And Another Year Ends

Well, I didn't get the Christmas quilt finished, but we did have a wonderful Christmas and that's what counts. And we had a white one!  

Notice all the tracks in the snow?  After Dan drove down to bring Mom and Dad up because of the wintery roads, he went out to plow the driveway.  Keaton jumped on the back and they went to work. . . 

. . . and after that, Cameron and Keaton had a riot driving all over the back yard and pulling each other on sleds. We are so glad to have so much room for them to play without having to worry about them out on the road.  It was so fun to watch them from the windows!

Following the outdoor fun, it was hot tub time.  It was so cold outside, we had our own little climate going on inside the sunroom which makes the picture looks a little foggy because it was foggy in there!!  

We usually have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve so that we can relax Christmas day without having to hurry to get dinner on.  We enjoyed ham and all the trimmings and were forced to eat dessert later when we had more room.  After an evening of visiting, we all took to our beds in anticipation of Christmas Day.

The stockings kept everyone amused until we were all up and presentable and amazingly, we even had breakfast before opening the presents!  (Obviously the big boys are truly getting older, and Daniel was too little to know what was about to happen.)   After eating, we all adjourned to the living room where Cameron and Keaton went to work distributing the presents.  As the littlest, Daniel got to open the first present with Cameron's help.

Cameron was next and opened a Swiss Army knife which seemed to be well received.  Papa Dan picked right on this gift!

Keaton got a new fleece blanket which Ann made.  She made blankets for the boys about six years ago and decided it was time for new ones.  You can see that it was the right decision! Keaton curled up right on the hearth with his.

Meanwhile, the grownups opened when their turns came. Here's Dan and Great Papa.

And Eric.  He loved Twinkies and when Ann tried to buy some for him, it was too late, so he got a box of Cloud Cakes and a Twinkie the Kid holder!  (Sorry the picture is so blurry--the photographer, me, needs to improve her skills in group settings.)

All my pictures of Ann are blurry as I only took some when she had Lil' D on her lap.  Here's the best one as D plays with the new phone Eric gave her.

Gigi enjoyed spending time with family and Dan got a photo of her with Daniel.

And one more picture.  Cameron and Keaton went together and gave Papa Dan a special present.

It was a tin filled with pennies--a five pound box of money!!  (They even weighed it to be certain!)  Too fun and Dan absolutely loved it.  (It's a phrase from an old song and when asked what he'd like for a gift, Dan often jokes and says that's what he'd like, so this time the boys obliged.)

As you can see, we had a truly lovely Christmas!  When the presents were opened, Cameron and Keaton took turns reading the Christmas story from the Bible and that made it perfect.  

And now it's New Year's Eve.  Another year is ending, but we are so thankful for this one filled with love and blessings.  

Merry Christmas!

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."   --  Luke 2:7-14

Catchin' Up

Yes, dear friends, we have carpet on the stairs!  And here's proof:

And notice, if you please, the trim on the windows!! Those ugly, long windows have been give a face-lift and I actually like them now!!  The final coats of paint are still needed, but isn't it amazing what wood trim does for a house?  (And yes, that's snow out the window.)  We also have plans for trim around the floor, but that's probably not happening before Christmas.  And a new railing.  

Hard Candy Christmas is coming along!  Just needs to be quilted and hopefully I'll be able to do that in the next few days.  Meanwhile, it's hanging out on my quilting machine waiting patiently.

Here's a little Christmas scene from our basement to brighten your day:

I hope to be back again before Christmas with a completed quilt, a picture of our Christmas tree (which has yet to make its arrival) and maybe some cookies.  In the meantime, remember, the real reason for this season is Jesus!  

Hooray!

In addition to the Christmas decorations in our entryway, we have a roll of carpet pad and toolboxes.

As I type, the carpet layers are hammering down the tack strips on the stairs in preparation for laying the carpet there and in the upper hallway!!  Hallelujah!!

Hard Candy Christmas

That's the name I've come up with for my Christmas quilt.  As I look at it on my design wall, it reminds me of the hard candy so prevalent when I was small--ribbon candy and round flat disks with a design in the middle. The colors all sort of swirled around and that's what they do in this quilt.  So far, anyway.

