fun days . . .

Not a lot going on in the Nook these past two weeks.  We've got Campers on Mission in the camp for their annual work.  This year they've been working on a new bathhouse for the camp.  It's so exciting watching it come together . . . 

Isn't that great?!  They've worked so hard for these last two weeks.  I am so excited for the benefit this adds to the camp! ♥  Speaking of the camp, one of the COM wives knew I sewed/quilted, and look what she made me:

Awesome, right?  That was so kind of her to remember me that way.  :)

Last week we attended the end-of-year program for the girls' Classical Conversation group, and they were so darling!

I'm so glad we're close to them and can attend things like this.  I miss our California crew (pictured here, camping in the wilds) . . . 

They're coming to visit at the end of June and I can. not. wait!!!

I had a GREAT Mother's Day!  We went to church and one of the gals I mentor gifted me with this beautiful bouquet and a lovely card.

Isn't that sweet? I was so touched! After church we stopped by and visited with my folks.  Then we headed back to the camp for a BBQ lunch with Jocelyn and her crew.

It was a lovely afternoon, and they all gifted me so well!!  Joc got me a new 60 mm ergonomic rotary cutter and a book of botanical embroidery patterns which I've wanted for a while . . .

And Todd got me THESE!!!!

Are they not just PERFECT??!  He knows me so well!  And, well, I got myself this sweet little wool pattern from Sentimental Stitches . . .

I mean, a girl's gotta do!

And for the cherry on top, I was a winner!  Janet, over at Rogue Quilter, was clearing out some patterns and I am now the proud owner of some very cute wool patterns, perfect for my little stand!!!

Am I right?!?  Thanks so much, Janet!  :)

So, that's it for what's going on here.  I hope everyone enjoyed as lovely a Mother's Day as I did.  Oh yeah, and I meant to say ... I have turned off comments on my blog.  It's just easier for me this way. ♥

:)

bits and pieces . . .

Right off the bat, let me put your minds to rest . . . 

This got finished, so this could happen . . .

Whew!  All is right with the (her) world again!

It's been a busy week, at work and home.  For the last eight years, we've gone to see The Nutcracker ballet every Christmas season.  This year they didn't do the ballet (go figure).  So instead, I've been putting together something fun to take its place . . .

We'll have a full-blown tea party with all the trimmings, and then watch the ballet on DVD!!  (I've got several versions, of course!) We're all looking forward to that!

Todd & I took a trip downtown one evening this past week to enjoy Tinsel Trail.

It was a lot of fun and there were more trees on the trail than ever before (they had to expand the trail to the other side of the park this year)! Christmas lights make my soul happy! 

I also baked a cake.  Because sometimes you just need to bake.

It's an orange flavored yellow butter cake, with tropical icing.  Not very winter/Christmassy, so I did the strawberry poinsettia flower on top.  It feels a little Mele Kalikimaka, if you know what I mean!  Still, it tasted good!  :)

We've had some glorious sunrises this week out at the camp . . .

Todd tells me we've had some glorious sunsets, too, but I don't make it home in time to see those.  LOL!

We have also enjoyed some glorious weather ... temps in the 50's, 60's and even into the 70's!  We got out and about in the camp on Friday and I got to visit some of my favorite places . . . 

Serenity Pond is pretty no matter the season!

Looking up and down the creek.  The sound of the water babbling is as happy to my soul as the lights! It never ceases to amaze me that I live here. Introducing people to creation; connecting them to the Creator.  It's as apt a mission statement as could be.  ♥

 And my soul needs happy when I start to think too much about this . . . 

Yikes, y'all!  That's less than two weeks away ... and why it won't surprise you that my slow stitching is all about these things . . .

The Piglet ornament is coming along! I hope to finish it up this afternoon, while we enjoy a Christmas movie.  Hand quilting this beauty (table runner) will take a little longer, but I'm going to quilt it simply, so hopefully it will be done in time. Hey ... Christmas *starts* on the 25th ... and goes on for 12 days, right??  Ha! 

