Christmas Projects

I wanted to share a couple of the projects I have been working on over Christmas break. The instructions for the Santa ornaments above were found on Pinterest and I just knew Kyli would love making these. We made six of them and she gave them to the family as Christmas presents. She was so proud to give them out! They were made with a simple salt dough and baked. Then they were painted up and embellished. Lots of fun to make!
The next project got started when I received a pair of fingerless gloves that were knitted by a friend in New Hampshire. Other people saw them and wanted to know if I had made them. That got me thinking that surely there were crochet patterns for them. Obviously, these are not fingerless gloves. While I was making the crocheted version, Kyli decided she wanted some, too. I dug out some old crochet magazines I had kept for particular "someday" projects and we found the instruction to make these adorable snowman hat/mitten/scarf sets. Kyli picked her colors and became a slave driver for me to get them done. Made hers the day before Christmas Eve while she was staying with us. They actually work up pretty quickly and my rusty crochet skills came back to me in a short time. 

 After I got done with her set, she decided that Liberty, my granddaughter who is six months younger than Kyli, had to have a set also. We don't get to see Liberty nearly as much as we do Kyli, but they are great friends when they do manage to get together. Kyli picked colors for Liberty's set, and it was game on for the second set...all day Christmas Eve!

And here is a picture of Kyli and Liberty together with Liberty showing off her set. It was about 70 degrees here on Christmas Day, so Kyli didn't have hers with her when we took the picture.

Before I go, I wanted to share our good news about Kyli's progress. She went to clinic yesterday and received chemo via her port. Her counts were good and she will now enter the maintenance phase of her treatment. She will only go to clinic twice a month as long as things continue as they have so far. She will receive chemo there and will also take chemo orally at home. As you can see, her hair is starting to come back in and the docs say this will continue. She has responded very well to the treatments. Negative side effects have been minimal and they say that this should also continue for her. She still has 2 1/2 years of treatment, but we are so grateful for the doctors' good news yesterday! We are also grateful for all the prayers that have been lifted up on Kyli's behalf and ask for continued prayers for healing.
I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas season with your families. Wishing you a blessed New Year as well!!