Countdown to the New Year

I don't know why I dislike New Year's Eve so much. Is it that it officially ends the Christmas Season just as I was getting into the spirit of it with the pressure off? Is it the finality of it all? An old year ending -- a new one beginning? I don't make New Year's Resolutions because I know I will never keep them. I just want to enjoy life and not put any restrictions on myself because I made a resolution to do this or not do that!

I could restrict myself on my fabric purchases - that would be a life-altering experience, but would I be happier because of it? Probably not. I do think that I will put off buying any new containers to store it in -- maybe that will force me to use what I have before buying more, but then the stock of Rubbermaid and/or Sterlite will probably go down - sorry guys.

As I look back at 2006, I have noticed a repeating phrase that I have used over and over again -- "Why didn't I start sooner?" or "What am I waiting for, Christmas?" Yes, that will be my goal for 2007 -- stop procrastinating. This could be a life-altering move, it would save my sanity, and I would get things done in a timely manner. I find that if I just jump in and do something, it's never really as bad nor does it take as long as I have made it to be in my mind and, I usually end up enjoying doing it.

Happy New Year -- and to New Beginnings in 2007.

Saturday Ramblings

Here it is the 30th of December -- the 5th day of Christmas -- where did the month of December go? There are only 36 hours until we ring in a New Year -- 2007. Yikes!! Tick-tock!

I had such plans for this week off from work -- but, so much for my good intentions. The house has stayed neat and tidy, and if you knew me well, that is a feat in itself. But, I want to be sewing, so why am I having such a hard time trying to get back into it? My sewing room is neat and tidy, too. Do I not want to mess it up? I think I need to remedy this and soon!

I received some FQ's for Christmas, I bought fabric at Joann's the day after Christmas, and I was in Hancock's last night and bought more fabric -- did I really need them? No. Could I resist purchasing them? No. Yes, I'm weak when it comes to fabric.

Here's a photo of my Mom, me and my darling grand-daughter modelling our aprons. I already have plans to make more for next year and the time to start is NOW and just put them away for next year. Surprisingly, they bust a lot of stash - each apron uses between 1-3/4 to 2 yards of fabric and some of that "What was I thinking fabric" really makes a nice apron. I'm going to force an apron-wearing trend on folks whether they want to wear one or not (he-he). I already have a box started with Christmas gifts for 2007 -- mostly stocking stuffers that were picked up at the after-Christmas sales.

The aprons that I made as Christmas gifts were very well received - I even included a gift tag that said "Tie one on for Christmas" and I discovered that I really like paper crafting. Another hobby? More supplies? What's not to love, eh? I've been keeping a daily journal for three years now and I love blogging -- so why not start another hobby???? I picked up a magazine called Paper Made Easy and sewing is the hot trend zigzagging its way across paper projects everywhere. Using your sewing machine and all those fancy stitches to create more designs on the paper -- too cool -- this sound right up my alley!

My plan is to do a lot of sewing in 2007 on my new sewing table. I always start a new project on New Year's Eve - it's become a right of passion - a new tradition that I've imposed on myself for a new beginning. Like any tradition, I have lots of things that I've started on NYE and still haven't finished - so this year - should I dig out something and finish it or keep the tradition of starting something new -- time will tell -- I still have a few hours to decide.

In the meantime, I have new fabrics that have just been laundered, needing to be pressed and then, I'm going to cut into it. I'll let you know what I picked to do first -- sew many choices~~~sew little time....

A Very Gingerbread Christmas

I was very nervous about upgrading Blogger - I didn't want to lose all of my posts, and I had heard a lot of horror stories, but everything went very smoothly. The only problem that I had was my age -- Blogger made me 252 years old -- that would probably make me the oldest blogger on record. Thank you Blogger.

I'm going to share a little of my Christmas decorating this year - I thought simplicity was best. I had the hardest time getting into decorating and now I'm glad I did -- I won't have much to put away!!

I'm a Gingerbread collector. Most of my gingerbread collection stays out all year.

Unless it looks terribly Christmas-y, like these placemats. The nice part of having a collection like this and a December birthday is, I get a lot of gingerbread related items.Yep, I do have a lot of gingerbread!

But, I also collect Santas, Snowmen and Nutcrackers. Most of my snowmen I leave out until Valentine's Day, since we seem to get most of our snow in the January-February timeframe.

Now, here are some of my Christmas gifts - starting with my new Horn Sewing Machine Table. Thank you, Mom. Let's just hope that I can keep the room looking as neat and tidy as it does right now.

I'm asking myself the same question: Why am I blogging, when I should be sewing? I'm waiting for some fabric to come out of the dryer so I can start on a fleece jacket. Not quilty, you say -- hmmmm....it does have a binding that goes around the whole thing -- sounds quilty to me!!

I also have to share this "Money Shirt" that I received from my group at work. It's a color that everyone loves and it always fits. I am also thrilled that someone made something for me, it's so creative and not something that I would have ever thought of.

Here are a few more of my Christmas gifts. Yes, I have been blessed this Christmas.

