Merry Christmas

At last, peace on earth.
Oh!  But then again.....

Awww....all is calm, all is bright.

Merry Christmas!

Technology

It is great when it works, but when it doesn't, it can be a little scary.  This past week, I was fixing my lunch as usual--heating up some acorn squash in the microwave and sauteing some asparagus on the stove top.  I pressed the button on the microwave to turn on the over-the-stove light.  The light came on, as well as the vent fan, and about 3 minutes was added to the cook time for my squash.  Okaaaay.  I stop the microwave, and consider my next move.  My squash needs a little more time to heat, so I push the number 4.  It shows up as 5 on the display.  Hmmmm.  Okay, I can go with 5.  I push another number and start.  The microwave tells me to enter a second cooking time.  All right.  It doesn't like 4 anymore.  I manage to finish getting my lunch ready and make plans to replace the microwave.  

Plan A:  Replace the mircrowave.  

Get on the internet.  Do a quick search at Home Depot, Lowes, and Sears.  The brand of the microwave we currently have has good reviews, so we decide to get basically the same thing we have.  Check on availability.  Alas, we want a white mircrowave, which is not the popular item right now and will have to be ordered.  No possibility of getting it until after Christmas.

Plan B:  Forget the microwave and just get a vent hood.

Certainly much cheaper.  Can I remember how to heat up food without a microwave? Worked through all those scenarios, even looking up how to reheat rice without a mircrowave on the internet.  (Everything is on the internet!)  Since there won't be a replacement until after Christmas, I will have to do things the old-fashioned way anyhow.   

Plan C:  Look at a countertop microwave/convection oven.

Dual purpose appliances don't get very good reviews.  Toss Plan C.

After going back and forth between Plan A and Plan B, we decide to go ahead with Plan A, since it would be something we would have to do anyway if we were to need to sell the house for some reason.  In the meantime, the thing that is driving me the most crazy is not having the light over my stove.  To make sure I don't accidentally turn it on, I did the Big X.

The one good thing is that over the stove microwaves are a lot less expensive than they were when we last bought one.  And that is a technological plus. 

Reordering the Order, Part 2

Sorting my fabric scraps freed up some room in my stash storage, it was time to deal with the fabric that was spreading onto the guest bed. 

I like to go ahead and group fabrics that work well together, so that projects have a bit of a head start, so to speak.  I pulled out my storage baskets, bundled up the fabrics on the guest bed, and rearranged them back into the baskets.

I counted all the bundles and I have groupings for about 30 quilt projects, both personal and for my quilt group.  That should keep me going for a while.  Apart from adding a fabric here or there to complete a bundle, I will focus on working through my stash.    

The quilt budget this coming year will go to keeping up the thread, batting, and backing supplies as visions of quilts dance in my head. 

Holiday Musings 2012

This is a holiday of transitions--grandparents growing older, children getting married, grandchildren arriving.  As the seasons of life bring change, there is comfort in the traditions that continue and enjoyment of the beginning of new traditions.

Three or four years ago, beginning the weekend after Thanksgiving, I started reading through The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  I have fond, though faded, memories of watching the Mr. Magoo cartoon version as a child.  Last year I read it out loud to my husband at meal times on the weekends, one stave per weekend.  We are repeating that tradition this year and find it to be a enjoyable and thoughtful part of the season.  

Our little tree is up, though it owes being decorated to my husband.  I just didn't have the enthusiasm for it this year.  I placed the ornaments on their hooks, and he put them on the tree, and it was a little task made pleasant by his company. 

The creche is arranged on our new fireplace mantle, and it was a lovely surprise to see how the colors in the creche matched the colors in the new fireplace. 

All that is left of the decorating is adding our bit of lights to the front porch.  Sending out the Christmas cards, wrapping packages, and holiday baking should finish up the preparations. 
Family will gather together, and I am anticipating a time of lots of laughter, bustle, and love. Afterwards I may curl up in a comfortable place somewhere with maybe a book, some knitting, or a movie and enjoy a bit of solitude.  

Bears and Bees

At my quilt group we have some tubs labeled UFO's or Unfinished Objects.  Over the years people have donated projects that were never completed.  Some of them have a few completed blocks and others just some pieces of fabric cut to size.  It is always a mystery as to what the original quilter had in mind, and a challenge to take it from where they left off to make something else. 

In the tub there was a set of 8" squares of some country-style fabric featuring bears, honey, and bees.  Two of the ladies arranged the squares and sewed them together.  I had quilting ideas buzzing around in my head (hee, hee) and asked if I could quilt it.  They happily agreed.  

And here is Bears and Bees:

One of the tone on tone fabric has bees buzzing around and I figured they would be in search of flowers

The other tone on tone fabric has bear paw prints and surely they would be following the bees so they could find the honey.

 On the patterned fabrics I used wavy lines to divide them into nine-patches

 Finally, on the border, I did a combination of flowers and bees to tie it all together.

 I hope this cheerful little quilt gives some joy to a child in need of it.  It was fun to work on.

Re-ordering the Order, Part 1

As someone who keeps things pretty organized, there are still times where I have a "doh!" moment regarding to how best to manage stuff.  In this case it is the leftover fabrics from my quilts.  Up to this point, I was sorting the leftovers by size cut, which really made it a bother to put away the leftovers once a project was done.  I would have to sort everything by size, and then put them in the various bins.  Even up to now, when searching through all my bins for a certain fabric, it still didn't occur to me that there was a better way.  

Finally the light came on, and I realized that sorting by color and grouping all the leftover of each fabric together would make things so much simpler.  So began the Big Sort....

