Avery's Christmas Stocking

 I brought everything to make a Christmas stocking for Avery 

that matched the ones I made for his mom and dad. 

 It is a pattern by Fiber Works, but not the fox.  

I wanted his stocking to have a fox on it.  

His red hair always make me think of foxes.  

So I did what I always do and took to the internet. 

 I LOVE using coloring pages to find unique things to applique.  

That's how I found the fox I wanted to use. 
 I did have to enlarge him though to make him fit the stocking as these are really BIG.

You can see in this photo the progress.  

I cut out the stocking front and back.  

I used Steam-a-Seam Lite 2 to fuse the fox, name and snowflake down. 

 I free motion stitched around all of it using black thread, except for the snowflake, I used white.  

Then I layered it with batting and quilted 1" squares using monofiliment thread. 

I used this cute Christmas mouse fabric for the lining.

This is how it finished.

I love how it turned out!

Fun fact, the half of the snowflake on Avery's stocking

 is the other half of the one I used on him mama's stocking!

It was Avery approved!

Here are all three hanging together.

I was so happy that I was able to get this done in the camper!

I am really so pleased with how they have all turned out.

I am thinking this may be my last complete project for 2020.

I am going to a friend's house for the weekend and we will be sewing up a storm!

Maybe I will get that first baby quilt top finished!!!

~XOP~

Christmas Bear Quilt

 I have another finish for 2020.  
I was talking with a couple of my friends and we have been tossing around making quilts "together" from our respective homes.  

One of them suggested the Christmas bear quilt. 

 It was a kit from Moda.  

We all had it so I decided to work on it. 

 I got the top made while I was in Franklin, NC earlier this fall and shipped it home with a back and some batting to my LAQ. 

She quilted snowflakes all over it and I added the tassel to his hat. 

 LOVE IT!  

I could not decide who to gift this one to though. 

 I had an idea but hubby nixed it, so I figured out another plan that I think is a better one anyway. 

 We have the sweetest neighbors. 

 When we travel they take in our mail and watch our house and even mow the lawn.  

They have a 6 year old daughter that just LOVES us. 

 She asks her mom all the time when we are coming home. 

 So I gifted the quilt to Zoe and her family. 

Now she can have a big bear hug from us when we are away!

First time making a tassle.

I used one of my pre-printed labels and sewed it on with white thread. 

 I think I am going to have to order more labels for 2021.  

You can see in this photo that I used the same stitch to sew down the binding. 

 I like how this turned out and it certainly made sewing the binding on go MUCH more quickly.

I also finished a fleece dog bed/pillow. 

 Its filled up with nothing but unusable scraps and left over batting!

I usually hand these off to my son for his dog. 

Finn has 2 already but he really wanted to keep this one.

Too bad for him, my son has claimed it already!

I brought 3 projects with me to work on while I am here in NC for January.  
One is already cut out but I need to cut the other 2 out. 

More on those later.

What are your last finishes for 2020?

~XOP~

Merry Christmas

 We woke up on Christmas morning in our camper with the cats and just a few gifts.

This year we decided not to exchange and only buy gifts for our kids.

Thadd got up and opened his gifts.  

Some Ibuprophen and an electric blanket!  

Cole was checking out the tree. 

 I did get that puzzle for my hubby (a LONG time ago).

Seemed the right time to gift it.

I think Cole enjoyed the blanket as much or more than my son!

Although the kids and baby spent the day as a family they did send photos of baby Avery to us.

This one was probably my favorite!

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends!  

I hope your day was amazing in this strange year.
While our Christmas may not have been our traditional one it was still a good one.  
We were with each other and our son, 

we video chatted and opened gifts with one of our daughters and her hubby and

 video chatted with our other daughter who we will seeing sometime soon to celebrate Christmas with.

Maybe it took a pandemic for everyone to remember what is important in life. 

 God, family and friends.

May you all have a blessed and healthy new year!

~XOP~

Merry Christmas Eve

 We had an unusual Christmas this year.  
We drove back to NC (after being in MI for 5 days) with our son and both cats.  
This was what they were doing when Chris went out to get gas, LOL.

We stopped at the New River Gorge to show our son the bridge.

There was an erie fog on the river.

The bridge is spectacular and since it was Christmas eve no one was there but us!

I decided we needed a "family" photo while we were there.

We arrived at the camper quite late, unpacked and went to bed.

Christmas is tomorrow!

~XOP~

Cole Is In Observation!

 I'm just popping on here to let you all know the good news about Cole. 

 His 3 month blood work came back NORMAL! 