And, let's not forget Bailey, he wasn't slighted in the least. Even he had a Christmas stocking that was full of presents that he loved. I think he loved Christmas so much that he is still sitting on the back of the chair, hoping that Santa will come back again real soon.

Yes, I'm already loving the new blogger, I can add as many pictures as I want!!!!

The Day After Christmas

As I look at all of my Christmas gifts, I feel so blessed. Mom gave me a Horn Sewing Table, which I can now use without feeling guilty -- or should I say, now I can feel quilty!! and Gift Cards for two of my favorite stores - Joann's and Borders.

Bob gave me a new digital camera and photo printer, which I haven't even fooled with yet. First I have to read the directions - it has so many more "bells and whistles" than my previous digital camera and it's so much smaller.

After everyone left on Christmas and I returned home, I was pleasantly surprised at how neat and tidy the house looked. Bailey had a wonderful Christmas, too, but he was one tired pup; and so was his Mom.

My favorite part of the day after Christmas is checking out the sales. And, since I was armed with gift certificates for Joann's - what better place to start. Traffic was unbelievable on I-95, but the stores didn't seem that crowded and the sales!!!! Oh-my. I'm not usually that good at math, but I can calculate 60-70% off in my head like nobody's business. I did manage to stock up on tissue paper, Christmas tins and some stocking stuffers for next year.

Did I buy fabric? Of course. The Christmas fabric was pretty picked over, but I did find a few pieces that would make great aprons or gift bags for next year. I also picked up the "Handmade Country Christmas Crafts Collectors' Edition" which has some "must do's" for next year. As I have said before, I just love these Australian magazines because they combine my two loves - embroidery and quilting - together.

There is just something about wandering around in Joann's that gets my creative juices flowing and the cart laden with goodies that I just can't pass up. I'm going to be one busy bee and I just can't wait to get started -- but where to start?

The day after also left me with two disappointments: I have a strand of lights out in the middle of my Christmas tree and my microwave died -- it could be worse.....

The Joy of Christmas

For all of my fretting and rushing around and worrying that something wasn't done in my attempt to make it the "Perfect Christmas", everything just fell into place. What got done was done and what wasn't done, wasn't going to get done -- so no sense worrying about it and just accept it for what it is.
The only one that knew it wasn't done - was me.....

Once that part was behind me, it turned out to be one of the nicest, most relaxed Christmas' that I can remember. My Mom came over on Christmas Eve to spent the night. After I picked her up, we visited the cemeteries to lay wreathes on the graves, then unloaded Santa's sleigh (um, my car) of packages and placed them around the tree.

The house looked clean and festive (what more could you ask for?) and we had so much fun baking and cooking. When we finally sat down later in the evening, we watched the White House Christmas on HGTV and cracked open a bottle of wine. We ended up sitting and talking and laughing and talking until 1:30 a.m. -- way past my Mom's bedtime, but, hey, we were having fun. I even finished wrapping the stocking stuffers!

Christmas Day was rainy and boy did it rain -- most of the day and night, but at least it didn't start until we got home from Mass.

We opened our gifts, cleared out the wrappings and straightened up the living room before Bob, Lesley and Kylie arrived for more unwrapping. Thankfully, this year everyone was healthy, happy and hungry.

It was just a perfect day. Lots of laughs, good food, good company, wonderful gifts and the Eagles game. I even relaxed my rule of "No TV during dinner" since the Eagles game came on at 5 p.m. Bob was at the foot of the table this year- so he could watch his precious Eagles on TV with his Eagles jersey. The whooping and hollering scared Mom a few times when the Eagles scored - and we did hold off singing "Fly Eagles Fly" until the end of the game (didn't want to jinx them) -- when the Eagles beat the Cowboys!!!

Yes, Christmas just doesn't get any better than this -- thank you elves!!!

Ready or Not -- Here it Comes

After a terribly dismal day yesterday and more than an inch of rain, we have sunny skies and 60-degree temperatures today. I have all of the windows in the house open to air it out while I clean, clean, clean. It must be something about the sunshine that keeps me going, because I couldn't seem to get out of my own way yesterday.

All of the gifts are wrapped (yippee) except for the stocking stuffers - which get wrapped haphazardly with tissue paper and I can do that as late as tomorrow. The spare bedroom has been cleaned, the kitchen is clean -- all that's left is the dining room. I won't talk about the basement or third floor - they look like a tornado swept through those areas, but noone (and I mean noone) will see them except for ME after everyone leaves.

My New Year's Resolution is to clean house and trash a lot of this junk that I don't know why I hold on to.

If I don't have a chance to post before the big day arrives .. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a most Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Three days until Christmas....When I was a child that would have been magical. Now, as an adult, it means oh-no -- crunch time! Why did I wait until the last minute to wrap gifts, clean, decorate and bake. I thought I was going to be "on top of things" this year since I didn't have to spend a weekend in December picking just the right tree, chopping it down, dragging up the tree stand, arranging with someone to help me put it up -- I caved in last year and joined the rank and file of those with artificial trees. No, it's not one of those fancy 7-foot jobs with the prelit lights - uh-uh, I have a small woodland tree that I strung with lights a few years ago and I just put a big black trash bag over it - so ta-da that part is already done. So why did I wait so long to put it up???? The ornaments!! I thought it looked just fine with lights, a homespun garland and dried cranberries, but I didn't want anyone to think, poor Kim -- that's her pathetic tree. So, I drug out the ornaments and started decorating -- there must be 500 little itty-bitty ornaments on that tree now.

