I haven't been near my sewing machine- except to lay something in there to attend when I have time- in a couple of weeks. I have the raffle quilt here right now, due to a change in the holiday schedule. It worked out for the best because some of the marking was almost invisible. I really hate marking quilts. If the marks stay for more than a minute you risk not being able to remove them. But if they remove easily, you have to work very fast- and not move the quilt. I used a kopha marker on the recommendation of one of the members. I must have marked too lightly because the blue lines have faded badly! Anyway, that is how I have spent my hand work time lately.
I also made some fingerless mitts from a noro yarn. I love the long color changes in Noro, but that means the mitts don't match very well. It's ok- Cait loved them. (I didn't take a picture of them before she got them. Here, she is trying to get the Mylar basket filler back into the little box.)
Our Christmas was fairly quiet inside, but weather-wise, we had an interesting few days. A week or so before Christmas, this is what my sidewalk looked like, thanks largely to "lake effect" snow. This isn't the amount of snow we got- although we did have close to a foot of it- just a drift that grows right in the walkway. It was higher than the snow blower, so there's a ledge on the top!
Then the Friday before Christmas, it warmed up and all the snow melted, so we had this. We get this pond every spring, and anytime we get a heavy rain. It rained a LOT the next day, so the pond was a foot deep from the edge of the driveway back to the fence row. I was surprised there weren't geese on it!
On the Sunday before Christmas we woke up to ice.We only had 1/8 to 1/4 inch of it, so it wasn't any threat to our trees or power lines. But some people north of us had some serious damage.
Naturally I had to go out and take pictures of it. To the right is the fruit on my flowering crab. Below is wild rose hips.
Then on Christmas eve, we had a perfect snowfall! Fat, lazy snowflakes gently falling. Just enough snow to cover the mud and give us a white Christmas.
(In a perfect world, it would now warm up to about 65- 70 for the rest of the winter and early spring!)
We went to see The Hobbit just before Christmas. I enjoyed it, although I had read negative reviews. (I still think it's hilarious they made three movies from a 200 page book. )
I was thrilled to see Lee Pace as an elf! He was Ned in a short lived tv show called "Pushing Daisies". If you've never seen it, I'm sure it's available somewhere. I highly recommend it!
My Green thought this time is to let you know that sadly most wrapping paper is not recyclable. So please don't put it in the big yellow boxes. If you want to make your gifts more "green" next time, consider using reusable packaging- a pretty shopping bag from a local store, a basket, even a nice storage tote. Here are some other ideas.
I am grateful for:
Being appreciated even when I don't feel I'm doing the "real" work
Safe travels
LOTS of good food
Family time
The fact that at Christmas we all take the time to tell people they are important to us
