Final Completed Project of 2016 and Happy New Year!

I accidentally ran across this ornament kit and immediately fell in love. I had to have the kit. It reminded me of Dad and his love of birds not to mention it seems like half of my family are birders. I have always adored cardinals. So, it was perfect.

I finished the project yesterday afternoon with much fussing and such. It has been years and years since I made one of these kind of ornaments. But, while I was working on it, I was happy and content. I thought it turned out beautiful.

I had Dan hang it up in the designated spot before I even took a picture. So, the pictures below are not the best. I actually stood up on a ladder to take the first! Ha!

It is hanging in our hallway which I have turned into a "Christmas room". Yes, I am nuts; but, I do not really care what others may think of the things I do.

The big ornaments hanging beside it were made by my mother and hung over the bar every year at her house. These were the ones that no one picked for themselves and I'm glad now because they are beautiful where they are.

And now, onto a different subject. 2016 is about to end. It wasn't too bad of a year with the exception of an extreme depression time, dealing the chronic issues and the death of an old acquaintance who I was enormously fond of. She was my sister-in-law's Aunt. In spite of all this, I feel that I managed to accomplish more than I have in the past few years. The one thing that I picked up is Bullet Journaling that I believe helped me out immensely.

I am extremely thankful for so many things.

Life.
My husband, Dan.
Abby Gail, my buddy.
Family.
Friends.
The ability and space to create.

The only resolution I have for 2017 is to try to create (make things) more.

May 2017 be good to you all!

Winning Love

Note: This is to give bloggers and their giveaways a shout out and it is my way of giving additional thanks to them.

• On October 25, 2016, I found out I won some Tonga Treats Batiks (2.5" strips) from the McCall's Quilting site. These are precut fabrics by Timeless Treasures. The prize I received was a set called Autumn (SKU: TREAT-STRIP-AUTUMN). I love how the package included a pattern called Confetti designed by Jill Boyd. I think I will use that pattern because I never really made anything using batiks before.

  

• On November 16, 2016, I was notified by Clothworks' blog that I won Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 14 magazine.
  
• On December 12, I was notified by Stitches of Love that I am one of the Day Nine winners of the Twelve Days of Christmas Countdown which was a Snow Mug Rug pattern. I usually do not enter giveaways for patterns; but, since this was a snowman and I adore snowmen, I had to enter for a chance to win. Much to my shock, I won!
  

Longaberger Baskets {Loot}

On an antiquing vacation/staycation trip we took back in December 2015, we found lots of mini Lane chests that were given out to graduating high school seniors by their local furniture store. It was like winning the lottery concerning these chests.

Well, during our trip back in October up to Waco, Denton Texas and beyond, I found many Longaberger baskets at bargain prices! It was almost unbelievable!

In case you don't know it, I love Longaberger baskets.

I had Dan make a few support shelves for three baskets in our pantry.

I also had Dan build me a small shelf over my desk to hold a few. This part is not done as I want a shelf all around the desk. And, they need to be stained. And, nailed/screwed down. Ignore the messy desk.

Macros: Spiders

The below pictures were taken on a very windy day when it (the spider) was not so shy.

I believe this is an Western Spotted OrbWeaver spider {Neoscona oaxacensis}.

I have never seen this one hereabouts until now. At least, none that hangs around long enough to become big enough for me to take macro pictures. It is a very tiny spider. The body of this one is probably slightly bigger than 1/4 inch. The web seems large for such a tiny thing and its strands are practically invisible to the naked eye. The web also seems very messy compared to the writing spider (mentioned further down this post).

Writing Spider {Argiope aurantia}
(Other common names: yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, corn spider, and McKinley spider.)

Speaking of spiders, We had a plague of ordinary garden spiders around the house last year. However, we only had three this year and only one of them successfully mated and formed egg sacs (three in all). She lived practically under our patio roof and in harmony with a huge wasp nest that hung off a wire. The picture above is after she had laid her second egg sac. I figured it'd be her last. Nope. She wandered off and laid a third one several days later. She left her third egg sac after about three days and died several days later without spinning a new final web.

Banded Garden Spider {Argiope trifasciata}

I was missing the banded garden spiders this year. While out and about with Abby Gail, I discovered one on the other side of the garage. It pleased me to see the critter. I was kind of mean to the spider as I kept shaking her web in order to wake her up to get some decent pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving! (USA Holiday)

I will be taking a break for just over a week. If I get back to blogging when the holiday is over, great! If not, that is okay too. I am currently experiencing problems uploading pictures to my photo hosting site which makes blogging extremely frustrating. I hope the site has resolved the issues when I get back.

For those of you who celebrate this holiday, I hope you will have a fabulous day!