Ruthie's Place

Will update soon

2011-09-17T03:13:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on over the past few months, I had a short holiday at the beginning of July (after the excitement with the wedding and all that had to be done, like making the bride's dress etc.,) and then it was a rush to get items ready for the exhibition at the store where I take classes and make items as models for the students. DH has been in the hospital for the past 10 days so it's not easy at the moment.
With our New Year coming up at the end of the month I hope to have some time to upload some new photos of the items I've made and also get caught up with everything else.
Warm hugs,
Ruthie

The Wedding

2011-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

The big day arrived 31.3.2011 and yes, we all survived - LOL.

Left to right: Eli, Liat, Hannah (Eli's mum) Me and Shalom.

Liat and Me.

More will be added later when I get them sorted.

Yael

2010-10-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have a gorgeous new grand daughter. Hagit and Orren became the proud parents of Yael yesterday morning. She weighed in at 3 and half kilos and is such a little cutee.

Also Liat won a gold medal in her swimming contest this morning. We told Eli that he should give up competing and only coach Liat for now - LOL.

Jewelry Exhibit

2010-09-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here are photos of the necklaces that were included in the exhibit last month at the shop where I take the courses. The other items from the exhibit will follow as well as all my other finished works.

47 years today!!!!!

2010-07-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

Who would have guessed- LOL. We've been married 47 years today. This is the bouquet Inbar, Eyal and the grandkids sent us. Sorry the photo isn't a better one, the batteries died so have put them to recharge and hopefully later will have a better photo.

More Wedding Photos

2010-05-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some more wedding photos. Orren and Hagit.

from left to right: Lielle, Sahar, Hagit, Orren, Yotam and Yam.

Orren and Hagit, (Orren swears he really jumped this high)

All 4 kids Sahar, Yotam, Yam and Lielle.

Hagit and me.

Hagit.

Sahar and me.

Orren and me.

Hagit and me.

Hagit and her mum.

The "old" couple and the "new" couple.

Orren with Shalom.

Orren with me.

All our kids: left to right: Inbar and Eyal, Orren and Hagit, Liat and Eli.

The "new" family: Yam and Lielle, Hagit and Orren, Yotam and Sahar.

Yam and Yotam tearing up the dance floor.

Yam, Hagit, Inbar, Amiram (Inbar's dad), Tomer, Topaz, Orren, Yotam and Eyal.

Eyal, Orren and Liat.

Standing: Eyal, Hagit, Eli, Liat, and Orren, sitting me and Shalom.

Standing: Tikva, Rachel, Orren, Hagit and me, sitting: Eyal, Yaffa, Shelli, Alex.

Eli, Liat, Orren, Hagit, Hayim and Leah.

Topaz.

Tomer.

Congratulations to Orren and Hagit

2010-04-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Orren our second son married Hagit on Thursday 15th of April. Here are a very few of the wedding photos. These are ones that Liat took, we are waiting for the photographer's photos.
First photo is the wedding ceremony under the Houpah.

A close up of Orren and Hagit.

Another close up of the bride and groom.

The ring ceremony.

Orren

Eyal

Shalom

Liat

Left to right:
Yotam (Orren's youngest son)
Topaz (Eyal's oldest daughter)
Sahar (Orren's oldest son).

Tomer (Eyal's youngest daughter) and Yotam.

Yotam with me.

Shalom and Yotam under the Houpah.

Me.

Topaz, Sahar and Shelly (my brother Alex's youngest daughter).

This photo Shalom calls (him and the "virgins"). This is Shalom with his sisters.
From left to right: Tikva, Rachel, Shalom and Leah (Layka).

Stickpins

2010-02-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

After Christmas it came time to open my packet of Birthday Stickpins. On CAPC it is custom to swap stickpins for our birthday. We have to make a stickpin for each member that signs up for the swap. In exchange for return postage to me Anett requested this time a biscornu pincushion in purple. Here is the pincushion I made for her for this years swap. Last year it was a Santa pincushion, also in purple.

Anett made sure that the package from last years swap reached me in time for the 28th of December and here they are. Aren't they just beautiful!

