Christmas Recap, Part 2

So, my time in Utah was so short....only 11 days.  And that just isn't enough time to love on all my family there!  Shortly after Christmas, a bunch of Jill's family went to the mall...Old Navy is a favorite of the urban folks...there are choices of clothing for both adults and children.  Our C is a natural model, don't you think?  What a cutie!  

And, as a gift to me, Jill made arrangements to take me and the older girls to a performance of Ballet West's Nutcracker Ballet...I'd never seen this particular ballet, didn't even really know the story.  We went to dinner before and walked across the street to the Capitol Theater....I will remember this for the rest of my life!  What an enchanting evening for the 4 of us. Thanks, Jill, for including me in this wonderful treat!

 I do not recall ever having a doll house when I was growing up. So this year, I put one on my Christmas Wish List. Actually, I chose several and put them on my Amazon Wish List.  My wonderful family uses that Wish List all the time, as I use theirs when looking for gifts.  On Christmas morning, I opened this beautiful box...it's a kit to make the dollhouse.  Here is the front, and the next picture is the back.  I'd decided that I really didn't want to make a traditional dollhouse - rather, I want to make it a Quilt Shop and a Yarn Shop...isn't this going to be cute?  I was so excited!

 Later in the gift-opening, I was handed a large, flat box and, once I'd opened it, I found this kit!  Another dollhouse!  Look at that wraparound porch....I'm thinking this one would make a better Quilt/Yarn Shop.  Jill mentioned, "Well, you need a home to go to once you finish at the quilt shop." So the first one will be built and decorated as a home and the second one will be made into the Quilt/Yarn Shop.

My darling son, John III, celebrated his 36th birthday at the end of January. He has grown to be a fine man. Besides being a husband and father, he is also a businessman and a State Legislator.  He serves in his church and is always available to help his neighbors and friends.  Big John and I are so privileged to be his parents...Happy Birthday to 0ur son, our pride and joy!  

Thanks for stopping by...I am off to the studio to sew on this rainy, drizzly day.

Post Christmas Postings

I spent the most amazing Christmas in Utah with John, John, Jill, and the Grands.  Those children are delightful and noisy and funny and smart and crazy nuts!  I love them like crazy!  Here are H and W showing off their smiles and superheroes.

My girls - E, C, and C2...baby was a bit standoffish at first but by the end of my visit, she was coming to me and letting me hold her and giving me kisses!  

 Christmas at the Knotwells Utah - Santa almost didn't have enough room for all the stockings!

My Hero, my Love!  He's lost a lot of weight, mostly from not cooking so much, but, it turns out, from having some cardiac issues - those are being addressed by a team of doctors that we trust.

Since this is supposed to be a quilter's blog, I thought I'd show you a couple of the quilts I finished in 2013.  Both of these were for Jill...this first one is a T-Shirt quilt made from some of her running shirts....It took me a total of 4 years to get this one done - mostly because I wanted to do a good job for her...finally came up with a plan and got it done in time for her birthday in July. 

And this next one is a Turning Twenty quilt, using 20 Fat Quarters from a single line of fabric.  Jill had picked out two different stacks of fabrics for a baby quilt when she was pregnant with C2...One for a boy and one for a girl.  This is the stack of boy fabrics.  Made a nice large lap quilt...also in time for her birthday. 

I flew home on New Year's Eve...hard to leave that amazing family - they almost needed to superglue my bum to the seat on the plane. On my birthday, the 2nd, I woke up to about 1.5 inches of snow.  I was able to get to work and home all by myself! Yeah, Me!!!  Then, on Saturday nite, right after I got home from working my shift at the library, the snow began again...this time we got almost 8 inches in 24 hours.  While that's not bad, we need to add the wind and the wind-chill and the Arctic Express that we are currently experiencing.  Today, the temps are around -28 degrees...brrrrrr.

From this picture, one wouldn't think that it was that cold, with the sunshine and clear skies.  Believe me, it's wicked cold....Some of those footsteps are mine, going down to the back of the house and under there to check out the water softener that decided to get cranky.  I'm not sure how long it took me to finally warm up once I got back inside, but it was definitely longer than I was outside!

Happy New Year to you all.  Thanks for stopping by.

