Slouch

I'm a slouch. 

When I showed you this beautiful wall hanging, a gift from Shez for the SSCS exchange I neglected to include these:

It was a simple mistake.  When I opened them I put them on the table next to my sewing chair to keep them safe from the fray and then forgot to include them in the thank yous.  So, thank you Shez! I will show off the finished projects when completed!  Thank you!  Mea Culpa.


AND I was supposed to show you what I sent to Maria.  Geesh, I must be more distracted than I thought.

I sent this little wall hanging (picture taken before ironing.)

 

 Maria also knits and crochets so I also made this bag that I thought would be nice to carry her yarn and needles.

And this was the ornament.

OK, I think that's it. If I forgot something, don't hesitate to tell me.

Sometimes You Just Have To

Sometimes you have to do it.  Christmas Eve's children's Mass is one of those times.  It's always extremely crowded, people packed to the rafters so we volunteer to get there early to save seats for us our daughter's family because Adelaide sings in the children's Christmas choir. 

 We got to church at 3 p.m. for a 5 p.m. service and as we pulled in the parking lot we started to laugh and PH said, "you have to get a picture of this."

  Sometimes you just have to do it.  By 3:30 every pew had someone in it and by 4 p.m. the church was full as we waited for a 5 p.m. Mass.   Now, laugh if you will, but when we talked to our son this morning he said where they live, they arrived at their church at 2:30 for a 4 p.m. Mass.

 With time on his hands and no hat with him, PH shoveled the church steps and sidewalk and then I salted them.  This after spreading scarves, gloves and camera in a pew.

 The choir was so sweet, Adelaide is in back of the girl with the big bow on her head.  I couldn't get any better angle than this!

 Our little church is so beautiful and Christmas eve is no exception.

  It's a tiny country church that's been here for over 150 years.

 This morning we woke to several inches of snow, temperatures hovering around 15 degrees and

 the first thing I did, dressed in my bathrobe, was shovel a break for the birds and restock the feeders.
Mr. Cardinal is hanging on by his tiny little claws in that blowing snow.

And then the sun! 

Secrets revealed

 As another Secret Santa exchange ends I can now hold up what I received from Shez and imagine the ooohs and ahhhs.  This wall hanging is beautiful, as is Shez's handwork and the variegated threads really gives it sparkle. 

And these were the ornaments she sent that I was allowed to open immediately and put on the tree.

Thank you Shez!!  And thank you Chookyblue for again organizing this fun event.

Greetings

Merry Christmas, everyone

Wall wannabe

Finished!  I worked steadily on quilting this and finally last night I put the last stitch in. I love that last stitch.

 This was part of a square exchange for retreat.  We gave a fat 8th of our own fabric to everyone and they made a 12 inch square using at least some of our fabric.  I added the alternating little triangle gingham flower basket squares to make it bigger and bring all of those random designs together.  In the interest of using my stash the binding is green scrappy. 

Yay!

Christmas

 While waiting for the cousins to arrive Adelaide took a few minutes to read some Christmas stories to Lily.  Notice Lily sitting like a princess on a pillow on the chair and listening with all of her attention.

Cousins arrived for two days of game on!

 One of Mike's gifts was a sand box with some kinetic sand.  He loves playing with this at our daughter's house when they visit.  I gave up the kitchen floor, all of my spatulas and a few spoons, cookie cutters and pie tins to his play.  This while cooking Christmas dinner. I could work the perimeter. It was all good!

 (borrowing our daughter's pictures here)
Beds were set up on the floor, popcorn made and a new movie to watch.  Reeses (the dog) knew a good thing when she saw it.

Sleep was not going to be coming anytime soon.

After two days of cousin fun, sweet treats and very little sleep, Adelaide just collapsed after Sunday afternoon lunch.  If this is a barometer of the fun then I'd say the weekend was a success.

A Hundred Small Lessons

A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay

     When we look back, or even when we look ahead we come to realize the small lessons we’ve learned are what shape(d) us. As with any lesson, there’s the expectation of having learned something from it.

     For Lucy  Kiss and her husband, Ben, the learning is in figuring out how to be completely new and different people with the birth of their son, Tom, and a move to a new city where they are dependent solely on each other.  Before Tom, Lucy and Ben were travelers, explorers, adventurers, but now they are homeowners and parents and Lucy is homebound.

     Lucy and Ben moved from Sydney to Brisbane when Tom was just a year old.  This move took Lucy away from her whole family support system.  The realization terrifies her.  They bought a house that had belonged to Elsie and Clem Gormley for sixty years.  But now Clem is dead and Elsie is very old and has fallen and her children found a place for her in a rest home.  This transition isn’t going down well for her. Lucy is convinced Elsie “is still there” in the house and talks to her presence, she finds small things left behind, a few photographs, a tea cup, and even the birds seem confused by the new inhabitants. 

     Between Elsie remembering her life in her home and Lucy adjusting to living in Elsie’s home, we come to believe the house has its own memory.  And why not?  Wouldn’t the house feel like an old shoe, molded to someone else’s foot and now must accommodate a different size being put into it?       As the past and the present are manifested in Lucy’s and Elsie’s lives, centered around the house, we can’t help think of our own hundred small lessons.