More updates tomorrow, and for now,

Time for an Update

2010-02-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

I've been told by several people that it is time for an update so here we go. Now that the Secret Santa swap on my group has finished I can now show my gorgeous gifts. We had decided that it would be a secret swap, they would know who they were sending to but not from whom they would receive. While I was trying to organize the partners I had several requests to swap with me. There was a total of 8 swappers so I thought OK I can do this, so they all got to send to me and I sent to everyone. There was a list of choices that they could request and I tried to accommodate each and every choice.

The packages started to arrive and I put them aside to open on Christmas morning, my fingers itched to open them each time I looked at the packages but my will was strong and I held out.

Here below you can see all the wonderful gifts I received. This first photo is from Linda.

The next photo is from Margaret.

Next is from Sherry.

Next one is from Sherri.

This one is from Sandee.

Next one comes from Pepper.

next one comes from Miet

And so these are all my wonderful Christmas gifts from my very precious friends. Thank you my friends you really made my Christmas special.

Quick swap

2009-11-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been such a long time since I last wrote, but then again thinks have been hectic so it's understandable.
I caught the flu just over two weeks ago and don't seem to be able to bounce back quite as quickly as usual. Any slight exertion leaves me out of breath so I hope that will cease as time goes on.
Anyway we had a quick swap with the help of Vicki (Tozz) and Jenny (Elefantz). My partner this time was Alison from Australia and here is a photo of the wonderful items I received from Alison.

Thank you Alison and thank you also for allowing me to use your photo here.

Fall Swap

2009-10-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is my gorgeous fall swap from Miet, I absolutely love it and I think it's good enough to eat.

This is the second part of the fall swap, a beautiful autumn fabric and two kits for making necklaces and earring. Aren't they so pretty.

I am going to have so much fun making up these kits, thank you so much Miet.

I still have my summer swap to photograph so that will be put up next time.
Till then,

New Photos

2009-10-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

This first photo is of a pincushion I received a couple of weeks ago from Kay and I forgot to take a photo of it.

This is my return swap from Merle in Australia, from the CAPC swap. Isn't that pincushion just a cutie.

This is my second pagoda pincushion, top side up.

this photo is bottom side up.

Here is a photo of the two pieces before sewing them together.

That's all for the moment, I have another pagoda pattern I want to try - LOL.

Goodies to show

2009-10-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

The first photo is the swap I received from Carla. Look at this amazing pincushion and bag. I flipped the corner of the bag so you can see the fabric on the other side. Isn't it gorgeous.

Next photo is the Hug Swap items I sent to Maria in Holland.

and here is my return swap from Maria.

I borrowed Maria's photos for this because they turned out a lot better than mine - LOL. I hope Maria doesn't mind.

Next up is the swap for Miet. I made her one of the "famous" pagoda pincushions. Here is the pagoda on it's own. Here is the full swap sent to Miet.

Because I liked the style of the pagoda, I thought I would try and make one for myself as an early Christmas present. These are the two pieces before joining them together.

In the photo they look a bit orange but they are in fact red.

More photos later when I get my batteries charged.

Last day of September

2009-09-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Actually according to our time zone we are already October 1st. In September I had quite a few swaps and we also celebrated our New Year.
My first swap was via CAPC, we had to send either a thumb or finger pincushion and one more item if we chose. My partner for this swap was Merle from Australia, I chose to make for her both a thumb and a finger pincushion as you can see from the photo below.

Merle also sent a photo when she received her swap, doesn't it look nice on her hand and see how her mail polish matches the color of the small flowers of the pincushions.

I made a felt cake for Eyal and Inbar, I haven't been able to give it to them yet so I hope they like it.

Carla has received her swap from me so I can now post a photo of it.

I have two more photos to add but because the recipients have not received them yet I will not post them at the moment.

Goodies

2009-09-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the hug swap hosted by Jenny from Elefantz and Vicki from Tozz's blogs. The good news is that my partner for this swap is Maria from Holland. Yippee!!!!!

My other good news is that I received my Summer Pincushion swap from Jill in Canada. The package took almost 3 months on to arrive. Here is what Jill sent me, a beautiful pincushion in very pretty colors, a small pincushion filled with emery and a packet flat head pins. Jill just celebrated her 17th wedding anniversary, congratulations Jill.

