A Relaxing Christmas

 We had a pretty relaxing Christmas this year.  There was nowhere that we needed to be and no one else but the three of us.  It was pretty nice! Christmas Eve I used my new Ronco Rotisserie and made shrimp.  Pretty tasty!

 It's my latest kitchen gadget.  It is an electric rotisserie unit that stores away when not in use.  And it actually works!  I first saw it used at our last Gourmet Luncheon.   Donna prepared our pork roast on it.  So Jackie and I had to run out the next day to Kmart and get one.  I cooked a beef rib-eye roast for Christmas day and it was lovely!
I also started a jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Eve.  I love those darn things!  Its hard for me to stop once I start working them, so I don't know that it was the best move, but, no one was coming over, so why not?

  I finished it on Thursday night.  And, of course, two pieces are missing!!  My guess is that they are somewhere under a piece of furniture and will be found when we least expect it!

Even our gift-giving was pretty 'low key'.  Just about everything was 'homemade' or handmade by someone. I didn't do any frantic Christmas shopping.  Some of the items I picked out over the summer. Some I have been making for a while.

Lauren finally received her High School Graduation Quilt for Christmas! She graduated in 2011.  Yes, that's how long I have been trying to get this quilt finished!!  I like the finished product, but I hated making it.  It was a Kaffe Fausset pattern from one of his books. So everything was done using templates!! ( I like templates about as much as I like embellishing...) And, Lauren had picked out the fabric and there was no 'theme' that I could see, so that kind of drove me crazy.  But the final product is quite sweet.

And pretty big for a lap size quilt!  But she loved it!

I also gave her 2 pair of knee-high socks that I knit.  Lauren always appreciates AND wears the socks I make for her, but a girl can use only so many socks, right?  So, she jokingly suggested that I make her  some 'intimate wear'.  So I combed through Ravelry till I came up with this.

  

A thong!!  Not my cup of tea, but she wanted it, so I knit it.  It didn't take long, except for when I started over three times.   I used Diversity Sock yarn by Plymouth Yarn. Its acrylic and nylon,  no wool. Very soft and stretchy, machine washable and tumble dry. Now I have to make a matching bra top!  We'll see how she feels about it after she wears it.  I may be starting down a new path..no more socks, just underwear!

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas , too!

Early Christmas Present For Me!

I found this bundle of yarn at my door this morning!  I am going to do my first KAL and the lighter blue is the yarn I will be using.  I found this KAL on knitpurlhunter.com.  It is toe-up, two at a time socks...just up my ally.I ordered the yarn from Fiber Wild  in Galena, IL. And what fast service!  I ordered this late on Thursday night and it was at my door before noon on Saturday! Now I'm all excited about the project!!

You might have noticed I have a few other hanks of yarn....I couldn't help it!  The CoBaSi (cotton, bamboo, silk) was on sale! And the Socrates is Alpaca With a Twist sock yarn that I have been wanting to try.  Ergo, more yarn!! Fiber Wild made it way too easy! I blame them...

I finished some quilt projects, recently.

This is a BOM from Common Threads from a couple of years ago.

I finally got everything embellished that's going to be embellished.  Man, I hate embellishing!!  Most of the buttons and such came from my mom's button box.

 This next one is a Buggy Barn quilt pattern.  I'd only done one other, many years ago and in a class so I was a little leery at first.  But these are really fun to do and not as scary as they seem!

 I think I blogged about this when I was making it.  So now it just needs (you guessed it..) EMBELLISHING!  More buttons for the bow ties. WILL IT NEVER END!?!

The next is a quilt from a fat quarter bundle from Common Threads, again. I have made this quilt a couple of times. The pattern is from a Fons and Porter magazine from a 2009, I think. Best part...NO EMBELLISHING!!!  I think I'll use this on my table as a tablecloth, every once in a while.

I've started another quilt project.  The pattern is called Swoon.  I really like how the blocks are turning out, but they are HUGE..24"! I'll post some pictures when I start to put them together. In the mean time, you can see it   here.

Christmas will be here soon.  Lauren made it home last Wednesday.  Our celebration will be pretty low key this year..just the three of us.  Maybe we'll spend the day in pajamas! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, too!

Thanksgiving And Other Things

Lauren made a new friend on Thanksgiving!  We spent it with my nephew Mike and his family in New Melle, Missouri. They had lots of kitties!! They also had Chickens!

  But best of all, we got to see my brother's and their families! (And eat lots of great food!)

Above, is my brother David and my great nephew, Lance taking pictures of the spread. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Just one question, if I'm the youngest of my siblings, why do I have the most white hair?!?

I've been trying to finish up some quilt projects since we got home.  I have been doing the Block of the Month at Common Threads Quilt Shop.  I finished it up yesterday.  Tomorrow is 'show and tell' at the shop.

Its called Snow Days.  Lots of pinwheels and lots of buttons.  I also finished up a past BOM that had Christmas stockings on it.

This picture shows it with the embellishments. I finally got the buttons and beads on it.  I HATE EMBELLISHING!!!  What a pain..Good thing its cute!

I'm still knitting away on some socks that seem to be going on FOREVER!  Even two at a time they are taking forever! Hoping to get the Christmas tree up this weekend, but I'm not making any promises....