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Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Christmas Quilt

Cowgirl, liking all things Country, was the recipient of my first fully finished quilt.
In spite of her modern sensibilities and fashion choices, she loves all things homemade. These photos were taken two days after Christmas, before we left to go see Les Miserables. I Loved it! But mostly I LOVE this girl!


This is a lap size quilt. . . big enough to put over you when you're watching TV, which is where she said she's putting it. The six stars represent each member of our family. She gave me the charm pack, my first one, several years ago. I can't remember the name of it except that I know it was created by Moda. I started another quilt six years ago for her, but that turned into the patriotic table runners. That makes this the first official quilt I created and completed. 

 I created my own Christmas tree pattern to use for the quilting on the five inch burgundy checkered fabric. Easy and simple. I stitched it in green to help them stand out. I didn't use any patterns because there were no complicated squares, and I was grateful it all just worked out with the amount of fabrics I'd selected.
I hand appliqued, using the blanket stitch on each of the stars. I felt it just added more authenticity to the country feel I was trying to achieve.
 This star fabric I found and loved and knew Cowgirl would too. I used more strips from the charm packs, cut in half for the outside borders. I stitched 1/4 inch inside the charm scraps because I wanted to leave the star fabric untouched, and I wanted to add something unexpected to that outside border. I just can't make myself quilt in the ditch all the time. I bound it in the same green fabric I used for the backing. I loved thinking of Cowgirl the whole time I was making this. It came from my heart!

Friday, December 28, 2012

My Favorite People

One of the best parts of Christmas, for me, is being with my favorite people. Of course I'm talking about my family, and lest you think, MyGirl is left out, that is by choice. She doesn't want me posting photos of her anymore, but she is one of my very favorite people too.

Cowgirl brought her Christmas apron and helped Grandma with the big dinner cooking on Christmas Eve, a delicious honey-baked ham and everything good to go with it!

                                                                     My oldest two
                                            The youngest and the oldest that were gathered.
 Mom and MyGirl had made homemade crackers, and even cut tissue paper hats, which we all put on during Christmas Eve dinner - symbolic of the wise men, I think. Here is my wise man, blinded by the star, er, light from my camera. He's such a good sport!
 We then had a special traditional program, where we read from the scriptures, sing a hymn and have family prayer. (The hats were off shortly after I took this photo.)
 When we came back home, these three played Christmas hymns together, and brought such a wonderful Spirit into our home. As close to heavenly hosts as we could have, and I loved every minute!
 On Christmas morning, Mom and Dad came over to watch the kids open their gifts. They also brought everyone socks as part of their Christmas gifts. It just happened to be that BigBuddy was wearing this shirt so MyMike shared his socks with his son. LOL -  LOVE The cape on the back - too funny!
 Littlebuddy modeling his Bacon socks. He loved them. It was his nickname at the beginning of the school year, and a Baconater, er eater, he is.

All that were left of breakfast after breakfast was done - three small orange or cinnamon rolls.
 I was told, "For the thirteenth year in a row, it was the best Christmas Ever." Grateful everyone was happy. I just happy to be with all of them!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas

Recalling some sweet moments this December - MyGirl at her dad's company work party, wearing the new sweater she bought. 


MyGirl was invited to attend the Nutcracker with another family from church.

 The music was in her heart, and she had to dance like a ballerina all through the house when she got home.  She is so precious to me!
One of the best activities we participated in, helping put on the Ronald McDonald House Christmas Party. Here my boy is leading the caroling. In spite of his trials, he still looks for opportunities to serve. So Love him for his good heart!
Cowgirl is home and we are SOOOO happy to have her here! Here she is on the way to the gym with her dad. Love the shoes, love the woman, and she just gives so much love back.  How I love her!

 MyMike at work, in his new lab, with his radar behind him.  What a challenging and amazing year he has had. The success of his project has changed the future of his company. But work aside, I truly think this has been our best year ever! We've gotten to spend more time together since Thanksgiving than any year before. Love that!!! His musical website,  http://home.comcast.net/~mksummerhays/     is fun to listen to. Its the music of his heart, though sadly, he hasn't had much time this year to compose anything new.
Fun to have my parents home and to spend time with them and sit with them at church. Makes the holidays more merrier with extended family, that's for sure! My friend here told me before she left, how blessed I am to have the two of them for my parents. Couldn't agree more!
 LittleBuddy after receiving his gift from Santa. Its fun to have him be all that a cool teenager is and still be a sweet boy and excited for the holidays. Its just so fun that tomorrow is Christmas! Looking forward to seeing his face tomorrow morning and having more fun together. Tonight at Mom's, tomorrow here. We've already had some Rook marathons going. Feels like time for some Dalmuti too. He's already asked me twice if he can help make the Christmas Trifle. Love spending time with him too.
So, from our house to yours, Merry, Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

