Christmas Trees

Many years ago a local office building would put up a big Christmas tree, decorate its windows with holiday scenes and decorate its lobby too. It was a fun holiday destination each year as there was also an outdoor ice skating rink on its plaza. There hasn't been any of these for several years now. This year Hubby noticed when driving home from work that the tree was up again so we decided to take a look. Sure enough there was a big tree out front.

There was also a group of trees in the lobby.....

as well as one on the second floor lobby.

 This brought back memories of when Hubby worked for an international company with offices in Manhattan and on Long Island. Each year there was a fancy company Christmas party that we attended and twice it was held at this office building in the decorated lobbies. 

Sadly the office building no longer maintains the outdoor ice rink though the building and area for the rink are still there. 

We finished decorating our own tree at the beginning of this week. We were able to get the majority of our ornaments on it. We put the breakable ornaments up high so our little toddler granddaughter can't reach them. 

Daytime....you can see the reupholstered chairs here.

.....and at night.

Finally, I have finished stitching the Christmas tree on "Waiting for Santa".

 I have moved on to stitching the fireplace. One of the colors has already had to be frogged as I was off by one stitch at the beginning of the swath I was stitching. Sigh..... I have gotten a lot of stitching done as, unfortunately I have been sick since Thursday with what I thought was a really bad cold, but turned out to be Covid. Hubby had been sick since the previous Sunday, but tested negative on Monday. He tested positive with me on Saturday. Hubby is starting to feel better. I still feel like I have a really bad head cold. Thankfully, I had the updated shot in September.  

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

Preparing for Christmas

The outside of our house is decorated. It is pretty much the same as it is every year. 

My Santas are in the front window.

It is hard to get a good photo of them.

My village is all set up. 

I added the skating rink in front this year. I bought it years ago from Avon.  I don't always put it out as it takes up a lot of room.

The village looks pretty when it is lit at night.

We bought the tree and set it up in the living room. It has lights and garland, but it still needs ornaments.  That may be tonight's project.

Tuesday I mixed up a triple batch of stuffed clams and froze them. These are a favorite appetizer for Christmas.

 You can find the recipe for them here.

I am still working on "Waiting for Santa". I have almost finished stitching the Christmas tree. 

I drove to the Button and Notion store that I was reminded of by a friend, but sadly it is no longer in business. I bought some buttons at my local yarn store. That owner told me that the button store was forced to close just recently. I have already the buttons to my grandson's hooded jacket. That is now finished and ready to give to him. I love the way it turned out with the two different yarns.

I have been doing some online and in person shopping. I'm not done yet. Hubby and my son in law are really hard to buy for. Neither of them really want anything. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will be working on my grandson's stocking. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Last Stitch Along Update for 2023

Since the next update would be Christmas Eve, this is the last Stitch Along update for this year. The Stitch Along will return in 6 weeks. I will be posting other craft updates though throughout December. 

This is where I was with October Morning three weeks ago.

I have continued to move to the left and have added part of a branch/trunk and more leaves. 

I am hoping to be able to finish this is the first quarter of the new year. 

Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Thanks for stopping by! 

First post of December

 I can't believe we are already in December. I have hardly even started my Christmas shopping yet. Hubby and I have started decorating though. The lights and nativity are up outside and my dining room window is mostly done. My Christmas dishes are out and in use. Photos in another post. 

The "Waiting for Santa" stocking is progressing nicely. I added some backstitching to the boy and french knots to the poinsettias on the right. I am steadily stitching the Christmas tree. I think I will try to finish it before I move over to the fireplace behind the boy's head. 

I have added a few more logs to the Log Cabin Star blocks. I am up to one of the logs that needs my concentration. 

You may remember that a friend dropped off some quilt kits, notions and fabrics for me last week. Well she did so again. This time her package included a bunch of books and a bag of beautiful fabrics. The books included one of the few Alex Anderson books that I don't currently own. What a treat. 

The fabrics are mostly shades of red and blue calicos and solids. 

