Trees and books

We went hunting for our Christmas tree yesterday. We're feeling our age as we tromp through the fields of the Christmas tree farm managing to find the biggest tree farthest from the car - and nowadays it's just the two of us dragging and carrying it back. Luckily the place we go to drills the standing hole in the bottom and then trusses it so we can get it home and in the stand before cutting the netting and standing back as it poofs out to fill the room.
This one is 10 feet tall. I love our trees. I always think they look like a charm bracelet, the sparklies dangling from the ends of the branches. Over the years I've hung found objects, spoons from my mom, pretty forks, glass or brass or silver cups, lids from dishes long broken or flea market finds, hand carved wooden birds and Santas and angels, the treetop angel(s) are construction paper cones my kids made in preschool when they were three years old. Over the years I gave each of them an ornament as we decorated Every year for my son a toy soldier and my daughter an angel. When they married they took their ornaments with them, but I kept the treetop angels.
Last year as our couple of days together was winding down, the babies in bed, we sat quietly together, I pulled from the tree 5 envelopes. In the envelopes was a piece of paper listing for each of the adults in my family the 10 reasons why I love them. Each one written personally. I started to read to Patient Husband first and as I read my daughter started to cry and my son-in-law asked if there was something they should know - was I sick? Was I going to die? No, I said. And then read my daughter's, then my son's, then my son-in-law's and then my daughter-in-law's. I don't know about them, but it made MY day.

We're enjoying the last two days of our Thanksgiving holiday weekend. One of the simple things I enjoy very much when I don't have to get up in the morning is to stay up late, late, reading. Last night I finished this book and wanted to pass along how much I enjoyed it. I learned, a little bit before I read it, that Christopher Robin Milne absolutely hated being Christopher Robin in the Pooh books. He was so intensely upset he was estranged from his parents for years and never reconciled before their deaths. It isn't about Christopher Robin Milne, but his situation was the catalyst for the idea of this book. With that in mind, this book was conceived and written and is a debut novel for this author. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it highly to anyone walking past. It's that good. I don't say that about a lot of books but when I find one like this I do kind of make a pest of myself.
Up next? Well, I bought a Kindle last week (!!!!) and have one book loaded, Saving CeeCee Hunnicutt by Beth Hoffman. I haven't read a single review that wasn't glowing. It isn't a long heavy book, but light, and at this time of year I need light! There are dozens on thebookshelf waiting for me and as I look at them I'm drawn to The Distant Hours by Kate Morgan, an author I enjoy very much. She wrote The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden, both good reads, but heavier. Then there's Fannie Flagg's new book, I Still Dream About You. I do love reading Fannie Flagg. I can hear her speaking voice and her books read like she's sitting across from me telling me a fantastic story. Last week I also finished Doc by Mary Doria Russell. Now SHE is an author to follow! Doc is about Doc Holliday and that shouldn't scare you away. It's a winner.
But tonight, while the Kindle recharges ( I guess the last time I used it I didn't turn it off!!!) I think I'll attack that floral scrappy quilt Elizabeth is waiting for.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Santa comes early!

I am coming to you today from my brand new computer!! This one works! This one isn't as old as I am! And there is only ONE on this desk! For months and months and months I was operating with three ten year old computers on this desk, and each one of them did just one thing. I kid you not. One would resize my pictures for me because it had Microsoft Office one it but it wouldn't connect to the internet. One would connect to the internet but didn't have Office and one had a printer but no internet and Office was so old it didn't resize pics. And all of them moved arthritically slow. The frustration level was so high I got to the point of not even turning them on unless it was an emergency. I'd go to work an hour early so I could use the computer there on my own time. But now! Wow! This is so amazing! And we got a printer/scanner/copier. I am delirious!

The girls came to visit today. Their daddy was working all weekend and it was cold and dreary so their mommy packed them off to have lunch and naps here. Elizabeth napped in grandma's bed. Adelaide is cutting six teeth at once and had roseola all last week so she isn't sleeping much these days. After a short nap we played. I told her she had feathers for hair and she had to feel to be sure.

What was going to be a computer set up and nap day turned out to be a fun adventure day with the girls.

Now that I am not computer challenged anymore maybe I hope to foray into blogland more often!

Holy Stash!!!

Lest you think I don't really quilt, that I just talk about it, take a look at this mess! I was so tired of scrounging through the drawers where I keep my stash that I spent Sunday afternoon organizing. Now, there is a place in a drawer for like colors (never mind values!) and one full drawer of this mess. Scraps!!! Some are left over binding, some are leftover from string quilts, some are just small pieces and some are truly large-enough-to-do-something-with scraps. What a mess my room was!!!
But now I've sorted this pile into clear bags of colors and in a drawer. At one point Patient Husband walked into the room, took one look and turned and walked out.
I have enough here for several scrappy quilts - which I love anyway - and enough yardage in my other drawers to last the rest of my life. I even found projects I completely forgot about, one a bag of 18 10-inch squares - all finished just not completed into a top! Another project had many, many more blue and white pinwheels. Another pile of squares probably 50 years old that I got at a flea market for $2.00. I used some of them to make one quilt, and these left were the truly ugly ones. But if I find some poison green somewhere they could become a top.
Anyway, if the scraps are any indication, I really DO quilt. I'm just not a FAST quilter. I'm a relaxing-comfort-at-the-end-of-the-day quilter.

