15 Years...

It is our 15th Anniversary here at the HobbyHouse.

I think I have the best husband in the world and

am ever thankful for the wonderful life and love we share!

My mother painted this lovely Bride's Box for me as a bridal shower gift and it is one of my favorite treasures. It has a home on my dresser and is filled with wedding goodies... invitations, RSVP cards, the guest book, the bride and groom cake topper, my garter, and the wedding announcement from the newspaper.The box sides are lettered with

"When two fond hearts as one unite, the yoke is easy, the burden light."

I think we live it!

Happy New Year & Happy Hobbies!

A quick note to say...

Merry Christmas!

I'm just filled with things to blog about

but my time is limited due to LIFE!

My last official day of work is December 23rd.

I'm working hard to get everything caught up so my

replacement can step right in for a smooth transition.

My Little Miss is battling 2 ear infections.

My Little Mr. is in a school performance.

There are still some Christmas things to accomplish!

I'll be back after Christmas filled with New Year cheer!

In the meantime:

May God bless you and keep you safe,

and fill your season with comfort and joy!

Merry Christmas!

Hello there...

I'm here, really I am...

It does seem to me like I've been away for such an extended time.

Things here at the hobby house have been... shall we say, "infected." We have had a mutant germ lurking for the last bit knocking each of us down in our own special way. I'll spare you the details, but know there was a general sense of misery and antibiotics have become our new best friends! My aunt kindly delivered a Thanksgiving meal to us and we so appreciated the privilege of eating in our jammies and following the meal with naps.

I have been busy knitting the last few days... A girl must be doing something as Christmas is fast approaching! I have also spent some of my time shopping online in order to avoid the crowds. LL Bean, Etsy, Barnes & Noble, and Life is Good are my current sites of choice.

I'll set you up with some knitting pictures soon!

Happy Hobbies!

Monday bits...

Little Mr. Man and I spent some time this morning watching the birds since he was home from school with a nasty little cold.

The birds really are quite lovely against the white snow!

This picture doesn't do the birds any justice, but isn't there something about that gray?

This pair of fingerless mitts is on it's way to a best friend in Massachusetts.

Happy Belated Birthday E!

More of these are in the works...

I just started another pair over the weekend.

Christmas is coming!

This little note taker was delivered to another birthday girl this morning!

Happy Birthday J.!

My aunties suggested the little felt bird on the bottom.

Isn't helpful to get a few more pair of eyes to point out what should be obvious?

Happy Hobbies!

Bits and Pieces...

My Status:

I recently resigned from my job (that I love) and am so very happy with the decision I made. However, I will continue to work until my replacement is hired and trained. Hopefully sooner rather than later! My hope is to have most of December free for enjoying the Christmas preparations and last minute gift making, but I'll happily go with whatever happens. Regardless, I'm making plans for the future including getting back on a regular schedule for home-keeping, mothering and hobbying. At this point all of those things are being handled in an exhausted haphazard manner and I feel as if I'm riding on a roller coaster in Chaos Land!

Progress:

I'm about 10 rows from finishing the second "fetching" glove. I'll give a peek of the completed project in a day or so. I completed another note taker for my sister-in-law's birthday. I made some improvements as you can see below.

Weather:

After spending Saturday afternoon taking care of some of the outdoor fall chores, we woke up to this on Monday morning. My little people thought it was "soooo beautiful...." It really is but I wasn't prepared to get the rest of the winter gear out yet!

Happy Hobbies!

An afternoon outside...

Saturday:

The sky was a nice mix of gray.

The little people were busy raking leaves.


HobbyHubby was busy raking too!

I worked at cutting back all of my herbs.

(something I should have done a month ago)

Today we went to church and are keeping cozy inside.

Happy Hobbies!

More Blogs...

I'll update this list from time to time. Please feel free to leave me a comment making recommendations! I love to be inspired by other bloggers.

