Snow!

You can tell it's early in the snow season by my enthusiasm!  Later on it will be "more snow, ugh" but now it's "Yeah, it's snowing!"  It has snowed off and on all day, a lovely wet snow that will nourish the ground.  Not too cold, just at freezing, an no wind. It didn't stick to the roads but it did stick to every branch and needle of every tree and bush making for a really beautiful sight.  Quinn and I took two walks in the park with the snow falling around us-just gorgeous.  Quinn will probably never lose her excitement over snow!  Tomorrow it may be to cold for a walk until afternoon.

I had planned, sort of, on going to the movies late this afternoon and taking myself out to dinner but I really didn't want to leave home so I had leftover beef stew and I'll be stitching while listening to movies.  I MIGHT stay up until midnight, or not, I'll see.  Quinn will crash about 9 whatever I do.

Today I cut some pieces for little houses, about 30.  I'll quit with these I think, although 365 was the goal I'll be happy with what I have, nearly 100 I think.

I'm going to sew the window units together tonight then do some cross stitch and English paper piecing-hexis and the secret project.  I find these really enjoyable and not at all boring.  This surprises me as I don't really like doing the same block over and over.

Enjoy New Year's Eve but drive safe if you're out and about!  Blessed Be!

The last of the gifts! I promise.

Tonights installment of gifts came from both my oldest brother (Jim and wife Jessie) and Beth, Lucas and the boys and all are for my bicycle, Annie!  A lovely basket, I had hoped it would be large enough for Quinn but I don't think so, a mounted holder for my cell phone, rear view mirror (for safety), biking gloves and really cute pink pompons for my handlebars!  Can't wait for it to warm up enough to deck Annie out!

As for gifts I gave, the boys got boring guy presents!  Rob a drill, Scott a drill press, Lucas a messenger bag, and Steve two parts for his ham radio--See Boring!

I did make some jacket protectors--if anyone wants to keep dust off their suit jackets, winter coats for dark blouses etc, just buy some flour sack tea towels (or similar small towels) and put at buttonhole in the center, then slip a coat hanger through the buttonhole and spread out the towel--nearly instant dust covers! I also made each of the girls here a couple of hot pads--

Just using up scraps and playing around with machine quilting.  Useful, although I did tell Tanya she had to USE them and not save them for posterity.

Un-time.

No one understands my concept of "Un-time" but that's what I consider the week between Christmas and New Years.  Too late to lose a 100 lbs or finish most things you wanted to do in 2012 and too early to begin work on 2013.  A time for a bit of planning, sleeping late, eating whenever, stitching and reading.  I love Un-time.  January 1 I'll be up and running but until them it's time to take it slow and easy.

Today, I took Tanya out to "Jared's" to purchase the proper size bracelet.  I gave the girls in Missouri Pandora bracelets and one charm.  I love the one I got for Mother's Day and they had all hinted large that they would like one.  The California girl got a necklace-one she'd apparently put on her list for my son to give her and I beat him to it!  Rob and Tanya gave me another charm for mine.  Green for Ireland, along with a calendar of Irish places.  I do so long to return to Ireland.  They also bought me a smaller crockpot-I don't need the biggest one they make too much any longer as I'm cooking for one!

Kolby and Nora (both three) received castles!  Melissa and Doug make some cute things.  They seem to have been a hit, Kolby was hiding things in the dungeon and Nora had her dinosaurs attacking the castle.  I took a chance here, as neither had it on their wish list but they were just so cute and so designed for creative play I couldn't help myself!

I've been lazy long enough today-wait who am I kidding?  One can never be lazy long enough!  I do want to finish up a smallish project or two in this un-time so I'll think I'll scoot my chair over to the sewing machine and get to it!

Tipsy bakers and other Christmas gifts!

I collect cookbooks.  I especially like cookbooks where the recipes are for scratch cooking things most folks buy.  Scott and Bri, I think, like to by me books off my list with odd names.  Last year it was The Human Powered Home,   this year it was Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese.  Jennifer's blog is on the sidebar as The Tipsy Baker!  She's amusing and evidently fearless in her cooking endeavors-as well as being a fellow cookbook collector.  I'll be trying some of these recipes-the only downside I've seen so far is that she's from California and they tend to add bizarre ingredients and twists to things which should be left alone-in my opinion.  Also from Scott and Bri I received a tome called The Principals of Knitting, every question I could ever ask about knitting should be answered in this book!  I used to knit quite a bit, got out of the habit when the children were small and I had neither time nor money, but I'd like to take it back up and this should help fill in the gap from my Great Aunt Daisy teaching me how to cast on, knit, purl and bind off when I was 12 until now!  They spoil me (all the children do) and also got me a lovely silver and blue bracelet--blue being my favorite color, I might have mentioned that a time or two.