These are a few little goodies I sent to my dear friend Susan in Texas. Susan has been having a very hard time health-wise this past month so hopefully they were able to cheer her up. Take care Susan my friend and keep well.

This next photo is of the summer swap I sent to Sherri in place of Mikki who was sick. A pair of small baby size flip flops and a scissor fob.

This was the swap I sent to Miet, a large flip flop and some other goodies, sadly Miet's package to me has gotten lost in the mail.

You will remember that I sent a swap to Simona in Croatia, here is a photo of Simona, doesn't she look nice. Hello Simona.

Here are a couple more pincushions I have been working on.

I love the colored one, it is all one thread that changes color as it goes along, wish I could get some more of it.

When Mikki was better we asked that she send her swap to me instead of to Sherri so here is my ice cream cone and thimble. Thank you Mikki.

I'm also making a felt cake for Eyal and Inbar, I had to get a few more small items to make it special so when I've finished it I'll take some photos. Till next time,

Family Barbeque

2009-08-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

It was decided by all the family that is was time for a barbeque, we hadn't had one last summer because Shalom had been so ill. It was all arranged for Friday evening so everyone got their "gear" together and off we went to the site that had been chosen in Herzilya. There were special tables and a place for people to heat up the barbeques and a huge park where the kids could play. Liat took lots of photos and the first one of Kaya is especially for my dear friend Susan.

Next is our oldest grand daughter Topaz, look how sunburned she is. Topaz is Eyal and Inbar's eldest daughter.

Eyal, our oldest son.

Inbar, Eyal's wife.

Tomer, our youngest grand daughter and sister to Topaz and Noam who sadly did not come for the barbeque.

Orren and his lady friend Hagit, they live close to the park where we had our barbeque.

Yotam, Orren's younger son and our youngest grand son.

Li-ell is Hagit's daughter, Liat didn't manage to get a photo of Yam, Hagit's son who is a little bit older than Yotam.

Sahar, Orren's older son. He and Topaz are the same age.

This is Aviv, my bother Alex's son.

Shelly is Alex's younger daughter.

Alex, my youngest brother.

While the men did the cooking, we ladies gossiped a lot - LOL.
Shalom is looking a lot better now that he has finished with the chemo, he is also getting his appetite back. We will have to have new tests done again in October and if all is well then he can have the next set of tests done next October.

As for me, no new projects for the moment. Doing things around the house for now.

46 years today

2009-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today is our anniversary, we've been married for 46 years. Eyal and Inbar sent us this gorgeous
bouquet of flowers. Thank you Eyal, Inbar, Noam, Topaz and Tomer.

Surprise

2009-07-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend Susan sent me a surprise package today, I'll upload a photo later. She sent me an apron with my name embroidered on it. It's gorgeous and I love it. Susan also sent a dog collar and leash for Kaya, Liat's dog, she is going to love this.
I joined a pincushion swap back in May hosted by Sandra from Holland, this was a swap between bloggers only. I sent a package to Simona from Croatia but I still haven't received my swap from - ??? Yes, that's right, the person who sends to us is a secret so I don't know who is or was supposed to send to me. Photos will be posted later.
Susan's package sure put a huge smile on my face. Thank you Susan.
Warm hugs,
Ruthie

New Biscornu

2009-06-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is the large biscornu I have been working on this past week. It is called a 15 sided biscornu because it is made up of 15 squares. Each square is 2" in size, there are 5 red squares, 5 pink squares and then 5 squares with red and pink beads. It took me about 3 days to sew all the little squares into place, after I had made the 15 squares. The finished item was definitely worth it but I don't think I will be making any more of this type of biscornu any time soon - LOL.

The photo below is of Shalom with his 3 sisters taken on our day out a couple of weeks ago. We had a really fun day with lots of jokes that had us all in stitches.

Biscornus

2009-05-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

My prize from Susanne's giveaway week has arrived (see last post for photo). The cross stitch book mark kit is gorgeous, I'm going to enjoy making it. There is also a pincushion block done in redwork and a very pretty fat quarter. Thank you Susanne it was definitely a very fun week and I'm hoping you are now managing to get some well needed rest.
With all the links for Biscornus that Miet and Liz gave us throughout the week I thought I might try my hand at making one and here is the first one. It's about 2" across and even if I say so myself I Love it - LOL.