A couple whiles
a friend to knit with
A Very Mary Design
AJ Quilts
Allsorts
Anny Purls
Autie's Quaint Quilts
Bits of Life
Blue Moon River
Buny Tales
CraftSanity
Craftygirl
Crazy Mom Cooks
Creative Juice Studios
Cultured Purl
Dances with Wool
Felt like Knitting
Fluffy Flowers
French Knots
have you any wool?
i have to say...
Katie's Beading Blog
kirstencan
Knitspot
Life at AJ's
Little Busy Bee
Mary Lee Illustration
MOONSTITCHES
My Zoe Bug
OH NO IT'S THE FRO
Sarah P. dot
Simply Sewn
splityarn
sulu-design
the stitching room
The Wooden Spool
tiny happy
Wee Wonderfuls
yarnstorm

Per Her Request

"A purple dinosaur with green spots and blue spikes, Mommy."
No perfect, but complete.
A three hour sewing session finished just in time to attend "Zoo Boo" last night.
I guess I can't say I don't make costumes anymore!


Happy Hobbies!

The First Note Taker

I can definitely see room for improvement on this.

I'll probably piece the front section for future

note takers to add a bit more interest to the outside.

This was a gift for my husband's aunt and she loved it!

The pattern can be found here.

Happy Hobbies!

Cables and a Tiny Tale of Dinosaurs

I did it!

Cables are so much easier than I thought.

I know, I know, my pictures don't really show them all that well.

The finished project will photo better!How funny is this?

We tucked the little people in and came into the hall to see some of our friends heading out!

Wonder where Mama Dino is taking Baby shopping?

Target? The mall? It must be Barnes & Noble.

Oh to be a 5 year-old!

Happy Hobbies!

Getting the Hobby Groove Back!

Picking out patterns from these!

Thinking that Christmas is coming!

Starting this bag with yarn from my stash.
(A little knit-a-long with some work gals. )

Making progress on the cozy I started so many weeks ago.

Finally making this note taker from Pink Chalk Studio.

Fabrics from my stash.

More note taker fabrics options...

Making my first costume since a pre-made dinosaur for Little Miss was not to be found!
I was told, "purple dinosaur with green spots and blue spikes" Yes Mam!!

(Thankfully a gal pal was able to locate a pattern from her stash since I couldn't find a pattern anywhere either!)

Many other things on the list to finish and more to start!

Happy Hobbies!

Birthdays!

Little Miss turned 5 on Thursday!

Poor little thing was sent home from school on Wednesday with a fever that she has had on and off ever since! There she is with her fever!We had a family birthday party for her on Saturday in spite of it!

She loves dinosaurs and enjoyed this cake!

HobbyHubby also celebrated his birthday on Saturday.

The big 37!

Happy Hobbies!

Sad times...

My mother lost her 3 and 1/2 year battle with cancer.

She fought bravely to the very end with the help of her dear friends, 8 brothers and sisters, 3 children, 8 grandchildren, her father, and her husband.

She was just 59 years old.

She was loved and will be missed.

Please keep my family in your prayers.

Take good care and show your loved ones how much you care.

I'm honored...

Creative Juice Studios just honored me with this kind award!

You can find her post here.
Thank you CJS!

What motivation to get me back to "hobbying"

as I've been consumed by the "mommying" in my life!

The rules for this award can be found here.

Forgive me!

I can't follow the rules!

My blog roll title says,

"Blogs I'm Loving."

Consider all blogs on the list winners!

Happy Hobbies!

little to report...

Wish I had something to show you...

but we are heavy into adjustments...

back to school for the little people

and back to 25 hours at work for me...

Tired...

Happy Hobbies!

First day of Kindergarten

My little Mr. Man went to his first full day of Kindergarten!

He had a wonderful day, but let me tell you...

MY EMOTIONS GOT THE BETTER OF ME!

Enough said!

Happy Hobbies!

Vacation: Just a few more photos...

I'll end the vacation photos with these last few from HobbyHubby's camera.

