Home Christmas

I've had this Mary Engelbreit music box for a while now and it sums up how I feel about it.  My heart is where my family is, and that's home.

Don't you just love that we still have potted plants out front along with our Christmas decorations.  We've had some freezing weather already, but nothing severe enough to damage these plants.  I like to leave them outside as long as I possibly can.  I feel sorry for them when they're exiled to the garage. 

We had such a good time on Saturday.  Way too much food, and not everyone was able to come.  Some had to work, and some were getting over winter virus-y things, but there was still a pretty good crowd and lots of fun and food and stories.  Mr. Muddling and his two brothers tell the best stories.  We love to get them started and then just sit back and enjoy.

This is the Strip Twist quilt I made for our younger daughter for Christmas.  I backed it with fleece, even after all the trouble I had with the fleece backing the first time I used it.  This time I loaded the quilt with the fleece side up and quilted from the back of the quilt instead of the front.  I had absolutely no problems this time!  Thank God!

And this is the one I made for her roommate.  It, too, was backed with fleece, and again I had no problems quilting from the back of the quilt instead of the front.  The fleece is so nice and cuddly in cold weather, which they have plenty of up in New York State.  Since there is no batting it is a lightweight quilt, but still warm.

 

Yesterday we opened up the futon in the den and both girls settled in on it as we indulged in a Lord of the Rings marathon.  Cass had never seen any of those.  Unbelievable, I know!  I tried so many times to get a decent picture of those two, but they were just too silly to be still.  They do like their quilts though!

Miss Ru and I took Mary and Cass to the airport very early this morning to catch a flight back home.  (I did threaten to keep them both here, but you know how it is - you have to let them go.)  We had such a good time.  It was a joy to get to know Cass a little, and of course to see our baby girl again.

I've had a little nap now and it's almost time to prepare lunch.  I hope all is moving according to schedule at your place and that you have lots of exciting things on tap for your Christmas celebrations!

Hugs and kisses,

Hi There

That's what I see a lot of the time when I look out the bathroom window.  The picture is not too clear because I have the zoom on and it's through the screen, but you get the idea.  Claude is well and truly at home out there.

Are you ready for the weekend?  I am.  I've almost caught up on the rest I lost during the Thanksgiving period, and now I'm ready to start in on the Christmas one.  LOL  Our baby girl will be home in ONE WEEK!!!  She and her roommate will be here next Friday night and I can hardly wait.  But they're only here for the weekend, so we'll have to cram a lot of catching up into a short space of time.

And no, that picture of cherry pie has absolutely nothing to do with it.  LOL  As you can see half of it is gone.  That's because it's really good.  It was in the nature of an experiment.  I had some dried cherries that I bought a while back.  I just like eating them out of the bag, but today I thought I'd try using some of them to make a pie.  It was a success!  I'd give you the recipe, but I just sort of made it up as I went along and didn't keep accurate measurements.  I soaked the cherries for about thirty minutes (while I was preparing the pie crust and cooking lunch) in boiling water I poured over them.  I added about a half cup of sugar, then ladled the cherries into the pie crust.  I zapped the juice, sugar and a couple tablespoons I think of cornstarch in the microwave until it thickened, a couple of minutes.  Poured that over the cherries, added the top crust, cut vent holes, sprinkled a little sugar on top and baked at 400F degrees until bubbly.  Pretty simple. 

Doesn't that just make you want to get a nice big slice for yourself?  If you were here, you could sure have one!  I had mine with ice cream.

Hope your weekend is simply grand!  I'm going to be busy sewing.

Hugs and kisses,

Reward

I've wanted a French press coffee maker for a while now.  No good reason, I just wanted one.  Today while waiting for the pharmacy to re-open at Sam's I was doing a little shopping and I spotted this pretty little French Press with four matching cups.

Yep, I did it.  I consider it my reward for surviving Thanksgiving.  Now for Christmas.  LOL

Seriously, I have lots of projects in the works, but none that I can show right now.

And.....our baby girl will be here along with her roommate in a week and a half!!!!  I can't wait.  We're going to have our big family Christmas party early while they are here, so lots to do before then.

I know you're busy with secret stuff, too.  Have fun!

Hugs and kisses, 

Getting Ready

My sister and her husband are visiting from Colorado.  Sue has been very busy today helping me get a start on the Thanksgiving feast.  We've baked pies and made fruit salads.

And Sue made Mr. Muddling's favorite cake - German Chocolate.  Oh my!  I can hardly wait.

Lots to do tomorrow, so I'm heading to bed.  Early for me, I know.

Best of blessings to each and every one of you.  I hope you have a truly wonderful day with those you love!

Hugs and kisses,

                                                                             

Melbourne Apron

 I was thinking about all the cooking my sister and I are going to be doing tomorrow and I decided that I needed a new apron.  And then I remembered that pretty tea towel Margaret sent me.

And then I remembered some fabric I had bought recently.

And now I have a new apron!  Thanks again, Margaret!  I'll think of you while I'm cooking.

 I wanted to give you a little peek into the quilt I'm working on now (between cooking and cleaning, of course).  First you sew four strips together, then you pair them with another set.

 Right sides together.

 Make a diagonal cut through
both strip sets.  Then sew together
along each diagonal side.

Press seams open and look - two totally different looking blocks from those two strip sets.

It is such a fun quilt to make.  Which is a good thing, because I have several more to make. 

I do hope you will each and every one have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day on Thursday.  I know that all countries do not celebrate, but wherever you are it's still a good time to stop and thank God for all your blessings.

You know I love you and I am thankful for you!

Hugs and kisses,

I Seldom Do

 Knowing where I am going means I am already there...kinda boring.
 Kathy Doughty , Material Obsession

I'm so glad she said that.  It makes me feel much better.  LOL  Seriously, most of the time I just have an idea of how I think a quilt will look when I start one.  Most of the time, oddly enough, they turn out not to look much that way at all.

The finished quilt above is the Strip Twist I made for Mr. Muddling's brother.  He just wanted blue, no other consideration at all.

Here's the back of it.

This is the finish of the Slashed Squares, along with its backing.  I wish I had made it a little bigger, but it's done now. 

Moving on.

I'm working now on another Strip Twist using some of the these strips I cut last week.  As you can see, Chloe has her own ideas of which ones I should be using.

From Bruno's face you would really think he had been hard at work, wouldn't you?   I was ironing some seams and happened to look up and see this expression.  Priceless.

A look out the back door at the Angel Trumpets at night.  They make me so happy.  They're pretty and they smell good.  Win.  Win.

Hope you're winning at your place!

Hugs and kisses,

One More

I hope you haven't tired of seeing the quilts from Quilt Festival, because I have one more to show you.  This one was just so sweet, I can't resist showing it, too.

These, and more, little dresses
are the centers for the blocks
in the quilt made by a group
of ladies in the Greater San
Antonio Quilt Guild.

As a by the way, I saw a booth (sorry,
can't remember which one) that had
these little dresses for sale.  The
intricacy of these little beauties is
just wonderful!







I finished the blue strip twist quilt, and it is in the dryer right now.  I'll get pictures of it up a little later in the week. 

My sister and her husband will be here from Colorado for Thanksgiving and I have a pretty dirty house I need to get cleaned before the family gathers here for the feast.  I love these times we get to reconnect.  We're planning a big Christmas one here, too, with local family.  Lots to do.

Hope you're having a great day!

Hugs and kisses,