New Year

Seems like there's a pattern here.  Every New Year's I'm sick.  Not to happy about this.  I wonder if I just wear myself out before Christmas and end up sick because of it.

We went shopping today to exchange some jeans Ev got for Christmas.  They didn't have his size so we will have to order them online.  While we were out we went to Olive Garden.  I wish I had felt better because I enjoy getting a meal there.

Didn't do any sewing today.  Just shopped then when we got home I went to bed for a few hours.  Now I'm just thinking I will try and stay up until midnight, but if I don't make it it, oh well.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Shadow cat

Does this cat have the life or what?  I think she is holding her paw over her one eye telling me to shut the light out.  Or maybe she has a toothache in sympathy with Johanna getting her wisdom teeth out.

Which, by the way, went very well.  I was pleased with how good she did and she seems to be feeling fine, just a bit sore.  Let's hope that it doesn't get any worse.

I finished those two blocks for Roll Roll Cotton Boll and cut the string blocks in half to sew into the alternating block.  Just didn't get to sewing much this evening.  I'm coming down with a little bit of a cold and I'm wanting to sleep alot.  Figure that's the best thing for me, so I'm going with it!

Just two more to go

Worked on Roll Roll Cotton Boll blocks and have just two more of the one block to do.  I was trying to push through but then I sewed a couple pieces incorrectly and made myself quit.  It will be there tomorrow, or even later tonight if I feel like sewing some more.

Here's the big stack of blocks:

And here is a little stack of my leader ender spool blocks:

The second to the last block ready to be pieced (after being picked apart from being sewn wrong):

Then just for something silly, here's a picture of a tree that I thought was funny looking!

 Johanna is getting her wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow.  Sure hope all goes well and she doesn't have much pain.

A languishing U.F.O.

A few years ago Bonnie Hunter's mystery was Roll Roll Cotton Boll.  I really got bogged down with all the teensy tiny pieces and lost my mojo for that project.  It is very close to being done, though.  Today I brought the featherweight into the kitchen and the pieces of RRCB and worked on them during quiltcam.  I continued to work on them a little longer and made some progress.

This morning I was up early and put together a big pot of ham and bean soup.  It cooked all day and the few tasters I had of it were good.  Going to have it tomorrow during the football game.  I had some leftover chicken from Christmas Eve so I made some chicken salad.  I don't make that too often, because I'm the only one who likes it, but it was a nice change.  I added pecans and grapes to it.

Did not go out of the house

Today I didn't go anywhere.  It was just a nice lazy day again.  I think I could really get used to this... haha.  Tomorrow is Nick's birthday but since Ev is supposed to work we ended up having a little party for Nick tonight (Ev had it off).  Can't believe my baby boy is so old now!  haha.

Not done any sewing the past couple days,  Need to get started on a couple things soon.

A simple day

Today was a fairly relaxing and simple day.  Didn't do too much.  Our Christmas Tree was leaning precariously and had to be tied to a chair (I'm not kidding!).  We really wanted to be able to use our front room again so we did something we have never done before - we took the tree down the day after Christmas.  It didn't take too long and we did leave up all the other decorations including my village.

I went over to visit a friend of mine for a couple hours after Ev went to work.  Then baked a couple of dozen peanut butter cookies.  I had the dough put together before Christmas and didn't get around to making the cookies. 

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas Holiday and is basking in the warmth and love of family and friends.  Our holiday was exceptional this year.  Nothing in particular to make it that way, just a combination of good family visits and lots of love.

A finish

So I was thinking about how many quilts I have made this year.  There were 14 nursing home quilts, 1 for my mom's friend, this one pictured above for sister in law, 8 birthday quilts, and one quilt for a friend to give at a baby shower.  That is 25 quilts!  Wow!  I really love to quilt.  Have you noticed?  :)

The kids were over and we had a really nice night.  We had  a great dinner of ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed onions, roasted brussel sprouts, green bean casserole, swiss vegetable medly casserole, garlic tortellini, and cranberry sauce.  I asked Johanna if I should make rolls and she rolled her eyes....  haha.

