Christmas Delight

Christmas 2008 was delightful. From the snow, to family, to fun presents and good food....what more could a gal want? :)

Here's the whole crew....you can even see all three dogs (even if Bonnie's head is barely in the shot!):

Hubby was Mr. Santa himself! Passing out gifts and enjoy a sip along the way.

David is eating his piggy bank.....all gifts went straight to the mouth....as did everything else at Nana's house.


Mr. Liam enjoyed his cowboy themed gifts. Here he is all outfitted and ready to go shoot the bad guys.

David and Grandpa having a happy moment together! So dang cute. David was sick this visit....poor guy....but he did have his happy moments.

Fondue is our traditional Christmas dinner. I love the ease of it (hardly anything to prepare) and how it makes us all slow down after the hecticness of the day.

Mr. Liam had to have the most important cowboy gear -- boots, hat & gun -- with him even when we went outside to play in the snow.

I look forward to many more family Christmas'. You can see more pictures (and usually better ones at Faith's blog. Jenn hasn't posted yet at her blog, but will soon and she'll have more pics too.

Feet Friday

Christmas Cowboy!

Our gift to Liam was cowboy themed...hat, boots, spurs, socks, vest, chaps, bandanna, gun, lunchbox and books. So much fun for a little guy who is almost 4. I'll post more pics later of our Christmas fun.

Christmas Past

Tomorrow's the big day! I'm so excited to have the family here and especially excited for the grand kids. Kids and Christmas just go hand in hand. Since tomorrow's pictures will most likely be all Liam and David (duh!), I thought I'd share some pics of Christmas past.

This is me at 7 years old. Such a haul of gifts! Notice the easy bake oven...I soooo loved that toy!

Here is hubby at 10 years old....opening his beloved bow that he still has...it hangs proudly on our bedroom wall!

And here we both are at 17 years old in southern California. We are in our senior year of high school and traveled with my folks to Disneyland for Christmas. Notice our matching sweatshirts. Aren't we cute....and oh so skinny! :)

That was our first Christmas together. And tomorrow will be our 30th. My best present.

Still a Winter Wonderland

It started snowing again yesterday at 2:30pm and did so through the night. We woke to 6 inches of new snow! And its been snowing off and on again all day.....probably an additional 2 inches. Definitely doesn't look like the Pacific Northwest out there. For those of you who live with winter, you'll have to forgive me for my joy and continual posts on snow. I just can't get enough of it.

Dennis and I went outside today to make snow people.....it's perfect snowman making snow.

Here are our creations:


This shot shows you the lazy dude on the lounge chair:


We also decided to make a fort. Hoping it's still here on Christmas so Liam can play in it.

And of course, Miss Bonnie loved her time outside.

Loving it still.

Feet Friday

Peek-a-boo!

Snowy Pleasure

It was a beautiful snowy day here in the Northwest. Made even better by not having to go anywhere and by having hubby able to stay home from work. We could enjoy the day together and we did! :)

The birds were especially fun to watch today. Robins, Varied Thrushes, Rufus sided Towhees and Stellar Jays were busy looking for food among all the snow. These holly berries provided much.

And the left over, unpicked apples were also enjoyed:

The snow will be sticking around for a while. Coolio! Maybe some new birds will show up tomorrow to finish off the berries and apples.

Merry Christmas!

Pet Peeve

My newest “pet” peeve.
Last time hubby and I were at dancing one of our dancers was telling the story of seeing two ladies in the park walking with what she thought were babies in baby front packs...only to find out when they got closer that they were carrying dogs! Yes, dogs! I was shocked. Really? Thanks to some Google image searching I got to see for myself. See for yourself:

Really people.....dogs have 4 good legs for walking and running. Its no wonder obesity is getting to be more of a problem with our pets. We indulge and indulge. That’s not love, folks. For their sake, let them walk! Let. Them. Walk.

Creative Architecture

I was reading one of my favorite quilting blogs and they had a post linking to the Village of Joy web site that has pics of unusual -- and I think very creative -- buildings from around the world. They are amazing! I didn't want you to miss these so decided to post about it also.
Enjoy.