 This allowed us to go into the observation phase for the next 84 days! 

 Keep your fingers crossed that all stays stable for him.

  No more shots! 

 We are BOTH happy about that. 

 I want to take a minute to thank each and every one of you that prayed, sent good thoughts and donated to his becoming a healthy boy again.  

We could not have done it without you.

This is where we began.

This pic is so typical of what he was like. 

 He just slept and would not eat.  

He was skin and bones.

His fur was rough. 

 I believe he was dying.

This is where we are now.

2 kg heavier, eating all the time, and just being a general cathole.

(Like all cats)

GS has been a true miracle for Cole and most cats with FIP.

Right now it is only available on the secondary market.

If you have a cat with FIP or know anyone that has a cat wth FIP, and you want more information on treatment, please email me (mamaspark@gmail.com)

As you all know, treatment is not cheap,($90/vial) but the cure is 80-90% effective!

FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) is caused by a mutated kitty Corona virus.

Most cats are exposed to this virus with no ill effects.

If  your cat has this illness it is 100% fatal without treatment.

This is what 84 days of shots looks like.

I saved all the syringes, needles and vials.

That syringe on the top was his last shot.

I can't express to you all how thankful I am that the treatment seems to have worked for Cole.

We are not totally out of the woods yet.

We need 3 more months of good blood work.

Hubby will be taking Cole in for his first blood work in MI.

Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate our way.

I will be babysitting this little cutie for the month of January.

I hope to be able to post again soon.

We are heading back to MI either Friday or Saturday (winter storm dependent).

~XOP~

 

Finally A Layout

 I finally got to a place that I could lay out the blocks that I made

using the 2 jelly rolls of All Hallows Eve.  

I was over at my daughter's house to help with Avery this morning. 

 They had a doctor appointment and she left me a list of things to do. 

 I got the house vacuumed, and swept the back room.  

I also made some lactation treats for her.

If you are interested, the recipe can be found here.

,

Then it was time to lay out the blocks.  I laid down a sheet and then started to play.  

This is the final (queen size) layout.

I think it is fairly balanced although now I see an area I would change, of course, LOL.

I am just going to sew it up now.

I will have borders for it once it is all sewn up.

Trying to get a little bit done before we head home for the holidays.

~XOP~

Cole Update

 Since we just passed Thanksgiving I have been thinking of things I am thankful for. 

 Of course family and friends are on the top of this list.  

Cats count as family, right? 

 So today I am thankful for my cats. 

 I am especially thankful to everyone that helped me to save Cole's life.  

We have 16 days of shots to go. 

We took Cole to the vet for his blood work last Friday and it is perfect!  

His immune system is making mature immune cells and his heart murmur is stable for the moment. 

 He gained almost a whole pound in the last month too. 

 He will move into observation of 84 more days and monthly blood work on December 13 if his blood work is just as good on the 18th of December when we go back to the vet.  

We have reached our fundraising goals but I am leaving the fundraiser open. 

 I will close it once we are sure he hasn't relapsed (God willing that doesn't happen).

 If anyone would like to contribute to the ongoing vet bills that would be appreciated as well.  

I thought I would share a few of my recent happy photos of the boys for you to enjoy.  

Thanks again and please keep us in your prayers!

I was trying to press some blocks and he was helping me.  Look at his fangs, LOL.

I packaged up the Christmas bear top and backing. 

 I sent it off to my quilter to work on so perhaps I can get it back when I return home. 

 I'm a little nervous that I will have at least 3 quilts to bind for Christmas presents.  

YIKES!

Probably one of my favorite photos is of Cole meeting Avery at the camper.

We were trying to play Scrabble recently and the boys were "helping".

The boys were having a lazy day recently too.

They love this quilt!

Oh and I am very thankful for this guy.

What did you celebrate being thankful for?

~XOP~

The Haw River and Graffiti Bridge

 Recently we went for a walk along the Haw river in NC.  

I thought the scenery was so beautiful!

There were several large rock structures in the river and this one reminded me of a gator.

This on reminded me of a frog

I love that you can see the falls in the background of this photo.

We found this amazing graffiti bridge in Bynum. 

 I thought I was pretty clever making Chris stand near this one.

I didn't get a photo but the entire bridge was COVERED in graffiti. 

 One over the top of the other. 

 Except this one was left untouched. 

 I thought that was really cool.  

It felt like the artists respected it enough to leave it alone. 

 At least that's how I chose to see it.

The rest of the pics were just art that I liked.

It was an interesting place to visit. 

 The beauty of the river and the area contrasting with the graffiti, art on the bridge.  

~XOP~