After dinner we played some board games and watched 'A Christmas Story'.  Tomorrow it's church and opening presents!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wanted to make sure and wish everyone a blessed and happy holiday.  I'm busy sewing and cooking and wrapping....  Probably doing the same things everyone else is right now!  Just finished making the Christmas Bags for the kids last night at 11:30.  This year I made them out of flannel and thought it would be nice if I made a small pillow to put in them after they were done being 'bags'.  Will look into that after the holiday - just too much going on right now!  haha.

Gemma is home and I have already quilted a top for my sister in law to give to her gram.  I had to do some playing with tension, but not too much.  Since the motor was replaced, the machine sounds different.  Not bad, just different.  It's going to take a little bit for me to get used to the new motor and to get in tune with it.  Just like when your car engine sounds different, when the motor sounds different on Gemma I should be able to tell.

The kids and their boy/girl friends are coming over today for dinner at 5.  I'm making a ham and a roasted chicken.  Have a couple new recipes that I can't wait to try.  One is for creamed pearl onions and the other is roasted brussel sprouts. 

Hope everyone has a beautiful holiday.  God bless!

Oh fudge and the tree

I was a busy gal last night!  Made a batch of fudge.  Oh yummy goodness...

Then I decorated our tree...

We decided to give Charlie Brown a run for his money this year...  Our poor tree is so lopsided we couldn't put lights or ornaments on the bottom right side for fear it would fall over (as it has done twice already!).  The trunk is 'S' shaped.  We will love it anyway.  :)

Gemma is on her way home!

Just in case you didn't already know what I thought about Nolting, I'll say it again - Nolting customer service ROCKS!  My machine is repaired and trucking her way home to me!  Whoopee!  I'm a happy girl.  I will be even happier when she is home, safe and sound.  With the Christmas rush of packages, I'm not too hopefull that she will get home before the week is over.  I'm thining more like next Tuesday or later.

Tonight I am picking up farm eggs from my friend, then going home and sewing on a strippy quilt for my sister in law.  Would like to get the top done tonight if possible.  Quilt Cam is at 8 and the Michael Buble' Christmas Special is on at 9.  I'm thinking, since Quilt Cam usually runs until 9:30, I will dvr the special on the t.v. in the bedroom and watch it before I fall asleep.  Bonnie Hunter hasn't done Quilt Cam since she went to Austria, so I'm sure she will have all kinds of neat stories to tell while she sews!

A few pics

Here's a pic of my new nativity scene, with the live addition of a cat, before the sheep had a baaa-d day.

I needed to get down to Edwardsville to do a little shopping.  Yesterday I really wanted to go, but the weather would not cooperate.  This was what it looked like all day, all night, and even into this morning:

The fog was so bad during the day, and so bright, that it actually hurt my eyes to drive!  I was glad to see it disappear this afternoon, finally.

Tonight I made it out to get my shopping done.  There are still a few things I need, but I can get them from Wal Mart.

Here's a couple pictures of my ceramic village all set up:

It makes me happy.

My dog

Does anyone remember last year at Christmas how my dog, Ivy, ate one of the wise men from my Nativity Scene?  Well, I have a brand new Nativity Scene this year.  The figures are much larger than the ones I had for years, so I didn't think Ivy would bother them.  Yeah.  Right.

We now have a three legged, no-eared sheep.

And no, Ivy is not a sheepdog.  Just a mutt.  With a taste for mutton.  (or plaster of paris)

Sigh.

Cookie monster

That's what I felt like this weekend. I baked a lot of cookies and still have dough in the fridge for a batch tomorrow.

Snow day!

We have snow!  About eight inches of the white stuff!  Love it, love it, love it! 

Johanna was supposed to have her pinning ceremony last night but it was cancelled due to weather.  We had a party at the house that turned out very nice.  Although we would have liked to have gone to the ceremony, it was still a special evening.

I'm kind of groggy today because it was a late night.  Going to start baking some cookies later this afternoon.  Tomorrow we are going to get our tree, which I am excited about.

Johnathon helped me finish the village by putting all the people and trees in place.  I will be taking pics and posting them soon.

A bit of a sewing haiatus

Not sure I spelled 'haiatus' correctly, but you know what I mean...  I'm taking a well deserved break and not feeling guilty at all about it.  Going to pick back up here soon, though.  My sister in law asked me yesterday to make a quick quilt for her grandmother in the nursing home.  I told her I would do it if she brought me the pieces already cut.  The quilting will have to be all straight line.  Gemma is supposed to reach the factory for her repairs today.  I'm watching the UPS tracking online.  Hope to have her back soon, but whatever it takes, I just want her fixed.

