It's Beginning to Look....

Dear Hubby got the outside lights up, and the snowman panel I whipped up last year.  Speak about a fast project!  I have another panel and this winter I will make a quilt out of it... but that is for after Christmas.  I have been baking cookies... yummy Orange Snaps from the Lake Eden Cookbook, and then, because I can never let well enough alone, I added chocolate chips to the snaps.  Orange and chocolate is a combination made in heaven, to be sure.   I still have the Ginger Spice cookies, and Cherry Cookies, and Peppermint cookies to go, and if I have time, Mexican Wedding cookies.... messy, but worth it.  I think I will have to have some help baking, if I am to finish. 

The Hobbit - Howard Shore - Misty Mountains

I can't post much of what I am doing, since it pretty much would give away what the various members of my family are getting for Christmas.... So, the next few weeks will be mostly filled will other stuff.  Enjoy the wonder of Howard Shore's Music!

We Are Lucky!

The creator of this wonder is now teaching at G Street Fabrics!  Betty Jo Tatum has another class starting this weekend, and then again in February.  Her technique is wonderful, you should see her Hubble Telescope Quilt!  She is so talented!

There is Something Worth Fighting For.....

It hasn't been an easy year, in some ways.  It isn't likely to be an easy year next year either.  I am listening to this more often, remembering that yes, there really is something worthwhile, something good.  My quilting and other sewing has helped me maintain a perspective, and so has my SCA activity.  But overall, it has to just come from inside, from my core of being.  Everything I do contributes to who I am, but there is a kernel of me deep inside that isn't dependent on what I do, or what is done to me.  It comes from God.  No one can take it away.  That is what I must reach towards in the end.

'The Hoard'

Is there anyone quite like JRR Tolkien?  Oh, I wish I had his diction! The Wellington premiere of the Hobbit happened last night, pretty cool stuff.  I can't imagine anyone doing it better than Peter Jackson, though he does have a free hand with the screenplay, I am afraid.  But I am enough of a realist to realize that what works in a book wouldn't work on the big screen.  Not in a direct translation anyway.  Still, the books are such gold, it would be hard for the films to live up to the potential.  I think PJ did pretty darn well in LOTR, and figure he will do even better in Hobbit.  After all, he is older, wiser, and has had some practice!   My wonderful husband has already purchased the tickets...he says he will go with me even if I wear funny clothes.... 

What ARE You Doing?

This is the look I get when I interrupt the serious grooming of the border cat to move something from under his nose.  He is rather annoyed with me, though I didn't actually touch him or shift him or otherwise truly disturb him.  But I drew his attention, and that took it away from a far more important task!  It isn't actually a stinkeye, but pretty darn close.

My son has requested wall art for Christmas, and I am planning several things.  I am so happy that he has asked me for some art!  I think Meg could use some too, though I don't know if she wants any.  Her apartment is as bare as his... barer in fact.  My little brain is working overtime planning out stuff for a wildlife managers walls.... I have too many ideas, actually.  I have to narrow it down.  Fish, birds, dall sheep, bison, wolves, all have possibilities.  Hmmmm......

By the way, go over to Lily's Quilts for a great giveaway... I love this collection of Kaufman's.  

Beginning the Countdown

 

I have never dressed up in costume for a movie before.... But I am considering it for this one! I have started playing the music from Lord of the Rings to get me in the mood. In between Christmas songs, of course. Advent has two meanings this year... Is that a bad thing?

 

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Quilt

I wasn't at all sure about this collection of fabrics when it came in... it is Berenstein Bears, mostly, and in colors I don't often work with.  I am also not a traditional quilter, so this isn't my style, either.  None the less, I am pretty darn happy with how it looks, and hope the recipient will be too.  One of my friends had her first grandbaby, a boy, last December.  I wanted to do a quilt, but I am the queen of procrastination, and very unsure of my quilting skills, and didn't at all like the first quilt I began.  So, time passed.  I was determined not to let Nick turn one year old without the quilt being presented.  Tada!  Finished!  I even learned how to do a double binding with an easy join as a bonus.... all in all, a good project. 

 Oh, and Thanksgiving was a complete success, though a bit on the quiet side.  This is the first time Gil and I have had Thanksgiving alone since 1982, when 14" of snow fell in Kitsap County Washington, literally bringing that whole section of the state to an abrupt halt.  No power for 4 days, including Thanksgiving, but we soldiered on.  We had a woodstove insert with just enough room on top to cook the side dishes, and a tiny weber grill that I used to grill the turkey and taters.  We ate by candlelight, and watched the stars shine on the blue tinged snow, and listened to the foxes bark.  Yes, I know foxes are not native to western Washington, but a few escaped the zoo years before, and bred a little colony.  I hope they are still there.  Late that night, the hooting of an owl put me to sleep, and I have loved owls ever since.  Stars, and foxes, and owls.  A magical combination. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you, God, for all your blessings.  Help me remember them when it is darkest. 

Craft Show

I ended up with two tables at the craft show, since the crafter next to me didn't show up.  I had enough room, therefore, and it was a decent show.  More traffic than last year, though not a lot of money spent, overall.  About a third of the crafters who were there last year and before didn't come out.  I guess the economy is just really bad, and people don't think it is going to get much better.  Some of the things I thought would fly out didn't move at all, and things I was hesitant to bring did well.  Mostly it was not the expensive stuff, and the people all around me were confirming the same thing.  The inexpensive goods moved much better than the pricey stuff, in pretty much all categories.  Gonna be a tough next four years financially, I suspect. 

The Night Before the Big Craft Show!

And with this, Gentle Reader, I leave you.