My Coolest Handmade Gift Evah!

This year I did not take a whole lot of time to devote to cross stitching, my very first crafting love. So when we went on vacation at the end of September, I treated myself to the cutest little pattern ever by magpienight on Etsy. If you read my blog with any regularity, you know that I love all things Golden Girls. It would stand to reason that a few of my friends do as well. My friend Stacie and I can equate any situation in real life to an episode of the Golden Girls. (Drives our husbands cRaZy!) It made sense that she would be the recipient of this fab handmade Christmas gift. Now don't worry...I've already given her the gift so I'm not ruining any surprises!


The pic above shows magpienight's Little Golden Girls as charted stitched on 28ct. linen over 2 threads and framed in a 5-inch wooden hoop backed with cardboard.
I had to put a personal inscription on the back with one of Stacie's favorite quotes. For all the fans out there, this was actually Dorothy speaking for God.The companion pieces was a creation of my own. I found a fat quarter of a matching fabric, cut a small pieces and backed it with a fusible lightweight interfacing. I then wrote out my phrase on a plain piece of paper in my own handwriting. I taped the plain paper with the phrase to a bright window and taped the fabric over top, tracing the phrase with a water soluble fabric pen. I then used embroidery thread to stitch the phrase and framed it in a 4-inch wooden hoop as well.

Thanks for reading!
Angie

Possible Party Ideas

After planning many a party at the end of 2009, I couldn't imagine hosting anything at the beginning of this year. Now as the weather is improving and people are getting out and about, I am feeling more up to have some gatherings. There are a few party ideas that I've had in mind for a while. They aren't for specific events or holidays, just silly made up parties.

The first one was an idea concocted with some close friends of ours to have a "redneck" dinner party. The party would involve each couple invited to bring the most redneck dish they could imagine to have a totally trashy junk food buffet. It could include things like Slim Jims roasted over the grill/fire, Frito chili pies fixed right in the mini Frito bags (an old Wal*Mart snack bar favorite!), a giant jar of pickles or pickled eggs....the possibilities are endless! This is still a fledgling idea though and any input would be fantastic. So warm up your comment-typing fingers and let the ideas fly! Note: I actually found a page with some great ideas while searching for an image for my blog post.
The second idea for a fabulously fun party is to have a Golden Girls-themed party. It would be girls only, obviously, and include watching episodes of the Golden Girls, trivia, cheesecake, sparehooven krispies (I need to come up with a recipe for this one), and would be perfect if held on the lanai. People could even come dressed as their favorite Golden Girl. This could be especially hilarious if your friends' little girls were also invited. An afternoon of moms, daughters, and friends having fun...what could be better?

Both are still just tiny ideas, but things that could prove to be very fun! Anyone out there have any other kooky party ideas? I'd love to hear them.