Just a Little Christmas

We decided to open our gifts on Christmas Eve this year and after that made the decision to move the stockings up onto the desk.  Why, you may ask.  Well, we have found that Santa usually brings more and bigger gifts than the socks can hold so there needs to be room for all that “stuff.”  In years past we have used our lounge chairs for the stockings but, again, with Sherlock in attendance we felt the desk was the safer place.  Boy, am I glad we found that desk when we did!




In the living room is the traditional Christmas laundry basket.  What?  You don’t have a traditional laundry basket for Christmas?  Well, when our children were young and we were visiting my parents my mother provided laundry baskets for each of the children.  As we opened gifts we were to put the wrappings in the baskets.  At the end of the gift opening we emptied the trash and the children put their gifts in their own baskets until it was time to go home.  So, with great glee, DH arrived in the living room with this basket which we more than filled as we shared what we had bought and/or made for each other.




The last gift he got was this hat that I had been knitting that day.  I hate to see him outside in the cold with his “little” bald head uncovered so I whipped this one up.  I was very proud of it as I finished it while we were watching Magoo’s Christmas Carol, another family tradition, just prior to opening our gifts.







And lastly, I do have to share one of the gifts that Santa brought me (it completely filled the sock).
















This represents a very exciting day as Auburn, my alma mater, again became SEC champs.














After all that excitement DH woke up Christmas morning with a pretty severe stomach flu-like problem.  He spent the whole day and evening in bed and/or the bathroom.  He was unable to eat or drink anything so it wasn’t until yesterday that we finally were able to have our traditional Chinese Christmas dinner.  One thing I have learned is that traditions change and wise is the one who is able to bend with the changes.


On the quilting front, I have been making units for Celtic Solstice but it is very slow going.  I am beginning to think that I will be making a table runner and two placemats instead of a whole quilt.  There are two new BOMs I have been looking at that I want to do and I have a quilt top that needs to be quilted soon so I think CS will have to be a smaller project.


And my knitting has been coming along nicely.  I am on the heel of the second sock for my purple/blue socks and started a dark blue pair yesterday.  Of course I ventured into the hat making process with DH’s hat and may make a couple more.  I really want to knit a sweater but have not found a nice yet inexpensive yarn I want to use so that idea is on hold for now.


I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, and fun.     Gari

Productivity and Inspiration

Sore throat, chills, a little cough: oops, I think I am sick. Well, it came on Friday night and was pretty full blown when I got home from shopping on Saturday. I was in bed by 3 and was happy that there was football on the TV for DH: I like to be left alone when I am sick. My theory is that food should be pushed under the door and no one should bother me until I am well.

Despite this little setback, I have been really productive. I have a Dresden Plate on the quilt frame and about half done. When not working in there I have completed two flannel rag quilts and two fleece throws. On my design wall (check out Judy's blog on Monday) I have the three Christmas socks I have embroidered for my granddaughter and her little family.

I didn’t do the snowflakes (Walmart did) but I did personalize them.

Behind the socks is another set of swap blocks I picked up Saturday. They are Autumn inspired and will probably reside on the UFO shelf for a few months, until inspiration comes.

And speaking of inspiration, look at what I did.

These are my creations from my first fused glass class. We got to play with bits and pieces of scrap glass and this is what I came out with. I had lots of fun and will really enjoy wearing these, my own creations. But even glass will never take the place of quilting, just provide for a change every once in a while.