My Changing Tree

I love my Christmas tree. Many people comment on how lovely it is, even though it is artificial. Keeping my tree up through the end of January brings light and happiness to an otherwise dark and dreary Minnesota January.

It's a lot of work to assemble this tree one branch at a time, and to string the lights so they are scattered throughout the tree and not just on the outer rim of the branches. Putting up this tree is probably the worst part of Christmas (next to shopping)! Soooooo...... I've decided to keep my tree up year round. I know some people think I'm cray cray, but that's okay. At my age you can be forgiven for a lot of things!

With the frigid temperatures outside yesterday, I stayed inside with my wool socks and hot chocolate and decorated the house with snowmen. My tree became a nesting place for several snowmen I already had.

I think this tree can use a few more decorations, so it will be fun to look for anything related to snow.... snowmen, snowballs, snowshoes, snowhats, snowmittens.... you get the idea.

Of course I will also be looking for hearts (Valentines), bunnies and eggs (Easter), red white & blue (summer), pumpkins & scarecrows & pilgrims (Fall). It should be a fun year to see my tree change for the holidays!!!

Empty Box & Dreaming of Spring

I'm happy to say I now have an empty box. This probably isn't very exciting news to most people, but I'm elated!! I have had a box with fabric sitting under my sewing table for a year or so. Today I finished the third quilt made from what I am now calling the purple fabric.

 

Yes, this looks just like my first finished quilt in 2014 except I didn't put borders around the outside edge. I just made the quilt bigger.

I'm happy to have this box empty because the more I sewed, the more purple the colors became! Guess I'm ready to work on some different colored fabrics for a while. No problem, I have many to choose from.

PLUS, the next few days will be perfect weather for staying inside. The winds are blowing and the snow is piling up. Minus 25 tomorrow morning. We actually have waves or white caps on the fields and yard around our house. See the blowing snow in this picture? We have a sidewalk and driveway somewhere under all this snow.

 

Even our picnic table has a wave of snow covering it completely. The poor birds are having a hard time perching at the birdfeeders because of the wind. They make me laugh when their little butts get tipped up into the wind and they lose their balance!! I'm sure they are thinking the same as me... "spring can't come soon enough."

Another Finish

I'm so happy to be sewing up some of this fabric that has been laying around here in boxes. My second quilt finish for 2014 is shown below...

If this fabric looks familiar, it's because my first quilt finished in 2014 used the same fabrics. I simply tried a different pattern to get a totally different look. I have enough fabric to make one more quilt.  I've decided to return to the first pattern and make another quilt just like that one. Then all three of these quilts will be donated to a needy cause.

This is so much fun. My therapy continues to work well!

Happy New Year!

I'm thinking 2014 is going to be a pretty sweet year. I'm starting off in recuperation mode, so it is all up from here! My doctor put me on Prednisone, so that eliminates my need for sleep. Not a problem.. I've cleaned my house (which really needed it after the holidays), and I've had lots of time for quilting.

Here is my first finish of the year:

It has all the colors of Spring - yellow, white, purples, blue, with butterflies and Easter eggs in the prints - which is really funny because the weather outside is the worst cold spell in 15 years. Don't mind working on a project like this and staying inside where it is toasty warm. Yep, 2014 is going to be sweet!