Anyway, linking up to Kathy's Quilts and her slow stitching post.  This close to Christmas, I bet there's tons of pretty projects in the works to ooooh and aaaaah over!

Before I go, a quick shout-out to my Alabama Crimson Tide, who finished the regular (like there was anything regular about it) college football season 10-0!!  Roll Tide!

:)

back in the saddle . . .

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that I had a hard time typing the post title without laughing.  I know me!

December got busy and then January did too, and now look, only two more days and it's February!  Good gravy . . . please don't tell me 2019 is going to move even more quickly than 2018?!

We had a lovely Christmas time. Our office closed midday on the 20th of December and didn't reopen until January 7!  What a smashing break!  We hung out with family and ate out and did Christmas things. Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to church with Joc and her family, and then go out for dinner, and then head back to her house to for desserts and to read the Christmas Story. 

My contribution towards dessert was a traditional Bûche de Noël . . . 

I hadn't made one in ages and it was so fun to do!  It's a very light cake so while it looks really decadent and indulgent, it's really not!  Win, win!  All our desserts that evening looked amazing!

 

Jocelyn made figgy pudding and fudge, the girls made the gingerbread house, and my mom made the cookie platter and the eggnog cake!

And since I'm doing Christmas, here's my Panter kids! ♥

For Christmas, Todd and I had decided to forego getting each other big Christmas, and instead to get ourselves an Opal Nugget countertop ice maker for the RV.  It makes the pellet--sometimes referred to as Sonic--ice.  We have absolutely loved having it and I'm pretty certain it was the first time I've ever had iced tea on Christmas day! LOL! Of course, introducing such a significant countertop appliance to the RV meant we had to do some rearranging . . . 

So that whole end of the RV kitchen/countertop space is now ... a drink station. Haha! The corner space was pretty useless for anything other than decor, anyway, so I'm enjoying having my tea things there. Eventually we'll be a table to go over the trash can and put the Opal on top of that, and give me back some counter space!

I didn't do resolutions this year.  Or even goals.  Instead, after a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to do "disciplines" -- and even made DISCIPLINE my word for 2019.  

My thought is that each month, I'll choose one discipline that I want to focus on, to improve me -- whether physically, mentally or spiritually -- and by the end of the year, I'll have twelve disciplines under my belt and be the better for it. To help me stay focused, I got this cute little bracelet . . . 

I'm sure it'll make all the difference. Stop spending money was obviously not January's discipline. Teehee! :)

New Year's Day I started with my Stitcher's ETC. group ... we annually have breakfast at Cracker Barrel together, and then go on to an LQS to shop the sales.

It was a great group of ladies that morning -- fifteen of us!  Pretty impressive considering the date! These ladies rock!  :)

We celebrated Ellie's SEVENTH birthday on the 10th of this month.  Where has the time gone?  

It seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little baby, I could hold snuggled up to my chest, with her sweet downy little head tucked up under my chin.  Sigh.

I've not done a lot of sewing this month.  Though Todd did break our Christmas gift agreement and bought me a pretty little Janome for traveling!

I did stitch up a seat cover for his recliner . . . and a heart mug rug or two for our guild's February swap . . . but other than that, I've been lax. I'm saving most of my handwork for retreat in February! 

Speaking of stitching related Christmas gifts, Joc and her crew got me a lovely book by Kathy Schmitz,  Stitches from the Yuletide.  I've had her Stitches from the Harvest, and absolutely loved it, so I knew I'd enjoy the whimsy of the Christmas-themed book.  

She also gifted me with a gift certificate to Attic Heirlooms, which I promptly used on some fun things . . . 

And the Panter crew sent me a set of tiny-tipped clips!  

Mary Corbet, of Needle 'N Thread, had talked about using them in her stitching projects and I thought that was a must-have gadget ... for the win!

