A little end of year project

Maybe it is more of an early start on 2008's first project. I know it won't be completely finished tomorrow but the top might be done. This is my impression of a snowflake. I think I will add a little border yet, before calling it good, or at least adequate! This is my offering for the winter installment of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap, unless I change my mind or decide to try a second one and see which one turns out best. I have until January 30 to get it in the mail.

Last one for 2007

I did it! I finished my Christmas quilt. Granted, it wasn't by Christmas but only 3 days later. We slept under it last night and I will keep it out for at least a couple of weeks before it is put away till next December. I am quite sure that will be the last finished item for the year so my total comes in at 57. Not to shabby. It will be interesting to see how well I do at finishing things in 2008!

We had a great week here. Larry took the week off and the grandbaby brought his mom and dad over for almost a week and we just goofed off. Things did get done but nothing major - mostly chasing a certain 2-year old from one near disaster to the next.

Now we need to work on all those year-end things to get ready for tax time. Larry is doing inventory today and I need to get November and December information into the computer. Then we wait for all the year-end papers from banks, etc. and we should be able to get our paperwork to the accountant by the end of January if all goes well.

Yesterday after the kids left we did a little tidying around the house and I did laundry and ironing. I also got my birthday fabrics prewashed and pressed so they are ready to go once I figure out exactly what I am doing with them. First on my agenda, however, is a little quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. Winter is the theme and I am still at a loss as to what I will make so I need to really focus if I am to get it finished by January 30.

Merry Christmas to all!

Our company is here so there is lots going on all the time so I haven't had much time to post. Besides that I got a pretty new car yesterday so there was the negotiation and picking up thrown in there. Not really a Christmas present though. I got a new car so our son can use my previous car. He thinks he is having a pretty good Christmas also in spite of being turned down for the exchange program to New Zealand.

Right now the grandbaby is w-w-w-watching his new movie with everyone, tucked under his new quilt. Princess Lucy got two new toys so she is having fun. Everyone else is allowed unlimited Chex Party Mix so life is good around here!

The birthday is over

My final birthday gift came yesterday from my sister. A Christmas story book, not the Christmas story but a Christmas story about a little girl, a monkey and an organ grinder. I might read it to Layden but it might be a bit beyond him yet!

I have been keeping busy. Thinking about what to do with my birthday fabrics and working on the quilting of my Christmas quilt. I have 9 more squares to quilt and the sashings and borders around them. Then I can get the binding on and use it on Christmas Eve or maybe Christmas Day. I have baking to do but luckily my family doesn't expect too many goodies. Mostly its the Chex Party Mix that needs to get made so they will not starve on Christmas Day since my rule is that I don't cook on Christmas! That ended about 20 years ago when I was busy making Christmas dinner in the kitchen and the children and their father were having fun in the living room and dining room watching movies and playing games. Now we lay around all day and it is awesome!

We did some food shopping today so we should have most of what we need for next week. Larry is done with work for the rest of the year. The grandbaby arrives on Monday (as long as the pass stays open!) and life is good!

Still more birthday!

Last night at craft night we celebrated my birthday in Sally's fancy dining room with cake and ice cream. We didn't really get much crafting done but lots of great visiting. I even got another present! This beautiful packet of fabric. It isn't really something I would have chosen for myself but Nadine thought I needed to step a little further outside the box. Now I have two more quilts I need to make!

Yesterday we also got our propane tank delivered and we started up our new stove for the first time. The bad news is that in the fine print it says that you must run it for four hours the first time you use it as a part of the paint curing process. In real people terms, this means that the stove will smoke a bit and cause smoke alarms to go off. Some of our alarms we could remove the battery from, but the one up at the top of the cathedral ceiling we can't reach easily so every 8 minutes one of the boys had to use a dowel to make it shut up! I was glad to leave for craft night! We were a little concerned when we turned it on this afternoon that we would have a repeat performance but it has been on for several hours with no beeping. The boy and the dog are enjoying the fire.

The birthday fun continues tonight when we go out for dinner and I have been told that there should be one more package in the mail tomorrow or the next day.

An excellent day!

At least so far! You see, it's my birthday! I got packages ready for mailing first thing this morning and then went out to run an errand and when it was done I stopped off at a LQS to use my birthday coupon entitling me to a discount of half my age - the one place that values age!!! I saw this quilt online this morning and decided I would use my discount on fabric to make a similar one. Mine will be in blue, yellow, green and white instead of the orange, green, brown and white since they are my favorite color combination! I told my husband that he did a great job of picking out my birthday present this year! His only question was "How generous was I?"

My two best friends (and drinking buddies) took me out to a very nice lunch which included a bottle of champagne and a lovely dessert. They also gave me these two lovely gifts which they are planning to share! We are hoping to have the "Perfect Hot Toddies in front of the gas stove sometime after the holidays and I am sure we will manage to work the Kahlua chocolate fondue in sometime soon also! We are nothing if not willing to try new things!