Post Snowcalypse

So over a week ago the snow started, December 5th, to be exact.  The library closed at 4:00 p.m. and everyone slid on home.  My office mate and next door neighbor knows of my extreme phobia of driving in this kind of weather so he suggested he pick me up that morning and take me home after work.  Fortunately,the Director is also aware and adjusted my work hours to accommodate my 'taxi's' schedule.  Early the next morning I got the call that we were not to attempt going to work because of the weather and the amount of snow that had fallen. Yeah!  A snow day!  Here you can see how much snow fell in that 12 hours - poor Eyeore...covered in almost a foot of snow.  

Next we have the spot where my car had been parked for 2 days so my office partner could drive right into my garage a pick me up and drop me off so I didn't have to try to maneuver in snow/ice.  

I  was able to back Hot Poppy enough to then drive her into the garage.  Here she is.

I decided to try to shovel the snow on the apron behind my car....now, mind you, I've never shoveled snow in my life.  After about 20 minutes, you can see below, I decided to stop before I suffered a heart attack or a stroke.  I was beat! That, there, is about 3 feet by 8 feet on the right side of the apron...I did another patch about the same size the next day.

 I rode to and from work with my neighbor all week..just trying to work up the courage to try driving on my own.  Mind you, the asphalt roads were clear the first day, but my road and the one connecting to the asphalt road were slick as snot!  We actually slid and almost got stuck on Thursday last week. Then, on Friday, another drizzly, sleety, rainy day forced the Director to close the library again - Snow Day!  I can tell you I was mighty relieved NOT to have to drive again.  So yesterday and today, the temps are a bit higher and there is a melt going on!  I was able to start up the mule - put it in 4wd, and take the last 2 weeks of trash up for collection.  I was able to scrape a bit of snow off the apron but decided that since there was ice under it, it was better to leave it for the sun to melt it.  I was also able to get to the crawl space under the house and add salt to the water softener.  So, with one more day of taxi service from our friend and neighbor, the melt should take care of the ice enough that I can drive to work the rest of the week.  And then, on Thursday, our house/pet sitter is coming and I can leave to spend the holiday with my darling husband and children and grandchildren

On behalf of myself, my husband, and all the animals, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Thank you all for stopping by.

Infamy

Today is December 7th....back in 1941, no one knew what this day would mean to history.  Now, there are few who don't know what this date means to Americans and Japanese alike.  To the families of those who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the resultant conflicts of the 2nd World War, I send condolences and prayers and thanks.  To the families of those who served and were fortunate enough to come home, I send my heartfelt thanks.  I am not old enough to have either served or to have someone who served before me.  But I am old enough to appreciate what their service and sacrifices have meant to me and the rest of the world.  Thank you!

I was asked to share a picture of my wee tiny socks...this is a couple of a new set being offered that uses lace yarn and size 0 needles...and beads!  Here you have 2 of the set - I haven't knit the rest yet.  

I'm off to shovel some more snow....Thanks for stopping by.

SNOW DAY!!!

As you can see from these pictures, today was a snow day!  The library closed at 4:00 p.m. yesterday and we got a call from the Director early this morning that she was calling a snow day today AND tomorrow!  I don't work tomorrow but I can be really happy for the girl who is supposed to work. We got 5 inches of snow yesterday, and are expecting another 4 inches today.  Judging by what I've seen so far, I think it will be closer to 5+ inches by the time it's all over.

 The Snow Day gave me time to work on several items that have been languishing in the studio.  This table runner is a class project for my machine applique class (it was cancelled for this morning).  I quilted it and put the binding on this morning.  And now I have a Christmas table runner!

On the knitting front, I've been working on some mini ornaments that are being offered by my favorite designer on Ravelry.  This is one of two mini mittens...that's my own hand there!  Tiny, tiny items.  There's also a beanie, a 'blanket' a tea cozy and a tablet cover so far.  I've only done the one mitten.  Cause I'm also doing mini socks - really mini socks.  Knit on size 0 needles with lace yarn.  The little socks are ending up to be less than an inch wide by less than 2 inches long.  With beads!!! No photos of those but let me tell you, they are stinkin' cute!

 Must be sewing some more so I'll sign off for now and promise to come back soon.  Thanks for stopping by.

