Merry.....SPRING...???

Well, add another damper on my holiday mood -- THE WEATHER! :-P
It's been near 70 for the past three days, and I've been able to keep my doors and windows open until 10pm!  I LOVE not running the heat, but between my sore body, NO TREE, and now no cold, I'm feeling ready to take some time off and try again next month!! LOL

And I've been surprised to realize how sore you can get from not moving much....have you ever heard of such a thing??  My back hurts now I guess because I've been relaxing it too much?  HUH??  Yup, it's true -- muscles seem to be able to get hurt if you don't use them the same as if you use them too much!!  BLAH! :-P

I am stitching up a storm!!  I almost don't want to DO anything else right now!  And....(drum roll please)....I finished my mom's penny rug!!!  YAY! :-D  I stitched on the tea-stained muslin I had, and THAT was really fun!  I loved the cotton texture with the softness of the wool!  And it gives a nice weight to it -- it was very satisfying to stitch the two pieces together!  And SO simple!!  I can't wait to start another one!!!! :-D

Here is the muslin.....

I cut a piece of the muslin a little larger than the rug, and then ironed the edges to fit the shape of it.
See how well it fits.....

Next I did the blanket stitch around.....

I could already feel the difference in the rug - it was heavier!
TA-DAAA!!! :-D

It's perfect!!!  The muslin was just right for it!
Oh, the satisfaction of neat, evenly spaced stitches.....

Can anyone else feel how special that is?? LOL  Probably not! :-D  But it does something to me to work them nice and evenly!! LOL  To bad I'm not as particular as this about DUST.....!!!  Hahaha!  Right?!

Here's my NEXT project, which I'm so excited about.....

Since my last post, I set up where the other pennies will go, just to make sure I'm keeping it all in line correctly, and to pin down my next row, the cream.
Here's what I got finished before turning back to finishing my mom's.....

I did some of the light green row on the top because I wanted to make sure I had enough room on the black for the last (brown) row!  It's going to be tight.....I should have paid better attention to how I stitched the middle dark green pennies - I almost didn't have enough room!!
I pinned down most of the rest of them last night, just to have the fun of seeing how it will look all done.....

Oh, I LOVE it!!! :-D  Now I'll wait until it's all done before I decide, but I'm thinking of soaking it in tea or coffee a little, just to give it a more drab look.....we'll see.  And now I can fully focus on completing it!! :-D

Tonight is Thursday night -- the BEST night of the week for me, because Brian is home for the weekend again!!! :-D  Yay!  Tomorrow he's going to take me to my doctor's appointment - MY doctor will check up on my neck/shoulder, which I feel better about.  I would be so much better if I could sleep in an upper-body cast! :-P  Everytime I feel better by evening, I do something in my sleep that seems to set me back when I wake up.....UGH!!
Anyway, my appointment is in the afternoon, so I'm hoping that we can get our Christmas tree in the morning....?  Maybe....??  My fingers are crossed!!
I also have a few other little projects I want to get to this weekend.....
*I want to finish my sleigh -- I have the dough in the fridge, but I'll need Emily to roll it out for me....I also want to use the rest of it to make a gingerbread BOWL!!  So cool!  Wait until you see it!! :-D
**I want to make a wreath or door hanging for the front door -- maybe like I had on my door a few years ago, when it was painted light blue....?  Hmmm.....we'll see!
***I want to make my gingerbread garland this weekend and hang it on my mantle -- I'm not sure what I am going to string with it yet, but I'm really excited to get it made!!
****And Lastly.....I bought a pineapple that I want to dry, just like I read about in my Christmas A Primitive Place magazine!  I've got to do that this weekend because I don't want it to rot before I try it.....I know I won't be able to scoop out the inside of it, the way my arm and neck feel, but that's what strong boys and doting husbands are for.....isn't it? :-D

So there are some of my plans!!  And of course, my penny rug stitching....ahhhhhh!  It gives me such joy to work on it, and I don't even understand why! :-D  I'm planning out another one, too, because I think I'm addicted to making them right now -- hahaha!  More family members might be getting penny rugs, whether they like them or not!! ^-^