Since I loved the first one so much I thought I would try a second one. This one is about 2 and a 1/2" across and I definitely plan on making some more. I guess you could say I got hooked.

Floss

2009-05-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wowee!!!!! My floss package arrived yesterday from Mariah, The photo does not do them justice, the colors are amazingly beautiful. Thank you so much Mariah. I am going to enjoy using them.

I also won a prize from Susanne's giveaways. The following photo is what I won.

New Stuff

2009-05-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

On CAPC group they are having giveaways during the whole month for their 4th year anniversary. We have to guess the answers to questions and the winner receives a prize. For the first few days of the giveaway Anett was in charge and I didn't manage to win anything. For the week starting on the 3rd it was Mariah's giveaway week and I managed to win these beautiful Silk embroidery flosses. I can't wait for my package to arrive so I can pet all those beautiful colors - LOL.

Second week (this week) should have been Susanne's giveaway week, sadly Susanne was taken ill and Luann has taken over for this week. From here I wish Susanne a speedy and healthy recovery.

Susanne gave us a link on how to make lace flowers, the following photo is of the flowers I have made so far.

Miet also gave us a link on how to make a felt ring, the following two photos are of the ring I made which can also be used as a pincushion.

Top photo is a side view, bottom one is the front view and is true to color.

I am also on a quilt list, The Quilt Pocket, and yesterday I had a surprise in my mailbox. I received a gorgeous fat quarter, a book mark and a lovely little heart pin. It really made my day,

thank you Sharen.

New Photos

2009-05-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Since I received my beautiful egg cup pincushion from Linda Groves (post from April 4th) I have been searching all over our town for egg cups. It seems to be a thing of the past, or what they have are these plastic ones with all kinds of different colors at the edges and no use at all for making pincushions - LOL. I remembered I should have one that I found when we cleared out my mum's house after we put her in a home (she has Alzheimers).
A couple of weeks ago my washing machine died on me and I had to clear out the balcony to take the old one out and get the new one in. It took us about a week because we had to wait for our second son Orren to come and take down the dryer (which was on top of old washing machine) before we could move the old one out. Anyway while going through all the stuff that was in the balcony I found what's in the following photo, not just one egg cup but 4 of them!!!!!

I am definitely going to have fun with these.
While fiddling around in the evenings waiting for my favorite programs to come on I took out a couple of bottle caps and started playing. These are the results.

The photo above is a plastic jar lid and the photo below is a coffee jar lid.

This next one just came about - LOL. I had some felt left over and started to make the base. One bottle cap was not enough so I added another bottle cap, then came the top, and then of course I just had to decorate the mushroom.

I promised earlier a photo of our second son Orren and his kids, this is the only one I could find for now. Here he is with his ex-wife Orrit, and their two sons Sahar and Yotam. The photo was taken when Sahar had his Bar-Mitzva two years ago.

That's it for this time.

Passover photos

2009-04-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

These are the photos I promised from our Passover meal. First course is Gefilte Fish (minced fish made like meat balls) eaten cold with salad and Hazeret (very hot horse radish colored red).

Inbar (Eyal's wife) and their youngest daughter Tomer enjoying their Gefilte Fish.

Our daughter Liat enjoying her Gefilte Fish and watching to see who gets extras - LOL.

Next course is clear Chicken soup with Cnaidelah (little dumplings made with Matza meal).

These are the Cnaidelah cut up for eating - LOL.

Eyal(our oldest son) dishing up the soup, with Liat peeking again to see how many cnaidelah everyone is getting.

One of the salads we had with our meat balls.

Meat balls and potatoes.

Our oldest grand daughter Topaz (Eyal and Inbar's oldest daughter).

Liat and Topaz together.

Eyal.

Noam (our oldest grandson - Eyal and Inbar's son) with me.

Shalom my DH.

and another one of Shalom.

another one of Liat and Topaz.

Eyal did all the cooking, Noam and Topaz peeled the veggies, Tomer helped with the Cnaidelah mixing.