When my little boy got home from school he presented me with a lovely gift also - a Paul Potts CD One Chance.

We will go out for my birthday dinner on Wednesday since that is the last day of school before Christmas and the boy doesn't need to get home so early!

Tomorrow our new propane tank will be delivered and we might be able to have fire tomorrow night! I won't be home since it will be craft night and I am bringing a from scratch German Chocolate Cake for a treat! I hope to spend the day getting presents wrapped so they can move out of my sewing room!

...a lot...

Ornaments are on the tree, boxes are back in the attic and I am tired! I probably don't even have half of my ornaments on the tree but it is full enough. I still have a couple of little trees I will put somewhere for a bit of extra color. There is also some tidying to do but I have at least 5 less boxes going back into the attic than I took down. Two are definitely going to the thrift store, some was trash (lights that don't work, anyone?) and some I might decide to put on eBay (Christmas Corelle and various mugs and glasses). There are still various items that need a little glue or ironing or whatever, but a good day all in all!

We are heading to a Christmas party tomorrow afternoon and are supposed to each bring the requisite white elephant gift so while I was in the attic today I brought down a couple of priceless treasures from the white elephant gift box. Several great things to choose from. Tomorrow I will post pictures of what we took to the party and what we are forced to bring home! You can decide whether we traded up or down.

...a little...

I think this is where the Christmas tree will be this year. It is kind of stuck behind the futon but until that piano is gone it is the best place to put it so we can still move around! The lights are on and maybe today I will bring ornaments down and start getting those sorted out.

Today will be a day for running errands. I need to get some groceries and do a little baking/candy making so I can get a package off to Alaska to make sure it is there in time for Christmas. I also need to get some sort of boxes for the ornaments I made so they will ship well.

...to look...

I have made a little more progress on the decoration front. On Friday I borrowed a taller artificial tree from a friend who isn't using it this year because of travel plans. I got the tree together and in one possible spot. It might get moved elsewhere if we can create a better spot. We were unable to get rid of our piano this year so it is still a little crowded in the great room with a tree.

Yesterday I spent the day decorating at church and setting up for our annual (well, mostly annual) Christmas musical performance and dinner. We had a poor turnout last night but the program went well and the additional space we have in the sanctuary makes doing a production like this so much easier. I forgot my camera so I will have to take a picture this evening when we do it all again and it is all decked out and candlelit.

I hope tomorrow to get the tree at home in its final home for the holidays and get at least lights on it. I would also like to get this year's ornaments finished so I can get them in the mail to family that we won't be seeing over the holidays. I have been filling any spare time with hand quilting on my Christmas quilt with my feet up. I hope to have that done to put on the bed by Christmas eve but we shall have to see about that one!

Doing my part

If you have heard any news reports this week you know that western Washington go a little bit of rain and snow Saturday - Monday of this week. We are very lucky and have had no real problems. Larry got delayed in getting home on Monday and it was very wet and the power went out a couple times for short periods but we were lucky. Elsewhere in our county and the rest of western Washington bridges washed out, homes were flooded or destroyed, trees came down, lives were lost, sinkholes opened up in roads and even I-5 is closed under up to 10 feet of water! As I said, we were very lucky!

One of the Seattle TV/radios stations was accepting donations to help flood victims today over in Renton at IKEA. I had really wanted to donate some of my quilts when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans but it just didn't seem to work out so today I piled 9 denim quilts, 5 crazy quilts and one other quilt into my car along with some food and other items and drove over to Renton and dropped them off. By 1 pm they had one semi full and enough piled alongside it to fill another semi and they are collecting until 11 tonight! It is overwhelming! I am just glad I had the opportunity to give something when we are so blessed!

It's beginning...

I have gotten started on Christmas decorating. These three little trees were our alternative Christmas tree three years ago which was the last time all three kids were home for Christmas. That was before our last remodel and the thought of having a Christmas tree taking up space when everyone was home just didn't seem like a good plan.

The last two years we have been away for Christmas for Layden's (grandson) birth (December 22) and his first birthday so we really didn't get the house decorated at all.

This year our oldest daughter, our son-in-law and grandson will be here and I want to go through all my decorations and decide what to keep and what needs to go away. So this is my first box that came down. I used some Christmas fabrics to hide the trunks a bit.

The picture isn't great but the best I could do what with limited light from outside (it is stormy here) but it gives the idea.

Our weather here since Saturday am has been interesting at best and downright nasty at worst. Western Washington is making headlines with this storm. Out our house we had an inch or two of snow on Saturday. That was demolished by rain Saturday evening. Sunday morning brought more snow followed by warming temperatures and rain all afternoon. Overnight the wind and rain got heavier and have continued this morning. Because we are on a hill our house isn't affected much but Larry is stuck in Bremerton because the roads out of town are flooded and closed.

With the weather and my cold it has been a great time to just sit and do some hand-quilting!