I have enjoyed using my new Accuquilt GO! to cut.  By layering and using both fabrics, one run through cuts all the pieces for each block.  I've used fat quarters of the Sentiments fabric and some scraps of older fabrics I had in my stash that blended.  Each block is different.  

Here's one in progress:

And here are two as I ponder the sashing:

Here's a view of four of the five rows before I began adding the sashing:

Don't they remind you of that swirly candy?  I have three rows complete with sashing now and hope to have the whole top joined tomorrow.  Then there'll be the border fabric to decide on.  This whole quilt has been decided upon one step at a time, even though I did create a prototype in the quilt program part of my Explorations software.  (I gave myself permission to change the plan at each point, but it's turned out looking pretty much like I originally planned.)

Busy, Busy

Oh my goodness, I've just realized how long it's been since I've posted.  I was thinking it was only a few days, but it's been nine or ten.  We've been busy.

The house is decorated for Christmas except for the Christmas tree.  (My honey, being a forester, is not the least bit interested in an artificial tree, so in order for it to be fresh for Christmas, he doesn't cut one until a week or so before.)  Since we have the new furniture in the living room, it's been trial and error to decide where to places things.  I think I have it for now, but next week, who knows?  :-)

Bruder Bear is here!  He arrived tonight and will be with us until Monday morning.  He and his son JR will hunt with Dan for the next few days and it's so fun to have him here.  Here's hoping they'll have some luck, but no matter what, I know they'll have a good time.  

I'm doing some stitching in my sewing room.  I bought myself a little pre-Christmas present.  It's an AccuQuilt GO! fabric cutter like the one I used to make the quilt for a shop sample last spring, and I'm using dies to make 8" star blocks with the 3 Sisters Sentiments fabrics.  Oh, and the runner I made last month for the coffee table using that fabric?  Well, I decided it looked better on the dining room table so I'm thinking this new quilt will reside on our bed as originally planned.  As I mentioned above, it's been trial and error this year in the decorating department. . .  

Stay tuned!  I'll be back in a day or two with picture of the in-progress Christmas quilt!

A Little This and That

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we had a wonderful day down at my parents'.  We broke tradition and had ham instead of turkey and it was delicious.  Of course we had mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, and pumpkin and mince pies.  As usual, everyone complained about eating too much, but that's to be expected.  

On the Monday before Thanksgiving we enjoyed an overnight visit from grandson Keaton.  His school was out for the week but brother Cameron's was not, so Keaton was looking for a little "vacation" for a day or so. He and Papa Dan cleaned and filled the hot tub and Keaton enjoyed being the first one in this year.  (I suspect it wasn't quite as fun without a brother to splash around with, however.)  

In the evening I introduced him to a favorite site of mine, especially during the holidays.  Jigzone is an online jig saw puzzle site with many categories of puzzles, but my favorites are, of course, the Christmas ones.  You can change the cut and go from six pieces to one with about 276, so even if you've done a puzzle before, you can still be challenged by it.  Keaton loved it.  

Aebelskivers were requested for breakfast and this grammy was kept busy at the stove making strawberry jam filled yummies.  

By the time I was done it seemed as though a bomb had gone off (I seem to have dirtied every bowl and scraper in the kitchen, not to mention the liberal use of powdered sugar), but as Dan said, no one was hurt in the explosion.  :-)  We all ate until we were stuffed. Mmmmm....

Of course the trains came out and covered the living room floor.  Dan and Keaton were even able to diagnose and fix a problem with a special train I'd gotten for Dan years ago, and Keaton loved sending it chug-chugging down the track.  (It actually made that sound once we found a 9-volt battery to revive it's "voice".)  

Meanwhile, in the sewing room I came up with a little project to be used in this month's embroidery club that proved to be a hit.  We machine embroiders often have designs we love but just can't figure out what to do with. I was pondering this and all at once came up with an idea: stitch out a row of them, frame them with simple borders, and you have a perfect little accent for a wall or table.   I have a different one on display at the shop, but here's one I finished here at home.

This particular design is from an OESD pack called Holiday Luster.  Each design in the pack is one color, which makes it perfect for quick stitching.  

And last, in house news, we ordered the carpet for the stairs today!  They said there'd be no problem getting it done by Christmas!!  Yay!