Inbar makes the cakes and yes I forgot to photo the scrumptous cheesecake we had with our coffee after the meal. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening.

Our other son (Orren) was with his girlfriend's side of the family this year so I'll look for some photos of them to add later.

Passover

2009-04-07T14:03:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow evening is the start of our Passover holiday. This year, because of Shalom's condition, instead of having it at our house as usual we are instead having it at Eyal and Inbar's house. I will try and take some photos during the meal. Should be a fun evening.
Below are the thimbles I have been working on for the past two days. I had a bit of trouble with getting the flowers to stay stuck on this time, but they all turned out OK in the end.

Till the next time,

Packages sent

2009-04-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Sent the pincushions for the 2 swaps (one goes to Linda and the other goes to Bonita) and one for a suprise birthday gift today. I also sent a thimble to Ann who said she collects them and doesn't have one for Israel.

While at the post office I also picked up a package from Linda, here is the gorgeous pincushion she sent me. I love it, thank you Linda.

I started painting some more thimbles yesterday, this time I put too much water in with the paint so they will all need a third coat before I add the little flower pictures and the varnish.

Elin has received her package

2009-03-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Elin from Iceland has received her package from me. I was beggining to get worried because usually the post to Europe is faster that the post to the US. Here is the lambkin I made for Elin, together with a stickpin, thimble and fabric.

Now I need to get the other two pincushions made for the swap on the other list. I'll post photos of those when they are ready.

Chris received her swap package

2009-03-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Chris from CAPC received her swap package from me so now I can post the photo of the little lambkin I made for her. I sent the lambkin, stickpin, pincushion and fabric.
That leaves just one more swap package to be received and I have to make two new pincushions for another swap.

Another package has arrived

2009-03-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

I received another one of my swap packages, this one is from Chris on CAPC. Chris made a beautiful baby block pincushion with embroidery on all sides, fat quarters folded in the shape of a star, a little baggie with trims and a pretty picture on fabric of a stork bringing a baby. Chris has a new grandbaby so this swap was all baby themed.
Here you can see one side of the pincushion with the lovely pins Chris added.

and here is the other side of the pincushion where Chris added a special embroidery. Thank you Chris.

Sherri has received her swap package from me so now I can show what I made for her. Our theme was Spring and so I made a lambkin.

I needed to make new thimbles to add in to my swap packages. This time I used a set of ladybirds instead of flowers and I painted "ISRAEL" in blue instead of the usual black. I've added a before thimble in plain wood so you can see the difference.

Till next time,

One Pincushion Has Landed

2009-03-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
One pincushion has reached it's new home. That was very fast, only 5 days from here to Texas. This is the pincushion I made for a very dear friend's belated Birthday gift. Blue is Susan's favorite color so of course the pincushion is blue.

On Thursday we took someone to clean Liat's house so she could move back in. She hadn't been home in 4 months so there was a lot to clean. Liat moved back to her house on Friday with the help of my oldest son Eyal, my grand daughter Topaz and myself.
She is still finding it very hard to take her dog Kaya out for walkies, Kaya was totally spoiled while staying with us - LOL.
At the moment I am painting some more thimbles so I can add them to the swaps etc., that I send out. I'll upload some photos when they are ready.

Spring Swap

2009-03-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

Good day,
On two groups we have been doing a Spring pincushion swap. One is my group, Pincushion Crazy where I am swapping with Sherri from the US and Elin from Iceland. On the other group (CAPC) I am swapping with Chris in the US. Today I sent out all those swaps plus a surprise package for someone (can't tell who she is till she gets her package). I also can't show photos of any of the swap items I made till everyone gets their package, but I can show you the lovely swap package I received from Sherri.

She made the cutest pincushion in purple, I just love it. My favorite color since I was a child is red but for the past couple of years I have been hooked on purple and Sherri sent me this pincushion in purple, it's so pretty. Sherri also sent a gorgeous stickpin, pieces all cut plus the templates to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden pincushion, amazing, and a lovely card which you can see in the background. Thank you Sherri, I love it all.

My New Fairy

2009-03-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

I found this fairy via Judy's blog http://cjstitchingandblooms.blogspot.com/ isn't she cute.