More Blessed Than I Deserve

Five more days until Christmas.  Time is starting to fly now for me, but I just can't help but feel so sad still for the families who already had presents under the tree, I'm sure, and were excited for holidays with their little ones in Connecticut, and elsewhere too. How many children died this week in a hospital or from disease all over the world? I know there is an end for everything, and I'm grateful for the eternal perspective I have, but it still hurts my heart to know that a mother is missing her baby, no matter how old. 

Then there is the mental illness issues that have been brought to light again. The hopelessness that mental illness can bring to individuals and the pain it inflicts on their families and others is something, sadly, I am familiar with. Its not an easy road and I judge no one who has it or who lives with it. I just grieve for what it leaves in its wake and again feel so very grateful to know that there is a God in Heaven who understands things I cannot and strengthens us to get through hard things. I am so grateful for His blessings!

On to the last week. . . Cookies have been baked and consumed. These gingerbread snowflakes were fun for MyGirl and I to decorate with edible glitter and sparkling sugars on top of our buttercream frosting. 

 Fortunately, some made their ways into tins to be given away. Whenever we went to our Grandma Jacobs' house at the holidays, her cookies were always in tins. I've thought about both of my grandmas several times this week in all our cookie baking and how much I loved going to their house at the holidays. How blessed I am to have known and loved them both.
 Sadly, we had good friends moving away this week; far, far away to Germany. Their welcoming spirits helped to make this an easy transition when we moved.
Happily, we had friends come to visit too. We stayed up until 1:30 a.m. talking. Good thing her new college graduate daughter was here to help her drive. So grateful for faraway friends that remain close and especially those that come out of their way to visit me.


We were very sad to see them leave, but they had to get out of town before:
 The Blizzard came. 55 mile an hour winds, with about four/five inches of snow eventually landing in our neighborhood. However, the drifts from the wind, made it over a foot in some places.  I know because I waded in it getting down to my Mom and Dad's house. I spent a couple of hours there and as I was ready to leave to come back home, my dad took the shovel and made a path right in front of me so I could get back home easily. My parents spoil me still, at this age! I am more blessed than I deserve!
 This was only a couple of hours into the blizzard. It lasted all day, and today its sunny and bright again, and because it was such a dry snow, was easy to shovel off and plow away. I've been driving all over town this morning, starting at 7:40 a.m. and its been fine. I keep thinking about the movie 17 Miracles. No protection from those bitter winds and cold snows. My house keeps us comfortable and warm. . . .so very Blessed!
 Of course its still cold today. Between 11 and 14 degrees while I was driving around, with my seat warmers on, in my scarf, gloves and coat. Here MyGirl models the cute print on her long johns. Warm gear required.
 The blizzard also gave LittleBuddy a Snow Day! Yeah! He spent a couple of hours at the neighbors, then they spent the rest of the day here. Neighbor has four younger siblings, who are totally darling, and I love them all, but sometimes the big boys need to get away to more peace and quiet. That's our house. And, fortunately, Neighbor likes to eat my food and that makes me happy. He also likes to play games with my boy. They like having a sofa each for all their controllers, and to stretch out. Don't you love teenagers? Chilled out and just enjoying hanging out with each other.
 Sadly, Bigbuddy has had a hard week again, but happily, he got A's in both his online classes. I talked to someone who highly recommended another doctor who has helped people with some similar symptoms so he's got an appointment next week. Hopefully some progress can be made before he goes back to school. Today, he's doing better than he has the past three days. . . no rhyme or reason to all this.
Next week you can see the more challenging project I've been working on, but here is a very easy craft, using paper blocks, the Cricut and some polka dot paper. With the backgrounds the same, its easy to change what they say all through the year. You could easily make them more ornate by changing background papers or adding embellishments, but this is the basic version before additions are made.





 Looking forward to more joy when Cowgirl gets home on Saturday and we can all be together again. Love these times, and love all the smiles and laughter that comes from it. I look at my children and know how blessed I am to have them all alive. Tonight BigBuddy and I go to the Ronald McDonald House and serve dinner for the Starlight Foundation Christmas party there. Its an organization that offers support to the families of children with genetic defects. Realizing that some families will spend Christmas Day in the hospital is humbling and causes me one more time to realize I am more blessed than I deserve.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The End is Near

My husband asked me tonight, "What day do the Mayans think the end of the world is?
My answer, "Either the 21st or 22nd. I'm not sure, but its coming up this week. I guess if it happens I won't be teaching Gospel Doctrine next week, but I'll keep preparing just in case."