It was such a good vacation that I'm having a hard time letting it go!

We always pick a new place for a family photo. We're on a little island.
The little people are happy to play on the last chilly morning.
A view of the cottages from a kayak.

We stayed in the middle cottage.
Another view of the cottages from the point.
The fire ring where we spent each evening with our fellow cottagers.

Their children gave us wonderful violin concerts each night before we all made s'mores.

Essentials loaded. Headed for home!

"Can we come back again Daddy?"

Happy Hobbies!

Vacation: Just the Views!

These are just some of the reasons I love Georgain Bay!

Sunset!

Afternoon rainstorm.

Morning.

Rock!

Clear clean crisp happy water!

Happy Hobbies!

Vacation- just the little people

We had an intense desire to stay forever,

but instead returned from Canada late last Saturday afternoon.
It was the most lovely trip and definitely needed for this family.
(My mom ended up hospitalized while we were away, but thankfully is home again! Please keep her and our entire family in your prayers as she continues to fight her illness.)

I'll spend my next few posts sharing some of our trip.

Enjoy!

Little people playing on the rocks:

Happy Hobbies!

Going on vacation!

The van is packed and we're going north as we did last year!

Take good care while I'm gone!

I'll see you in a week with some vacation pictures

and knitting & spinning progress too!

Have a great week,

and, as always...

HAPPY HOBBIES!

For Little Miss...

I finished knitting this scarf some time in early June

but still needed to weave in the ends and felt it.

So last night I finally finished it!

I ran it through the Hot/Cold cycle twice last night and

now it is felted to perfection for Little Miss almost 5!

She was pretty pleased with it and it added to the kitty cat's costume!

I'm working frantically on my Cozy.

I was hoping to take it on vacation and actually use it on the cool evenings!

Yeah, well, uh-huh, drat....

I let you know how it goes!

Happy Hobbies!

100th Post Winner!

Thanks for playing along!

Our lucky winner is Danetta from OH NO It's the FRO!

She's receiving this charm pack of 40 charm squares!

Congratulations!

Happy Hobbies!

Under construction

Bear with me please... I'm working on a remodel here... Back at you later, with the 100th post winner. Still time to comment so please do...

Happy Hobbies!

100th Post!

I guess I left you folks hanging for a bit.

busy... busy... busy...

here.

I'll tell you what I've been up to, but sadly no pictures today.

A new gal pal taught me how to spin with the drop spindle last week.

Oh so FUN!

I've been knitting on my Cozy!

More fun!

There has been some de-cluttering of the home.

Not so much fun!

There has been far more job related work than planned.

Less fun! But, at least tolerable!

(on a good note I'm not thinking about work at all for the next 2 and a half weeks.)

No emails, no phone calls, no WORK work! LOL!

Getting ready to go north in another week!

Fantastic fun!

Okay, so if you're still hanging on, here is the give-away part!

To celebrate my 100th post I'm giving away a little charm pack

I picked up awhile back!

Leave me a comment,

telling me what project or projects you're in the middle of,

for a chance to be the recipient!

I welcome the usual small crowd of people who comment

and all of you folks that lurk too.

I'm always open for a chance to get to know you.

I'll pick a winner on Friday at noon!

Happy Hobbies!

Blogiversary

A year ago this very day I started HobbyMommy!

Had I timed things better, this would also be my 100th post!

Who needs perfection anyway?

Here is the deal...

I'll set up the details for a celebration give away in my next post.

So, be ready to comment!

I'd like to connect with those of you who lurk!

That means all of you!

On to other things....

We had the birthday celebrations for Mr. Six last weekend, a lovely 4th of July picnic, friends have been here from Wisconsin, and various other activities.

The little people and I are exhausted from the constant fun!

What a great week of summer!

I've had a few opportunities to work on this book and I'm itching to start spinning!

That has been the extent of the hobbying this week!

Oh, I finally did finish listening to Wicked on my ipod! Excellent!

HAPPY HOBBIES!