First Week of March

2009-03-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

Starting Sunday March 1st Liat went back to work. She's still on crutches but in order to keep her job she had to go back. Hi-Tec companies are having a hard time of it at the moment and everyone at the company Liat works for had to take wage reductions.
Shalom had a birthday on the 4th, he is 68 now. As my gift to him he chose some new shoes, I almost fainted at the price of them (400 shekels) but that's what he wanted so I bought them for him.

My Christmas swap from Kathie arrived on Wednesday and I must say it was well worth the wait. There was a snowman pinkeep with an ice pack on his head - LOL, so he could stay cool on his way to me. A very cute sewing kit, 3 fat quarters and a lovely card. Thank you Kathie.

Today I got a lovely package from Mariah. The bed springs are here, yeah! Mariah also included in the package a beautiful heart pincushion. Thank you so much Mariah.

Tomorrow we are going to pop over to Liat's house to get some change of clothes for her for work.
I'm still working on the pincushions for the swaps, I hope to have them finished tomorrow.
Till next time,
Warm hugs,

Happenings

2009-02-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

A lot has been happening here this past week, I was hurrying from the post office and I fell. I had to be taken to the ER by ambulance. I was pretty banged up and I'm still hurting after a week.
Anyway I had some good news, both Miet and Susan received the other part of their Christmas boxes as you can see from the photo below, courtesy of Susan. The only difference in the packages was the color of the humbag bag.

We had a new swap on the CAPC group and this is what I sent to my swap partner Marian in Australia.

This gorgeous mouse angel is what I received in return, together with some fabric, a postcard of where Marian lives and all wrapped up in the cutest baggy.

This is the back view of the mouse angel where you can see the scissors Marian added. Thank you Marian for a wonderful swap package.

Now I'm working on some new pincushions, one is for a birthday and two will be for swaps.

Election Day

2009-02-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Today is Election Day here, we are hoping that our candidate will win. It started to rain as soon as we left the house to go vote so that meant that Liat couldn't get out of the car as her crutches slip on the wet ground. When we arrived at the polling station we also found that instead of our usual classroom (we vote in the primary school near us) that they moved our station to a new place (the size of a closet) and with steps up to it. That also meant that even if we had waited for the rain to stop Liat still couldn't vote because of the steps.

My friend Susan gave me permission to post a photo of Abby, her new puppy. Take a look, isn't she the cutest puppy you've ever seen.

Here is Susan with Abby.

Till next time,

February already

2009-02-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Can't believe it's February already. January just whipped by and I didn't manage to get all my photos uploaded. Oh well there's always tomorrow. I sent off the rest of the Christmas packages for Miet and Susan. I didn't take photos so as not to spoil their surprise. I hope they like what I sent.

My friend Susan has a new puppy, Abby is her name and she is just the cutest little doggie. Susan took a photo of her in a cup - LOL, I'll ask her if I can post the picture here too.

We had a "Swap 3 items" on the CAPC group for January, Sahar helped me package up my swap for Marian in Australia but left out half of the package - LOL. I sent off the other part on Friday so I hope it all gets there soon. As soon as I receive my package from Marian I will upload a photo.

Liat decided that she wanted to try and drive her own car today. I've been her driver for the past two months. She did very well and is now thinking about going in to work for a couple of days next week to see how she manages that. We have to go back to the specialist on the 23rd so we'll see if there is any improvement with her ankle and if he'll let her put her whole foot down and not just the toes.
till next time,

December 2008

2009-01-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

Hi,

These were the last of the swap items I had to send for 2008. First I had to send to our swap mom Anett on the CAPC group, a packet of stickpins for each persons birthday according to a list we were given. Anett and I agreed that I would make her a pincushion in return for her sending me the stickpins for my birthay in 2009 because I couldn't send a stamped envelope from here. Anett told me that her favorite color is purple so I made her a santa pincushion and stickpin in purple as my gift to her. Her birthday stickpin is inside the package with the other stickpins and she can't see it till her birthday in August.

I also had to send a christmas pincushion to Janie so what better than another santa but this time in red, together with a red stickpin and some trims.