Seeing Red

My cat Finnian has a thing for red stuff. With many beanie babies around the house he only attacks one…a red dog. And now with the Christmas tree up he only has eyes for the red bows.

This is his second Christmas with us and he did the exact same thing last year as a kitten. There are plenty of ornaments down low that he could take off….but noooooo….its just the red bows.

Just try to get it away from him! I dare you!

He even diligently brought a “kill” to me in bed the other morning. Silly boy. Makes me wonder if Finn would attack the bows if they were a different color? Maybe next year we’ll experiment and see.

Merry Christmas, Finnian!

Feet Friday

Just cuz it reminds me of my moods and the "going's" of this month! LOL!

My Friend - Mr. Caffeine

When one wakes up in a bad mood....and one's hormones are wrecking havoc with ones mind & body......and it is all topped off with added-December stress......then it's nice to have a friend like Mr. Caffeine. He doesn't ask anything of me. He just listens, warms my inner being and gives me just the right amount of 'umphf" to be a polite human being to those I had to come in contact with today. Thank you, Mr. Caffeine...I'll see you tomorrow.

Winter Quilts

Yesterday we got our Christmas tree decorated, which completes the little bit of seasonal decorating that I do. We’ve had a fake tree for the past 5 or 6 years but this year I wanted a fresh one. It smells so good…love it….and so does the cat, but that’s a blog for another day. LOL.

I have two quilts that I take out this time of year. One is my Warm Wishes quilt made of flannel. It stays out all winter since it’s the best for keeping me warm on the couch during the cold months.

It’s an easy quilt to make and one of the patterns I actually get done fast. What I love about this pattern is that it looks more complicated than it really is. It only has one pieced block in it…a rail fence (3 rectangles sewn together) which is alternated with a plain square. By turning the rail fence blocks around the plain squares creates the pattern.
Can you see the blocks and how they are turned?

Easy peasy. Not much to cut out and not much sewing.

The other quilt I take out is my Yaya Christmas quilt.

Several years ago when all us Yaya’s were quilting we made birthday blocks for each other based on a fabric theme. I had picked a red/green fabric for them to use…it wasn’t really Christmassy…just red & green. I had the 4 blocks for many years before I decided what I wanted to do with them. When I saw this pattern (can’t remember what it’s called or what book I got it from….sorry) I noticed the plain middle of the blocks could be replaced with pieced blocks…and that’s where my Yaya blocks went.
Here are a couple of them:

Sally Howard machine quilted it and thus completed the friendship spirit of this quilt.

I love having it out as a reminder of the people in my life that I am blessed to know.

Feet Friday

This is a special Feet Friday picture. It’s from the “Back on My Feet” website.
I was watching CNN’s “Heroes” special and one of their finalists was Anne Muhlum. Anne is a young woman of 27 who is an avid runner. She would jog by a homeless shelter (in Philadelphia) every day while on her daily run. The men would wave and smile at her as she passed by….and one day she got an idea. Why not start a running club for the homeless. Their website explains it much better. Anyway, I was impressed. Not only by the idea…it’s unique and creative. But by her age…we’re always told how selfish the younger generation is….obviously that isn’t always the case. And also by the results.
High five, Anne. Keep up the good work!

How Long Does it Take You to Make a Quilt, Part 2 -- Do the Math!

Yesterday I went backwards to explain how long it took to complete a quilt top and why I can’t answer the above question. Today I’m gonna go forward in time and do some math to try to figure out how long it’ll take to make a quilt I’m working on. And yes, I have many quilts going at the same time. Breathe…I know that stresses some of you out…but its how I work. :)

This is a block I finished last month:

Isn’t it adorable? Notice the hand embroidery in it:

