Christmas Season is Open

Well the Christmas Season has opened around here, got thru Turkey day and now the fun starts! As you can tell the kids were just thrilled to have their annual pic taken together.....well the girls thought it was great, the boys not so much. Sammy and Sadie love it, they get new sweaters and held on someones lap, what more could a dog want?

Oh and did you notice the scarves? We have a Hogwarts theme going on, Kristin has been making them for her friends for gifts. She ordered patches for them today so they should be all ready for Christmas. Josh and his friend Erin ordered the green and silver for themselves, I'm guessing they think of themselves as evvvvvvvvvviiiilllll! (house of Slitheren)

Today I have been working on customer quilts, just taking a small break then back out to the studio I go.......

Thanksgiving

Got one of Mom's quilts done this week, it's for her cousin Gayla. I love the tones and how soft it looks.

Thanksgiving will be a small intimate breakfast with a guest list of eight. Kevin, Me, Josh, Kristin, Brad, Sara, Kelsey and Helena.

• The menu includes;



• Waffles, Blueberry and regular(heart stopping artery clogging yummy kind) with syrup,honey, jam, butter and peanut butter. Whipped cream optional.
• Crockpot Egg Bake (eggs, sausage, cheese, onion, greenpepper)
• Spinach dip, spicy cheese dip, ranch dip, and Snickerdoodle dip with Teddygrams. Assorted crackers and fresh veggies will also be offered.

I am also serving coffee, orange juice, milk, and Wassail

or for the adults.......Wassail with Brandy, Champagne Mimosa, Vodka with White Cran/Strawberry or Bloody Mary's.

And if anyone is still hungry they can top it off with Brownies with pecans. Brownie cheesecake or Cherry/pineapple cake with whipped cream.

Sara and I set the table tonight with Grandma Allen's dishes (Kristin's) .

We are going to Kevin's parents for dinner, I made pies tonight while hanging out at their place, Wanda broke her wrist awhile back and still can't get around well so someone has to be there to help. Pumpkin and Pecan , yummy!!!! My night will conclude with hanging out at the bar...oh the life of a bartender!

Start of the week

Just a little sewing going on this week, it's rush time for Christmas quilts. Pic's will be far and few around here from now on I'm afraid, either it's gifts I'm giving or customer quilts. I have a full day of quilting (should be 3 full days!!!) so off to the studio I go to get started.....

Thursday

Sara and I made Sea Glass candy the other night, I love hard candy! We decided the mint was our favorite. We made orange, lemon, mint and raspberry. It's a start to our Christmas cooking for gifts.

Just as I finished the last batch of candy Josh came home from work so we decided to color his hair. Hehehehe it's for the school play.......he plays a goth kid. It looks better than I expected except for the brown tail he has in the back.....oops! The first contest was Tuesday and they got 4th, not bad for a new coach and new bunch of kids. One of the guys got best actor award, Congrats Jordan!

I finished Brad's quilt today, it looks better in the pic than it does in real life..........

My Grandma had the blocks made for my Mom originally, Mom's favorite color is green but the three greens used in the blocks is awful together. I have to thank Margie for helping Mom pick border fabric that matches, (quilt shop owners are awesome when asked for help) Mom got the center set together and I put borders on it and got it quilted. Brad is the lucky boy who is getting this quilt, his favorite color is green, darker the better. One of Grandma's quilts down, three to go........

Quilting?

I did get a little quilting in tonight, Sara and I went to the studio after dinner and I got a tabletopper, wallhang and throw done for a customer. I also quilted Brad's quilt from Mom and Grandma(not sure I want to take a pic of it, my mom was right when she said it was ugly.....) I will finish the binding on it at work Thursday. I have a full day of hauling beans tomorrow so I'm taking a small crochet project along for the waiting time while loading. ok off to bed!

Wild Saturday Night

My Brother-in-law is moving to Nebraska, his friend Joe helped him move this weekend and brought this sweet girl along for the ride. Ripley is well behaved and loves everyone. She also likes to wear sweaters so I gave her the candy corn sweater I made last month. (it was to big for Sadie) I added a draw string around the bottom so it didn't gap around her belly and it was sooooooo cute! Joe was very patient and understanding about me and Sara dressing his dog! (she ended the night setting on Kevin's lap)

Andrew and Sara played with playdoh they found in Brad's room, he's been hoarding it awhile I think, after them arguing over the two cans they finally made more. They stole Josh's pizza cutter he got from work (thanks Hotstuff) then I gave them the meat mallet, and finally the cookie cutters came out. At 11:00 I finally made them clean up and go to bed. So the doh is in bags and the tools are in the dishwasher, everything will be ready for Sunday morning play!

Andrew lost his first tooth this week so he's showing off the gap a lot!

I taught a hot pad class at the quilt shop today, it went well and we had a lot of fun. I am still working on fleece throws for my little kids Christmas presents, 1 is actually totally finished.....only a dozen or two to go.........work tomorrow at the bar then the rest of the week is mine. (or so I think)

Quilt Group Christmas

Left: Sandie, Jennie, Anita, Wanda Right: Edna, Linda, Janie, Luanne, and Maxine. Missing is Linda (who is babysitting grandkids) and Mom (who is riding out a hurricane in Florida)

The Orchard Quilters always have a party out in November for Christmas. This year it was at the Blarney Stone in O'Neill Nebraska (Irish Capital of Nebraska) The food was fantastic!!! My Tequila Lime Chicken was fantastic and the French Onion soup was great, and my salad looked so pretty I had to take a pic. I feel like a stuffed toad as I write this because I ate everything and enjoyed it all! The last pic is all the little gifty's we gave each other, I did hotpads and pickle relish,(top left in pic) Mom made everyone address books and Luanne made the cutest wrapped decoration (top right in pic) it's toilet paper wrapped in fabric with a flower and ornament. The note was the best part of it, the last line was "and you all know what you can do with the Angelsoft" I loved the soap wrapped as a piece of candy too, I'm going to set it in the bathroom and see which of my kids open it first, won't they be surprised when they find soap! In fact most of this will decorate my bathroom this year! I have snowmen planned in blues and greens with a splash of red and everything I got tonight will look soooooo cute! It really was a nice evening out with fun ladies!

Dog quilts

I decided to make my cousin Mike and his kids a couple of quilts. These will be the first quilts I've ever sent to him. (if you didn't get married or have babies you have been out of luck on the quilt receiving end) I wanted something fun and useful for the kids but not to fancy that he wouldn't let them use them so this is what I came up with. The first 3 pic's are my process, the last two are what the finished quilts look like. I hope the kids like them and they don't clash with Mike's house to much. Someday I hope to get a quilt for Mike done but until then the kids come first!

Not sure why Mondays are so ughhhh around here, I think I try to cram to much into the weekend so by Monday I'm beat. I am in the process of making Christmas presents and a little quilting on the side. My crochet has been keeping me company a lot lately too. I have made a hat/scarf for charity, 3 scrubby/dishcloth combo's and a bunch of granny square centers in blue, with a few white added yesterday. I also have a scarf started for ME with a hat or two planned. (that depends on how much yarn is left) Kev took me to Lincoln on Friday, I hit 4 quilt shops and a yarn shop in 4 hours! Ok I spent a little money too, oh it was fun!!! I think I will get moving and go play with my new fabric..................

I should be doing housework today and quilting but there is no motivation in me........