November Update

On October 4th, our neighbor brought his trailer over to begin staging for the transfer of Garnet to his own property.  Her calf was due to be born the following week and he wanted to have the calf born over at his house.  Evidently, the trailer scared the calf right out of Garnet!  Why, you ask?  Well, when Mom got up the next morning, she saw what she thought was a brown dog in the field...she called me to come see...what I saw was Garnet's newborn calf scampering and running across the field.  It was obviously incredibly healthy, and not less than about 8 hours old.  Mama Garnet was wandering around the field, grazing and baby was following her around.  I called our neighbor, John, to let him know that Garnet had delivered a beautiful, caramel-coloured calf.

The calf is beautiful, with the lines of both the mother and the father.  Daddy was a beefalo and this calf is, therefore, part beefalo. And it turns out, the calf is a female.  John and his wife have named her Addy....she continues to delight me when I see her in the field.  I understand John Pace is planning on moving her and Garnet to his fields in the next week or so.  

Addy is around 50-75 pounds at this stage.  She is about 6 weeks old.

On another note, this picture is meant solely for jealousy purposes!  Gas prices her in southwest Missouri continue to hover around $2.78, although I didn't have my camera with me the day I gassed up for $2.71!

 With the house on the market, it's time to get a few things done around here that have been needed done for a while.  One of those is the surround on the fireplace.  I contacted a local handyman and he came over to place the tiles around my fireplace.  I LOVE it...almost so much that I'm sad to move away....I said almost....a tile surround is not enough to stop me from moving to be near my family...not nearly enough!

 It's official....this place is for sale!  I honestly will be surprised if it sells before spring....but if the Universe wants to surprise me, Bring It!

More later.  Thanks for stopping by.

BIG News!

Oh, dear heaven!  It has been 2 months since I last posted.  I have no excuse.  I will not even apologize and promise to try to do better. It's clear I can't keep my word.  Suffice to say, you will hear from me when I get around to it!

Today, I woke to mom (she is visiting for 5 weeks - YEAH!) asking me how many cows are supposed to be in our field.  Sounds like a bit of a strange question, I know.  But we have/had only 2 cows in the south pasture last night.  They aren't even our cows - they are our friend and neighbor's cows that we are pasturing for him till he gets his fencing repaired.  This morning, there were 2 cows and a newborn calf!  Yes, Garnet had her calf last night.  I called John our neighbor to let him know that the trailer he brought over last night scared that calf right out of the momma! The calf is a lovely milk chocolate brown - the same colour as it's daddy - Buffalo Bill the beefalo.  It was running and gamboling  all over the field this morning.  Very active and healthy. Momma Garnet is up and walking around, no sign that she gave birth recently.  

The reddish cow is Millie, Garnet's daughter.  Garnet is the black one.  

Now, I promised you BIG news....well, here is a hint....

Did you guess?  Ok, it's too early on Saturday morning for games....John and I have decided to move to Utah! In fact, John is already there, ready to begin a new job on Monday.  We have been in the early stages of planning since he came home from visiting the family there in early June.  He had been laid off from his job in March and, having taken another job which didn't make him happy, he decided that it was time to sell the property here and move to Utah. His reasoning?  The grands are growing so fast and we are missing out on so much of their lives.  I readily agreed.  The property is on the market and I will stay here until it sells.  In the meantime, John is living with John and Jill and the grands til I get there, whenever that happens.  I will fly out to spend Christmas with them all.  Another new adventure is opening up for us and we couldn't be happier.  This will also put us closer to my mom (8 hours away by car) and to our friends on the west coast.  I never did assimilate into country living and I admit I won't miss it.  I will miss my house and living on 10 acres.  

John and I have never moved ourselves.  We've always been moved by the military. That meant them packing boxes and trucking us to wherever we were going.  This time it's all on us.  And let me tell you, I have figured out that Sally is a packrat where her studio is concerned!  Oh, my heavens, there is a lot of stuff in there!  A very daunting task.  But Mom came up with a plan.  We will pack a minimum of two boxes every day, with 5 boxes on my days off (Tuesdays) and take Wednesdays off since I work extra long days on Wednesdays.  That sounds entirely do-able to me.  Now to get boxes so we can pack.  And hopefully the studio will be packed with all the extras that I won't need while waiting for someone to buy the property and still leave me projects to work on in the meantime.

Well, friends.  Time to get the day started.  Thanks so much for dropping by.  Until next time!