Embroidery and appliqué. Lots of HANDwork. I love handwork. But it also equates to lots of time going by to finish something…….LOTS. This particular quilt is a block of the month I’m doing called Butterfly Garden. That means each month I get a little kit in the mail for one block. The idea is you make that one block…in that one month…and thus you aren’t overwhelmed by the whole project and you can keep up! Ha! I got that first kit last July. I just finished it in November. July- November. 5 months = 1 block. There are 9 blocks in this quilt top. 9 x 5 = 45. 45 months. That’s 3.75 years. Yes, years! Just to get the top done. And that’s only if I continue at my current rate of work….and not take off December to do other things…and not be distracted by any life events like grandbabies or weddings …and not get sick…or go on vacation…..or ???
This quilt will need special quilting once it’s done. Would love to hand quilt it. But I could never handle two quilts to hand quilt (anniversary quilt has priority) so I’ll probably have it professionally machine quilted. That’ll be a good thing cuz once that 3.75 years is over with, it should only be another year to have it quilted and bound.

Does this tire you out? LOL!

Not me. Beautiful things can take time. Do take time. And all my quilts are beautiful things.

How Long Does it Take You to Make a Quilt?

I’m often asked “how long does it take to make a quilt?” Oh my….trying to figure that question out is like trying to do this:

I am not the type of quilter who gets an idea and works solely on it for hours a day until its completion. Nope, not at all. It can take months to go from concept to fabric….months to go from fabric to choosing a pattern. The piecing can either go fast or slow depending on my mood and distractions. I might finish the piecing in a week…..or it could take a year. And then there’s the quilting…and binding. See…hard question to answer…too many unknowns.

Let me take you through the process of a top I finished in October. Here it is with my trusted feline helper:


This is my 25th Anniversary quilt......I’ve been married 28 years now. :) Hubby and I went to Scotland/England for our 25th and I knew I wanted to make a quilt to commemorate the trip. I spent the three weeks on vacation getting all kinds of ideas from places we visited.


Wouldn’t some Celtic knot work look great reproduced from these wonderful crosses?

Or how about some interpretation of the architecture of this abbey?

Maybe something geometric inspired by standing stones?

So much inspiration but nothing really grabbed me. That is until the end of the trip when we were driving through the highlands and I was gazing out the window at the mountains (desperately trying to stay distracted from the curvy one lane road we were on) and it hit me – color! I would make a quilt that held all the beautiful color I was seeing on this trip. Woo hoo. Concept – done!.

Here's some of the beauty that inspired me:



Once I got home I knew I would need to order a stash of batiks (hand dyed fabrics that are rich in color) right away. Fabric – done! I was on a roll…not even a month had gone by.

Next was the search for a pattern. I had one in mind already and started working on it right away. Since it required a new skill I made several practice blocks. This is where my roll came to a screeching halt. These blocks were hard for me…and super time consuming. Knowing how freakishly slow I am I decided I needed to find a different pattern if I was ever going to see this quilt done in my lifetime. Unfortunately nothing else seemed right. Nothing. This part of the process took over a year. I finally just settled on a pattern I liked, one that would showcase the color…which was what this quilt was suppose to be about anyway. Pattern – done!

Piecing blocks went fairly fast…fast in Cindy time. :) I was done with the blocks within a couple of months. Next was to complete the top but I needed fabric for the setting triangles and didn’t have enough of any one color in my stash of batiks…besides I didn’t want to repeat a color…I wanted something different. Uh oh….another search begins….and another year goes by. Finally, as of October, the top is done. Piecing – done!

This brings us to present day. We’ve gone from September 2005 to October 2008. But am I done? Nope. Still have to quilt this baby. And I decided at the beginning that this special quilt will be hand quilted – HAND quilted. So give me another 3 years or so and I should be done.

How long does it take for me to make a quilt? Who knows. :)

Make Me Laugh Monday

I have seen many funny "Make Me Laugh Monday" posts over at jennyonthespot (go check her out...she's a crack up on any day). And Tink has joined in a couple of times. So I decided I would post a hilarious sight hubby and I saw on our vacation this past summer to upstate New York. We were driving on that other road you see, when we passed by this one....of course, with camera in hand we had to back up and take photos!


What 'cha think? Someone enjoy too many beers before getting on the painting machine? :)