something to show, finally

Yes, I actually spent most of Sunday afternoon and evening piecing and I have pics to prove it! I'm making six ornaments. I tried to think what I would like...something that was Christmassy or something traditional? I opted for the traditional, being traditional myself. Here's an appliqued blue flower.... I also did a red one, you can just see it peek out from the underneath.

a cardinal...because what's winter without a cardinal?

a grouping of some of the others. I think a traditional block hanging on the tree will be prettier than a snowman or candycane, don't you?

I've been spending time with my flock of geese and am almost finished with the 64 of them. They're very pretty in black, ecru, white-ish and creams.

snappy children

Snappyfriends challenge a week or so ago was children and I'm late!

Our Cecilia's christening was last weekend. These are her cousins on her mother's side and our Elizabeth and Adelaide on the left. Charlie is proudly sitting next to Adelaide, who, by the way, thought something in the back of the church was more interesting. The baby was beautiful and sweet and didn't cry a peep.
And here we all are at our quilt retreat showing off our projects for the weekend. I must say WE felt like children all weekend. Playing, laughing, doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. Someone was there to cook our meals and make our beds and pick up our socks. We ate candy and cookies and drank pop. It was truly a weekend to be children again!

My gosh, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted but it's been a particularly busy time and time is something I just don't seem to have lately.
This weekend I went on a much anticipated and planned for quilt retreat. Call it Mental Health Day. Call it anything you want but this place is in a stunningly beautiful setting. The weather
was perfect, the colors at or just past peak. We laughed, stitched, laughed some more. The only bad part for me was being there just Thursday evening and Friday. I had to leave Saturday morning for a trip to my newest granddaughter's christening that afternoon 3.5 hours away. But for the short time I was there ...

Part of the wonderment of this place, The Inn at the Rustic Gate, was the food. We had requested an ethnic meal one of our evenings and chose Polish because the proprietors are Polish and our chef Sharon is a master. So, we had kielbasa and kapusta (sauerkraut)

and golumbki

and pierogi - all made by hand, mind you.

There were groans of approval and appreciation and we waddled out of the room when dinner was over. After all of this wonderment there was dessert, too. Sharon feeds us well. We found this place last year and booked it again for this year on the spot. As we gratefully pushed back our chairs I made the remark that for a weekend, WE get to have the wife...someone to cook wondrous meals and make our beds and let us do whatever we wanted. Someone else commented this was OUR deer camp! Whatever we call it, we had a good and much needed time together.

This is the Christmas tree skirt Friend Marilyn finished for her daughter-in-law.

Sally does beautiful work. The navy blue/white snowflake design is gorgeous. I'm a real fan of navy and white.
One year ago, just after our retreat weekend, Val's parents both passed away within three days of each other. Her father flew planes so she is making a quilt for herself and her siblings and the airplanes are from her father's shirts. I love the starry sky they're flying through. Val is a meticulous quilter and this will be a treasure.

What did I work on this weekend? I had a pile of flying geese to make so I sat next to a good window and stitched geese. I'm making a border for a quilt and I had 64 of them to stitch together. Knowing I wasn't going to be there the whole weekend I took a small project - and still didn't finish them all (remember, I stitch by hand.)

Friend Marilyn finished her day with a toddy, popcorn and a book.

I know I'm behind on Snappyfriends and I don't know what the next set of 'assignments' is, but I'm working on catching up.

birthdays and cake and brightness

Our Adelaide turned One last week and we celebrated her birthday this past weekend. She's very proud of being one:
She was stylish in her birthday hat:
and dove in with both hands when it was time for cake:She had a big year - from being in the Intensive Care unit at birth, tethered to tubes, to a walking, climbing eating machine for her first birthday. One half hour spent with her tells us who the comedian in the family is going to be.

While at the party I saw my entry for "colorful" in the Snappyfriends challenge.

They have everything from feathered boas to tutus to lighted construction helmets, fireman helmets, fairy wands and a WonderPets cape. Oh, and don't forget the wings!! Elizabeth's play is very imaginative!

Quilting....what's that??? I am working on E's flowered quilt, the scrappy thing I was planning on using at my house but she claimed as hers. I'm hand quilting it with perle cotton and really having a fun time with that. I'm to the border rows so it's almost finished. I just don't have the time. It's a crazy life right now and trying to stay sane is the priority. Quilting is a refuge but there just isn't the time! Stitch by stitch, one stitch at a time.
The immediate to-do list includes a felted stocking for Cecilia, 6 ornaments, putting together the flying geese for one quilt's borders and a gazillion ideas for others. The stocking and ornaments come first.