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!
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.
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 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.
Buddy LOVES the snow! He would stay out all day if we let him.
And then there is pitiful Buddy:
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?
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!
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!
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!
A sewing caddy for my chair. I used the Aunt Grace 30’s material.
An embroidered angel ornament.
A hanging organizer for my sewing room. The pockets are from a panel that coordinates with the background and binding fabric. This is my own design!
This is Buddy’s newest trick. Now that the front door is closed this is the only pace he can look out the window. (The deck door would be too easy, I guess!)
Sorry I cut off your head Dave!
Have you seen this tip yet?
Did you know that you can use the Glad Press n’ Seal to mark your quilting patterns?
I traced on to the Glad Wrap with a fine point Sharpy, stuck it on to my fabric and then stitched through it.
(My machine was not set up for free motion quilting so I did a zig-zag through the Glad Wrap.)
It peels away fairly easily. You might need a pin to get into some tight places but I really had no problem.
I am thinking that you might be able to cut simple shapes from your fabric also.
Let me know if you try it!
OK. This tip is for me more than anyone else.
This is a picture from a picture from a few days ago. I usually drape my my quilts over my frame for taking pictures.
What you DON’T see is the quilt that is on the frame and ready to go. It has been on there since JULY.
This year I have started and not finished 2 large quilts, a table runner and several assorted “mid-sized” quilts. A couple need borders; all need to be quilted.
So my tip is: finish at least one WIP before the end of the year. I plan to devote November to getting these quilts quilted. I have no excuse for not finishing-except that I keep starting new things! Since I am all caught up with my obligations at the shop, I can concentrate on my own projects.
I will keep you posted on my progress.
Now, get to work!
We had this fabric at the shop and I knew that we could do something different with it. The original fabric was a repro from the Marie Webster Collection (I think Georgia Bonesteel designed it). There were 12 hankies/panel.
So I fooled around with them and did this:
I fussy cut the petals and then appliqued them (machine of course!) onto 6 1/2” blocks.
And this is the little quilt I made.
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