Oh....Christmas Tree

With half a cloth napkin, or in my case half a fat quarter, (or small piece of fabric) I cut the two half-circles out above, and on the right side of the main fabric below, stitched near the curved edge a piece of pretty trim.

Then below with right sides together and the print up, stitched on the same stitching line to sew both together, leaving a small 1 1/2" opening for turning.

With hemostats (or another method of your choice) I turned to the right side and pressed.  The fold at the top is off-center..experiment with this.

I stitched down from the top, both sides to the first row of trim.

For a favor at a place-setting for example, the silverware and napkin can be inserted.  This was new to me, but my quilt group had seen it before and I just had to try it.  I think it is pretty cute!

Once every week we meet from 9:00 to  3:30 and sew with our machines on whatever project we are each working on.  We have shared so much knowledge and it takes us at least an hour to get to the actual sewing.  I have been blessed to have met such a great group of gals.  On another note....I saw my dental hygienist yesterday for my regular cleaning and express to her my concerns about an issue with a tooth..it is cracked and needs repaired.  These teeth are supposed to outlive me my dentist told me, so I plan to live several more decades and will have to get it fixed. I have far to go and roads to travel before I leave this earth.

Wheat weaving

 A couple of weeks ago, I took a wheat weaving class locally and above is a lover's not and below is St. Bridget's Cross.  I actually forgot the story about the cross and there were several versions, but in the example above, we actually learned this braiding pattern as well as another similar one.  Note that below, some of the beards on the wheat are black.  We were told that these were actually grown specifically for weaving and they are really black.  I should have thought to take my camera to document the process, but the wheat had to be soaked for several hours prior to weaving and we had to keep it wet.  Needless to say, we had "puddles of water" all over the table!

I so enjoyed the weaving and my mind was spinning, trying to imagine what other natural plantings could be used...lavender perhaps?  I grow lots of lavender.  What about other herbs?  Hmmm.......

Add a row

 As the new year is advancing slowly and every day the sun sets a minute later, I am aware that spring is just around the corner.  Well, maybe around the section..(1 mile by 1 mile square for those who don't farm), would be a better analysis.  IT'S COMING FOLKS!  Until then, I find myself holed up in the sewing room for the most part. The apron above is a simple pattern and is made from one yard of fabric.  Being short, one yard would make the apron too big for me so I made mine about 26" square.  It should be made of one piece of fabric, lined with a coordinating fabric and with one corner turned back at the top....voila!  I only had a half yard of this pricy Wyo fabric so I improvised and truly, I love it.  But I am an apron person!  I wear one a lot 'cause I guess I am just messy by nature.

My wonderful quilt group meets every Monday to sew all day.  It is my therapy.  This group consists of advanced to beginner quilters and we all have learned a ton from each other.  We decided that we would do a project this year to challenge all of us.  We are going to do a row by row quilt, but each quilter will add one row to another quilter's project and pass it on to another.  There are at the onset no rules, however each quilter can add fabric to their first row so that others can use that fabric for some consistency or they can choose to just contribute the first row and see what the others add.  I have done this before with a square and have others add borders of their choice and at the end, we each have a unique quilt, with every friend contributing.  So the square above is one my friend wanted to do, but it was only 6 inches and she wanted a larger square.  I thought it would be fairly easy, but that top leaf square was a real challenge. I did persevere though.  But after all is said and done, the bottom leaf just looked funky.  I checked the pattern and it is correct according to that, but I now realize that the little white triangle should be flipped.  I like to color outside the lines, but this is just wrong. I will correct that.

Happy Birthday

 Just a couple of quick pics to finish up 2014.  One other square from the quilt and above, the glass block, which was one of the summer projects from the "craft week" with my best buddies.  I have started to actually "quilt" the top which will be about 90 X 90 when finished and I did complete the Christmas Tree wall hanging from a post last year. The snap doesn't really do the glass block justice, as it is really pretty with the colored lights and it is a small block...not as large as most I have seen.  Goodbye Christmas and hurry up spring.

