Whew! The weekend is over!

Happy Monday morning my friends. News on the weather is that it is STILL foggy and 4F on my back deck as I type this post. No time to be depressed though, I have a full day ahead of me. It was a busy weekend for the Queen house.

Hubby helped move friends of ours. Sisters Ellen & Marcia moved to a different apartment Saturday morning. The move involved three stops, Marcia's current apt., the house Ellen was staying at and a storage facility that was packed to the brim. All of this in about 12 inches of snow and temperatures in the single digits. Hubby was exhausted and half frozen when he finally arrived home. We dearly wished for a hot tub for him to soak his aching bones. Our church moving "crew" is getting up there in age and really needs to recruit some of the younger men to help with this task.

Saturday morning at our house was the monthly "craft morning" that usually stretches into the afternoon. Saturday was from 9:00 until about 2:30 or 3:00! We had a lovely time snacking on scones and cream cheese brownies I baked. I neglected to take pictures. But they were delicious. I worked on my fleece blankets, several ladies were knitting and crocheting, one just visited and another brought her sewing machine and worked on some charity sewing. We had a lovely time and I guarantee we were much warmer than the moving crew.

I did finish the blankets about midnight last night. Let's just say it was not my favorite project. I ended up sewing satin binding on two of them. By the time I finished the last corner I had it figured out!!! I used the blanket stitch on the last six blankets. At about 2 1/2 to 3 hours a blanket, I was glad to have it done. It was very hard on my hands, poking the needle through the fleece. I got wise about halfway through and started using an ice pick type tool to poke the holes before I got to them. I think they did turn out nice though. They will be mailed off tomorrow to the January project for my AC4C group. I have to look it up, but I think it's a hospital in New York state.

I do like how the blanket stitch turned out but it was tedious work. Since I didn't want a lot of joins in the yarn, I had to start with about a 25 foot long length of yarn and pull it ALL through each stitch. My arms got a very good workout!

I think the satin binding looked pretty messy and I'm glad I only did two of these. The satin was very slippery to stitch and wouldn't stay where I had it placed, no matter how many pins I used. Eight blankets done in total, but I don't think it's a project I'll volunteer for again soon. :-)

This is another hat for Blessings Under the Bridge that I finished during church last night. One more head will be warm in these freezing temperatures!

Then, yesterday after morning worship, we had our Secret Sister revealing luncheon. We each had a woman that we sent notes to, bought or made little gifts for and prayed for all last year. Yesterday we revealed who we were and drew the names for our new "sister". I was in charge of the luncheon and I asked ladies to bring salads or desserts and I made mini chicken salad croissant sandwiches. They were very popular and the ladies seemed to enjoy themselves. It was a lot of work decorating and preparing and cleaning up, but a few ladies helped me with the clean up afterward and we have worked in the church kitchen so much together that the time went fast. As they say "many hands make light work!"

These were two of the gifts I recieved from my "sisters" yesterday. The first is a rose from the lady that I gave gifts to last year.

The little birds are part of the final gift from my "sister". She also gave me a beautiful candle that I forgot to photograph. They look very cute with my larger birds that Mandy bought me when I was in Portland don't they?

Hubby and I also bought a new carpet cleaner last night. We loaned our old one out so many times that it finally came back the last time in pieces. I'm going to clean the downstairs bedroom carpet just to make sure it works and then wait for a warmer day to clean the rest of the carpets. We only have carpeting in the bedrooms and family room so they don't get too dirty, especially with just the two of us, but I like to clean them a couple of times a year just to get all the deep down dust and allergens out of them.

I'm also going to try my hand at making some handles for my crochet hooks today. Only the duplicate hooks that I have until I decide if I like them. It should be interesting! I've read mixed reviews online about how easy it is to do. Some say they burn very easily and others say anyone can do it. We shall see!

Okay, I'm off to begin my day. Have a wonderful Monday and be sure and smile at someone today. It will make their day!

Blessings,

Betsy