Merry Belated Christmas!

We had a great Christmas and I'm just now coming out of the fog. Of course I went back to work today (boohoo) after a five day weekend which was not so much fun but that's life. The Husband got sick on the day after Christmas and is still recuperating. I sure hope he doesn't pass it to anyone else, because it wasn't pleasant!



So here is a cool shot of the Christmas tree, courtesy of The Husband:


That's the back of Scarlet O'Hara to the left and a Star Wars ornament in the middle. I thought the wiggly effect of the lights was the cool part.


And here are a few shots of the tea cozy's that I made as gifts for lots-o-people. I found the pattern on Sew Mama Sew and altered it a bit to suit my supplies and lazy whims. Here are my alterations:

1. I didn't bother top-stitching the tops of the pockets. I totally didn't miss it.
2. I didn't use fusible interfacing. I had some crinoline laying around from a fellow guild member and I used that. Since it wasn't fusible, I pinned it to the back side of the inside piece and stitched it in place while sewing on the pockets. Two birds with one stone.
3. Urm, I totally eye-balled the location of the pockets, and just folded a crease in to find the middle.
4. I didn't pre-sew the ribbon/strap piece down. I just pinned the two sides together with it stuck in there and was careful to be sure that I could see a wee bit of it peaking out as I sewed over it.

I also wrote this little poem to go along with it, although the non-cooperation of my printer caused most people to instead receive my goof-ball overly enthusiastic (but humble, I hope!) explanation in person:

I am a tea cozy

I hold your bags of tea

If that doesn't suit your fancy

there's still a use for me

I can hold charge cards, gift cards and more

I hope you find something

fun for me to store!

My mom wants me to make some for her yoga studio (Well Within Health Center in Streetsboro Ohio) but I think for now I am cozied out. I also have two projects coming up with my guilds - one is a round robin which has a due date for the center square in mid-January (and yes, I haven't started!) and another where I need to use two crayon colors to make a quilt. My colors were blue and red-orange. Hmm. I already have some blocks made up in those colors for another purpose that I haven't gotten back to...maybe I have a different use for them! And of course there is the ongoing hand-piecing of the starburst quilt and The Boy's quilt needs layered, basted, quilted & bound.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday, or just nice days off if you don't celebrate that sort of thing. I'll take a few days off any time of the year!

Christmas Meme

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate
Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? He wraps them. With our paper and tags, no less.
Colored lights on tree or white? Colored!
When do you put your decorations up? Usually when we put the tree up. We traditionally go and cut down a live tree with The Husband's sister & family so schedules sometimes dictate that we do that slightly before December 1st.
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? This is weird but probably sauerkraut and kielbasa. Also, there is nothing quite like the perfect storm of a bite on your fork that includes turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.
When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My sister and I guessed. We mutually agreed that it probably couldn't possibly be true and then we conspired to hide from our parents that we had anything other than jovial thoughts of Santa. I do however believe that the spirit of Santa is alive in many things we do for this beautiful time of year, and that constitutes belief in Santa. So on the one hand I don't believe he zooms around the world in a sleigh led by a red-nosed reindeer...but on the other hand I do believe that his spirit of giving permeates the season.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I did as a kid. Now I watch my own kids do it.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With an extensive collection of ornaments collected by both me and The Husband. Actually most of the "old" (i.e., pre-wedding ornaments) are The Husband's.
Can you ice skate? If you have to ask then you haven't met me.
Do you remember your favorite gift? There have been so many. As an adult...probably the year The Husband had The Boy's first day home from the hospital outfit framed in a shadow box. Or possibly when he gave me ornaments that he had made from a sliver of the trunks of Christmas trees that we had in important years - our first tree, The Boy's first tree, and The Girl's first tree. As a kid - it's probably a toss-up between the pink whicker sewing basket (which I sadly no longer have) and the Radio Flyer red tricycle.
What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my family, and watching the wonder of special moments for the kids.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? If I had a favorite others might get jealous and refuse to let me eat them, so they are all pretty much equally loved.
What is your favorite tradition? It's tough to say. So much has changed in our family dynamics over the past few years that sadly it will never be the same for me and so traditions don't really feel like they've held.
Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? Probably giving. There is a lot of stress associated with appropriately receiving. He.
What is your favorite Christmas Song? Jingle bells
Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum!
Ever regifted a Christmas present? What? Oh sorry, I had some candy cane in my mouth there. Didn't hear the question.

Blogiversary Winner!

And the winner is:

Joyce!