Have done a lot of online shopping for the holiday.  Still have a little bit to get at the stores, plus need to do some baking.  Would like to do the baking next week after work.

Cold snap

In the middle of a cold snap.  Temp is 15 degrees right now and supposed to go down around 4 degrees.

It starts...

Today I started putting my Christmas village up.  It will take a few days.  Here are just a few of the houses we got down from a shelf in the closet.  I have lots of work to do, but when it's all done, it's so worth it.

Countdown to graduation!

After years of hard work, our darling daughter is going to graduate from college with her nursing degree!  She is not walking in the actual ceremony for graduation, but is participating in the 'pinning' ceremony for the nursing students.  I'm so proud of her and excited for her to be starting this new journey.  We are going to have a little party for her after the ceremony, which I'm also excited about.

I have to get my lighted house display all set up by next weekend so it's ready for the party, too.  That's going to take my time after work all week, so I doubt I will be doing any sewing.  After finishing all those quilts for the nursing homes, I'm ready for a short break!  I tallied up 15 hours of sewing in two days!  (and I secretly loved it!)

Pictures

A time to rest

I finished all of the nursing home quilts tonight.  14 total.  I'm ready for a nap.  Pics to come soon.

Time for bed

I just finished watching The Sound of Music live on t.v.  It was a very good rendition of the original.  Julie Andrews is unparallelled, of course, but Carrie Underwood did a beautiful job, as did the rest of the cast.  I am not sure of her name, but the woman who played Mother Superior has a magnificent voice. 

I didn't sew tonight.  Was going to try and get some sewing in before the show started, but ended up stopping at Uncle Rays and taking him out to dinner.

Anticipating bad weather

The weather service is predicting some bitter cold and icy/snowy weather the next couple of days.  Sure wish I could just stay home and sew instead of having to go to work! 

I guess I'm a sucker for some things, but tonight I'm looking forward to watching on t.v. the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center in New York.  Tomorrow night I am planning to watch "The Sound of Music" live.  Then, hopefully some time soon I can catch "It's a Wonderful Life".  That will really get me in the Christmas spirit!

Boxed up

The box came today from Nolting for me to send Gemma in for repairs. I have packed her up and will be sending her on her way before the week is out. I quilted another nursing home quilt tonight on the old Kenmore. Gotta love that old dependable machine.

Making good progress

I have five of the nursing home quilts completely done.  Tonight I finished up the quilting on the purple one and bound it, then I put the binding on one of the quilts that was done on Gemma.  Things are moving right along...

Beautiful lights

Last night Ev and I took my dad and step mother out to a little town about 30 miles away called Woburn.  There is a family that puts together a spectacular display of Christmas and holiday scenes on their property.  Here's what one of them looked like.  They are about 6' across and 4' tall.

What NOT to do with the sweet potatoes

So over the Thanksgiving holiday we went to my mom's for dinner.  We had the bird in the oven and had the sweet potatoes all ready to go into the oven in a pyrex dish.  The dish was sitting on top of her electric stove, along with other casseroles and the pot of potatoes in water that needed to be boiled for mashed potatoes.  Mom turned on the burner for the mashed potatoes and we sat down for a minute.  Well, she had accidently turned on the burner that was under the pyrex dish of sweet potatoes!  She got it off the burner but when it started to cool sitting on the counter on a hot pad, the dish burst.  Glass and syrup and sweet potatoes make quite a mess, in case you were wondering....  Oh well, no one was hurt and we cleaned up the mess.  Not having sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving wasn't the worse thing in the world.

On the fast track

I am working hard on getting those quilts done for the nursing homes!  Over the weekend I finished two and almost finished a third.  I have two more to quilt and bind, and then 6 that just need binding that were done on Gemma.  I should be able to get them fnished. 

I was informed that another person went into the nursing home recently from our church.  They may or may not get a quilt, it just depends.  As long as I get the 12 done that were originally promised, I will feel good.

Sorry for not posting pictures, but I want to have a 'grand showing' when they are all done!