Quiet

Happy Saturday my friends!  We've had a relatively quiet holiday weekend so far.  It was just Dennis and I and so I made the chicken enchiladas that he requested.

They were delicious.  Larry, Nita and Sophie stopped by in the evening and we shared dessert of pecan pie and pumpkin cake.  Yum.

Kyleigh's Wonderful Wallaby is finished!  I'll try to remember to get a picture of her wearing it at Christmas.  She chose the color and I think it turned out well.

I changed up the pattern to seed stitch instead of garter stitch for the accents around the hood, front placket and pouch.

I really like how it turned out don't you?

And now I've begun one for Caleb in the Denver Bronco's colors as he requested.  I think he's going to love it.  :-)

Yesterday I decorated for Christmas.  I didn't put out as much as I usually do since we'll be gone a lot this December.  We have a friend staying here while we're in Hawaii, along with her daughter, son-in-law and grandson who are visiting from New York.  I don't want them to have to worry about things breaking so I didn't decorate as much.

This nativity gets a prominent place every year.  I made it 36 years ago for our first Christmas together.  I'll try to get a better picture during the day when the light is better.  I hand painted each piece and it will be handed down to one of our kids someday.  36 years and not one piece has ever been broken.  A miracle to be sure, considering we had three kids and I had an in home daycare for 13 years. :-)

The tree.

I made this tree skirt a few years ago.  Mandy had always loved the one we had when she was growing up, so when she and Brad got married, I gave it to her for their first Christmas together.  You can see the Christmas Moose sitting there.  He sings different Christmas songs.

Today I wrapped presents and had a nice fire burning.  It's cold outside.  We have lots of wood scraps from the building of the shed.  The guys were going to take the scraps to the dump and I ran out there and collected them all.  No sense wasting good firewood is there?

I mailed our Christmas cards yesterday and got ALL the wrapping done today.  Monday I will go to the post office and mail the boxes to Mandy & Brad, Alex and the box with the blankets I made for the Navajo reservation.  I will be completely done with Christmas preparations and it's not even December yet!  I strive for this every year but don't always manage to do it.  I love being able to relax and enjoy the season without any panic about gifts or decorating.  Now, I can sit back and enjoy the hustle and bustle.  I've been known to just go sit at the mall with a hot chocolate and watch the crowds as they scurry around.

I'll be heading to Portland, Oregon to see Taci, Teresa and Gracie on December 19, one day after we get back from Hawaii!  Dennis decided he didn't want me to drive the 6 hours each way by myself in the winter, so I bought a plane ticket and rented a car for the day!  In the past it wasn't a big deal.  If the  weather was bad I could just stay with Mandy and Brad until the roads got better.  Now I've lost my free hotel!  I can't wait to see the girls, it's been a long time, I think it was in July or early Augustwe last were together.

I hope you all have a lovely remainder of the weekend and I'll be back soon.

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." Psalm 100:4

Blessings,

Betsy

Blankets and Some News.

Without further ado...the sweater I made for Sophie last Monday and forgot to post a picture of last time I posted on the blog.  It should probably have been about 2 inches longer but it was too late by the time I realized it.  She loved wearing it.

It has a series of interlocking cables down the back and a turn down ribbed collar.  Sophie has now returned home to her Mom and Dad.  The ship they were on last week made the news for having the Noro virus on it. Thankfully Larry and Nita don't seem to been affected.

A bit of snow fell on our woodpile.  Not much and it has melted now.

And look what lovely Sherri from Sherrisneedlecrafts over on my sidebar sent me last week!  How sweet it this?  I have made hundreds of these blankets in the past years and my copy looks simply awful and is almost unreadable.  Sherri found the original book somewhere and made me a color copy and put it into this folder.  I cannot believe the generosity of bloggers.  Teabags too.  I dont drink coffee but I do love a nice cuppa tea.

It not only has the blanket and matching sweater but it has a lot of other baby items as well.  I can't wait to have time to try making some of these sweet sweater and hats.  Thank you SO MUCH Sherri.  I so appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Kyleigh's sweater has begun.  The ribbing is done and since I took this picture I have finished about 4 inches of the body.  I work on it as a take along project.  I took a gentleman from church to the doctor this morning for an appointment and I got about 2 inches knitted while I waited for him.

Saturday we drove up to the lake to check on the camper since we have had our first hard freeze.  Dennis wanted to make sure things seemed to be winterized sufficiently.  All was well and Chloe and Sophie had a great time running around the field playing.

Wasn't it a beautiful view?  Just a hint of snow up on the mountains.

The grass is really GREEN behind the trailer with some pine needles mixed in.

Another blanket is put together for the Navajo reservation.  This one is about the right size for a full size bed.  I just grabbed squares at random and didn't try to put a patten of any sort together.  I like how it turned out don't you?

