How Lucky Can One Get?

Do you see this haul!!! It's amazing! I won Aubree's Giveaway from For The Love of Cross Stitch. Thank you so much for the generosity. I know I'll stitch Naughty or Nice and it will be a family tradition at Christmas. Faith will be a cute quick ornament. I really like the Pine Mountain design, just not sure if I'll do it on the pillow. Oh, and there's a Goode Huswife design that is so lovely. A Mirabilia mermaid. I haven't done one of these yet, what a challenge and so beautiful. A cute Just Nan that would be lovely for a baby gift. Victoria Sampler design with threads and beads and a cute felt stocking kit. It makes my heart flutter.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Aubree.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Finally A Ta-Dah!!!

This garland has been finished for days now. It really is a bit too long. I don't have a mantle, and I really didn't know where I was going to hang it. Well, it looks just fine here, but where is the color? I just got red happy, but I think Big Sister and I would love pinks and yellows and purples and blues. I am just going to have to give this one to my Mom and make a new one. I know I should put my efforts somewhere else, but these are so cute and will last a long time. I'll have to start thinking about a spring or Easter garland next. Some flowers, eggs maybe. Any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by,
Hillery

New Organizing Challenge

Come check out the new Organizing challenge on A Bowl Full of Lemons, starting on January 30th. You'll be glad you did.

ABC's of ME

A - Age: 35

B - Bed size: Queen, Fits a bit snuggly in our tiny room. Room enough for 2 three drawer night stands (Which I Love) and our wall to wall closet.

C - Chore you hate: Cleaning the tub.

D - Dog's name: Ronin

E - Essential start of the day item: Coffee, Water, Wine, Food, Hugs, Kisses

F - Favorite color: Green, then Orange, then blue and it really all depends on which shade of which

G - Gold or Silver: Gold

H - Height: 5’4 3/4"

I - Instruments you play: Piano, saxophone

J - Job: Mother / Homemaker / housewife

K - Kids:2 Beautiful Girls. Big Sister and Little Sister

L - Living arrangements: Own a small home in a small town. Great yard, lovely vegetable garden, and a new large deck. Can't wait for summer.

M - Music you love: Classic rock and classic Alternative. I am a late 80'2 early 90's Grung kind of girl.

N - Nicknames: Hill, Hills, Mom

O - Overnight hospital: Sinus Surgery and Birthing 2 babies

P - Pet Peeve: When the wipers are on and it's not raining.

Q - Quote from a movie: I can't even remember what the movie was about after I watched it. Let alone remember a quote. Oh, just to let you know, after I finish this post, I will remember a quote. I am always so late on everything.

R - Right handed or left: Right

S - Siblings: Older Sister

T - Time you wake up: When the girls wake, usually between 6-7 AM

U - Underwear: YES Hubby would like some skimpier ones though.

V - Vegetable you dislike: Cucumbers

W - Workout Style: What?

X - X-rays you've had: too many to name

Y - Yummy food you make: Everything I make is yummy.

Z - The best place to visit: Mom's house

Thanks for stopping by,
Hillery

Crochet Heart Garland

I saw this decoration and just had to do it for Valentines this year. I have two hearts made and will have to make at least 8 more I think. They are so easy and quick to whip up. Hopefully I'll have a Finish soon. Try some for yourself.

We've just had about 6 inches of snow fall overnight, so hopefully I can get outside with Big Sister today. We have been cooped up for too long. I'll tell you I definitely need some exercise. Hubby and I were just talking last night about losing 10 pound each. With 2 little ones, it's hard to get any exercise in, so I think I'll start cooking a little lighter for a start.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Playing Catch Up

My view this morning as I sit in front of the computer perusing blogs that I love, and stitching a bit on my ripple blanket. I do love how this blanket is coming along. I think I might be about a fourth of the way done. I am using Vann's Choice yarn, which is 100% Acrylic, but it is the softest acrylic I have ever used. It is just so squishy. I just love having it on my lap.

On to the 21 day Organizing Challenge!!!
I am a bit behind, and I am not going to show you any before pics, just the afters.
Here are two challenges, Under the Bathroom Sink, and Medicine Cabinet/Medicines and First Aid...

This is exactly how my bathroom sink looked anyway. I guess I've always kept that pretty neat. I just took everything out and wiped it down.




I organized this section of my bathroom when it was Linen Closet day. It is where I keep my medicines, first aid, vitamins, make up bags, and other odds and ends. This is a deep cupboard in the bathroom that could probably house a few more things. But at least it is neat.

Name Change~I Guess I Can Do That

Okay, okay, I started this new blog a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to start fresh and try to blog a little differently about my life. Well, the name really eluded me, I didn't spend too much time on choosing a name, and I wanted this blog to be about everything, not just one hobby that I have, so I chose This and That. Not too inspiring huh? I look at different blogs a lot, and I love some of the names they have. Sometimes the names are just random, and I really like that. Well, I've thought about it and came up with something I like better.

