A Foggy, Frosty Morning

Yesterday there was some fog when I got up and the trees were really frosty.  I took a few pictures because it was so beautiful.

The temperature yesterday got up to 37 and today it's supposed to be 39, so I plan on getting outside to enjoy it.  Tonight it'll turn cold again, and for the next several days we'll have some highs below zero and lows even further below zero with even colder wind chills. 

Many people actually enjoy winter weather up here in the north; I'm okay with it as long as I don't have to get out in it too much.  I've lived here most of my life, so I guess I'm kind of used to it.  Two of our kids and their families live in the area, and our other son is planning on moving back next summer.  Being close to family is important, so I'll just enjoy the blessings of winter (such as the unique beauty and the somewhat slower pace of life) and look forward to spring. 

I have finished putting pictures of UFOs and WIPs on the other page, so take a look if you're interested. 

New Camera Case

A few years ago, at a garage sale, I bought a little carrying case for my point and shoot type camera.  It has served its purpose, but is not exactly pretty to look at. 

I wanted something with a bit more color, so a couple of days ago, I made a new case.

There's not much to it; just a length of fabric (I used the same for the outside and the inside.), some batting, a button, and a length of ribbon.  I made the ribbon long enough so I can fit it over my head to wear around my neck.

This fabric is much brighter and more cheerful than the old one.  It makes me smile when I look at it, so it's already a success.

If you are interested, I just put up a new tab with pictures of unfinished objects (UFOs) and works-in-progress (WIPs).  The thing I love most about quilting is the piecing, and when that's finished I'm really slow to actually sandwich, quilt, and bind my projects.  I'm hoping that having all of these posted will encourage me to finish them. 

I put up pictures of 9 so far and will be adding the rest this weekend.

The Last of the Christmas Quilting for 2013

We just had our family Christmas get-together, so now I can show you the last of the Christmas quilting I did this year. 

These are table runners I made: one for my daughter and the other for my daughter-in-law.   They are small, but should work well on a side table or something similar.

They are essentially the same on the front, but the backings are different.

We had such a nice time today.  The grands are getting so big; our oldest is already in Middle School, and it won't seem like very long before the other two are that old, also.  It was great having them here along with our son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law.  The only thing that would have made it better is if our other son could have been here.  Hopefully, next year he will be.

We had our traditional Christmas meal of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes & gravy, lefse, my Gram's fruit salad, and a couple of other things.  Oh, and of course, pickled herring which, as it turns out, no one but Mr. M and I like.  For the past few years, our daughter-in-law has brought a really good homemade pecan pie for dessert, Mr. M's favorite.  This year our son was up early this morning, so he made it.  He did well.

I hope you all have a very wonderful Christmas this year. 


Linking up with Sew Darn Crafty

Silverware Pockets

Just in time for Christmas, I came across a tutorial on another blog for making some nice silverware holders.  (Sorry, but I don't remember which blog it was.)

They were very easy to do.  I used the rest of the jelly roll that I had used to do the table runner in this post:  Swirls and a Christmas Runner

 

 As you can see, the silverware sticks way out.  I should have made them a bit larger, but I forgot that my silverware seems to be longer than most.  And I also just noticed that I have the knife facing the wrong way in this picture.  Will have to make sure I do it right when I set these out for our Christmas dinner.

If I had tried one with the silverware in it before I made all ten, then I would have adjusted the size.  Since I didn't, they are just going to have to do.

We are having our family Christmas get-together this coming Sunday, so I'm going to be busy today and tomorrow finishing up what needs to get done before then.  I always look forward so much to our family Christmas.  Everyone will be here except our younger son who lives quite a ways from here; and he has to work on Christmas this year.

Draft Stoppers

It has seemed so unseasonably cold here lately.  The temperature is below zero at night and doesn't warm up much during the day.  But what is worse is the wind, which has been bringing the wind chill to about -20 for much of the day and night.  In fact, as I write this, it is almost noon and the temperature is -4 with a wind chill of -19.

Fortunately, I don't have to do much outside.  But of course the furnace runs a lot when it's so windy.
So I decided to do a little bit about it (no, not move south, although it's sometimes tempting).  Last summer I came across a great bargain at a garage sale:  76 yards of flannel for $30.  Most of the pieces were several yards each.  At about $.40 per yard, how could I pass it up?

What a great way to use some of it by making draft stoppers for the doors. 

Here are some before I turned them right side out. 

I filled the first one with rice, but then remembered that we have a lot of dried beans, so that's what I'm using for the rest.

Once I got started, I decided why not make them for the windowsills, too.  So, I'm going to end up with 23, four for the doors and the other 19 for windows.

And here are the first four finished.

Hopefully, having these will help when the wind blows.  And the cost to make them was minimal which is always nice.




I'm linking up with Sew Darn Crafty
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Ornaments

Hello!

I did a bit of sewing this past week after most of the Christmas decorations were up.

These are small "pocket" ornaments that can hold small candy canes or a few pieces of chocolates or anything else that might fit in such a small space.

They're made with two small squares of fabric bonded together and folded.  Very easy and cute.

I'm also working on a few utensil holders that I saw on another blog.  I'll show those to you when I get them finished.


I'm linking up with Sew Darn Crafty

Christmas Decorating and a Poem

I just came across this quote from John Greenleaf Whittier on another website and want to share it.

"Somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others, Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing, The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing, Returns to you glad."

This poem is a good reminder to me that I need to be more giving of kind words, time, and resources all of the time. 

I'm not doing any sewing today because it's time to put up the Christmas tree and other decorations.    This is all I have done so far.

This year I'm only putting up a 4 foot tabletop tree.  It still needs some small silver balls, and then it should be finished.  I still have boxes and boxes of decorations to go through and decide what gets put out and what doesn't.  That will take me the rest of the day and then some.

Linking up with Make it Pretty Monday week 78