traffic on my blog today so I thought that I would extend the Fundraiser for 1 week. I'll close on Sunday evening of next week, April 12th. I didn't have much time to advertise this event and I know most people don't get a chance to wander around blogland until the weekend, so tell all your friends who want quality handmade items to come on over!

Again - Glad you asked!

Glad you asked! I was so excited to get a gift certificate from my sis-in-law (we draw names) to Spoonflower! One can upload a design and they print it on fabric! So you can be a fabric designer! I can't wait to try it and I hope I don't get too addicted! I got subscriptions to McCall's Quilting, Fons & Porter quilting magazines. A gift certificate to Arnie's (where I get my basket weaving supplies!) Gift card to my FAV place to eat; Texas Roadhouse The coolest necklace sets from an Etsy shop I happened upon called Polarity . I told my hubby about the sewing one I wanted and my sister heard me talking about how cool it was and called the designer to have a quilting set made up for me too! I thought it was soooo cool that Cat, the owner, would make a special order set for no extra charge! I also got iPod speakers, clothes, some craft books such as how to bind books, and a trendy sewing book! I got so much creative stuff that my head is spinning trying to figure out where to begin! I think I'm going to have a fun and creative 2009!

I have enjoyed reading many of your blogs recapping your Christmases! Our Christmas celebrations begin on Christmas Eve with a party at my husband's parent's house. We eat, play games and open presents. It's a fun and hectic time! Christmas day was a wonderful day at home. My 3 year old son, Urban, was so excited this year and I loved it!! Everything he saw and opened was a treasure! We woke at 9:30am, opened some presents then he wanted to play with the toys he had just opened, so we took a break from opening the rest of the gifts. I took a nap while my hubby and son played for about an hour. Then we resumed the gift opening. It was really nice to take our time. Later in the afternoon we had a delicious dinner at my parents and opened more gifts. My sister and her son was also there and the boys had fun playing with Grandpa's train. - * - * * - - - * - - * * * - - * - Today we had family picture day on my husband's side. ARGGG! Without reliving the battle, I will say that we ended up with a pretty good picture of all 20 of us. It was the first studio picture of all of us in more than five years and I don't think any of us want to attempt it again any time soon!! Nathan and I have had season tickets to Desert Star, a cabaret style theater that performs parodies while the audience eats pizza. It has been a tradition that we get season tickets from Nathan's parents for Christmas. Tonight was the Christmas show so we thought it would be fun to take Urban along. You know a story is coming - right?! He got a little restless toward the end, but was for the most part a good little boy! UNTIL he spilled his root-beer ON the lady sitting down from us. The way the seating is, we were siting on a raised platform with rails, and there are people sitting on the other side of the rails, but on the main floor. So when a liquid gets spilled in a thrusting motion, the sticky mess flies just over and on top of the heads of those below! I was MORTIFIED!! In the small, loud, dark, area I was practically throwing money at her saying how sorry I was and to take the money to have her coat and clothes cleaned. She was sooooooo nice and said not to worry as she was shaking her hair dry from the mess! Can you imagine!!! (Sorry there are no pictures for this way too long post, I know it goes against the preferred method of posting, but I don't have any yet!)

Hey everyone, I'm still around! In the mean time, I have taken a few photos of what I've been working on for Christmas presents. I don't want to show too much until I've sent off all the packages, but here's a sneak peak!

Hey everyone! I wanted to share with you a beautiful gift from Ruthie and her husband, Dan. While at Ruthie's blog, I had seen a post of some wonderful jars of pickled jalepenos. Ruthie's husband bottles his own to get the right texture and crunch. Well, I commented on how my husband would love the peppers and Ruthie quickly replied that she and her husband would be happy to send me a bottle!! I was excited and took her up on the offer! Well, when the peppers arrived, I was stunned at the pretty pickled peppers and their rich colors! They got a lot of red peppers in their harvest this year, so the bottle was a 'Christmas mix' of reds and greens. My husband is so excited to use them on his meats, but we have to wait one more month until they've set the recommended 3 months. Dan has it all down to a science! Ruthie also sent a cottage block to swap! It's got darling stockings trimming the windows . . . how cute is that?? I love it and added it to the design wall where it can be at 'home' with the others! Since my computer is down, I don't have my normal list of blog friend's emails. One of the lost ones is Ruthie's, so I hope she will find out about this post and see that we've received the pepper package perfectly and that we are very THANKFUL that she and her husband shared their bounty.

OK, I'll post what I can for now, my computer has never been so enaccessable and it's driving me crazy!! My final for class is trapped in there somewhere and so are some pictures I wanted to share with you, but until my hubby can fix it, this post will have to do. My birthday was Sunday and I was able to sew for three whole days!! (I can't show you what I've been sewing . . . it's for Christmas!) My hubby and son let me be all alone for most of the weekend! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them dearly, but I was in heaven with all the time to myself! I had to go buy a new iron and board cover and counted them as a couple of my presents! Only a quilter would be excited to get an iron for a birthday present! Oh, and don't worry, I won't iron ANYTHING but quilting fabric with it! Sunday we went to my parent's house for a yummy Lasagna dinner!! My mom makes the best lasagna - really, I promise! We had my very favorite thing in the whole world for desert, CHOCOLATE CAKE!! Nothing fancy, just CHOCOLATE CAKE! OK, ok, there were 35 candles on the cake, I decided not to be shy or embarrassed about the number because every one of them account for many wonderful times in my life! My parents gave me a 2 year subscription to a quilting magazine and a digital scrapbook program; Memory Mixer. I've been eyeing the program for a few months now and can't wait to fiddle with it! My sister (no blog) gave me some yummy truffles and some darling 'spoke weights' for basket weaving. As you lay out your spokes (reed) for creating a base for your basket, you need something to hold them down. I've been using small pieces of wood, but these are SOOO CUTE! and I think they will work much better! *I wish my computer would let me in to post a picture!!* As a tradition, we lit the candles, yes REAL candles on my parent's Christmas tree. Our family comes from Germany/Switzerland so as homage to our ancestors who put candles on their trees, we have them on our tree as well. I really can't explain how beautiful it is to see the tree lit with only the candles. We only light them on special occasions, my birthday, my dad's birthday, Christmas eve and Christmas day. My dad puts on Johnny Mathis singing Silent Night and it is so peaceful and calming! Here are some of my favorite ornaments on the tree: I made this tree skirt a few years ago. It's a Thimbleberries pattern and fabric. I liked the pattern because of it's square shape. My friend Jen (no blog) left this charming package for me to find on my porch. I love Willow figurines, they seem to be able to portray relationships so well. Marta (no blog) who is the owner of the shop I quilt at, gave me a beautiful assortment of Kaufman fat quarters and a Thimbleberries book; My Best. She also took me to the movie; Four Christmases. I'm not usually one for cheesy Christmas themed movies, but this one was truly funny! Another fun Christmas time movie in my opinion is Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz - Jack Black too! My sister-in-law, Lori has been a super help to me this week!! She has had Urban over to play with her son, Scotty twice this week! This has allowed me lots of time to sew and work on my final! I'm a lucky gal to have such great friends and family!! Tomorrow is basket weaving day, I'll try to remember to take pictures and upload them from a healthier computer than mine has been!