Believe it or not there is a wee dog in there..........

It has turned cold here -- real cold. Lem is keeping Wade Hamilton all wrapped. I stay wrapped up myself. As long as my hands are free and I can stitch.

I keep reminding my self that it will be March in about 10 weeks. When March gets here we are not far from spring. All I have to do is last for 10 weeks and that will go by fast.

Lem and I had a talk the other night. Since we only have the two of us for Christmas dinner this year, we are going to have a rolled pork roast stuffed with sausage. I just called Rick (my butcher) and ordered it.

Jane is sending her sweet potato casserole recipe so now all I need is a really good green vegetable recipe to add to the menu. There will be gravy and home made biscuits of course. I might even add cranberry sauce to the table. We both like it and I don't think it is only for poultry.

Anybody out there have any suggestions?

Here they are. All finished. Thank you Kaaren at The Painted Quilt for such a lovely design to stitch.

I will confess to being remiss. This box arrived on Friday and I failed to contact the sender to let her know it had arrived. I really meant to but every time I thought about it I could not get to the computer. Last night she called. How embarrassing. It was left on the front porch so I put it inside the door. Lem carried it upstairs to the studio but I never made it upstairs the entire weekend.


I knew what was inside. The two quilts I had sent to Judy to be quilted.

This is Rebekah's. She and Robert are purchasing a new home and will be moving in the next few weeks. I can postpone adding the binding for a few weeks at least.


Judy chose the perfect panto for this quilt. But then she always does.



And here is Sims McGrath. All quilted and ready for binding also. This will be Lemuel's Christmas gift. I wanted him to have something bigger to cover up with on the sofa.


The quilting did not show up as well in this picture. But once again it was the perfect fit.

Thank you Judy for such lovely quilting.

One is ready to assemble.



and one left to stitch




I searched through several boxes and this is the fabric I found. I am still stitching away on these stockings. I would like to finish them before Christmas but time will tell.

I will confess that last night I broke the seal on a jigsaw puzzle. It is set up on the dining room table but Lem bought a mat that rolls up to put it on so it can be moved at meal time. It is so relaxing to walk by and place a piece or two. But then after I have looked for awhile I need to get back to stitching. For me it is the pause that refreshes.

After a chat with Judy, I think I might be getting the knack of bread baking. She gave me some good ideas and this week the bread rose nicely.



Look at that. Aren't they lovely. Lem said that it was the best bread yet. I froze one loaf. Then cut the other one in half and froze it also. The last half I sliced and put in an airtight container. Lem has a sandwich for lunch each day and if there are no leftovers for me to take to work I have one too. Sometimes bread last a long time and sometimes it doesn't. I am ready for awhile at least.


Then I made some hamburger food for the dogs. They alternate between the beef and chicken. I whipped up a batch of biscotti. That needs more work. Just as I was finishing the biscotti, my mixer died. I will confess that it was a Sunbeam, on sale, 20 years ago. I told Lem that if I was going to get another one I wanted it to be a Kitchen Aid.

We did some online research and bought one from Direct Buy with a $100.00 savings off the list price. Sad to say that it takes 4-6 weeks for delivery.


When Lu called I told her of my plight. I had several cookie recipes that I wanted to try. She stopped by with her hand held mixer to help me until I get my new one. I made Peanut Blossoms..............





And a batch of Molasses cookies....................





For supper I even made biscuits. They are so good.............. That funny looking one is what is left over. My mother always let me make my own special biscuit with that.

I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen. I kept all the dishes washed as I went along and rather enjoyed myself.

Since it seems that retirement is so far in the future I thought I would start doing some of those things I was saving for retirement. Like making my own bread.............and making cookes for Lem.......... I might not get a much done but I enjoy every minute of my weekend.

One quick trip to the store and then another one for the things I saw that I decided I could use and my holiday decorating is done.

This is our Christmas tree. No one said that it had to be large...... I got some small boxes to wrap and put under it


A Santa spoon rest for the stove...


Three tins (filled with home baked cookies) and a few other things on a tray.........


A few more items in the window...........


A candle for each end table...............


And some poinsettias in the plant that used to be on the table but is now on the hearth.

Decorating is done.............

EXCEPT............. If you have been to the Painted Quilt she has her first Friday design posted. It is a Christmas stocking. I am thinking of taking 'the pause that refreshes' and doing a couple of them for this year. That seems something I can get done this year and I am ready for a break from my two other projects.

The bread is made for next week. I froze one of the loaves I made last week so I am good there. I even have three kinds of cookies baked for Lem. I am planning to try another one this weekend. He will just have to eat more cookies.

The house blessing is done. We had someone look at it today so that got done this morning.

All of the laundry is finished.......

All that is on the agenda for the weekend is errands (and there are a lot of them).

