{Goodbye 2011}

Tonight we'll say so long to 2011. It was a good year for our family. We had so many wonderful things happen and have so much to be thankful for.....a college graduation, two weddings, a grandchild on the way, a family vacation to Yellowstone that we'll never forget, two new sets of drums for Brian, Thanksgiving together in North Carolina,  a new-found hobby (quilting), an engagement, snowshoeing in Colorado, attending a college football game with Danny, my Mom's 70th birthday and Steph getting into vet school.

I'm sorry to see 2011 go, but I'm excited about what 2012 will bring. We're blessed to have a wonderful family and  a really sweet life. I only can imaging that this upcoming year will bring with it new & amazing experiences for our family. My "One Little Word"  for 2012 is "Thankful". I hope to go through next year recognizing exactly how much I have to be thankful for....the big, the small, the obvious and the obscure. I'll be incorporating it into my P365 +1.

Happy New Year! May it be a blessed one.

{O Christmas Tree}

Yesterday we drove to the Foster Avenue Market to pick up our Christmas tree. Each year we get a live tree and the market is the best place to get a nice tree at an affordable price. It took us about 30 seconds to zero in on the keeper after we were directed to the "small trees". I didn't examine the entire stock as I usually do since we were both fighting a bad cold. I looked quick....what do you thing about this one....it has a nice shape....smells good.....we'll take it.  The tree dude trimmed the lower branches, ran it through the netting machine and tossed it in the back of the pickup.

We got it home, set it in it's stand and stood back & admired it. Not too bad. Well, unless you notice the gaping hole 2/3rd's of the way down on one side and the broken top spike. No angel on the tree this year. Anyway, my planned decorations would hide the hole. I put the lights on and called it a night.

Today I broke out the new tree decorations and the deco mesh from Looziana. This year's tree has a Mardi Gras theme.......gold, purple & green decorations. I got them really cheap from the new 99cent store up the block.  It's definitely different than our usual tree. I'm kind of liking it. Now I can start wrapping.

{Christmas Preparation}

Last night I dreamed about sugar cookies with red & green sprinkles and a large, cold glass of milk. Well, this week will begin the preparation for {Christmas}. I don't decorate as early as some people I know. I'd rather do it all the week before, you know, the pressure makes me work better. Ok, not really. It's just that I have a hard time thinking about Christmas before Thanksgiving is cold. Tomorrow we'll go to the market and get our tree. We'll probably set it in it's stand but the decorations won't be added until the weekend. I'm waiting for some deco mesh to arrive from Baton Rouge , LA. I'm going to try something new with the tree decorations this year. I'll post photos if it looks decent.

This weekend I'm also planning the {candy making}. As much as I loved the cookie making when I was a kid, it's not something I'm very good at. The candy making is more fun for me. This year's choices are {English Butter Toffee} and {Peppermint Bark}. I'll do shopping for the ingredients saturday morning and get started right away. The sooner they're done, the sooner I can start picking. So much for the diet for the next two weeks.

{Giveaway}

There's a great giveaway going on right now over at Happy Quilting. It closes on Dec. 7th so hurry it up!

{A Thought for Today}

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is. ~ Albert Einstein

I'm choosing the latter. How about you? Happy Friday!

{Thanksgiving & a Quilt}

We're home from our {Thanksgiving} celebration in North Carolina. It was a wonderful two day gorge on the turkey and all the usual fixings, as well as some {lasagna}, garlic bread & salad on friday night. Having the {family} together for a holiday is wonderful and a little painful. It's so hard to leave everyone, knowing we won't see each other again for six months.

I did the big unveil of {Nebraska Farmhouse c.1953} on friday. Everyone seemed to like it. I did notice some layout errors but I learned a lesson from them. Oh yeah, the name....The {Strawberry Fields} fabrics remind me of a 1950's era farmhouse. I love the soft, vintage colors.  I can picture curtains hanging in the kitchen made from any of these fabrics.  Some of the fabric designs would make perfect bed sheets and others I can picture the farmer's wife using  to make aprons for herself and jumpers for her girls.

I'm really happy with this, my first full sized quilt. It finished up at 65x82, a very generous lap quilt. I'll be sure to use it this winter.

{Giveaway}

There's a great giveaway going on over at {Lily Pad Quilting}. Make sure to check it out. One of the goodies is the Accuquilt Go! Baby.