Snowstorm!

It started to snow yesterday morning and it is STILL snowing this morning. By late afternoon there was an irresistable build-up of snow out there and Little Boy and I just had to go out to play! Here is a special photo for DH so he can see how the new snowsuit fits that he airmailed over here last week - it is perfect! And, it's arrival was very timely, wouldn't you agree?

Last week when we were at the hardware store we bought 2 snow shovels - 1 Momma sized and the other just right for Little Boy. So, we spent some time shoveling - I concentrated on the doorway and walk-way over to the truck; and my son - well - he just randomly dug! When we got the shovels he was full of questions like WHY would I be buying snow shovels when there is no snow? I told him - always better to be prepared ahead of time and you know what he said to me yesterday? "Good thing we are prepared with our snowshovels, Momma!" We made snow angels, had snowball fights, took a walk and overall, just had fun! We were actually outside much longer than I anticipated which tells me that the snowsuit is nice and snuggy -wuggy warm. I expect we will do more of the same today.



Coming inside Little Boy decided that we should have some hot chocolate to celebrate the first snowstorm (we always celebrate such fun little daily events!). And, oh horrors - no cookies! So, we mixed up a batch of brownies - here's a photo of my Little Chef!!! And, of course, like all good chef's he samples his work along the way, what a chocolate mustache! I've misplaced his apron - got to find it soon.

Stashbusting Sunday #2

In my last post I mentioned that my community started a quilting group this fall. It started every other week and is now every week. So, come Thursday morning - I have a quilty get together for a few hours with like-minded folks and even though we've only met a few times so far, I must say - I love it!!! This is the first time I've ever been able to go to any type of group for sewing in a loooong time.

This past week I didn't want to bring (i.e. LUG) my sewing machine so before Thursday I started pulling these fallish type fabrics from my stash and cutting 6" strips from each fabric... to make this Dresden Plate quilt with the icecream cone border! Here is a photo of the book too - I've mentioned this book before on my blog because I used the directions for my green ocean waves and also my red (in progress) ocean waves.

I've been wanting to make this Dresden quilt for a time now which is why I bought 5 yards of muslin at Marden's last trip - it was on the list!!! Most of my fabric that I cut for this top was just slightly over 6" in width, so this pretty much uses up that stack of fabrics - the remnants will get cut into 2" strips for the 2" strip bin - I still need to add a few more colors, but this got me off to a very good start! I used my quilt meeting time tracing the templates onto fabric. I was happy with my choice because it was easy to socialize as I traced. And as much as I love that dear son of mine, it sure is nice to have adult company once in awhile! This coming Thursday I will spend my time cutting the fabric out. I would ear mark this as my Thursday project, but Dec. 13th is our last meeting until after Christmas and chances are I will keep working on it at home once I get on a roll.

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A fun story about this fabric - some people in the group have absolutely NO stash. We are talking very limited budgets here and many of the quilters are TRUE scrap quilters - using blue jeans/cordoroy, old clothing and scraps from various things to make their quilts. Not everyone, mind you, but some people. I remember when I used to have NO fabric too. My sisters, Mom and Nana would give me their scraps and that is what I made some of my first quilts with. Some people just haven't quilted before so they don't have anything to start out with. One week I taught a lady how to thread her sewing machine and adjust the bobbin tension. Then, there are the quilters who have been in big groups, gone to lots of classes, have sizable stashes, etc. So, it is a fun mixture of skill levels and styles. But anyway, back to my story - one woman just loved, loved, loved my fabrics and asked if she could have any scraps if I had anything left over... you see... she wants to make a tea cup quilt and needs a 4"X6" piece of fabric for each teacup. JUST SO HAPPENS, that after tracing off the dresden blades, each 6" wide strip of fabric has about 5" left over - perfect, perfect, perfect for what she needs. So, when I go on Thursday I will give her those end pieces. So - that's about 30 different 6" strips of fabric, with a few more left to add- being put to use, by both myself and this other quilter.

December begins...

