Monday Visitors

It was a surprise to see these gems waddling around the estate last Monday. They are such an awkward looking bird, but very fun to watch. 

 This one looks like he is trying to practice his skills at riding the rail!

I thought the one below was the brave one. 

He almost made it to the front door to ring my doorbell, but got scared and ran away when he saw my camera flash!

Alfred Hitchcock

I woke up to an Alfred Hitchcock kind of day. It looked like the fog was rising out of the ground in a very eerie kind of way. I tried to capture it with camera, but it's a little hard to see! Sure reminds me of the good old movies that were a little suspenseful but not too scary. 

A Few More Completions (Almost)

I was able to find some time to sew this past week. First to get completed are a couple pillowcases for grandsons Joshua & Ethan. They are in love with the different characters. So here's to Batman and Spiderman! 

Then I focused on another stack of fabric that has been sitting around for a while. Here is another almost finished quilt. It needs a wide border before it's really done. I'm not sure what to use for it, so I just might have to go shopping! It's always a fun trip when a quilt shop is involved. 

I also cut out hexagons for another quilt. This will be revealed later, but I will give you a teaser. It has about 180 flower petals to be sewn onto the quilt. I've cut them all out, so let the fun begin!!

Love Tree

The tree has changed again and is showing a lot of LOVE! I'm enjoying it and so far I'm glad it is still a light in my life. Picked up some gold hearts, but may have to change their color to white or pink, or some of each! (I don't know why my picture is sideways, can't get it to change. Sorry!)

My sweetie brought me some lovely roses. This picture doesn't do them justice. They sure smell wonderful. We avoided the crowds on Friday and went out for dinner on Saturday afternoon. Acapulco served up some mean burritos for us. 

My first Valentine from John was a heart shaped box of chocolates that he mailed to me from Ricks College. I knew then he was a keeper! Sure do love that man!!

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!