Finally- A Post!

Yes-I have been woefully negligent in my blogging duties.  Everyday that I plan to post, something comes up.  For example today it is this:

Our house is bi-level; the kitchen, which is the first floor, is below ground level by about 40”.  This causes a LOT of plumbing problems because the drain run more horizontally than vertically. It also means that much of our plumbing is between walls instead of being exposed in a basement. (We don’t have a basement) What I thought was a slow running kitchen drain has become a leak somewhere in the pipes.  The plumber has gone in search of a camera so he can see what is going on. We are not pleased.
In happier news, Adrienne and Joe baptized Lenny and had their marriage blessed earlier this month.  We drove down to Maryland for the weekend. 
Can I just say?  Lenny is a healthy baby! He is 8 months old and is over 20 pounds! His christening outfit just fit him (although the hat was TOO small!)
 
He looks just like Adrienne did a that age.  And he is a very happy baby:

And finally, I have been knitting a sweater.  It is a neck down pattern with a V-neck:

It is actually a denim blue heather from Cascade 220 yarn.
Last night I babysat Michael and Dylan. Dylan was helping me by unwinding the yarn as I knit:



He is an excellent helper!
More to come!

UPDATE:  The plumber(s) were here from here from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm tonight.  They replaced several feet of pipe, snaked for hours and put a few holes in my lower cabinets (inside).  My sink is still plugged up.

The verdict-we have a collapsed pipe under the cement floor in the hallway.  It will require pulling the carpet, jack hammering the floor, replacing the pipe and then making all the repairs.  We are looking at a second (and possibly third) opinion-and estimates. But as my husband has reminded me, it is not an earthquake or tsunami.

No Computer!

My computer has been acting up lately so it is out being checked. I am typing this on my iPad. I am finding out how dependent I am on my lap top. Bejeweled Blitz is just not the same!!

At least I am doing lots more sewing! I finished a little quilt top today and I played with my flower maker. I will get pictures up ASAP!

A Clean Sewing Room…Again

Yes I finally cleaned my sewing room-again!  This time, instead of just shoving stuff into my closet, I was able to similar things together on my new shelves!

Look at this horrible mess- I moved the drawers from next to the TV to under the new shelves so now I have my desk area back.

 

This corner was killing me.  If something fell, it was gone forever!

Now it looks like this:

This is a new shelf that I PUT TOGETHER MYSELF!! When we get it on the wall and filled, I will post a picture.

Here is a picture of a little quilt I am working on.  I love my little kitties!

Finally!

Yes!  I finally finished something!

Not that I have not been busy.  Since it has been so gosh darn cold I have mostly been working on my afghan.  It is coming along slowly.  It has 20 colors plus white.  It is 72” wide so the rows take a while.  I am working on the second repeat of colors:

I plan to do three repeats and then some kind of border.

I have also quilted a couple of quilts and some placemats but more on that later.

This is what I finished:

It is a cover for my I pad:

(Note the shameless plug of my grandsons!)

About two years ago Katie and I hit up the Rescue Mission Clothing Store looking for wool to felt.  Well, we promptly forgot all about it.  Last week Katie came over and we finished getting the fabrics ready for the wash (make that five wash loads!). I made the cover from some of the fabrics.

This is the back.  I quilted over the pattern that was already there.

 

I  put in a pocket…

…And I even covered a button!

I really, really like it!

And here is a preview of my next post:

(My husband is too good to me!)

Lauren’s Quilt

I almost forgot! Lauren made her boyfriend a quilt for Christmas.  And she really did do all of it.  I just supervised (and she will tell you it was grudgingly-I really don’t like making T-shirt quilts).

I think she did a great job!

Keeping Busy

When it is cold and snowy, as this January has been,  my love of yarn overcomes me.  This month I have been in the mood to crochet.  I have been collecting skeins of Cascade 220 yarn to make an afghan. Lots and lots of colors accented with white.