Little Boy and I went to the "H"ardware "S"tore today bright and early to buy a Christmas tree. Living in a rural area, we have a wonderful hardware store that carries all sorts of goodies. For awhile now we have been looking at the Christmas trees - and there are some very lovely ones, pre-lite, all decorated, fiber optic, etc., etc. But, I explained to my son that we didn't need one of those trees because we had plenty of decorations of our own at home. When we got to the store he was very excited that they had a plain tree - just what we wanted, and that is the one we got! Dressed up pretty, didn't it? Since this photo I've added the red tree skirt. And I was relieved that it was still there because today is Tax Free Shopping Day in New Brunswick (our tax is 14%) and with the trees - they set them up and when someone wants it - that is the tree they get. Just to put us in the right mood - there was even a little sprinkling of snow.
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The store was very busy with the 14% savings - lots of grandparents there buying toy presents... to which my son had ALOT to say. First off - he wanted to know why they were buying toys if they didn't have kids. Then when he found out they were grandparents - he wanted to know how many grandchildren. One man said he had 4 grandchildren, but he only had 3 toys in the basket and my son very quickly did the math and told the man that he was missing a present! Then he would survey the toys and say that certain toys weren't babies age group toys so they better not have a baby! And then 1/2 the toys he announced that he was going to put on HIS Christmas list. Phew! Lots and lots of chatter to get our tree today! And believe me, when my son is excited - the entire store can hear his very high pitched excited yibber yabber.


Anyway, our afternoon project was getting the tree decorated. I don't have a huge selection of decorations, but I just love my red apples and birds - once those are on the tree it is getting pretty full! My Mom always had red birds on the tree and then one summer day I was at some craft store and they had all these birds on clearance - I bought LOTS of them for my own Christmas tree, including a funky flamingo just for fun. I have some musical instrument ornaments that I bought in Germany and then lots of little "presents" - they were a garland that I cut apart, plus some shells and other odds and ends. My ornaments have been packed away for 4 years now so it was nice to get them all out again. And Little Boy? He loves the birds!!! Want to bet that the bird tradition continues? It WAS alot of work getting that tree set up all by myself, but worth it - Little Boy went to bed very happy about the tree tonight! And night-time distractions are a good thing around here because he misses DH so much.
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Outside I've managed to string lights along almost the entire length of our covered porch. It is cold and windy outside so basically I've been doing it 1-2 strings at a time. Little Boy picked out jumbo rainbow lights and they really are pretty.
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Also this week we went to a gingerbread house decorating party! It was hosted by the library - they provided 30 houses for free - you just had to sign up. Everyone brought their own frosting and decorating goodies. It was lots of fun to see all the different varieties! My son sure did have a fun time!
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Baking wise we've made cookies and apple butter bread (did finally get that apple butter made from the apples we picked off the tree!). I made 2 pork shoulder roasts this week - they were $4 each and were good sized too so how could I pass up such a deal? I did 1 in the crockpot and 1 in the oven for 5 hours to compare - it was much easier to pull the pork with the crockpot one. Anyway, pulled the pork and mixed it with onions and bar-b-que sauce for sandwiches. Froze most of that in individual serving sized. Made yummy corn bread, mustard coleslaw and a lime bean salad to go with the pork. I know, I know - a true summer menu, but I can't think of anything better to go with pulled pork! Hamburger was also on sale so I also made chili, shepherd's pie and speghetti sauce, plus I made up a batch of crock pot potato soup. Cooking is very time consuming, but I like to eat good food so usually don't mind. Still, I will be happy to eat with DH again - because of course, Little Boy eats entirely different food than what I spend hours preparing!!! Oh well, I can't stand frozen entrees so I might as well cook for myself, even if I do end up with tons of leftovers.

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AND I have been going to a new quilt group that recently started in our area. First we met every other week but it is so popular that now we are meeting every week. I thought of a project to bring this past week that I could work on without lugging my sewing machine in to the meeting... you will just have to wait for Stashbusting Sunday for that - oh, well - that is tomorrow!

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How did it get to be December so quickly??? My days are so full and time seems to fly right by. So, December begins and we have our tree up - we are off to a good start! I have a feeling that it is going to be another busy month!