I would like to think that I will have time to work on my GFG and 9 patch. Time will tell.

Well, it almost happened. I have been watching via blogs while other people decorated for one holiday after another. Since we thought we would be somewhere else by now, I have packed up all of my decorations.

This morning I took a picture to update you on the GFG progress. Almost five of 14 rows complete. Not enough was done on the Nine Patch to deserve a picture.

After the picture was taken I thought I would whip up a few holiday gifts and make a few ornaments. Several hours were spent in planning what to do and what to buy.

Then Common Sense prevailed. We will put out a sprig or two of holly and maybe pick up a poinsettia for the table but I will not begin another sewing project knowing that I will not have time to finish it and it will just add to the already too long to list items that are left undone.

Tonight after work I will go home, put in a few rows on the Nine Patch before cooking supper and then spend the rest of the evening adding flowers to my garden.

We had an interesting holiday. The weather was not the best. Overcast with occasional rain and terrible winds.

I did the usual cooking and we had a rather good meal. And we will be eating that meal for some time to come.

I sat down to work on my GFG and discovered that two of the flowers were missing. I turned my corner upside down trying to find them to no avail. While I thought about what to do I got out my Insanity kit and worked on that for several evenings. I made the decision to take two flowers from the last row and put them in place now and just eliminate the last row making the quilt 8x13 instead of 8x14. I had flowers left over that I could have used but I would not have enough of the hexagons for the pathways. All of that fabric is used up completely.

Last night I picked it up and looked at it one more time on the back where the numbers are written on the paper back. I had put two of the flowers in the wrong place. There they were all along. I have taken them off and once more I am stitching away on this quilt. Perhaps a picture tomorrow.

I even got about 4 rows done on the section I am quilting on the nine patch.

On Saturday night the heat went out. Glad it was only in the 40's here. We put on extra clothes, used a small ceremic heater where we were sitting and slept under lots of quilts. Someone came today and fixed our problem. How glad I will be to have heat again.

I have everything ready to fix for supper so perhaps I will get some stitching done tonight.

There will be no picture of the doggie sweater I knit for Wade Hamilton. It did not turn out well. It would not fit. I am sure I did something incorrectly.

I have given it some thought and I am going to try again. Perhaps this time I will be more successful.

I got Wade Hamilton's coat all made. Doesn't he look sweet? I could not get him to pose. I had another picture but somehow I deleted it accidentally. Oh well, you get the idea. I do have one problem however. There just is not a lot of room under him and when he relieved himself he wet the straps holding the coat on. I will have to rethink this. I think I have a plan re-make it a bit so that he can wear it without having to wash it each time.



I found this pattern at MiaandMaddie's blog and thought I would give it a try. It is almost completed. I keep looking at it and I am not too sure it will fit but time will tell. Of course this means that I am still not working on the two projects that I need to work on but I will get back to them soon.



The dishwasher has developed an occasional leak. Wanting it to last a bit longer I am now washing the dishes by hand. That meant I needed a dish drain. They sure have improved in appearance over the years. Lem and I went to TJ Maxx on the way to the grocery store this weekend. This is what I came home with. I paid for it and as we were leaving Lem suggested it could be my Christmas present................ For some reason I don't think that will work.

I will need to take a detour. The weather is getting colder and Wade Hamilton will need something to keep him warm on his nature walks. This is the pattern and fabric I bought last January.



After checking it out I decided that what I really needed was just something to keep him warm. All the extras could wait till next time. Here it is all cut out. Of course I did not have any interfacing or Velcro. I stopped at the shop on the way home from work yesterday. Perhaps this weekend I can get at least one coat made and the next time I can be more creative.


I will confess that I think it might be a bit large. Time will tell.

It seem that the GFG is growing slowly but growing all the same. I have been working on it while taking a break from quilting the nine patch. I hope that this weekend I will be able to spend a little time each day on the nine patch.


The section inside the blue tape is the completed section. As you can see I have a lot more to do.

This was too cute to pass up. Wade Hamilton likes to sit with his daddy every day and help him compute.

Today Rebekah and Robert are in North Carolina looking for a house. They will be moving in December. He reports for duty on January 17th. I really thought that we would be in North Carolina before they were but it seems that will not happen.

I had also hoped to finish quilting my nine patch before moving on to something else.That won’t happen either. My nemesis has once more become a problem so I must take a break for a bit. I made that decision this morning and since then I have been thinking of what to do next. I still have not gone upstairs so I am not sure what is ready to stitch and what needs to be prepped. Then I remembered my box under the end table that contains my Grandmother’s Flower Garden. That might just be the project I need to balance the hand quilting. Anyway, I will get it out tonight and begin again to assemble it and in a day or two I will do more quilting. Perhaps by stitching on one and then the other it will help. I am going to get some blue painters tape to mark the parts on the quilt that are done so a picture will show the progress. Lem has brought my computer and camera downstairs for me so I can get pictures loaded and online.