More stitching done by me--Braxton's Travel memories quilt, a simple brick pattern in brown and orange flannel backed in fleece (forgot to get a picture!) with his first 5 patches sewn on.  Those patches collected on my trips last summer.  I also dressed a bear for him, as I have all the grandchildren.  That I did take a picture of!

A little recap!

Christmas was a lovely day, I'm just sitting here drinking my morning tea and thinking about it!
Speaking of tea, I don't drink coffee.  Larry drank coffee, my parents and grandparents drank coffee, so I drank coffee-for about 40 years!  For years I tried to find a really "good" coffee, no luck.  Finally, I realized that I just don't like coffee and went back to tea-which I love! Always have, even as a very young child.  I have to wonder what took me so long, I think it's the fact that coffee smells so amazing! I received some lovely "Tea"related things for Christmas: an electric tea kettle from Scott and Bri, a perfect tea maker (by Tevana) and a pound of Keemun tea! (from Steve, Candice and Nora)  I'm all set now, perhaps I'll actually use some of the tea pots I've collected over the years.

I'll tell you about my other gifts in installments!  Maybe that will keep me posting!

Scott and Bri came up Christmas Eve, being the first to use my new guest room!  On Christmas morning we descended on Beth and Lucas!  It's easier to go to them than for them to haul the boys and gifts here and they have a bigger house!  Although, it took a great many trips to unload all the cars (and then re-load them in the evening-a bit lighter.)

Amazingly, I completed all the sewing projects I decided to make for gifts!  I wish I didn't decide at the last minute to add projects to the list!  Brayden wanted his room decorated in University of Missouri (MIZZOU) stuff and I decided to give him that.  Buying sheets, blanket, a big 3x5 foot flag and other wall art then I made the curtains and a valance that has the chant the boys made up apliqued on it.  It was cool that Brayden recognized the chant as soon as he saw it!  Did I mention that he reads chapter books now?  In the first grade!  So cool, another bookworm in a family of bookworms!

More about other gifts later!

Happy Christmas!

Where in the world have I been?

Home!  I can't think why I haven't posted, possibly because I can't think of anything to post!

Really, I've raked a small mountain of leaves.  More this year than usual I think.  The oaks are shedding more of their leaves in the fall when they usually hang on to some of them until spring when the new leaves push them off the tree.  I'm done for now though, it's been two weeks since I raked the front and it still looks ok.  I could mow leaves but I don't think I will.  Poor plants are so confused-I have peonies with buds pushing up through the ground.  The weather just has things messed up.  It is colder today, but we really haven't had a killing frost that hung on for more than a day or two.  It should be colder and wetter.  We are still well below normal in precip for the year.  I'm concerned.  Without serious cold all the bugs will be worse AGAIN next summer, and ticks have been especially bad this fall.  While the warmer winter is nice for my heating bill, if it also means we have another HOT, HOT summer then the cooling bill will more than make up for it.  I don't think I can take another HOT, HOT summer.  I guess it's like the "fiscal cliff", absolutely nothing I can do about it except deal.

I read a great deal, more than I should if I want to get things done!  I just finished up a series by S.M. Stirling called Stories of the Change.  Science Fiction where suddenly machines just simply do not work, nor do guns etc.  They were interesting books full of lots of  sword fights, etc.  But they made me think of what I would do if suddenly the electric grid just went out without warning.  (A good book is one that makes you think "What if.")  Scary idea no electricity (among other things, no electricity means no air conditioning-see above paragraph!)  I've always been interested in learning the old ways of doing things and I've always thought that I'd have NEED of them.  Not just to be frugal but to survive!  Perhaps there are some life-changing ideas in there?

I've done some little sewing-really must get a fire lit under me!  Most things right now are for silly gifts so no photos.  In fact I think I'll head for a comfy chair to stitch, I'm already wearing my comfy pajamas!  Some TV and I'll be good--I think there's a new Hallmark Christmas movie coming on, gotta run!  (need to see it now in case there is a huge event that shuts down the electric grid and I can't see it later!  HA HA!  As if missing it would even occur to me in such an event!)