Now I'm putting together a red/white/blue wheelchair blanket for the local Veterans Home.  I have almost enough squares for another one.  I think I'm short 5 squares. I'll make them after Christmas gifts are completed.  I still have a sweater to make for Caleb after I finish Kyleigh's.

A bit closer look.

And now for my news.  I'm going traveling again!  This time my handsome Hubby is going with me.  My trip to D.C. was completely paid for by Brad's company.  Would you believe they flew his MIL out to help with the move?  They did.  That trip didn't cost me a dime!  And that's good because now we're going to Maui, Hawaii in December.  We leave in about two weeks and will be there eight days.  We orginally were supposed to meet Alex there.  Maui is about halfway between us and he had never been to Hawaii.  Just when we had our reservations all made, his vacation was cancelled by the University because someone with more seniority wanted the same time off.  Uh-oh!  We couldn't get a refund so off we'll go, just Dennis and I.  I'm not complaining, I know we'll have a wonderful time.  We've been there several times and we absolutely love it there.  If we could live anywhere and money was no object, Maui is definitely where both of us would choose to live.  It's paradise on earth.

So...I'm trying to get Christmas done before we go.  We have made or purchased all of the Christmas gifts except Kyleigh and Caleb's sweaters that I'm working on.  I just have to wrap the gifts.  I even have all of the stocking stuffers!  I'll mail Alex and Mandy's Christmas boxes next week so they'll have them in plenty of time to put under their trees.  Cards have all been addressed and stamped to be mailed on Friday.  I'll decorate next week too.  Ellen is staying here with Chloe and she'll be able to enjoy the decorations too.

On Thanksgiving Dennis and I will be all alone.  The plan is that instead of a big dinner I'll make chicken enchilada's and a pumpkin dump cake for dessert.  Dennis actually requested enchilada's!  I bought a turkey this morning, but that will be for Christmas when Jamie and the kids are here.

And now I'm going to try to finish up this patriotic blanket.  I would like to deliver it to the VA Home before we leave.

I hope you all have a lovely week and enjoy your time with family.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."  1 Chronicles 16:34

Blessings,

Betsy

Cozy Days!

The temperature has dropped and so I'm spending as much time as I can in front of this:

So  toasty warm.  Sophie seems to like it too as this is where she's spending her time  On my lap.  This photo was the beginning of a sweater I knitted for her on Monday.  It's finished now and I'll show it to you being modeled by Miss Sophie herself next time.  I forgot to take a picture for today's post. 

I am enjoying having her around.  Shee sleeps all snuggled up to us every night.  She's under my arm right now.  Tiny little thing.

See my new sign?  I used to have a tiny little picture above it.  Dennnis and I bought this picture for our 25th anniversary because it reminded us of the narrow streets of Paris.  The frame was bright gold and neither of us like it.  I rubbed some black paint on it to age it and we like it much better.  It hangs in our dining area and this sign was perfect.  A bargain at 50% off at Hobby Lobby last month.

Do you see the quail on the shed roof?  I see five here now but originally there were about 10 up there.  By the time I got my phone to take a picture several had flown away.

This is what I've been working on Monday night and yesterday.  I'm an official "square joiner" for a craft group.  We have crafty people all over the US and Canada who donate and there is a different recipient each month.  I have been remiss in joining squares the past few months with all of the activity around here.  So.  I have begun making some blankets.  Ladies from the group send me 7 inch knitted or crocheted squares and then it's my job to crochet a border around each square, join them together and then crochet a border around the blanket and mail them to the recipients.  Here's the latest one, finished last night and washed today.  (See Sophie in the upper right corner?)  The blankets I'm making this month will go to the Navajo reservation in Arizona.

Another view.  This blanket is about twin size.

I have squares stashed everywhere!

A  pile of red, white and blue squares that I'll make into a lapghan this week for the Veteran's Home.

Nita likes to crochet but only knows how to go back and forth in double crochet.  No problem.  I told her how many rows to crochet and she gives me the squares.  She like's purple!

These will be given to the local Children's Crisis Center.  The top one is toddler size and the bottom one closer to crib size.

That's about it.  The weekend wore me out.  Monday morning I spent 3 1/2 hours getting the oil changed in Dennis' truck.  They were so busy putting snow tires on it was a long wait.  Then I got home, called Dennis and we realized they had used the wrong oil.  So yesterday I had to go back to get it changed AGAIN!  At least they expedited me and I didn't have to wait as long.  Now it's at the dealer for warranty work.  I'm pretty much stuck at home with no vehicle.  No problem.  I love to be at home with my yarn, fire in the fireplace and Chloe and Sophie.  :-)

I still need to get my snowtires mounted and put on but I think I'll wait a week or two until the furious rush dies down.

Have a lovely afternoon my friends.  I'm going to get my crochet hook out and start working on bordering some squares!

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you"  Psalm 119:11

Blessings always,

Betsy