Garden Work

Yes -- I know, early January.  BUT -- it was almost 60 degrees today, and tomorrow and and the following week are supposed to be cold, cold, cold.  With a chance of inches of snow Sunday and then the daytime temps to be in the 30's, night time in the 20's and teens.

And I have a huge pile of horse manure on the back of my driveway -- been there since July and it was too hot (both the days, and the temp of the manure) to put it on the garden, so there it has been.  Today, I got my hiney in gear and decreased that pile by about a third -- 6 wheelbarrow loads now spread nicely on several of the raised beds of my vegetable garden.  I wish I could get it all done, but the day grows late and I fear overdoing my muscles with all the shoveling.  Maybe I'll do a bit more tomorrow if it isn't sooo cold, but the rest will have to wait until the next moderate day.

I Finally Finished It

the quilt

And it only took 13 years.  Thirteen years to complete half of it, 3 days to finish the rest.  Four 12-inch square blocks, each demonstrating some quilting technique (piecing, applique, etc), sashing, backing, binding.  And I didn't iron anything to the carpet this time, or sew the quilt to my pants or to other corners of itself (all of which happened repeatedly during the first go-around).

Thirteen years ago I had a nursing infant, a four year old, a ten year old and a twelve year old.  Thirteen years ago I don't think we even had an internet connection or email -- nor did most of my friends.

A woman in our homeschooling circle was taking a quilting class and invited whoever wanted to come to her house each week and she would share what she was learning week by week and we would all make a sampler quilt together.  Each week I gamely obtained the materials, cut the pieces as directed and pieced them together.  After the 4 weeks or so that we met I had the 4 squares, but then lost interest (quilting was too persnickety and exact for me -- and I didn't have good sewing skills -- it was hard!), and never got it all put together, much less actually quilted.  We even moved house, hauling the unfinished quilt across town in its dedicated Target bag.  The colors of the fabrics, chosen to go in our old house, no longer fit in our new house.  Occasionally through the years I would take it up, usually in January in a fit of resolution, and managed to assemble and sash the squares together, cut some batting and backing to fit, got it pinned, quilted 2 of the squares . . . .

Thirteen years later, January 1st, and I decided it was do or die time -- either get rid of it from where it hung unobtrusively on my workroom wall from its permanently embedded quilting ring, or finish it.

And I did it!  And it was so much easier this time.  Maybe it's because I don't have nursing babies, 4 yr olds and other children underfoot and needing my attention.  Maybe it's because I could give more than 7 minutes of uninterrupted attention at a time to something.  Maybe it's because my 54 year old bifocal eyes can actually work better with threading the needle than my younger eyes could.

Thirteen years later, and the infant is thirteen herself, the four year old is 17, and the two older girls are young adults with their own lives.  Many of the friends in that quilting gathering have moved away or otherwise passed out of our lives.  And I've had new friends that I've now known for years whom I didn't even know existed then.  It all makes me wonder what the next 13 years will hold.

One Final Shot (for now)

A more full shot of our Christmas mantle in our family room.  See the old photo of the man to the left of the candy cane candle?  That's old Josiah Conger, a forbear of my husband.  The Santa on the right was given to my oldest daughter by my grandmother.  My stocking on the far left has been mine since young childhood.  The four center stockings were given to our children by my mother.

From this picture and the other posts of our Christmas decorations, you can see why we have about 17 large boxes of decorations (not counting the outside ones!).

These decorations have been collected over 35 years of marriage, and some are from my childhood.  I know some people like to have a new Christmas theme each year, but we like to use all of our ornaments and decorations.  I love a simple natural look, but I love all of the memories and the sheer abundance of Christmas -- the Victorian "too much is not enough".

More Christmas Tour

Here is our family room, our couch, with Christmas pillows, our Advent Wreath.  This photo was taken in early December, so we had not received many cards yet.

My small collection of nativity trees, which sits on our tv cabinet.

A shot of our main Christmas tree, the one we put the presents under.  35 years of collecting ornaments.

A more full shot of the tree.

Our mantle with stockings.

Christmas Tour Continued

These pictures are in our kitchen.  This is a little shelf unit that hangs on the wall opposite our table.  I've had the matrushka dolls since I was around 10 years old.  They are from Russia and were given to me by my best friend in elementary school.

This is a little tree sitting on a small table along that same brick wall.  I got the tree on clearance from Target a few years ago.  It was a Bratz tree, believe or not.  I chunked the Bratz ornaments and scraped off the Bratz label from the base.  I love the little glass mushroom ornaments that I found to hang from it.

Here is a picture of our kitchen table and window that looks out on my bird feeders and flower garden along the side of our house.  The window has a large sill that holds a collection of snow globes.  The shelf unit and the little white tree from above flank the window.  We have Christmas lights strung around the window and we use our Nikko Christmas china every evening from the first day of December until New Year's Day.

Christmas House Tour

Here are some pictures of our dining room, decorated for Christmas.  This is one of 2 trees that we have.  This room has an "old fashioned" Christmas feel, with a few candles on the tree held on with clips (which we dare not light!), and ornaments that are of natural materials or home-made.

Here you can get a feel for the room, Christmas cones hung from the chandelier, and our Christmas village on the buffet.

Pictures of the rest of the family room and kitchen to come in other posts.

mood music

Well, is there anything more Christmas-y than listening to Julie Andrews et al on the old Firestone Christmas album from the 60's (at least I think it's from then)?  We used to listen to this just about every afternoon after school and all through the Christmas holidays from whenever my parents first got it (in the 60's) until I left home in the mid 70's.  Not sure if that picture is the right one or not, but it's certainly close.  A couple of years ago my dad burned it to a cd for me, along with the old Boston Pops album.  I have them playing now as we decorate the den tree.  I'll have to get on the ball and take some pictures.