While we could smile about all this, in reality, most things in life do eventually come to an end.
Christmas will be here in nine days and then all the preparations will be done.
Sadly, all those in Connecticut who were killed came to a tragic end, too early for their families and loved ones.
Friends move away and our own children leave us.
Someday the world will end as we know it.
At scripture reading tonight, we read Matthew 10, and pondered on what it means to take up our cross and follow Him. Surely, life is not supposed to be easy. Death is part of the package of life, but in Christ there is a hope and a perspective that what happens here is not all there is, for He rose again, and offers us eternal life, or life without end. What glorious, beautiful doctrine that is!

Again, I've stopped to think that we never know when the end of our lives is coming, but its nearer than most any of us want it to be. So, "preparing just in case" is really just another way of saying, live our life to the best we can every day. Our crosses to bear come in those subtle moments. Did we take the high road or the low road? Did we forgive or let something fester?

A teenager gave a talk in church which I found very powerful today.  He was quoting someone, Brad Wilcox, I believe, and explained that if we were to draw two dots, and had the highest one be where God is, and the one at the bottom be where we are, then we must ponder the question, what does Christ do for us? At first the obvious answer would be to draw a line connecting us to God. But in truth, we were taught, that all the space on the page has ALREADY been filled by Jesus Christ by His infinite and eternal sacrifice that we call the Atonement. All paths, all deficits, all the choices of our lives have been covered by Him already. Its the grace He offers us.

Why are we here then? Don't works count? We, who are continuously at the bottom dot, making progress still, but not enough? We are to humble ourselves and prepare for the day when we will stand before our Maker by coming unto our Savior now. Let Him show us the way. Let Him be the author and finisher of our faith, and prepare to be in His presence someday. Practicing faith and repentance and obedience every day. That still seems to be the answer, no matter which century we live in. That's the greatest creativity we get to choose - How will I live my life today? How grateful I am to the Savior for the hope He gives, that all the trials of life will someday be over. Today I can let Him mold and create a better me, and trust that when the end day finally does come, it will be far better than what I could do on my own without Him. And, that is what makes a Merry Christmas, Merry after all!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Cards with A Little Sparkle

 I was in the mood for making bright, happy, fun cards this week. These were all different Thank You's. From one gem to three to lots of glitter, it makes everything a little more festive to add some sparkle, don't you think? Fun to have some bright colored grosgrain also.  I do miss that Offray ribbon outlet in Maryland, so its good I stocked up before I moved. :-)
 I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this layout and stamp. . . one of the earliest CTMH stamp sets I ever bought. Its for Thanksgiving, but I just love to use it year round. It makes "Thankful" look so cheerful.
I made more ornament tags with the Cricut this year than I needed for my gifts, so I'm now using them on cards.  I know organdy ribbon isn't trendy any more, but I just love the elegance it adds to my cards. And, something about bright blues and aquas - I just can't get enough. Its a color right now that's making me very happy in the middle of all the greens and reds.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Looking like Christmas

 The stockings were hung on the stairway, not far from the chimney, with care. So easy to just tie them up with a bow. Over the years I've hung the stockings from several different places. This was by far the easiest, just tying them to the railing. MyGirl doesn't like it, but I am. I didn't like the Command Strips last year poking out of the garland on the fireplace railing last year.
 I found these pins at T*rget this year. Very simple along with the Christmas plaid, which is a pattern I just love. Must be my British Isle heritage coming through.
The mantle is little bit different this year. Wanted to add my two favorite Christmas decorations to the greenery. First, the picture of my youngest on Santa's lap in a Santa frame given to my by my oldest (meaning I've known her since I was only one) friend. Its just a precious photo and brings back so many memories of the kids being so excited to sit on his lap filled with the excitement and magical feelings of Christmas. Next is the small white nativity I found several years ago in Delaware on a Thanksgiving vacation.  Its really an ornament, but is somewhat heavy, and so putting it on the tree always causes me concern. I love it because its just beautiful and peaceful and in its simplicity reminds me of what really matters most at Christmas.  