So I am changing my name. I am always so undecided.
22 for my favorite number
and Threads for the for the types of hobbies that I love. (Cross Stitch, Crochet, Sewing)

It's a little catchier. It might not be the best name out there, but I like it.
This is it though. I promise I won't change it again!!!
I don't think I can change the URL, but I'll look into it.

Thanks for stopping by,
Hillery

My Dirty Little Secret

Day 11 of the organizing challenge and today was a doozy. THE FREEZER. Well, now you all know my little secret. I do love me a Whiskey and Coke. Not much food in there. I'll definitely have to stock up. Maybe I should do a little more eating and less drinkin'. Just kidding, I'm not that much of a lush.
Here is the before.....


And the after.....



Well, I figured since it was FREEZER day, FRIDGE day would be coming up soon, so I tackled that as well. OOps, there it is again!!!! I do love me a glass of wine too!!! (see box on the right).
This always takes me about an hour to accomplish, but it always feels so good when it is done.
Before.....

And After....

Again, looks like I have to stock up.

Come and play along.

Thanks for stopping y,

Hillery

Organizing Day?????

Have to pull out that D@!#*#@mn Purple. That awful purple next to that mustard and next to that mint is just horrendous. Is that how you spell horrendous? Blanket was going along just great untill I had stared at it for a while wondering what was wrong. Just has to be that PURPLE!!! I've ripped it out and have started again with the mint. We'll see how that goes.

On to day??? of the challenge. I can't remember what day it is or do I want to figure it out for this post. It was to organize the kids toys. UGH!!! Don't the kids just overrun your life????
There are toys and pampers and bottles and blankets and bibs and more toys and .....EVERYWHERE!!!!
I attempted the toy organization. Since my girls are still young, there aren't that many toys that have a million tiny pieces ( like legos and polly pockets and cars and barbies and oh, I can't even imagine what's to come)
Here is what I have done

Oh, there's more, lots more. Stuffed Here and There. In this room and that. Under foot and over head, where oh where are there not any toys??????

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

A Wonderful Day

It was such a fun day with the kids. They keep me so busy during the day. They are now starting to really play with each other, and that is a GOOD thing. For months Big Sister wanted nothing to do with her little sister but now that she is crawling around and into everything, Big Sis wants to play with her more. As long as she's not too rough.
We played cars on their town carpet.


Big Sis just loves to dress up in her Dorothy Slippers.

And of course it wouldn't be a week without pulling out the play dough a couple of times.

ON TO THE CHALLENGE!!!!!

As much as this challenge is really motivating me, I'm really sorry that I have to innundate you with all these crappy pics of my dirty little spaces.

Oh well, if you're doing this challenge then you will understand.

Saturday's challenge was the Pantry. I have a little pantry in the cellarway, but that is pretty well organized, maybe not that clean, but organized. I decided not to even touch that. There are many more problems in that cellarway than a messy pantry, and I was not about to show you that.

Here is my food cupboard in the kitchen. It really wasn't that bad, but I cleaned it and organized it by food type.

Before......

And After......

My spice drawer before...

And after.....

I have been hooking away and have 11 ripples on the blanket so far. It is so colorful and happy. I just love it. I've been spending about an hour or so in bed at night with the TV on, the kids in bed and my yarn in my lap. It's nice to have peaceful kid free time. Pics later.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

New Year~New Me

I did it!! I did it!! I have had long hair or semi long hair all my life. I needed a change so bad. I am so glad I did. I feel like a new woman. New year, new ME

I went from this....

to this!!!!!!

I feel 10 pounds lighter.

I haven't gotten my days organizing challenge done, I'll have to do it tomorrow.

Now off to bed. I can't wait to see what my bed head will look like in the morning. Might just have to take another pic.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Ripple Throw and Day 6 of Organizing

I started this fantastic ripple throw blanket from Lucy at Attic24. It will have 12 colors, not super bright, but colorful enough. This stitches up so nicely, and it is so mindless that I can get so much done at night in front of the TV. I am using Vanna's Choice yarn. For an acrylic it is very soft. I can't wait to get back at it. More beautiful colors for my home.

Day 6 on the Challenge, it has been so motivating for me. It's hard to beleive that I am really sticking to it. I'm sorry though that you have to witness pics of my dirty little spaces. Seems quite yuck really. So today I am only going to post 2 pics of the finished products. Much nicer, I think. Today's challenge was the Dresser Drawers. Since I don't have my own dresser, just a big closet, I organized the girls' dresser. I got rid of a bunch of too small clothes and just tried to fold everything semi neatly. Little tiny clothes are hard to fold really nice.

I also got around to Under the Kitchen Sink, it really wasn't as bad as I thought under there. Smells great now.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Blocking and Still Organizing

My pillow cover is on the blocking board (Big Sisters Puzzle). Yeah!!! Almost finished. I just need to find a nice wool sweater to cut up for the backing. I am kind of missing the pink though. They didn't have any nice pinks in this yarn, just baby pink and mauve, no thanks. This has been so quick for me. Usually projects can take me months. I am not a finisher, more of a starter. I've started another crochet project too, I'll wait to post a pic when it starts to work up a bit.

