Valentine all through the house........

A touch in the guest bath.....

An arrangement in the guest room..........

On to the living room.............

and the entry.................

The front door inside............

The buffet in the entry...............

Small table in the dining room............

Also in the dining room...........

On to the living room..................

A finished cross stitch pillow for our friend here...........

Coffee Table...............

Desk............

Quilt cabinet

Breakfast room.............

Stair way...........

Even the plants got a valentine........

Best of all..........
Family to share it with............  Had a grand time yesterday......  Jane and Beck, Teresa and Mark came to have lunch with us..........

How wonderful after all those years of being away that we can once again get together............

And Another Thing

While looking for the missing Valentine decorations I found this scarf that I finished who knows when........

Now it is on the design wall being blocked.......

That sure is one busy design wall..................

Picked this up several years at JoAnne Fabrics for $1.00.....  It has been hanging on the pegboard since, so last night I released it from captivity and got it done......  Now to make a wee pillow....  I will need to go upstairs first to find the right fabric.............

My Jan Patek kit arrived on Tuesday.....  It is for a quiltlet to put on my small stand....

Couldn't wait.........  Had to get it prepped today and ready to stitch.......  Already 1/2 way around one rabbit.....

The last of the Christmas decorations are packed and Jason took them upstairs for me tonight........

Valentine decorations are starting to appear and Donna is coming by tomorrow to help finish up.....

Then grocery shopping for Saturday's lunch, doing the vacuuming and dusting and starting to get as much ready as possible................

Never a dull moment here in Eastern North Carolina.......

A Thing or Two

Block one and two are complete in the Willow Quilt Along........  After finishing block two I realized that the backgrounds were too  much alike......  I am going to put a piece of small piping between them and I added a button to the star on the basket.......  Thinking of some embroidery on the leaves and maybe a button or two on the ends of the geese.....  We shall see............

Found a piece in the embroidery drawer that I started about five years ago.......  I had done the stitchery and made the little pillow and began to sew on the lace........  Attached about one inch and moved on to something else........  Last night while watching the game with Lem I got that project completed.....

It looks perfect in the arms of the wee bear I picked up at Happy's..........

Another Valentine touch added..........  I have however misplaced part of the Valentine decorations....  That would include the two quilted items from last year...........  One table runner and one small quilt....  Maybe I will find it before next year..........

To make matters worse my Primitive Quilts magazine came in today's mail....Found three projects that I want to make.  Oh well, now on to altering Marilyn's jacket.........

On The Needles Friday

Work has begun on my Oat Couture jacket.........  I really like their designs and this one looked easy to me....The name of it is Seville Row and you can see it here.....

This is knitting amazingly fast but I suppose that is because I am accustomed to making socks on a size 2 needle and this is made on a size 8..........

Jeni's Blog from the Willow started a Stitch Along in August.....  I have been watching it since and really wanted to play along.....  Decided that this will be the ONE I do this year........  Here is the first block....






I have printed the pattern for block two and last night selected the fabrics from my scraps....  I keep shoving things aside to make room to cut and sew.....  Maybe this will be the day I get the studio cleaned but until then I will still be sewing..............You can see some of the blocks HERE............

Other knitters are showing their wares on Patchwork Times so check HERE  for more eye candy......

OH - OH - OH

I suppose if HO-HO-HO is what I say when I decorate for Christmas, OH-OH-OH  is what I way when taking it down........

I didn't start till yesterday but we are slowly getting the Christmas items put away....... 

I spent the first of the year in the kitchen.............  Some cooking ahead done and I did organize the freezer.

Tried a new recipe for Ham Fried Rice.....  A favorite of mine and I must say that it equals what I can get from a restaurant and I know my vegetables are fresher.......  Added a steamer bag of veggies and we had a really good meal............

Today I will boil the ham bone and make a large pot of soup..........  Temperatures are dropping and that will be the perfect touch......

Yesterday the yarn I ordered for my new jacket arrived.......  I sat right down and got started....I am quite pleased with the color and I hope to finish it in a couple of weeks.......  After all it is mainly just stockinette stitch...........

Today I will continue to remove Christmas and who knows maybe a little Valentine will appear....

Now off to start that soup..../

Happy New Year

I did get my bags made and attempted to organize the freezer........  I won't need to buy food for some time now..........

The bookcase we purchased at Happy's.....  It won't take long for me to fill it................

And my rugs........  They were at the auction so I placed a bid and this is what I came home with........

Hope everyone has a grand first day of the year.......  I will be cooking and maybe even uncovering the surfaces in the studio........  Time will tell........

What Again?

Today we begin with a call to the Dr......  Lem fell last night and hit his elbow....  It began to swell so I put an ice pack on it.......  It is better this morning but since tomorrow is a holiday I called for an appointment.

We go in at 2:00........

I finished the Angels from book one that is the top of the center panel on The Nativity.....  I have now begun book two, the Holy Family.........  Doesn't look like much but that is hours of stitching.......  I cannot call it work because I enjoy it so much.........  I finally figured that it takes about one hour to do a 10 x10 stitch square.......Using that rule of thumb you are looking at 10 hours of effort........ 