Home soon and a wee toes up……………Ahhhhhhhh

We have had people looking at the house again. One couple on Sunday and one couple yesterday.

That means the house is squeaky clean again. I actually got a good nights sleep last night for the first time in weeks.

I am still quilting the nine patch quilt. I have all the quilting done going in one direction except for the edge. I ordered the piece to put in my quilt frame for doing borders. I thought I would wait till all of the center was done before I put it in the hoop and do all of the edge at one time.

I haven't been upstairs to the studio in so long but I am still staying with the project at hand till it is complete.

I checked the calendar and found that this picture and the next one were taken over two weeks ago. I had gotten the house blessing done, and the cooking and baking complete and sat down to put a few stitches in this quilt.




I made a pot of tea and had a slice of Pumpkin Bread with whipped cream... There was soft music playing and even though it was raining outside it was nice inside. Little did I know that was the last time I had for several weeks.






By Tuesday I was under the weather. And also under the covers in bed with a good book and a box of tissues. Lem went to out to get cold medication and chicken soup. He came back with this too.




So I did exactly what the card said for the rest of the week.




I finished the previous quilt all but the final border. That will require marking and my chalk pouncer is already packed. I took that quilt off the hoop, folded it up and consigned it to the "to be done" stack. Then I got out the little nine patch quilt. I had planned to machine quilt this one but it is so heavy that it drags in the machine. It is now on the hoop and little by little I am getting it quilted. This is really a learning experience for me. I haven't been upstairs for weeks now. I just spend my free time on this quilt.



We had someone look at the house yesterday and someone is coming today to look at it. Maybe one of them will be our buyer.

Little Wooden Box

As I mentioned earlier, Joan stopped by for a visit and brought me a box that Bill had made. I saw a picture of one similar somewhere in my travels and thought it was just the loveliest thing.

Knowing that Bill works in wood, I made one of foam core to show him what it was that I wanted.

Dear person that he is he made four and Joan sold three of them at the Guild Quilt Show. I was the lucky recipient of the last one.


The handle slips off so that you can put spools of thread on it and it has a stop on one side. I had mentioned that I wanted to make a plaid and black quilt and I was beginning to collect small pieces of plaid fabrics. She was good enough to include quite a large bundle of fabric in the box.


Don't I have just the nicest friends?

My Design Floor/Wall

I know I was supposed to do this on Monday but life interfered. Since my design wall is too small I have to use the floor. After the picture was taken I managed to get three sides sewn together. I have enjoyed making this quilt. But then I always enjoy Judy's designs because they are so easy to follow.



Now this is what is on the design wall. I have been working on Bunny Hill's Tisket Tasket BOM and at the same time I have been working on Leanne's House. I enjoyed Leanne's House so much that it seemed natural to incorporate her method of making blocks into my Tisket Tasket quilt.




I actually found some graph paper and tried to come up with a design. This is it.


Now I am in the process of embroidery and assembly. This project will move slowly because I am no artist. I can only trace things. I am pleased to have my drawers with 1 1/2 inch strips to pull from when I begin to assemble the rest of this block.

The Weekend

When I got off of work this past Friday it was just to rainy and cold to try to get to the grocery store. I went home for a wee toes up instead.

I had my list of things to get accomplished this past weekend and it was a roaring success. We did the grocery shop Saturday morning before the rains came. Then home to finish the laundry and attempt to do a bit of mending. After all I spend a lot of time stitching, why should the hem be dragging in most of my slacks? I cut the shirt tails off of two blouses so they would have more of a jacket look since I wear them over a turtleneck instead of tucked in. Of course I did not have the EXACT thread to hem one of them. I was stitching them on the machine and I didn't have anything any where close. That meant a stop at the shop this morning on the way to work. I can finish that next weekend.

Saturday afternoon Joan stopped by with a gift for me. It was delightful to see her. I took the gift upstairs to get a picture but so far I have not done so yet. Perhaps tomorrow.

I did not go upstairs yesterday or again this morning. I had things downstairs calling my name instead. By bedtime Saturday night the house was clean, the laundry all done and we had a nice Sunday ahead.

Sunday brought wind and lashing rain. It was good to know that we could stay in. Lu came by for brunch on Sunday. I lit all the candles in the living room and turned on soft music. Lem cooked. He usually cooks breakfast on Sunday. After she left I sat and quilted and Lem sat and computed. I have the outside row of blocks completed on two sides. Two sides to go and then the two borders.

The Hour a Day quilt is on the floor upstairs waiting for me to add the border of blocks to it and the last four borders after that. I am half way through the handwork on Block Nine of Leanne's House. Seems as though there will be several finishes here soon.

Sunday it rained hard all day long.