I have spent the better part of today cleaning and all that I have finished is the bathroom (the smallest room in the house) and some of the gifts wrapped. Everytime I think I'm making some headway, I get sidetracked with something else - argh!!!!!!!!!! Gift wrap central is my sewing room. My cutting table is just the right height and perfect for wrapping gifts. I won't say that I dislike wrapping gifts, but, here again, why didn't I start sooner??? The hard part is my new Horn sewing table is just sitting here and I want to be using it. Oh, well -- only 3 more days.

They Say It's Your Birthday....

Well, it's my birthday too! Right smack in the middle of getting ready for Christmas. But, it's my birthday and I'm going to enjoy it if it kills me.

I've had a wonderful weekend. I got to have dinner with my son and granddaughter twice this weekend, my Mom joined us last night, and I even had a birthday cake. I was so touched. I also received gift certificates to my three favorites stores: ACMoore, Kohl's and Joann Fabrics -- it doesn't get any better than that! And, won $10 on a scratch-off lottery ticket...

My Mom gave me a Horn sewing table for a combined birthday/Christmas gift and it arrived Friday - woohoo -- I just can't wait to start using it -- I am so itching to start stitching again. But, I must finish decorating and cleaning for Christmas. I have put it off as long as I possible could and now it's crunch-time.....

The weather was just perfect today -- sunny and 62-degrees - IN DECEMBER!. It's the first time that I ever remember being able to work in my garden on my birthday. I wanted to plant some daffodil bulbs, but just ran out of time.

Christmas Elves

Yes, the Christmas Elves are busy being mischievous and not getting a whole lot done. The clock is ticking away until Christmas, so much to do, and then, as if by magic, everything all comes together.

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

I'm still waiting for the magic to happen.

Today is Cookie Baking Day

I took a day of vacation to stay home and bake Christmas Cookies. My mother hosts an annual Cookie Swap, which will be this coming Sunday, so I need to bake 9 dozen cookies. It always amazes me how you can end up with powdered sugar -- EVERYWHERE!

It's a good day to be stuck inside in the kitchen. The high temperature is only going to be 35-degrees with a wind chill of 6-degrees...brrrr...that's cold, even by my standards. However, with the oven on and the heat kicked WAY back, it's pretty toasty in there. I sure wish I had my helper like I did at Thanksgiving. Bailey takes care of any crumbs that hit the floor, but Kylie kept me on track -- I miss her being here.

It took me all day (I'm not speedy in the kitchen, but I am organized with minimal mess) and I have 12 -dozen Peppermint Snowball cookies made for Kylie and 12-dozen Santa's Whiskers made for me for Sunday's Cookie Swap. I also made 4-dozen Cinnamon Nut Spice cookies just because I had all of the stuff handy. I started baking at 8:30 a.m. and finally cleaned up the kitchen at 6:30 p.m. I'm kinda sick of looking at cookies -- so there is no temptation to eat any of them.

I still don't have my tree up, nor any decorating done except for the wreath's on the windows. One of my neighbors has one of those deer that lights up and the head moves -- Bailey just loves it and stands at the fence mesmerized by the head moving. I'm still thinking about going out to buy one for him, if there are any left in the stores, otherwise, he can just enjoy my neighbor's.

I went out to do a little Christmas shopping tonight and ended up buying stuff for myself. Did I really need those teal Isotoner gloves that match the trim on my coat? Of course.

Time to Start Pulling Out the Christmas Decorations

December 1st has passed and it's officially time for me to start decorating for Christmas. I have my gingerbread flag outside and the wreath is on the front door. So far, that's all that is done unless you count the fact that I have clean windows -- whew, what a chore that is. It's one of those thankless jobs that no one notices when your windows are clean, but they sure do notice when they are dirty. For me, I love having clean windows.. It's one of my Christmas rituals.

As you can see, Bailey was none too happy about posing for this shot, or maybe it's just visions of sugarplums dancing in his head. I know he's thinking that he deserves a cuppa tea after this photo session rather than snatching mine when I'm not looking -- yes, Bailey loves to drink tea, especially out of my tea cup!!

Yesterday, December 1st, we broke a record with 74-degree temperatures. Last night's storm of rain and heavy winds have changed the temperature drastically to more December-like. Hopefully, this will inspire me to pull out a few more decorations. I like to work out of one box at a time, bring it down, empty it out and then put it away before bringing on the next box.

On today's agenda is to put away the turkeys and Thanksgiving decorations on the mantle and do some cleaning before putting up the Christmas mantle decorations. I'd also like to get the wreathes on each of the windows - now that the wicked wind has died down.

I'm still busy working on aprons and trying to use up some of this stash of Christmas fabric. These aprons are supposed to be gifts, but I love each and every one of them -- it's going to be so hard to give them away.