Farewell 2103

     Farewell and good riddance to 2013.  2013 was not the best ever year for the Quilting Cowgirl.  Lots of medical issues for both me, DH, and my mom, surgeries for all of us.  Finally we are all on the road to recovery.  In addition to medical issues it seemed that every time we turned around we were spending money on either the house or the cabin, money that we really hadn't planned on spending.  Everything from leaks in the roof to leaky pipes.  Now that the whining is out of the way; I do have a lot to be thankful for, both DH and I still have jobs.  Due to our surgeries we are in better health than ever and that is  a lot to be thankful for.  My mom is doing much better we spent Christmas with her, it was great to see her and the extended family that unfortunately I only see once or twice a year.   I am definitely looking forward to a better year in 2014.  I hope to expand my wool business and do some work around the house.  Why is it that you just look around one day and realize that you need new drapes, the rooms need to be repainted, and in general you just need to freshen things up.  While putting away Christmas, I realized that our house is long overdue for  a "make over".  The bathrooms are definitely up for a redo, (all of the medical bills forced it to be put on the back burner for 2013) our house is a 1960's ranch and the bathrooms have never been updated.  I have to admit that household make overs are not my thing.  I don't feel comfortable making decisions about the house; give me some quilt fabric and I can make a decision, but ask me to pick out paint and I just can't do it.  I desperately need help in this area.  Any suggestions?   Over all I am really grateful that I have my health a loving husband, a job, and a house.  There are so many that don't have these things.  I hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful New Year.

Chrismtas Decorations up

Finally got up all of my Christmas decorations.  We were going to get a real tree this year but since we are leaving tomorrow for Mississippi and won't be here for the big day we decided to just go with the fake one.   ( I have realized that it is time to get new drapes in the living room, these are way to dated now).  Our tree is a mishmash of all different kinds of ornaments, every time we go on vacation we get an ornament for the tree, and of course as I am decorating I have to recount where we got it and talk about the vacation.  My DH can't imagine how I can remember all of that.

Some of my nutcrackers.  I didn't put them all out this year.

 Rudy was purchased for me by DH one year at Home Depot when we were getting our tree.

 This snowman was made by a friend of ours from one of the logs that was used to make our cabin.

 This ornament belonged to my DH's great grandfather  and is about 100 years old.  I love it.

Shiny silver trees and a cute girly snowgirl purchased at little Quilts a few years ago. 

The presents are all wrapped and ready for the big day.  Hope you are too!!!

Yellow Brick Road Swap

There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.  With work, dyeing wool. getting ready for Christmas and trying to do some sewing there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.  Saturday I had hoped to get some sewing done, but that didn't happen.  I went by Pat's house on Saturday morning to deliver some wool then the other side of town to Little  Quilts to deliver wool.  By the time I got home it was almost time to start dinner then head out to a Christmas concert at the Ferst Center at GA Tech.  I did manage to get some of my Yellow Brick Road Blocks up on the design wall.  Here is a close up of one of the shirtings blocks.

You can get a better idea of what the quilt will look like from this photo.  Can't wait to get the blocks sewn together.

Beautiful Lights at the Garden

 I am an absolute Christmas fanatic.  I love anything that has to do with Christmas.  My DH and I had date night tonight, out to dinner then the  Botanical Gardens for their Garden of lights.  Dinner wasn't as planned since the restaurant we planned on going to had closed since our last visit.  One of his favorite restaurants was the King and I a local Thai place, oh well we will have to find a new one.  We tried a new Thai place, Bangkok it was pretty good not great.  Then we headed to see the lights.  It was very, very cold. 

Santa Grasshopper

Not sure what this was, but beautiful photo doesn't do it justice.

Not sure what the snake had to do with Christmas, but it was pretty.

I just realized this one is a little tilted.  It was advertised as a non peak night, I would hate to see it on a peak night.  Very crowded and hard to get some good shots.  If you are in the area, this would be a great family outing.

Snow Days finished, almost

Finally all of my blocks for Snow Days are finished.  I have them all  sewn together and have the backing ready to go on.  It looks a little lumpy,  I still need to press it.  I really like the way all of the blocks came together.  All of the wools are my hand dyes, all of the  small pieces are repurposed from thrift store finds.  The larger background pieces were purchased as yardage.  Can't wait to get it put together and quilted.

Beginning to look like Christmas

Remember the sled I bought a few weeks ago from an estate sale for 5.00?  I was so excited about this bargain, even though at the time I didn't know what I was going to do with it.  I decided to put it outside our front door and decorated it for Christmas.  Here it is before decorating.  You can see my purchases from Michael's:  greenery, ribbon, pinecones, and  red berries.  This is not exactly something I am extremely talented at, but after pricing some finished pieces that I liked at some stores I decided that I could make something (almost) as nice for a lot less money.  After several different tries getting it together and taking apart and putting it back together I finally came up with a design I liked.

Here is the finished product.  I am not the best bow maker in the world, but I think it works.  The entire thing sled and all cost a huge 18.00, can't beat that.  Now to finish decorating for Christmas.

Snowy days blocks finished

Finally finished my Snow Days blocks.  I love the way they turned out, can't wait to get them put together.