Christmas craft

For quite a while, we have had a very white Holiday season.  I Actually think we may be in for some more snow and it has been very cold! However, we do not have the flooding and tornadoes experienced by some of our neighboring states and sympathize with their tragedies and cannot imaging how their Christmas must have been.  Ours was quiet, celebrated with neighbors.  Very peaceful!  This project has been on my bucket list for some years and finally my buddy and I were able to work on these.  Our first attempt using a coat hanger wire to string these on was a complete bust, but we had originally planned to use these foam rings and with hot glue gun in hand and all of the ornament balls we have collected for years, we proceeded.  It was fun and a real success as far as we are concerned.  Mine is the red and gold and the other belongs to my buddy.

Even though we had lots of balls, we still haunted the thrift shop and the dollar store for more.  (After putting away the Christmas trimmings, we found more, but oh well.)

I love mine and I found a place to store it, but it took many more ornaments than we expected, not to mention a lot of hot glue.  We have had many critters tromping in the snow, rabbits and deer and antelope and one lonely spike elk.  A neighbor has a horse, Lola, who stays busy chasing the deer from her hay and the bald eagles are still watching over us from their perch in the tree south of our house.  The animals are all fat so they must be able to forage for enough food, including the bunnies who are ravaging my plants.  We have so many!  Breeding season for the cottontails will begin in February according to the information we have found so we will be competing for the ground plants.

I am quilting like crazy.  We are still meeting on Mondays from 9-3 at our library with machines and fabrics and sharing knowledge.  At least once a month, we go to lunch and are nearly finished with our row by row projects.  One more row and we will each have 11 rows to incorporate in a quilt, each from a different quilter and they are so unique.  What a wonderful way to remember each of these gals whose friendship I have so enjoyed. It is one day we all anxiously await each week.

My wish for all is a safe, healthy, productive new year!

"Friendship is the golden thread that ties all hearts together." ~ Anonymous

Quilt ladder and more

 This is the "more".  Since we have lived here, we have put our tree in front of this window and the elk antlers hang above.  We decided the first year to decorate the antlers--last year it sported balls and lights, but this year, just lights.  It does require a bit of a balancing act, but after the tree was decorated and we lit everything...voila! The tree has grown antlers.

We as retirees are realizing that we need to downsize and are not exchanging any gifts..we don't need anything, don't really want anything (Amazon has that for us during the year) and we just get what we need and want when ever the time comes.  That is a blessing for us and we are fortunate  But I did want a quilt ladder as I have quite a few quilts that I would like to display during the year.  We had beautiful alder wood trim in our home and there were a few pieces left in the crawl space by the previous builder and owner.  I suggested that they could be used to make my ladder and the Mr., being the engineer and handyman, took this as a small challenge.  He does such precise and beautiful work.

 The cross pieces were ripped from a wider piece and glued, screwed, and clamped above.

 It is drying above and I might add that all of the trim was prefinished before he began the construction.

And here it is with some of my quilts displayed.  It allows for several in a small space and it is a Christmas gift I can take wherever I go.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night under a warm quilt!

Let it snow, let it snow!

 As I write this today, nearly every school in Colorado (that is where I get my news), is closed because of the mountains of snow we received.  We are actually just a few miles from the state line and in the valley between 2 mountain ranges, we are experiencing a true winter storm.

 I was up early today and when I let my little grey fur kid out, he barely got off the back step to do his duty and the snow was up to his little belly.  The major roads, the interstate is closed and it looks like the snowblower may actually get used today.

I spent the better part of one day last weekend making my Christmas cookies, so this post is just about that, and the snow.  I have boxed and delivered a few, but as our cookie jar seems to empty itself, I think I may have to break down and make some more.  These are sugar cookies, dipped gingersnaps, biscochitos (a Mexican cookie made with lard and anise seeds) .
So today as it snows and blows, I will be baking and watching Christmas movies and staying in where it is warm.  It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

More stuff

Remember that I told you about the little stools I made from the old chairs so that my fur babies needed to get up on the beds?  Well here they are and it seems that I should have a bed exclusively for them.  Oh wait a minute, they do have their own beds.  This is just for nap time.

Last weekend we went out to get our tree and you can see how pretty the forest was and the snow was deeeeeep!  We did however successfully get our trees and mine is up and decorated.  We had a beautiful day to do this and again ate our picnic lunch overlooking the forest.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Sheridan WY with my friend and neighbor to spend a few days with her mother.  She lives at the foot of the Big Horn Mts and needless to say it is beautiful there also.  We shopped and ate and toured a mansion one evening with friends.
It was amazing and there were musicians and figgy pudding and apple cider and just felt like Christmas!!

Her yard is overrun with whitetail deer and wild turkeys and you feel like you have returned to the turn of century and see our state as the  pioneers must have seen it when first they came.

This is the trunk I have begun to paint, but today will be reserved for baking my Christmas cookies.  I have 5 batches of dough in the fridge and am late in getting started to it will be a marathon of baking today.  The trunk will wait!

WINTER PROJECTS

This is the first of several projects that are floating around in the back of my pea brain.  And thankfully, the Mr. just goes along with my ideasHe is always there to help with my requests although sometimes I have to step back and let him take charge.

What initiated this endeavor was the purchase of new beds and the inability for one of my little furkids to access the comfy spot he always claims as his.  The other little grey guy can fly but Roger has a body built for laps only.