Now I had to concentrate on the packages for my friends Susan and Miet. I knew Susan's favorite color is blue so a blue santa, stickpin and trims. The other goodies I had to leave out because we didn't have large enough envelopes at the time and we couldn't get any for another couple of weeks. I decided to send just part of the package as the photo shows.

Miet's favorite color is autumn colors so I made her santa in a dark wine red, with the same additional items as for Susan and sent off my packages as quickly as they would go. The other part of their packages they will be getting soon.

First to arrive was a huge box from my dear friend Susan filled with the goodies you can see in the photo, a beautiful decorated Christmas tree and two ball ornaments, two soft fluffy towels, an angel ornament, thread, fabrics, trims and some beautiful pieces of felt with "diamonds" on them, and a thimble from Texas. Thank you Susan I love everything!

Next to arrive was another large box, this time from another dear friend, Miet. A gorgeous santa and Christmas tree pincushions, some cute little felt trims and two boxes of wonderful Belgian chocolates. For anyone who has not tasted Belgian chocolates the box in the photo is to die for! The other box is hidden for now - LOL. Thank you Miet!

November 2008

2009-01-20T04:13:00.001-08:00

Hi again,

Shalom was home from the hospital, resting, mainly laying down because he couldn't sit. He actually still can't sit but that's for a later post.

I made this pincushion for Kathie for December, decided to get it off early because I had to make some Christmas pincushions for my friends Susan and Miet. I sent this to Kathie together with a stickpin, lace and fabric and waited for my swap to come from Kathie.

On 22nd of November I was chatting with Liat and she told me she was on her way out to visit an old school friend, Elad, who she had a crush on way back in high school and they had met again and were going to give it another try. I wished her all the best and told her I would call the next day.

Later that evening I got a call from Liat, she said she was in the ER and had a broken ankle. She put my son Eyal on the phone and he explained that she had broken her ankle in 3 places and would need surgery to fix it back together. for now they couldn't operate because her ankle was so swolen so she was being hospitalized till the swelling went down.

She had her operation on the 25th and what was supposed to take only 40 minutes turned into 3 hours. they had to put in a plate and about 10 screws. She was in hospital for 8 days and because she lives alone and had to stay off her leg for at least 6 weeks, we brought her home to be with us.

I now had 2 patients to look after.

October 2008

2009-01-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

September and October kind of melded together for our whole family. In October 2000 my husband Shalom suffered a massive stroke and was put on the waiting list for a heart transplant. Over the years the pills are what has been keeping him going. Early in 2008 after seeing him struggle with lots of blood coming out in the toilet and him telling us he was OK. My daughter Liat and I decided we were going with him to his next cardiologist appointment. He was immediately given all kinds of tests to undergo and we found out he had colon cancer. He went through a series of chemo and radiation treatments to reduce the growth as much as possible so it could be removed. At the end of October he underwent a 6 hour surgery to remove a growth 32 cms in length and they opened up a hole in his abdomen for a Stoma bag.
I managed to sew this cat pincushion and stuff it while visiting him in the hospital. I made this pincushion for my friend Miet from Belgium. The cat was supposed to hold a bobbin of yellow thread between it's paws but I couldn't find yellow thread at the time so I sent her red thread instead.

This is the beautiful butterfly pincushion I received from Miet, together with a tissue holder, a small tin which will be made into a small sewing kit and a beautiful thimble from Holland where Miet went on vacation. There were also some chocolates in the package but my grandsons "found" them when I opened the package and they were very quickly eaten - LOL.

Till next time,

August 2008

2009-01-19T12:22:00.001-08:00

Hi there,
This is where things started to get mixed up and I'm missing a couple of swaps here too. So I'm just adding what I have for this month and will update when I can.
These are the pincushions I sent to Jamie for July and August. July was Red, white and blue. August was a surprise me pincushion.

We also had a bird swap, i made a cute bird sitting on a container for Patti but forgot to photograph it before I sent it. If I can get a photo of it from Patti I will add it later.
Meantime this is the bird pincushion I received from Patti.

When I recieved the snail pattern I just had to try it out, I think it looks so cute even though I say so myself - LOL.

Ever since I can remember I've loved the look of the Babushka dolls so when I found a pattern to make them from fabric I just had to make myself a set.

