Merry Christmas - the Party is over

Nine o'clock Christmas evening,, I'm tired. Don't you think the build up to Christmas sucks a lot of energy? I got to stay in my jammas until about 330 today when I thought that I had better get ready for my 430 family arrival ( should have stayed in jammas! hey~! it's family! ).
I baked a spiral ham, had fresh green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, sauteed sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar, rolls, salad... there wasn't a whole lot of cooking... but I'm beat!

We got snow yesterday, not like the east coast, thank goodness, ( and I say this cause Texas can NOT handle snow like that! We freak at flakes ! ) but we did get about 1-2 inches. It was sure pretty coming down.. and I can guarantee that I was SO happy to not have to get out in it! It was beautiful from the inside and the news was full of car accidents because of it. Like I said,, Texans do not do white precipitation well..


Tomorrow is the other half of the family, and we go to their house! Enchiladas for dinner, yuuummm! I made my granddaughters these fleece throws,, this one is for Destiny, she is 7 and very much a girly-girl

and this one is for Lexi,, hot pink describes her to a "T",, oh! she is 3 years old too,, can't wait to see what the years bring! They are so soft and nice.. I have made things like this from flannel and ragged them but never fleece. Super easy!

These are from a McCalls pattern and measure about 4 foot tall by about 5 feet wide. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the loose legs... maybe I put them together wrong, the arms should be attached to the legs more than they are. But they are nice soft fleece, double pieced so they should be warm when the girls are wrapped up in them. I sure hope they like them!

Time for bed,, more fun and excitement tomorrow.. but first, another piece of ham

Merry Christmas Eve

well, the elves are behind but MY work is done! I have all the presents finished ( oops, I lied, the label has to go on the quilt for my son, but that's a piece of cake ). I have to run to the store, again!, for something to finish tomorrow's dinner.

Would you believe that DH insists on wrapping the grandkids presents!?! I said "Sure! Go ahead!" but he is the 'elf' and hasn't started yet. I'm not worried, he has all day!

I stumbled on a great giveaway at Susan's Needlemagic blog. Check it out,, some pretty nice things are in the giveaway basket!

Today I get to sew and stay inside - would you believe that we had 75 degree weather yesterday, all sun-shiny and bright. I even had the back door open! Today! they are predicting snow, 40 mph winds and rain... sorta like the government,, you just never know what to expect.

till later.
enjoy your day!

Video of the Day

where were these guys when I was putting up my tree!
enjoy

Movie Watching

I decided that I needed a little bit of indulgence today,, ever feel like that? It's cold ( well, 47 degrees and that is cold to me here in Texas! I know, I know,,, that is n.o.t. cold...) and overcast and just a generally yucky day. I was a good wife first, I cleaned, ran an errand and even took a batch of cookies I made yesterday ( they are yummy, too! ) to my MIL.

Then, the boys and I ( the two, four-legged kind of boys, gray one is Webster and the white one is Dexter ) crawled up in bed, wrapped up in quilts and watched Julie & Julia. I have had it here for about a week and just never got around to watching it. Chick flick - husband wasn't interested. that's ok,, I like movies by myself - well, not by myself cause the boys are there, but they aren't watching, are they? no, they take naps and scooch up next to me and try to push me off the bed, and.... well you get the idea.

Have you seen it yet? I really enjoyed it and recommend it - Meryl Streep is great at anything she is doing. Maybe I liked it so much cause I like to cook, wish I knew more about really cooking ( with a capital C ). One of my goals in life is to go to a school to learn how to professionally use knives. Crazy goal, but I want to learn.

The kind of cooking that I do is SO not like Julia Child - mine is the quick cook -- the "get it on the table, fill up the belly, clean the kitchen - whew! done! ( reminds me of a cowboy roping a steer at the rodeo - you know, when he has the steer's legs tied and he thows out his hands? ) " kind of cooking.

But people in my world aren't into hollandaise sauces, or beef spelled boeuf, geez they don't even like La Madeline's! So, cooking like that would be just for me and I have enough trouble keeping weight off!

Anyway,, I was sorta thinking that cooking to Julia/Julie is like quilting is to those of us who love it so much. It's our form of expression. It's a way to let people know we love them, we care about them. It's our therepy ( and cheaper than a shrink, no matter HOW much fabric you buy! ) and it keeps us sane. We can make beautiful, artistic statements about how we are feeling, whether it is happy or sad, scared or lonely.