I also scheduled my left shoulder surgery for the end of February. The right one is back to 98%  and the left one is nagging me to no end, so it's time.  We go on retreat February 20-24, and my surgery is scheduled for the 28th.  Whew!

I can't think of much else to share.  Slowly switching from snowmen to hearts; does that count?

I mean, I'm sure there is tons, but this is only one post (and it's already heavy laden with photos), so I'll behave.  Auld lang syne!

:)

last dash to de-stash, plus a delightful Christmas . . .

Hahaha!  Who am I kidding?  There was absolutely no change in my stash report and there wasn't any hope that there would be!  So the overall is a net USE of 22.5 yards, which is a personal best on the end total . . .

Of course, neither my usage or my enhancements are really very high -- check out that 6 yards of enhancement.  What?!?  I'm actually rather proud of that number! Going back to work really put a bit of a damper on time in the Nook (much less having time to shop for fabric)! I certainly will not complain, though, especially in light of these numbers:

2015:  +22.50 yards

2014:  -22.25 yards

2013:  -48.00 yards

2012*:  -144.25 yards

Um.  Yeah.  Since each year starts fresh, that's an accumulation of 192.0 yards of fabric over the past four years.  Whoa.  It's definitely time to destash . . . there's not room for me to do anything in the Nook but store fabric!!  Especially when you consider that 2012* is the first year I started *recording* my stash, but definitely not the first year that I started collecting it. Eeek!

Of course, I say that knowing that on New Year's Day, I'll gather with my Stitchers etc. group and we'll have brunch and then hit the annual sale at the LQS, Patches & Stitches.  We're doing a block swap this year and I had planned on picking up some fabric for that.  Hmmmm.

I hope everyone had as lovely a Christmas as we did!  We spent Christmas Eve with Joc and her family.  We went to Christmas Eve service with them at their church, and then went out to dinner at Bravos.  Todd and I had never eaten there before -- it's relatively new -- and it was very nice. Everley has learned a new face (and learned that it makes people laugh), so she practiced looking at all of us in her funny little frowny face . . .

She pretty much entertained us until her dinner arrived! From there we headed back to Jocelyn's house and got there just in time to see Santa Claus making his rounds through the neighborhood on a fire truck!  Ellie and Evey just thought that was the grandest thing, and Ellie's eyes got round as plates as Santa shouted from the truck, "You children better get home and get to bed.  I'll be coming to your houses soon!"  Haha! We did head to the house then, and Joc read the Christmas story to Ellie . . .

And something about Christmas Eve -- even Leia was compatible and wanted to hang out with the family.

And allowed some Ellie loving to happen, too!

Christmas morning was filled with some lovely surprises!!  I got quite a number of happies, but I'll share just a few:

A new super Hex N More ruler I've wanted for a while!

A new electric kettle!

Four place settings of the Christmas accent plates and mugs to add to my china and make it Christmassy!   (Just cuz I live in an RV doesn't mean I don't like china!!)

A beautiful tea book.  My husband really spoiled me this year!  I also got a beautiful wool sunflower table topper kit (from the Merkels), a box of 50 wonder clips (from the Panters), a new workstation light, some wire toppers for my mini-quilt stand, and some DVDs to add to my collection! Plus this beautiful tea strainer from a sister . . .

Isn't it perfect with my teapot??  And this lovely monogrammed scarf from a sister:

Of course, it was 70+ degrees Christmas day -- the only hope I have of wearing it is inside, when Todd sets the A/C down to 65!  LOL!  :)

And then the pics started rolling in of grands . . .

Oh gosh, aren't they all just precious??!!  

Today will be another quiet one . . . I may get a head start on hand-stitching some ornaments for next year, what do you think?!  Perhaps I'll work on that navy "Let it Snow" ornie today, just to get a jump on 2016!

Linking up to the stash report on Patchwork Times, Slow Stitching Sunday on Kathy's Quilts, and Feline Friday (on Sunday) on sarah did it!

Enjoy a blessing-filled Sunday!

:)