Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and we have everything ready.  We're waiting for our youngest DS and DIL to arrive for supper.  Tomorrow our oldest DS, DIL, DGD, DGS will arrive in time for supper (we hope).  Our DS had to work today and they are coming from Oregon.  (BTW, I'm not sure I got the abbreviations right.  Is there a place that has them all listed for new bloggers)?

Let's not forget what Christmas is all about - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord!

Below is part of my Christmas village that I made out of plastic canvas about 20 years ago.  

Remember, this is Texas, so the pansies are blooming and will continue all winter.  The temp has been going down to about freezing at night and it is supposed to be in the 50's during the days this week - beautiful weather.  But, alas, no white Christmas for us.  My DGS wanted to know if it would snow.  I guess not this year.  It is possible, though, we usually don't get much and it usually melts quickly.
I spent my morning making lefse, our favorite Christmas Norwegian tradition.  I have already sampled it and it is yummy!
Merry Christmas to one and all from Texas!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Cooking for Christmas

It's time to get busy and prepare food for the family coming for Christmas.  Yesterday I baked a double batch of cinnamon rolls and put most of them in the freezer.  The pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea!



Today, I'm making a jello salad, spinach dip and getting a thai salad partly ready.  Tomorrow, I will be making a hugh batch of lefse - a Norwegian potato pancake/flat bread.  It is our favorite Christmas tradition.  I grew up with my Grandmother making it (her parents were from Norway).  I got the recipe from her and my aunt.  My Mom never made it, so as teenagers, we started making it.  I have continued it almost every year since I've been married, and my sons have helped me with it.  One son has made it on his own a few times as well.  Yum! Yum!  

The diet begins after the new year!  Merry Christmas to one and all!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Marble bags & Santa
















I made a yoyo "desk" topper for this small desk in our entry hall. I had never made yoyos until recently and have had fun doing it. I made some bottle cap hot pads and actually sold some at a craft sale. They were probably the most "looked at" item we had on display!

Several years ago my quilt guild had a workshop for this Santa. I finished one (another one didn't get finished) and was pleased with the result. It is one of my favorite decorations for Christmas.

I have been so busy finishing up projects, baking, decorating, etc, that I haven't done much blogging lately. Here are two marble bags that I made for our grandchildren, who are coming here for Christmas from Oregon. I need to make a few more for game pieces that we have from a board game my husband made last year.


I hope I can figure out how to get the pictures to go where I want them to go. Any pointers along those lines? Don't know if I will have time for any more posts until after Christmas, so I will wish any dear readers a Merry Christmas now.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Getting ready for Christmas

About a month ago I laid out these blocks to try to decide how to arrange them, thinking that I might get it finished in time for Christmas. What was I thinking? I should have known I wouldn't get it finished this year! It isn't scheduled for a gift, so I'm putting it away. Hopefully, I'll get it finished next year. The pattern is "Hokey Pokey" & I can't remember the name of the designer. I took the class last November in Cedar Hill, TX.


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I just finished four sweat shirt jackets with cats on the front (one for me, one to sell at a craft show Saturday and two for gifts). I think they are pretty cute. I hope people like them. Here is a close-up of one of the cats. I love the whiskers!







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Below is a picture of some aprons I made for my 2 DILs, granddaughter and one for myself. These aprons are reversable, with three pockets on each side made of the reverse fabric. The pocket in the middle chest area is for a cell phone. I've had the fabric on the right with the morning glories & hummingbirds for quite some time and had never gotten to making anything with it, so I thought this would be a good way to use it. That one is for me, as I am very partial to morning glories & hummingbirds.blog post photo

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Just Beginning


I have been participating in the allpeoplequilt.com blog for a few months now, but it isn't very user friendly.  Some of the ladies that participate in that have other blogs which I have checked out, so I decided to start one also.  I really like to see what other quilters are up to and I especially enjoy seeing the pictures they post.  A whole new world has been opened up to me.  This blogging stuff is amazing and it looks like lots of fun too.  I will need to study up on all the features of this blog so I can figure out how to post pictures, etc.  The above picture is a quilt that I just finished.  I started it several years ago when my guild was doing a block of the month.  I decided to get fabric to do the BOMs that I could make into a quilt for our king size bed.  Not knowing how I was going to lay the blocks out to fill up a king size quilt made it very hard.  I am not a designer, but I finally figured it out and I was just relieved to finish it! after several years.