Christmas is over for another year

So most of my Christmas pictures are a total blur. Claire is a lively active child, this was perhaps her only "still" moment over the holidays! Llama in Red Pajamas was a big hit, as was the wood clock/counting/shape puzzle. So my gifts were a hit - Phew!
Christmas is over (TG) and I'm luxuriating at home in a clean house with peace and quiet.  It's still green outside and the cats and I are loving it. Who wants to be shoveling snow or scrapping ice off the windshield while your fingers freeze off.

Along with all the holiday frenzy I managed to finish off these two POTC Lucy Boston blocks, and have 4 more prepped for January-February

Looking forward to one more quiet week off work.  Hoping to catch a movie, get some banking chores done and may even get back to stitching the Wild Flowers wall hanging.

So what are you up to this week ?

And we're still green!!

So we've had our first Christmas dinner - with the Pater this time. Claire was in fine form, dancing and talking up a storm. Can't say I understood everything she said, but no worry - she just kept talking. Too much fun! Forgot to take a pic of this year's Christmas cake I baked, but the floral arrangement on my sister's table was nice

My B-I-L has "officially" retired for the last time (?) and the school sent him this as a Thank You.
I am officially On Vacation - YEAH and been busy catching up on chores. Yesterday was taking the car in for repair, luckily it was still on warranty, so no $ spent by me :), picking up a prescription then I found/purchased 2 packs of vacuum cleaner bags for my "old" vacuum cleaner, a new walking foot and some bobbins for my Kenmore sewing machine - yeah. The cleaning schedule is a day behind, but who cares - I'm on vacation! Going to catch diner and movie with some friends later this week, then more Christmas celebrations. Hoping to get some more POTC blocks cut out and ready to go as well as some other sewing later next week. Here's my most recent POTC block

Enjoying my relaxing mornings.

 TTFN

Still Green!

It's still green and mild outside and I'm loving it! A green Christmas is just fine by me :). I added some red balls to my indoor decoration, think it looks better with that bit of colour don't you? So this past week was our guild meeting. Forgot to take a pic of the 3 stockings I made, but did get a pic of the placemat.

Feel a bit of a cheat as the fabric was so lovely I didn't bother to do anything fancy. No patchwork or fancy stitches. Here's the back

At work I enjoyed a nice lunch out with 3 ladies from one of the committees I'm on. It's a great committee, we work hard and enjoy each other's company. It was a sunny day - finally.

One more week @ work. This will be tough to get through, I have TWO, yes 2 potlucks on the same day!! Are they kidding? Now the pressure is on to come up with 2 fabulous recipes, easily carried, easily made/kept warm .... to impress all my work and quilting colleagues. Just know I'm going to fail this test - oh well, the point is to show up and enjoy myself, right?

TTFN

Ho Ho Ho - it's December!

So we had the Christmas party at work. Afterwards they toss all the greenery and branches. Well, I decided this year was a good year to recycle these goodies. How do you like my outside Christmas display .... I added some large pine cones at the base and the bow, otherwise the rest was free ! But not to stop there .... no .... I also created this lovely display for indoor.

The "tin" is a photo negative drawer, again a recycled item this time from the library's archives. I added the pine cones and the star. Woohoo, it's beginning to look like Christmas at my house!! My sister did the mater run this weekend, so I invited the pater over for dinner.

This involved ironing the damask table cloth, inserting a table leave, bringing up the mirrors (love love love having these mirrors on the table this time of year), and pulling out all the red table linens I can find! We lit the candles and popped open some wine and enjoyed our chicken dinner and cake too!!
No real sewing this past week as I spend most of my "spare" time doing chores and finishing off my Christmas shopping. Today will be spent making one (maybe two) Christmas placemats for the guild's Meals On Wheels seasonal outreach. Two more weeks to go then holidays and sleep in time, :) :) :).

TTFN