We've Been Decorating

Decorating for the holidays takes us a long time. I love our mix of thrifted vintage, family heirloom, gifted, travel collected, and handmade decorations.

Putting lights on the tree is exhausting for me. There are six hundred lights on this tree! Remember, it's the one on the right in this picture.  I like the little lights! They help get through the long winter. If only we could leave the tree up through March! Once the lights are on the tree the decorating is all fun.P and I have fun remembering all of the ornaments and who made them or where they come from. This is the beginning of the season for me -really thinking of and remembering loved ones. Holding the ornaments and choosing just the right place on the tree is a time to pause and remember. I feel a little like I have family members and friends past and present visiting for a short while. There are so many ornaments made for us, by us, and purchased on travels around the world hanging on our tree. Each year I treasure this trip down memory lane touching each little treasure.

We ALMOST have all the decorations on the tree. almost.

We are even using a new (to us) tree topper this year.

Oh, and we still need to find the white sheet that goes under the tree and add the icicles.

P is looking forward to doing her homework and coloring in the glow of the tree lights after school.

I have a quilt that I need to finish but I also really want to mix up some gingerbread dough for cookie boy cookies, and there are the other boxes of decorations. What is a mother to do?

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Flashback Friday - Paleontologists

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1974

This must have been the summer that we visited Dinosaur National Monument. Here we are camped in the North Dakota Badlands. We spent a long time unearthing a jaw in the gully behind our campsite. We were sure it was a dinosaur - jaw my father informed us it was a cow jaw. My sister says she still has those teeth!In the morning our tents were COVERED with mosquitoes. We broke camp quickly and tossed everything in the car without packing it neatly. We had breakfast farther down the road.Look, all three of us were wearing keds! I guess we had different colors so we would know whose were whose.  My sister on the left is wearing a home made sun hat.  I am in the middle wearing a dress/shorts set made by my mom. I still have both patterns.  We were so cool!

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SNOW!

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We have snow! I was secretly hoping for a snow day.

Instead, our power went out.

When we got up at 6:50 this morning it was really 8:10.

Needless to say, P was late to school.

B took her to school and I took a little walk around the barns. What a great way to start the day.

I love when the sun comes out after a snowy night.

Christmas Countdown

This is not what I had planned to spend the day doing yesterday

.P had the day off of school - I think it was a teacher work day. Anyway, the boys were back at college and she and I started the big tidy to get ready for our holiday decorating. We remembered that we need to get out our advent tree before Thursday. Then she remembered that the boys will not be here to take turns with the ornaments. We decided that we should make something to send them at school so that they can have their own countdown.

I opened up a small envelope from my desk and used it for a pattern. The envelopes are made out of double sided craft/scrapbook paper and perfectly sized to hold a 3 by 5 inch index card. Miss P stamped the numbers and helped with the flower punching.

It took us most of the day to make and number FIFTY envelopes.

We don't have them all filled yet so we thought we'd send them in batches. I'll get the first few in the mail today!

I know they don't read the blog so it's OK to post this here - as long as no one else spills the beans. Ahem. You know who you are. Don't tell. I want them to be surprised! If it hadn't taken ALL DAY to make these I probably would have made a set for you too.  Maybe D will share.I'm off to do some quilting.

Busy

Miss P has been very busy with her crafting. Since she learned to stitch beads there has been no stopping her. M brought down his old beading loom and let her have a go with it.

She has had no trouble at all.

She has also been doing some embroidery this weekend. She finished one project and had it wrapped up to give away before I could get a picture of it!

She thought the embroidery was so much fun she's traced off another design to stitch.

I'll try to get a photo of this project. 

Tealorange

I had more fun mail this week! In addition to a box from Godiva Chocolates on my porch I got a package from Sarah containing these blocks

.Aren't they great?

I am eager to get working on these orange and teal stars. I am still awaiting a few more blocks but I hear they are in the mail! Wooo Hoo.

We have pies in the oven and a turkey in the fridge. Have a great day tomorrow.

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Blast from the Past

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In 1972 we went to the Grand Canyon!

That is me in my favorite outfit. I remember it well. The top was reversible and was a blue chambray on one side and the red bandana print on the other. It had matching red bloomers. I remember one summer when we stayed with my grandmother I wore it every day. She put it through the wash and I didn't get it back until it was time for us to go home. She HID it because she didn't want me to wear it all the time. Sigh. The memories.

We purchased a scanner last week! I've been scanning some old family slides.

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Mustard Melody

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Here's the finished quilt Mustard Melody.

It is made with a fat quarter bundle of Jennifer Paganelli's Poodle line and 2.5 yards of a Robert Kaufman Carolina Chambray in a mustard color. I don't know what the actual color name is.

It has been quilted, bound, and washed. I used a half inch binding for a little bigger than usual frame around the design.

Here's the full view.

The block, birds in the air, finishes at 10.5 inches.The large piece in the block is cut 7.5 inches square. The half square triangles are 4 and 3/8 inch squares cut on the diagonal.

There are 48 blocks in the quilt. I mostly used the largest prints for the big squares but added in a few of the smaller prints to make all 48 blocks.

The quilt shrank up a little with quilting and washing and now measures 59 by 77 inches.

Beading

P has been looking for her box of big plastic pony beads. Don't tell her, but I think I got rid of them in a recent clean up.

I thought she was ready to work with smaller seed beads.

She was thrilled that I let her use some of my beads and took to the process like a fish to water.

She added beads to the hem of the doll skirt she made back in the summer.

I think she may be adding beads to her clothes and whatever bits of fabric she can get her hands on. Yeah, I agree. Beading is fun.

Paris in Fall

I've been waiting to share these mittens with you! I made them for my sister for her birthday. She has them now so I can share.

When I first saw this pattern, Paris Mittens by Andrea Arbour, on Ravelry I thought it would be perfect for her.  I like that the two mittens are a little different.

I mostly followed the pattern but changed the closure at the fingertip.  The pattern had the black garter stitch strip going across the tip of the mitten. I tried that but the black and white pulled apart where the two colors joined. I went with a grafted close and was a bit happier with the result.

I knit these with baby ull on size 0 needles.

I'm working on another stranded project now, a pair of socks also using a fine black yarn. My plan is to knit up all of my black yarn before my eyesight gets any worse. It is so hard to see the stitches in black yarn. Oh, to be young with excellent eyesight...

Instagram Photos

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This summer we watched my two oldest grand kids one day a week. Towards the end of the summer they started making projects on their own in the sewing room. They made lots of little projects from my scrap basket including pillow cases and tiny quilts