Congratulations, Joyce! I had The Husband choose a number between 1 and 9 (inclusive) to choose the winner and his number was 4. Here's a photo of your winnings. It is 4 fat quarters of blue & sparkly winter fabric.

Other news:

Quilting - I finished The Girl's quilt!!!! Well, it doesn't have a label but it is bound and ready for use. It's funny but I am busily thinking of tons of things I could sew for people for Christmas. It doesn't seem to phase me at all that Christmas is less than 20 days away. Ha!

Speaking of Christmas, you may remember last year I mentioned that when The Husband went to take down our outdoor Christmas lights we were missing just one net of lights. They were very distinctive - it was a rainbow net. The Husband actually didn't like them because he didn't think it seemed very Christmas-y to have a rainbow bush. But to get back to the story, they were missing. We didn't think much of it, a neighborhood kid pulling them off for his/her own contentment, etc., whatever. Like I said, he didn't like them much so we weren't too broken up about it. Well the other day I was pulling in to our drive, and I noticed something curious: the neighbors that we don't talk to very much had their lights up. And they had 1 bush with a rainbow net. Hmm. None of their other lights are rainbows. Coincidence? Hard to say...of course we won't be mentioning it. Even if I wanted to mention it I couldn't since we don't really talk to them. Not out of dislike or anything, they just seem to not want to speak to us. Maybe because of their rainbow net guilt. Unlike the previous occupants of that house they are very quiet so I am content to leave things the way they are.

The Big Read - I had about 400 pages to go in Les Miserables when the book wouldn't renew anymore. So I took it to the library and started finishing up the read online. Let me just say that it is very tedious to read a book online. But you can do it too at the Gutenberg website. Hurray for free stuff!

Congratulations to Joyce and thanks everyone for playing! Maybe this year I'll post a little more regularly. And add some photos.

Peek-a-boo

Well hey, I guess all I had to do to get more comments was to give something away! He. If you don't know what I mean, visit the previous post and leave a comment before 12/15 for a chance at a little quilt gift. I did visit a number of new blogs and left comments, just as part of my effort to get to know the know quilt blog ring that I joined. So maybe that accounts for the increased comment traffic. Or maybe my charm is finally working it's magic. Ha ha.


I went to a new quilt shop the other day. It was a good 45 minutes away and I had a gift certificate that I didn't want to expire. You may remember that I had a block that The Girl practiced a few stitches on, which I mentioned a few posts back. Well, I still really love the pattern, and still want to make it. So I decided I was going to try and do it in a more traditional color scheme, like turkey red and white. But...I wasn't seeing anything in that shade that I liked, so I bought some fabric that was more, um, I guess I would call it Civil War pink? I just know I don't want to call it mauve. I am so excited about it, I couldn't even photograph it for real because then I would want to start work on it right away, and I still have two other projects that need to be done, The Boy's quilt top, and The Girls quilt binding. So this is just a little peek into the bag:

The pink one at the bottom is a paisley, and it is my favorite. I was prepared to do the entire quilt in that fabric when I found it, but alas, the store only had one yard.

This is a shot of the shadow of our Christmas tree, after The Husband showed his mountain-man colors. He chopped it down and dragged it to our car just like Pa Ingall's. Only he used a wagon. And Pa didn't have the farm owner tie it to the top.

This is an artistic interpretation of the tree, post-decoration done by (who else) The Husband.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you out in blogland. We haven't had any turkey yet today but we'll be heading over to the mil's shortly to pig out. I love food so I can't wait.

The picture above is The Girl attempting to stitch on a quilt block I made awhile back that I didn't like. (Contrast wasn't high enough.) She tried so hard, and made two stitches, about six inches apart. Please oh please let her like sewing!!

I saw on Quilt Otaku that she suggested listing things you are grateful for. Here are mine:

1. Family - that we are all together safe and sound is the best gift ever


2. The three basics of life for my family - food, shelter, and clothing, and of course the paycheck that makes it possible


3. Friends, online & off


4. Having been born and bred a citizen of the United States of America - there are so many places where things we consider basic here are unreachable dreams. Not to say there aren't other great places, but I am grateful for living in a democracy.


5. last but not least...QUILTING!!!

Just in case you thought I was getting too emotional or something, here is a little tidbit courtesy of The Boy. The Husband asked him, how do you make a turkey? His answer:

"First you buy a wild turkey. Then you put it in the oven and it dies. It turns brown. Take it out of the oven and put a bone in it. Then eat it."