It is like cooking... only our quilts last longer and the clean up is easier!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday season... time to go rope a steer -- uuhhh,, make dinner.

Oriental Quilt Finished

I finally got the borders on the Oriental quilt I have been making, and the agreement from all at my Saturday Bee was the green border was just perfect...

It really was a very pretty day today ( felt like close to 70 degrees! ) and the sun was shining, but the colors didn't come out as well as I had wished.. but you get the idea I hope!

this quilt has the colored border around each of the four patches loose,, like this

so I made the green around the outer border be the same way. My friendly quilter tirane and I were discussing how to quilt this... she's thinking on it! I gave her a challenge -- yipee! Never thought I could do that!

I'm happy with it -- it's folded and on the "completed" stack.

Now, imagine this quilt with the setting triangles the same fabric as the border -- and maybe change the sashing around the four patches,,, something to think about, huh?? I saw this done and it was really really pretty. Maybe for another time.

Giveaway Time at The Green Fairy

Check out The Green Fairy website,,
she has some of the cutest patterns, and a great sale on charm packs, jelly rolls, etc..
check it out! She is giving away a layer cake, a jelly roll and a pattern --
cool, huh!

Have a Great Morning!

I have great friends that are sharing funnies with me -- I sure hope you have a better morning than this guy! And my heart goes out to all those in the snowed in parts of the country.
It is about 40 degrees here in Big D, and the sun is supposed to come out and be a really pretty day. I sure hope so, got more shopping to do!
enjoy!

( not affiliated with any advertising on this clip )

I'm a sucker for a MYSTERY

Did I mention that I have been home for the last 4 months and loving it!!! Please! I do not, repeat DO NOT want to go back to work!!!

I think I'm going to do another mystery,,, along with the Carolina Christmas, this one is from the yahoo group "A Pocketful of Mysteries". I'll do a crib size so that won't be so bad. There are four fabrics to pick out, one is a border and the others are the quilt itself

My border fabric will be the stripe and the rest should tie that in - reminds me of SPRING!! They are calling the pattern RAISING CANE... should be interesting!

Anyone else playing???

Carolina Christmas - progress

Who else is doing Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas mystery quilt??? I'm moving slowly right on along,, I ALMOST have step 2 done -- VBG -- I know, step 2 doesn't seem like I'm moving at all! but geez,, there are about 3 gillion pieces per step!

ok, this is one part,,,

and this is the second,,, picture one is 2 pieces x 216 sections and the second picture is going to be a total of 5, yep 5! pieces x 104 sections,,,
see! I'm not so slow after all! golly,, if my math is right, then I have sewn already 952 pieces!! yikes!

so,, who else is playing??

Enjoy the Music

with nothing else to do this morning ( sure, you believe that, right?) I'm reading emails and someone sent me this video from youtube... creative high school students got this together
enjoy!!

Christmas at my house

Christmas is usually not done in a big way at my house. I'm usually working, we don't have a lot of company over ( we go to their houses!) and decorating for the two of us seems sorta silly.

WELL

this year I have been home for three months ( company layoff ) and I decided that I wanted to enjoy the holiday while I'm at home,,, all by myself,,, just for my self! Husband thinks I'm nuts but phooey to him!

So he finally got all my decorations out Sunday and yesterday I put the tree up ( after moving furniture and stuff, maybe I AM crazy! )..This is my naked tree all it has on it is lights, it was pre-lit so I can't claim any great feat ;). Looks pretty naked! I found my nativity set, I was into Southwest style and made this one, ceramics, I still like the simplicity of it... and you have to have a nativity! I have been doing ceramics off and on since I was about 5 years old ( you should see some of the early stuff! ) and I made a real authentic looking one when I was about 7. Mother always had it under the tree, every year,,, hhmmm,, she is in a better place now, and the house has been dismantled, etc... wonder where that nativity set went??? See the white tree skirt??? How many of you still use the classic white sheet! This is not a sheet but it is white material ( kaufman kona probably ) gotta make a skirt!

anyway,, I found this little guy in the box, too... stuck him on the tree but he is all alone! He is made of glass and has a little clippie thing to hold him up. Isn't he just the cutest! It was so much fun going thru the one box,, Christmas memories of times past.

I have several more boxes to work thru,,, one a day is the goal. I have the Christmas spirit now!