I came across this pattern in the last box I brought downstairs.......  Decided to make it for myself.....  Looks rather simple and should not take long........

I chose Prussian Heather from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes..... Here

I did get the laundry finished yesterday and Jason came by so that we could get my bookcase from Happy's...

The rugs I got from there need cleaning..........  Maybe I can drop them off at the cleaners on my way home from the Dr's office...........

I might even get a picture of the bookcase taken for tomorrow....... 

Marilyn came for dinner last night.......  We had a grand time and watched a movie... "The Hundred Foot Journey".......

Now off to review the list and see what I can accomplish today.........

Another Problem Day

I had big plans for Monday........  It did not go well for me........  Lem had computer problems and I spent several hours trying to get him online...... 

T.J. was not well...seems he has a couple of abscessed teeth.........  Rebekah brought Daisy to stay with us while she took him to the vet............ 

Jane called because she needed to use our Greenville phone book........  Right after Rebekah left Jane and Beck stopped by.........  We had a pleasant visit and as soon as they left Rebekah came back to get Daisy...

T J was spending the night at the vet in preparation for surgery today.........  When she left it was time to think of what to have for dinner.......  I had planned to have Chicken Genovese but fixing that
would take too long......  Instead I settled for having some leftovers and frying the chicken pieces for the Chicken Genovese to cook today........  Still doing laundry.....  One load left to dry..........  Put the clean sheets on the bed, folded the rest of the laundry that was done and got the meal on the table.......


That meant carry-overs for today......  Lem and I watched TV together till bedtime and I worked on the Nativity......  I really want to get at least one panel completed for next Christmas......  The top half is done and now I am starting on the second half........

Went up stairs at some point yesterday afternoon to get the bolt of fabric I purchased about 12 years ago.  My first purchase from Thousands of Bolts........  Not really sure why I bought it......  Never really liked it...

I am now making some bags from it to put in the freezer.......  Since we have a chest type freezer I end up digging around in the bottom more than I like....  The plan is to put all the pork or chicken or beef or veggies in separate bags to make searching easier.....

Got the bags cut out but never sewn......

This morning started with more computer problems....  Finally called Chuck.....  He came by and got it all fixed up......  Chris stopped to pick up the package that was left here in error.........

I finally got to write this blog and it is now eleven...............

Now off to finish the last of the laundry, unload the dishwasher and start getting the salad made for dinner tonight..........  Invited Marilyn to join us and I hope that I can get in touch with Carol and have her over too...   Hmmmmmmm  Wonder if I will get yesterday's list and today's list completed before tomorrow....

We shall see........

What a week gone already...........

Tuesday a week ago we met at Marilyn's for our afternoon of handwork and companionship......

Rebekah was with us that day.........

Marilyn and Donna......  Marilyn is working on a quilt and Donna is knitting a scarf....

I happily finished four scarves....  two for Donna and two for Lu.........  Now to get Lu's in the mail.....

Four more angels are ready to assemble.........  I have put that project aside till after the holidays have passed......  Just not enough time in the day to finish all I have begun........

At long last I finished another pair of socks....  These are for Jean Mello......  Slight problem with them  as you can see.........  Who knew that the factory had wound the balls differently............  They will still be warm......

The quilt for the guild is on the table being basted..........  Think I can get it quilted and bound before the guild arrives?

And two pies are ready to be delivered.....  Two more in the oven......

The laundry is done, the list is made and Rebekah is coming over to join me in more cooking........

The decorating theme this year is "Less is More".......

I will finish what I can and ignore the rest.........  Planning to enjoy this holiday............

A bit of re-arranging

I finally arranged the furniture in the master bedroom.....  This chest of drawers belongs to my brother but I have it for now.... 

This desk I borrowed from Rebekah.......  Seems perfect for that wall.

A chair from the living room now lives in the bedroom...... 

A place to put the frame that has the Nativity on it........  Wouldn't I love to finish it next year....

And the Grandmothers Flower Garden on the  bed......  I also need to finish quilting it........  Again, maybe next year.

Looks rather nice I think.....

Oh and last the flower arrangement I found at Michael's....  It is perfect with the topper I made and it was 70% off...........

Another thing or two.....

Finally finished Rebekah's flamingo.........  This was a pattern that I had purchased on the Shop Hop and I am pleased to say that it is finished..........

If I leave a tissue where Wade Hamilton can find it he likes to tear it into pieces.......  I think he believed that if he walked away from the mess he made no one would realize it was him........  He was WRONG...

Found this on my last trip to Happy's..........  Just the perfect decoration.....

Georginqa bought a quilt kit.......  She thought it was already cut out........  Since her arm was giving her problems I cut it out for her......  She will have to assemble it.............

Catching Up

I was surprised that I had so many pictures I had not posted......... Today I will start posting a few each day till I get up to date...........

We had Marilyn over for dinner one night.....  That was the WORST lasagna I have ever made....... The good company made up for the lousy lasagna...............

Finished eleven scarves for Elsie..............

Andrew came over on Halloween..........  It was so good to have them stop by..........  They even went to a few of the neighbors.........

Tomorrow I will add a bit more........