Happy New Year!!!

Photo by the Tofu King--Lighting sparklers at 8:43pm ("midnight" for the kiddos)!!

Merry Christmas...

 A few favorite holiday images from the past couple of days...

My daughter's whimsical Santa drawing.

Decorating cookies with friends!

The fruits of their labor!!

A Christmas day hike with friends.

A "troll" birthday party...

For Charlie Ann's 8th birthday party, she requested a "Troll Party" (inspired by a book of Swedish folk tales we checked out from the library a few weeks ago!).  After quite a bit of thought, we decided to focus on the crystals and beads and rocks and gems that seemed central to the trolls' aesthetic.  Once I had that to zero in on, I got my hands on some crystals and beads for the kids to make their own troll necklaces.  We decided to make crystal cupcakes and found some really cool rock chocolates for the goodie bags.  We also made up some troll related games.  My favorite was "Pin the Troll in the Cave" (we made this together... such a fun coloring project)!  At the end of the party, the kids were playing outside in the yard when the daddy troll made a brief appearance... he was just scary enough to give them a thrill to take home along with their goodie bags of gems, rock candy, and crystal necklaces.  It was a fun theme to work with and most importantly, our 8 year old was delighted with the party!!

Gingerbread...

A brave and patient friend invited us over to decorate gingerbread houses... it was candy fueled chaos!  It was actually very fun and by the end of the day, two mamas and five kids ended up with four extremely cheerful gingerbread houses to add to the holiday decor...

Well I had no idea!!

So back when I spotted this little Featherweight 221J at the thrift shop and brought it home for $11, I knew it was one of those "thrift store moments" that I would always remember.  However, I really had NO idea what I had found until I took my sweet little machine to have a tune up the other day.  The lady behind the counter audibly gasped and instantly began gushing over it.  Another woman came over and they started talking about how much they love their Featherweights... and noted that they had never seen one this color.  When I told them what I paid for it, their jaws dropped.  When I explained that I was teaching my almost 8 year old daughter how to sew on it, their eyes sparkled!  I was walking on clouds when I left the shop.  When I picked it up the next day, it happened again... only this time four customers joined in on the gushing.  I was practically blushing by the time I left! 

As soon as I got home, my daughter and I started working on a little project together.  It was so nice to be stitching again with my girl and with this old (adorable) machine (who I loved even before I realized just how "valuable" she was!!).  This little Featherweight does sew like an absolute dream... and most importantly, my girl loves her dearly.  And that is absolutely priceless!!