It is big and is eating yarn: It is as wide as a queen sized mattress. I made the mistake of measuring my progress yesterday: it was only 17” long.  Oh dear-in my head I thought it was about 25”!  Each row takes me about 40 minutes to crochet-a simple calming repetition of double crochet.

And just for fun, some pink hearts for Valentine’s Day.  I am going to make a garland for my fireplace.  Each heart is almost instant gratification: I can make one in about 20 minutes.

You can find the pattern for the hearts here.

The View From My Window

I took this picture in my kitchen.

I was supposed to work today and my road had not yet been plowed; the highways were still covered in snow and I drifted off the road because it was snowing so hard.  I came back home and called in.

And now it has stopped snowing, the sun is shining, and the roads are clear.

Another typical winter day in Central New York.

My Christmas Tree

My tree has been up for a while- I just keep forgetting to post a picture!

This is a new tree.  For a couple of years I have wanted a shorter, slimmer, pre-lit tree.  We finally got one this year.

I really like it a lot! (By the way, the picture is crooked-not the tree!)

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care…

Ruthie waiting patiently for Christmas.

Time to Make the Cookies!

Buddy’s Snow Day

Buddy LOVES the snow! He would stay out all day if we let him.    

And then there is pitiful Buddy:

Day 4 of Captivity

It is still snowing with no end in site.  This is what I have done so far today:

Turkey soup Italian style (with tiny meatballs-homemade)

A loaf of bread (a little brown; my first try with the kitchen-aid mixer)

Cinnamon buns

I have also taken a walk with the dog AND played outside with him.

And when Days of Our Lives is over (my little guilty pleasure) I am going upstairs to work in my sewing room.  It needs a good cleaning and I have been putting it off.  

What do YOU do in the snow?

75 Hours and Counting

This morning the Today Show reported that it had been snowing continuously in Central New York (Syracuse) for 73 hours.  Well that was 2 and 1/2 hours ago and it is still snowing!  Here are some pictures from my front door:

My husband plowing our driveway….

…and the neighbor’s driveway next door.

No-this is not upside down-this is the overhang on my front door!

  

Keep warm everyone!

Pictures, Pictures

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and now the Christmas countdown is on.

Adrienne and Joe came home for Thanksgiving and I cannot believe how big Leonard has gotten!  We tried very hard to get some good pictures of the boys but as you can see, that proved impossible! But we had a great time and Michael, Dylan, and Leonard enjoyed their cousin time.

 

Katie has a friend whose husband is a professional photographer so on Black Friday, rather than shop, the girls had some family pictures taken.

Rather than get prints made, the photographer uploaded all the pictures to Shutterfly.  This will be perfect for the girls-and me.  Each  of us can pick out the pictures we like and order just what we need.  We can crop and adjust the pictures to our liking also.  Adrienne is just ordering prints to send with her cards but Katie and I usually get the picture Christmas cards.(Katie has also ordered invitations to the boys’ birthday parties and she even made a book with Michael’s school work and report cards! Michael loves looking through his book-and so do I!)  There are a couple of pictures of the girls that I would like  to have and the pictures with the whole family are great-it is hard to get us all together!  I also like Shutterfly because I can send the link to the pictures to other family and friends.  I just know that everyone wants to see pictures of my grandsons! Plus,once you register with Shutterfly, they let you know about all of their specials-free shipping, special sales, etc.  All in all it is a neat little site.

Also-enjoy this picture of Buddy.  Lauren had just left to go home.  Oh how he loves her!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Birthday-and Anniversary!

Well yesterday was my birthday and Wednesday it will be our 31st wedding anniversary.  I was going to update my nook to the color version but we decided instead to buy a joint present:

I put a nook application on the i-pad and of course several quilting and knitting applications.  It is really a lot of fun.  The girls got me a nice cover for it.  We are going to Ikea in Philly on Tuesday so I may finally be happy in the car!