Christmas Decorations Going Up

I've been putting up Christmas decorations this week.  We were going to accomplish this feat when Lauren was home, but time seemed to get away from us. Hopefully, I'll get them done before she's home for Christmas break! The tree isn't up yet and the outdoor lights need to be placed...but we are getting there.

I love these snowmen!  I got them last year from The Rug Cottage on the way to Kalona.  They have some of the sweetest seasonal decor.  More pix when I get the tree up.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here!!  I made a flock of turkeys for my place setting favors. I did this last night to keep me occupied because I was trying NOT to worry about Lauren driving home in a dense fog advisory!! She made it just fine, but not without giving me a couple of more grey hairs. When she started out from Beloit, it wasn't foggy.  Only when she was in eastern Iowa did she encounter dense fog.  Why do we celebrate in winter!?! Whats wrong with a June Thanksgiving?!?

This poor guy just couldn't take the suspense, I guess.

What I Learned In Dubuque....

I forgot to tell you about the 'in-service' at the Shalom Center.  Dayna showed us how to hem jeans with ease!  Coincidentally, my Friend Deb had just shown me almost the same technique the Wednesday before I went to the retreat.  Dayna's tutorial took it one step further by trimming with the pinking shears.  The whole thing is genius! You can also go to You Tube and find the step by step process.

Thanks Dayna!

Quilt Retreat in Dubuque

Spent last weekend in Dubuque at the Shalom Retreat Center with my peeps..Jackie and Jeannie.  This is the same place we were at in April with just about the same group of people.  Its a weekend of quilting, knitting, and yakking.  So relaxing and enjoyable.

It is in an old building that used to be a Catholic Girls School.  Above is the room where we all set up our machines and spend the majority of our time. Everyone has there own room for sleeping and the bathrooms and showers are shared.  We eat down in the basement in the dinning room and all the meals are prepared for us.  They are excellent!  Its a great weekend.  We even got out on Saturday for a little excursion to the knit shop and quilt shop.  Looking forward to the spring retreat!  Thanks, Dayna!!!

 Above is a tree in downtown Iowa City that has been 'knit bombed'!!  Jackie and I went downtown today to see them.  How cool!  (I would recommend going when it is NOT 34 degrees!).  These are three of 135 trees  that received similar homemade sweaters as part of the Iowa City Downtown District’s Tree Huggers project.

All the yarn was supplied by Home Ec Workshop. They had over 200 people volunteer to make the huggers!  As you can see, we have a lot of over achievers in Iowa City!!

Great job!!!