Oh my, it was as if Christmas came early. I am greatly appreciative of this generous stash addition. I am dreaming of some great quilts in my future.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Make yourself a cup of tea, coffee or even hot chocolate and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

Last post of November

I hope everyone in the US had a very happy Thanksgiving celebration. Hubby and I had a small celebration with my mother-in-law. 

There was turkey....

 and pumpkin pie. 

We video chatted with each of our children and the grandkids.

I have been steadily adding stitches to "Waiting for Santa". I have finished 2 of the 4 pages of stitching with just a little bit of backstitching needed on one of them. 

I am well on my way to being halfway done with page number 3. I may be able to finish this stocking for Christmas after all. 

I have finished all of the knitting on my grandson's hooded jacket. I need to sew in all the ends, add my label and buy some buttons. 

He is 5 months old and the jacket is 18 month size so it will be a while before he can wear it.

I finished another 10 blocks on the Log Cabin Star quilt. There are now 111 out of 196 Log Cabin blocks completed. I already have a start on the next 10 blocks. I am determined to get this quilt completed next year.

A friend from my PTA days contacted me and asked if I wanted some quilt fabric, kits and patterns gratis. I said sure. Her mother is an avid quilter. This is what she dropped off in a bag on my porch. I am so grateful for their generosity.

You can bet that the top fabric is going to be used in the I-spy quilts I plan on making. There is a beautiful garden quilt kit that I want to try to expand my skills. 

These plastic fabric bolts will be perfect for storing a few smaller pieces of fabric. 

Well, that is all for now.

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

Early Thanksgiving and lots of crafting progress.

Hubby and I visited our daughter and her family last weekend. We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with them and her husband's parents. It was wonderful to see our granddaughter after several weeks apart. She is learning to do so many things. What a treat!

I made tasty Praline Pumpkin Bars for dessert as they would travel well.

I have been spending a lot of time stitching "Waiting for Santa". I have finished the dog, the boy's hand and have added some of the backstitching on the boy's legs.

 The dog gave me fits as the kit has provided the same color floss for two different symbols. Obviously not correct. Thankfully I realized there was a problem after only a few stitches. The dog is really cute though. 

You may recall that I had trouble with the provided floss for the boy's face. It turns out that neither color was the close to the stated DMC floss, so I had to go back to my floss stash and figure out what color floss I could use to change one of the symbols. This is a very frustrating kit. I e-mailed the Janlynn customer service over a week ago and I haven't even gotten a reply. I will definitely hestitate to buy another kit from that company.

I am hoping to finish the two pages that make up the bottom half of the stocking by the end of the month. There is a little more rug, some gifts and the start of the Christmas tree to do. 

I have also been working on the next 10 blocks of the Log Cabin Star quilt. I just have one more log to sew on and they are done.

I spent a little time yesterday messing around with the blocks to get an idea of the whole queen sized pattern. The book doesn't provide any guidance for a queen-sized quilt, but I did find the pattern on the internet. I am not real crazy about how it looks so I will be previewing ideas when I am close to finishing the blocks. I am using my dining room table and then standing on the staircase to take the photos. This is the original pattern.

This is similar to the pattern for the wall hanging. Looks like I missed turning a block.

This is something I was playing with to add more full stars which hubby thought would be a good idea. I would have to figure out how to move on from this point with all 196 blocks. Only 48 fit on my table.

Obviously I will have my work cut out for me once all the blocks are completed. There are also a few blocks where the red diamonds are a little shy at the corner. They could not be easily sewn to other red diamonds.

I am also starting to sew the binding on the Tweety latch hook.

I have watched several videos on how to make this into a pillow, but I decided to take tips from a few of them and do my own thing. I still have to purchase the pillow form.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitch Along Update

The last three weeks went by waaaaay too fast. I have managed to add some stitches to October Morning. This is where it was last time.

 I have extended one of the tree trunks and filled in the leaves to the right of it.

Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret

Thanks for stopping by!