Last year a friend had given me an old broken table and 3 chairs and her thought was that I might

 use the wood for something.  I did take the backs and make garden angels for her daughters, but I needed some stools to put at the end of the beds.  So the Mr. first cut off the legs, and then I took offnthe old grungy seat covers.

As you can see...very grungy and they had been stored in the crawl space for about a year.  There was another original cover under these fake needlepoint covers and a million staples.

My real surprise was that there was actually straw as the first layer of padding, followed by

some other kind of cotton or wool substance. And that meant that these chairs were really old. How long has it been since straw was used in padding furniture?

So as you can see, after using a couple of garage sale seat pads which had a nice 2 inch  foam, and scrounging through my fabric stash, I recovered them with a pleather fake tooled fabric.

My adventure with the staple gun was another story.  We have 3 and they, of course, use different size staples.  The electric one which we purchased at some time to make things easier

was jammed and neither of us could even figure how to open it so I was back to using one of the old arthritis aggravating machines.

I am however, pleased with outcome and the little furkids can jump up on the bed with ease.

Today we are headed out for another adventure.  We have our tree permits and this will be the 4th year since we have had Christmas here and we are very close to tree cutting areas if we can access them.  We got a really nice snow in our area Thanksgiving and that will determine how available the forest will be for us.

So with thermos in hand and turkey sandwiches, armed with shovels, chains (yes we have been stuck) and saws we will be on the "hunt" for the perfect trees.  I always want a tall skinny tree and our partners in crime usually get a big fat tree.  We will have the camera and intend to document this trip again.

I have an old trunk that my mother-in-law gave me years ago..a steamer trunk to be exact.  It was in really poor shape on the outside, but it is in good shape inside.

I have hauled it around for about 40 years and it has been painted several times and the paint has chipped so I am giving it another life and will be documenting it on one of my next posts....perhaps after the tree adventure.

Hope all had a nice Thanksgiving and a shout out to my sister who had a birthday this past week.

"He who has imagination without learning has wings but not feet." ~ Joseph Joubert

Bread

When I was in Washington state visiting our daughter, she gave me a "starter".  I posted earlier the other bread from her recipe and decided to get a little adventurous.  With the ability to search anything from my iPad I found some sourdough recipes and the first, pancakes was a terrific success.  Out west here, sourdough is popular and was a staple for every household from the covered wagon chief to the chuckwagon cook.  Being miles from any town, the ability to make bread was a necessity and you took care of your "starter".  After doing a little research on starters, I discovered that I wasn't caring for

mine properly.  You have to feed it once a week if you keep it in the fridge and twice a day if on the counter.  I don't bake with it often so into the fridge it went.  However, I put it on the counter and after a couple of hours, I checked it and it was bubbling quite nicely.  There is too much more to discuss here now, but as you can see, the pancakes, the bread, and the cinnamon rolls tasted just as good as they look!

The next post will be about my dilemma  to fix the problem of my little furkids ability to get up on our beds.  We ended up with two beds
and one footstool, so both pups had

to get up on the same bed. For some of you, this may appear to be a silly problem, but these are my babes and my blood pressure tools.  (sort of) And in addition, I have one dog who thinks he owns me.  He has a really chunky body and short legs, but he is not fat, just big bones.  He reminds me of a little bulldog in stature or shortsure.

With the Thanksgiving holiday this week, we remember how blessed we are and remember those who are less fortunate.  Be kind and pay it forward.

Back on line

 I took some time away from the blog...vacation, illness (bloody shingles), not bloody per say, but irritating, and just plain time away.  I am finally finding time to post and a friend and I are finishing some projects that have been sitting unfinished for years, one being this birdhouse I have had for about 8 years in this primed state.  It is still not completed, but is getting there.

I have much more to do, but it will get done!  I have also been working on a baby quilt, which is on it's way to the gramma, my sister.  In addition, I have been purging!  I have been cleaning cupboards, shelves, closets, chests, - anything that is storage for "stuff".  Who in the world needs 25 wine glasses?  I do not like clutter or trinkets sitting around. I have a few things that I collect, but my tastes gravitate to primitive and simple and I really like to repurpose rather than buy new.  So yesterday, after lunch, the Mr. and I worked over two dining room chairs that were given to me last year along with a table in pieces.  The wood was really pretty.  These chairs have been sitting in the crawl space after I took the backs off to use in another project.  We needed some small stools to put at the end of our beds so that our little fur babies could access them.  (yes our dogs are allowed on the beds--it is what we do)
So we cut off the legs and remaining back support and I recovered the seats and that will be my next post.

I have still been going to quilt with my pals on Mondays and it has been so rewarding.  We are nearly finished with our row by row quilt strips and they are really wonderful.  As we, the baby boomers age, I see those who have little energy, become "older".  They have no hobbies and not much contact with the outside world.  I learned so much from my father and I remember that as he aged, he and my mother stayed busy, went to coffee, played cards, went to rock shows, etc.  On the other hand, my husband's father retired and never left the house.  There were 20 years difference nearly when the two passed. Thankfully, the Mr. and I have been fortunate to have our health and are able to "get out and about" and are trying to keep our youth as long as possible.  With all that is happening in our world today, we are also thankful that we live in this little isolated part of the world where our power comes from small co-ops and we are not on the national computerized grid.  (That is another story.)

" 'Tis the gift to be simple. 'Tis the gift to be free." ~ Old Shaker Hymn