Lots of swaps for July 2008

2009-01-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

For this month we had lots to make and receive. I had to make a red, white and blue pincushion for Janie but was running late so sent it to her with the August swap (photo to come in the August 2008 message). I was supposed to receive from Mikki for the red, white and blue swap but still have not received it.

We had a Christmas in July swap for bowl fillers and here's my swap from Kirrily in Australia.

Here are the bowl fillers I made for Kirrily.

Another Christmas in July swap was for a scissor case and this is what I sent to Jo in Australia.

Sadly till now I have not received any swap in return. If I do finally receive something I will update.

Yet another Christmas in July swap was for a pincushion and needle case. This is what I made for Wendy in Australia.

and this is what I received from Wendy. Here the needle case is open,

and here it is closed.

Here as promised in my earlier message is my second version of the Pincushion Tree.

Last swap for July was a Ladybug pincushion swap. This is what I sent to Char,

and here are all the goodies that Char sent to me.

till next time,

Pincushions and Creations for June 2008

2009-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Here I am back again already with the June hapennings. This month we had to make a fruit pincushion for our swap partners.

I made a "fruit salad" for Skeat, an apple, a pear and a banana.

I received this cute apple pincushion and some apple fabric from Janie, you can almost smell the apples on the fabric.

One of the gals in the group sent a photo of a pincushion tree and had everyone scrambling to buy the pattern. Since I would rather have the challenge of trying to make it myself, I gave it a try and this was my first version of it.

My dowel was a very thick one, actually a paper towel holder because one of my grandsons decided he needed my dowel for a game. When he finally gave me my dowel back I tried another version of the pincushion tree. That will be coming next time.

This next pincushion came about because I saw a pincushion that my friend Susanne from Australia made. I used up quite a bit of fabric before I finally managed to get it right. These umbrella pincushions are so addictive and look so pretty. In this photo you can see the pincushion part (the inside of the umbrella).

and here are the three that I have made so far.

For July 2008 there will be lots of new photos, so till then,

May 2008 Pincushions

2009-01-17T14:07:00.001-08:00

Hello again, I'm starting to get caught up (a little bit). I managed to get photos taken of most of the swaps so that will be easier for me to get everything up in a few days. First photo is of the swap I sent to Miet, Janie and Audrey. I sent a different color to each of the ladies.

These are the pincushions I received in return.

This one is from Miet, my very good friend from Belgium.

this one is from Janie from the US.

and these two are from my "niece" Audrey also from the US.

We had to make an Owl pincushion for a challenge and this was my entry. Audrey won the challenge.

April 2008 Pincushion Swaps

2009-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

Hello again, continuing with the pincushions.
Next swap was the April swap, I sent this one to Marilee:

and received this neat one from Skeat:

Also in April we had a container pincushion swap. This time I sent to Val in Australia, the box can be opened and Val can put her sewing notions inside:

and Val sent this sweet pansy pincushion one to me:

A new year

2009-01-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

Here we are already 12th January 2009. Last mail posted was back in April 2008. I'm going to start the year off by posting photos of pincushions I've made and received throughout 2008 in various swaps.

This was my very first swap in March 2008 and sent to Marilee. Sahar my grandson made the x's with tulip paints.

Here's the pincushion I received from Marilee, isn't it gorgeous?

more later.

2008-04-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, am I having a hard time getting back into my blog. It's so frustrating, I wanted to write quite a lot about what I have been up to lately, what's been going on with my DH and add some photos of the things I've been doing but by the time I managed to get in here it's quite late so I will leave it all for tomorrow.

2008-03-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi,
It's been a while since my last visit. Mainly because I couldn't find how to get back in again but I think this time I've got it. If this works then I'll start posting more often and add some photos and stuff. Bye for now.

Getting ready for Christmas

2007-12-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

At the moment I am getting my Secret Santa packages ready to send. My Christmas cards are all ready and waiting so I will be sending everything all at once. After that I need to get fabric squares ready to make a tote for Liat. She also wants a "going on a date" tote so she'll be getting one of those too. I saw a fantastic idea on the net for a nail polish organizer so she may also get one of those if I can manage to make it. That's all for now.