On to the Challenge of today (oops, yesterday). I am behind on the organizing, I did yesterdays project today, and will have to wait for tomorrow to do today's project. I'll catch up, maybe.
The linen closet. Well, I put my sheets in the top of my bedroom closet and they are organized pretty nicely and the girls sheets are in the top of their closet in a nice basket, so I decided on the bathroom closet and shelves. OH, MY GOODNESS!!! I purged so much stuff.

I hate my bathroom closet. When we added on the the bathroom, the closet next to the tub only turned out to be about 12 inches wide and when adding the door, it has about a 10 inch opening and it goes back almost 4 feet. Talk about an abyss. It's not the driest place either. I plan on putting a container of damprid in there. Well, I've promised myself, I will not stuff things in there ever again. (Fingers Crossed)

We put a nice built in shelf behind the door which we needed desperately for extra space. I just need to keep it pretty neat because there is not hiding it. I keep all kind of things here, I just threw some things out, and reorganized. It feels so good. Tub, Sink, and Toilet clean too. I'm done for the day.

Here and the before and after pics.

Stay tuned for tomorrows challenge, might have to do two in one day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Hooking and Organizing

Here is the pillow cover that I mentioned in the last post. I just adore the colors. I need this in my life....More Color!!!! The squares look a little squished and not shaped right, but hopefully when is all said and done they will look perfectly square. This is the design from Lucy at Attic24. She has been inspiring me for more color. I just love her projects. I'm sure I'll try my hand at a few more, then maybe designing some things of my own.


Now on to The Organizing Challenge Day 3. The tupperware cabinet. Boy, this was what I needed. I got rid of over 20 pieces of tupperware. A family of 2 adults and two little ones don't need this much tupperware. Oh, this cabinet goes back for miles.

Big Sister went to the library with her Grandma, and Little Sister had her morning nap, and I tackled this.


Here is the finished product. Now, not to fill it up again!!!!! Ha, yeah right.

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to come by tomorrow to check out the next organizing project, I just hope it's not Under The Kitchen Sink.

Hillery

21 Day Organizing Challenge

Okay, I'm not really sure if this is what I meant about sharing more of my life, but here I am jumping into this Challenge and about to show you all the mess. I guess most of us have these messes, but not everyone is willing to share. I am excited about this challenge, I need some sort of order and someone to tell me to DO IT!!! Oh, my husband would tell me to do it, but for some reason I won't do what he tells me.
Girl Power!!
The first days challenge was to clean out the JUNK DRAWER.
Well, here it is before........
Oh, I am so embarrassed.




And here it is after.... Oh, I am so happy.
Found these little cardboard boxes, they fit nicely.

Yeah, ME!!!!

The second challenge was to clean the computer desk, top only. Although it wasn't too cluttered, it sure was filthy. Here is the before.....

And here it is after. I definitely need a new mouse pad. Scribbles and spills and dirt. Yuck!

I can't wait for tomorrow's challenge. I never thought I'd be saying I can't wait to get cleaning. It does feel good though.

I might have a little hooky picture to show you tonight. I am making a very colorful pillow. I am so excited about it. I can't wait for you to see it.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hillery

Crafty Finishes~2010

Here is a little collection of some of the items that I have finished in the past year. I learned to cross stitch about 20 years ago, and have really taken to it in the past couple years. It is a pretty slow craft for me, but the actual stitching is very therapeutic for me. Finishing is not always top priority, as I have at least 20 more WIP's and UFO's. I learned to crochet about 4 years ago and just this year I have really fallen in love with it. It is such satisfying craft because most projects can be finished within days or weeks, unlike cross stitch.

Hopefully I can share with you many finished products this year.

I have 2 very beautiful girls at home with me, a 2 year old and an 8 month old, so I don't get much time for crafting, but I sneak time in here and there. I'll probably be showing you little crafty items that big sister and I will make from time to time as well.

Thanks for stopping by,

and Have a Happy Day.

Out With The Old and In With The New

Hello, my name is Hillery and I live in Northern Maine, USA. I have been a blogger for over a year now and I've decided that I need a change. What better day than today for a purge and a new beginning. My first blog was dedicated mostly to my love of cross stitch. It was where I shared my projects and a few musings with others who shared this same craft interest. Cross stitch is not my only love, so I've decided on a new blog where I can share everything. My other interests include, crochet, sewing crafts, cooking and baking, some gardening and playing with my children.

I have been a tentative blogger, in that I don't really share too much about my life, well that is going to change as well. I am a stay at home Mom with 2 small girls and I feel like I need to share...share with anyone who is interested. So today I am starting a new year, a new blog, and a whole new attitude on life.

Please come on in.