The happy birthday is for my hubby who is 70 today.  We are hoping for a better year this time, with no surgeries.....  more camping and adventures and hopefully a little more time with my children.  As I realize the spring, summer and fall of my life are gone and all that is left is my winter, and that is the least favorite of my seasons, I have much left to do.  Winter here is cold, snowy and sometimes dreary as it tends to isolate us to some degree.  Even when we were in the city and had access to nearly everything, when it is cold, I do not want to be outside.  It can be very pretty that is true, and perhaps the Mr. likes it so much is because he was born in the midst of it, but really.....?  Brrrr
So Happy Happy to the Mr. and to all a Happy New Year!!!!

Quilt

 Just a quick post....been busy with Christmas activities.  I posted quite some time ago that I was working with my neighbor on a quilt...actually we are both doing this quilt in similar but different colors. (a race to the finish and I intend to win) an Two squares here, the one above is one of several and below is the border patchwork. It isn't really a fair race, but hey, take all the advantages you can!

I actually have the quilt top finished now, but haven't started the back in order to get it ready to quilt. So last evening, we decided what the next project will be. I had more pictures to post, but realized they were sideways and needed to right them.  When we went for the trees, we had a video to post to some friends and relatives...it came in to them upside down.  I am finding out that getting old is a great excuse for lots of mishaps!!!!  Stay warm.

Oh...Christmas tree

Yesterday, a 5 hour power failure seemed to be a perfect excuse to make our now annual trek for "the tree".  This is our 3rd Christmas here where we could actually cut our own tree and know how fresh it was.  The day was gorgeous, but the power company was testing the new power station near us which will hopefully allow us rural residents to have power without any outages.  Really, we have not had many of those anyway.  But 5 1/2-6 hrs without power in a totally electric home at 45 degrees is not something we were anticipating.  So as always, we packed our lunch, ropes, saws and thermos of hot stuff and headed to the hills.  This spot was not far from out home...about 15 miles or so, but as we approached the forest, the snow got really deep and we were not able to get very far into the woods.
Tree permits are $10.00 and the Mr. and I found our tree not far from where the truck was parked in no time at all.  The other tree, the top picture, was the neighbor's.  They actually were on the road that had not been plowed so the snow was not as deep as off the road.  We have fairly new homes here with large open living spaces, but as you can see, my buddy wants a really big tree and she had to walk quite a distance up hill to the top of the hill. The mister's new hip is still and always will be a little stiff and we are not spring chicks any more so our tree in the bottom picture is still a nice size. The first thing I did in my search was fall backwards into the snow and I couldn't get up.  The snow had a lot of moisture in it and was wet and heavy. I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants.  Eventually we got the "perfect tree" cut down and dragged to the truck.  However, the tree in the top picture,-- another story.  It was so heavy!!! The Mr. and I did not go for our search and instead, opted to sit in the truck, sip on hot coffee and eat trail mix...after all we had our tree.  Eventually, as the second tree came into view and we could see the struggle to pull it down the hill, I decided to go help.
Bonnie fell down at least once and again, we laughed 'til we cried. We may eventually buy trees at the local grocery store, but for now we look forward to these memory making jaunts for the annual tree and picnic in the warm truck.  And the fresh pine smell in the house----worth every adventure!!!

Turkey Day

 I really have not had much to "blog" about so that is the only excuse I have.  As you can see, winter has arrived and with that, I have begun my winter hibernation. I have always lived where there were snowy winters and like my mother, I am not and have never been fond of the snow and cold.  I do not ski, or snowmobile, or snowshoe and depend on my treadmill for winter exercise. I always told the Mr. that when I retired, I needed to be where it is warmer.  However, his feet are firmly planted here, so that is why I hibernate.  The cold is also not very good for the arthritic conditions that we get as we age and with an old ankle injury, I just try to stay out of the cold and away from the icy conditions.

Luckily for me, I have lots of interests that keep me occupied in the winter.  I am trying to get some quilts finished and have begun my marathon reading thanks to our great little libraries, and with the holidays fast approaching, I can spend some time baking goodies.  There is also the wildlife in abundance as these photos show the mama and her babies pawing through the snow to get to the grass on the leach field.  Above, they are having a salad of the remnants of my flower bed.  This year I will not be cooking Thanksgiving for the first time in years as our neighbor and friend is doing it but I will be contributing pies and rolls and other goodies so, here is wishing you all a great Turkey Day and if I am absent for a while, I will be back when more is happening in my world.  Happy Thanksgiving!