I got some flack this year about my tree being too cluttered with non-matching ornaments, but that's just the kind of tree I love. Very homey, very much filled with special memories and the people who gave me those ornaments and filled with my love. The stars are mostly to remind me of my children and there is a heart on the tree for each year Mike and I have been married. This year's is made of tweed and has 2012 embroidered on it. Speaking of embroidery, I've been hand appliqueing the blanket stitch on one of my Christmas presents I'm almost finished with. I'll take photos and post pictures after Christmas. . . can't ruin any surprises!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

A Before and After

I have mixed feelings of sharing before and after pictures. I am thankful to have a home at all. I am forever grateful to whoever sent the email that was circulating a few years back that stated, "Half the world feeds their transportation." That right there put everything into perspective for me and helped create a shift in my mind that I needed. I could have been born in a hut and have no refrigeration or running water. I could be worried about feeding my children as well as my transportation. But I don't worry about any of those things. I am blessed.

So, when myMike expressed dissatisfaction with our home office, shortly after we moved here, I agreed, it was lacking in aesthetics, but it was serving a function, and frankly, in my mind, the kitchen was worse because that grout just felt so unsanitary.

Well, as soon as the kitchen was done he again expressed that something needed to be done about our den. (It goes by both names, - the office and the den.)  He is someone who loves stress-free things. (Which is why he married me - seriously, I am low maintenance!) And, our home office was stress-full. . . books falling off the shelves, nothing matched, everything was stacked on top of each other. It was just too much for his order-loving self. So, we made a plan, and on my birthday he took the day off work and declared it shopping for the den day. . . Who was I to complain?

Here was his side of the room, the big roll top along with his keyboard, which you don't see, but it was where the door is, and made it impossible to open both French doors, and his table in front of the window, because his desk had no room to work on.
 This was my office. Seriously. A pink chair which is 25 years old. I was ready to give it away before we moved, and no male member of the my family could part with it. Us girls? We were ready, but not the boys. So, this is where I have sat for the past couple of years with my laptop on my lap, blogging, reading emails, etc.  Big ugly speakers myMike insists are necessary to listen to the music he composes and the mishmash of unmatching bookshelves, dressers converted into bookshelves, and ugly filing cabinets. . . . it wasn't pretty but it did function. Barely. There was another desk the kids used for their laptops, and everything was filed on top of the filing cabinets.
 So, after spending the day near where we used to live, the next day (which he also had off, ) we cleared out the den. Wow! We'd forgotten how spacious it really was and how painful it is to move. We got rid of four bookshelves all the filing cabinets (they're downstairs in the basement) and the roll top is in my bedroom because its a big room and it matches the furniture in that room. That is my new desk. All that was in the room that first day was the new black cedar cabinet we got for myMike's music equipment (which we picked up on the way home) and the blue office chair which is very comfortable (which is now my new office chair.)
That meant that books now lined every square inch of our upstairs, filled every suitcase we own, and were taking over our life, literally.


 The next day he went back to work and we went to the family company Christmas party, complete with Santa and dinner. Saturday, the rest of the furniture that we hadn't taken home with us was delivered.

All along, I wanted white desks and cabinets, but the selection around here was minimal or chintzy. So, after deciding not to have a custom-made white office, we opted for readily available black one. Don't ask me why I didn't want traditional wood. I don't know why. I guess I just wanted it to feel a little more modern. So, we got two desks and hutches that are identical and put them side by side. You can see the laptops on the right hutch shelf. That's the kids' desk. Someday it will be mine. MyMike's desk is on the left. Now his keyboard is not blocking the door, and his new cabinet houses all the equipment that used to sit on top of the roll top desk. We aren't finished, so please ignore the things on top of the hutch and below the desk. I still want to find baskets for underneath the drawers of the desks to house those things, and a few other items that are convenient to an office. We need artwork back up to give it personality, but the bones are in place.
 Where the old roll top used to be, there are now bookshelves. The lower shelves are covered by glass half paneled doors. Only the top one is open for things too large for our eleven inch shelves. Now the speakers don't stick out so much, and they work just as well on their sides as they did standing up. We are blessed to have nine foot ceilings on the main level of our home, so using that height was a priority for me and having doors for the bookshelves was a priority for my husband. The room came from three different stores, so I'm glad the shades of brown/black that weren't made at the same factory, all worked well together.
 There are four bookshelves, and happily, the ones right behind the door aren't even full. Mike had Monday and Tuesday off this week to help finish building the bookshelves, which came from Ikea, and to set up all his equipment as well as help put up Christmas. So, the room is almost done. It does feel more organized, more open, and less stressed. Its working better for everyone. And, I've found another interesting thing, which I knew was true, but experienced it again this week. When my home is calm, I can get more done to serve others. And, that's what I really want to be doing this Christmas season. Much more than decorating and moving books!