Last week I did a quick sort by color, and just tossed them back in the boxes.  This week I took out all the fabrics in each box, re-bagged each fabric together, and labeled the boxes.

Once I was done, I then gather the leftovers from my latest project, bagged them up, and put them in the appropriate tub.  So much easier!

Always Glad to See Fall

Crimsom, gold, copper

Autumn's banners a-flutter

Adieu to summer

Sigh...our fall color may be especially sparse this year, but I will take what I can get. 

Knit Focus

Saturday it was cold and I needed to get to the farmers' market.  Donning my layers, I pulled a knitted hat out of my box of wooly items, put it on, and decided it was too big.  Hmmm...I have never taken apart a project that was complete, but this time I will because I love the yarn.  The plan is to undo all the decrease section, and finish it back off as a cowl.  And I decided that that was the last of my hats. (Sorry, P.  You will have to be content with your quilt.)  Life is short, my queue is long, and making projects that have to be a certain size is just a bother.  

On the other hand, I am almost finish knitting a beaded shawl for my sister-in-law, and I have to say that it has been such an enjoyable project.  The pattern is interesting.  The beads along with my markers help me keep the pattern on track.  If I do make mistakes, they are easy to correct.  It is a pretty, sparkly bit of  woolyness.   Ahh, shawls...I love them.  Cowls are fun, too, and I don't mind throwing in a scarf here or there.  Life is short, my queue is long, and creating snuggly warmth for necks and shoulders is what I am going to do.

Since all my shawls, cowls, and scarves are knitted on circular needles, the question is...do I keep all my double-points?  

Double-tasking

I remember when multi-tasking became all the rage.  How many plates can you keep spinning at one time?  That idea appealed to me as it came during the season of caring for little ones and homeschooling, and as much out of necessity as anything, I incorporated it as often as I could.  Alas, multi-tasking turned out not to be so great after all--more stress with less done less well. 

Now that life has slowed down a bit, I have discovered what does work, and I call it double-tasking.  Since tasks vary in the amount of focus they require, it works quite well to pair up certain jobs in order to use my time the most effectively.  Here are some job pairing that work well for me:

Phone conversations while folding laundry or dusting.

Watching a movie while ironing.

Using my iPad to do my daily Bible reading while I do the dishes.

Cleaning is always an opportunity for planning, meditating, or prayer.

Using picking up the mail and refreshing the bird baths to get some sunshine/vitamin D.   

Cooking works well paired with short tasks such as emptying the the dish drainer or sorting through mail that I can do in breaks between food preparations, though I have found it works best to do tasks that keep me close to the kitchen.  However, I have found that baking and talking on the phone is generally not a good idea.  Those forgotten ingredients or unintended substitutions made a few things less than tasty.

Double-tasking not only lets me get more done, it has the bonus of making a "mindless" task more enjoyable.  Nice!

Butterfly Garden

Every quilt I work on is an opportunity to learn new skills and practice others.  This pretty top was put together by one of my quilting ladies.  The pattern is called Disappearing Nine Patch and is made from a nine patch block that is cut down the middle horizontally and vertically, and then sewn back together.  We have made several of tops with this pattern, and it work best when using three colors, as this top does.  

Looking through my quilting books, I was inspired to give butterflies a try.  

 They were quite fun to do and not at all difficult.

In the patterned areas, I created some tropical style flowers, the inspiration for which came from a fellow quilter who had also quilted this pattern.

A serendipitous moment occurred when I looked at the completed quilt.  On the front, the little butterflies stand out, while the flowers fade into the patterned fabric.  On the back however, the butterflies, quilted in blue thread, disappeared in the blue fabric.  The flowers on the other hand stood out, and due to their shape, gave the effect of large butterflies scattered over the back.  

 Happiness!

A Doggy Tale

Hello, there!  My name is Asia and I am guest posting today on Elzbee's Place.  That is me in the middle between my wonderful master and my lovely mistress.

Recently my master and mistress took a trip that sadly didn't allow me to accompany them.  Instead they brought me to Elzbee who happens to run a very nice doggy boutique hotel.  

There was fine dining, though I have to say that the menu was rather lacking in variety.

Luxurious sleeping accommodations with linens freshened daily

There were daily excursions.

I enjoyed an occasional massage.

Several times a day, Elzbee would take me outside for a brisk rubdown.  She called it a dander rub.  I don't know why, but it was a pleasant part of my stay.

All in all, I enjoyed my time at Elzbee's Place and would recommend it to my friends, but she is very exclusive in the clientele she takes. I think I may be the only one.  Happy me! :-)

Fireside Tale

Once upon a time, there was an ugly fireplace.  Now, it was not unusual in its ugliness.  On the contrary, many of fireplaces in nearby homes could claim the same.  However, the master of the house knew that this fireplace had potential for being a lovely asset to this home, so he began planning its transformation.  It took a number of years for the plans and resources to come together, but finally the day came for the grand plan to become a reality.

Here is the before.

 The old is stripped away and the new surround is framed up.

 A little primer...

 A little paint.

 A new hearth.

 Tile work is complete.

 An new mantle made of solid maple wood.

And a hefty bracket to hold it in place.

A warm stain for the mantle.

 So pretty!

The arch of the surround and the curve of the mantle and hearth echo the arches of the home's doors and windows.  Now the fireplace looks like it actually belongs rather than like an afterthought.  And the fireplace lived happily ever after.  

Fall Color

I love the colors of fall.....

Lionhearted

One of the ladies in my quilt group put together this top and I thought the lion fabric was just too cute.  I had the pleasure of doing the quilting.

There was enough of the lion fabric for another quilt and I was able to order some fabric to go with it.  Lionhearted 2 is in the queue.