Merry Christmas

Two nights until Santa comes!



The weather prevented us from having our family Christmas get-together up north this past weekend, so for now, the goodie bags will sit in the basement, awaiting that magical trip.




Since we didn't travel this weekend, the boys came home and got constructive! They built a cat tree for Matt & Vicki's kitten, Willow.










My boys are 24 and 25 so I don't think they'll be watching for Santa this year, but they must still believe because their wish lists kept growing!


While the garage was "man" territory, Vicki and I got constructive in the sewing room.



Vicki finished a doll quilt for her niece made from scraps from the quilt I made for Dakota.

Then it was table runner central as we salvaged my scraps and created table runners for gifts. And a few more "go green" shopping bags too!






The cold weather has kept me indoors, much to Belle's dismay - but we've tried to go for walks. She doesn't make it far before she starts hopping on three legs - alternating the legs because her feet get too cold! It's tough to push a dog out the door so she'll go to the bathroom before you leave for work!


Enjoy your holidays!

Baby it's cold outside.

They always say that if you don't like the weather in Iowa, just wait a bit, and it'll change. Yesterday morning I took Belle for a walk about 8:00 am - sunny, light wind and 50 degrees. All the ice on the sidewalks had melted and we had a great time.

By 5:00 that evening, it was 10 degrees and the wind was bitter. That's Iowa!

I gave my soon to be daughter-in-law a sewing machine for her birthday a few weeks ago. Yesterday she came over and we spent the day "playing" in my sewing area.

Here's what she accomplished! The pattern for the table runner is from Doris at "Threads of Conversation". Doris used batiks, and I made one - but haven't taken a picture yet.

The next few nights will be spent finishing Christmas gifts.

Stay warm.

Christmas Stress?

Happy Holiday Season!

I started getting out decorations and found a box of old ornaments that I'd gotten at a garage sale, and an old pie stand. So I combined them to show off my new treasures. I love the ornaments, a lot are like my mom had when we were growing up - so I'm guesstimating that they're around 50 years old.



We're going through a software conversion at work this week. Actually, we're just going "live" with the software, we've been working up to it for several weeks. This Monday after a four day weekend, everyone seemed a little tired, and maybe a little cranky. And adding extra work on top of our usual work didn't help. I'm trying to keep the stress level (and my blood pressure) down to a managable level. My solution: Take a quilting magazine to work to look at during lunch, and read a few blogs! Catching up on some of my favorites made me realize I hadn't added any lately, oh no...more stress :)


I worked on Christmas gifts over the weekend, and finished two wall hangings and a baby quilt.

The moose has garland weaved through his antlers, and lights and bulbs attached. It was fun and easy to make.


The baby quilt is a baby brick quilt as you go pattern.




This quilt is for a niece, and I have another one to make before April. And sometime, I need to decide on a quilt for my oldest son's wedding. The date is October 24. Oh no - more stress!

Enjoy the season!