Secret Santa Christmas Swap - SSCS

I'm not going to rant about Blogger, I'm not going to rant about Blogger, I'm not going to rant about Blogger, I'm not going to rant about Blogger.  Ok.  Got that out of my system.  ;-)

Today my SSCS gift arrived in the mail, all the way from Australia!  The lovely Fiona turns out to be my partner.  Or am I her partner?  Hmmmmm.  Oh well, either way I'm the lucky recipient.   This pretty package has to wait until Christmas Day.  I put it under the tree for the photo, but it's now safely off the floor so no dog has an opportunity to investigate any exotic smells from overseas.

 I was allowed to open the package with the Christmas ornament.  Wow.  Fabulous!

Beautiful stitching on both sides.

It's now on the tree where I can enjoy it from my favorite chair.  :-)

My other partner has received her gift from me.  Shez has put my funny bird ornaments on her tree.  They were so much fun to make. 

Last Christmas we were in the throes of having all of our plumbing replaced so decorating was minimal.  This year I also have the pleasure of displaying the gifts I received from Sharon last year.  She sent this wonderful stitchery.  It always makes me smile.

She sent this cute owl too.  How did she know I have a "bird tree"?

I missed it last year and it was nice to get reacquainted with my bird collection.

The trees were prelit with incandescent lights which I cut off.  Having done that twice, I have a keen appreciation for the workers, wherever they may be, who install the lights on these trees.  Let me tell you, it's not easy to remove them!  So we had to buy new LED lights this year and waffled about the colors.  The compromise was a string of red and a string of green.  The effect is "interesting".  That's about as excited as I can get.  At least I can change it next year.  :-)

I'm still scanning older family photos and came across this one from 1984.  The Sailor Son wouldn't stay in the playpen so I stuck the tree in it instead.  Those were the days!

Christmas sewing continues.  Isn't this the cutest darned thing you've ever seen?  Jodi's patterns are so great.  More to come!  :-)

Thanksgiving

Hmmmm.  I'm having to use Firefox for posting as for some reason Blogger has made it hard to use Safari.  Grumble, grumble.  Ok.  Rant over.

Thanksgiving was a wild and busy weekend.  The Tramp and I live a quiet life so having four young children underfoot for 3 1/2 days was new and wonderful.....for 3 1/2 days anyway.  ;-)

I did lots of sewing to prepare for the weekend and took only a couple of pictures of what I made.   That's how busy we were!  The daughters and Five have fall birthdays so we were able to have cake and presents.  I made bags for the girls and $ made the boy happy.  I'm sure it will go towards Lego.  I made sure everyone had a small giftie at the table.  Fancy chocolates for Mom and Dad and ten fun pillowcases for everyone else.  We declared it an "un-birthday" and sang "Happy Birthday to Me"!

Since The Tramp's pillowcase lives in this house I could at least get a photo of that one.  :-)



Thanksgiving dinner was a great success and there was lots of other time for fun too.  Cousins enjoyed being together.  I made some gluten-free playdough.

Lego was everywhere and we found new things to watch on the TV.

I love this photo.  They each had a tablet, but mostly they preferred sharing.

The weather was warm and sunny so we made sure to visit the parks.

 Funny faces!

Five decided to be a chicken on a nest.  lol

Batman insisted on trying to take a selfie.

 But posed nicely when we convinced him the big camera doesn't work like a camera phone.

The Sailor Son bought a remote control boat about two years ago.  After one use we couldn't find the battery and charger anywhere!  The boys ask about it everytime they visit.  Well guess what I found in the treadle drawer in the guest room when I was getting ready for guests?  Yep.  There it is.....and his secret stash of chocolate!  :-)

So we had boat time too.

Everyone also enjoyed helping put up the outdoor lights.  This weekend we decorated indoors.  Now I have to finish sewing gifts and shopping for gifts!

Hi!

Ok.  Trying something new.  While I was on haitus it appears Blogger has added drag & drop photos. So let's see if it works.



It does!!  Stardust and her mother came by train to visit for Thanksgiving and we ended up with quite a crowd.  I'll save that for another post.

The sewing machine table is finished and in place!



I signed up to be part of Molli Sparkles' Glitterati Army of pattern testers.  The first assignment was these two "Tidal Pool" blocks.

I had fun making a new pair of slippers for The Tramp from the Papa Bear pattern.  I went crazy with scraps of novelty fabrics.  It was great fun.  He has requested a pair slightly larger and with a much thicker insole.  Hmmmmm.  Have to think about how to make them warmer.




Me:  "You have a tail."
The Viking:  "No I don't.  I'm a snake!"
Me:  "Snakes have tails too."
The Viking:  "No they don't!  They have snakers!"

You can't argue with that.



I went to a Bonnie Hunter Texas Tumbleweeds workshop a few Saturdays ago.  It was so much fun and so productive.  I got six blocks done!  Since then I've finished a few more, but it's now to put it away and finish up some Christmas sewing.



Christmas is coming fast!  Someone is dancing for joy.  :-)



The Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus are ready too.

I've been cranking out some small stuffed items with patterns from Jodi Carleton's shop.
I can't even tell you how cute these things are and how delighted I am (and proud of myself...tee hee).  All sewing should be this much fun.  :-)  Shhhhhhh!  They're Christmas gifts.

Too cute for words!  And on that note, I close with a photo from Christmas past.  It must be 1980.  The glasses I can live with, but there is no excuse for that corduroy jumpsuit.  Shudder.  Not that I will be any more fashionable this year.  ;-)