Projects and shopping, the holiday season is keeping me busy

Merry Christmas to all of you

 Bud finally found the time to put up my last Christmas decoration, a quilted wall hanging that I made a couple of years ago.  I am not allowed up on ladders this year as I am trying to make it though this holiday season without a cast.  You may or may not remember that 2 years ago I broke my foot and was in a cast and last year I broke my wrist and was in a cast again at Christmas time.  I only have about 10 more days to make it this year and am hoping the 'curse' has been broken.

 My quilt group had a couple of projects they taught in the month of November.  I liked the projects a lot and managed to get them both done this past week.  The one above was fun but I thought it was a little boring.

 SO, I put a lot of sequence stars on the trees.  I gave this one to my friend Kathy for Christmas.  She likes reds and blacks a lot.  It was a fun and easy project.

 I liked this project better.  The trees looked great and the fabric seemed to go together very well.  I have been invited to put some pieces in a show again this year.  I think this one will go in the show.

 Saturday I decided to check out a couple of local shops.  We have this little shop called Red Dresser and in the shop are a lot of booths by various artist/craftsmen.  I loved the booths and had a great time shopping and spending a few coins.

Then I headed out the peninsula to a new gallery where there were  a LOT of beautiful pieces for me to admire.  I chose this birdhouse for myself.  It is very beautiful.  

I think it looks great with the reindeer that Eva gave me several years ago and the little snowmen set that Sara and Leo bought for me in Norway when we were there together many years ago.  I have collected a few more pieces to go with the Norway snowmen and together they all look great.

The holiday spirit is catching on here.  Now all we need is a little snow.

A family weekend in Coleman

This past weekend I traveled to Coleman for a family Christmas gathering

 Our first stop was to Mom and Dad's grave to take off the summer flowers and put on our Christmas wreath.  Don't you agree that I am a very dutiful child? It was a cold day but we did manage to attach the wreath to the stand.  I was glad that the stand was already in the ground because the ground was pretty frozen.

 Next we stopped out to Leo's house to deliver a rug that we were giving him.  He sure has done a lot of work on the site where his house was placed.  He has put in drainage tiles and smoothed the land out.  He spent a lot of time with his tractor and backhoe this past summer.  It should be ready for a little grass this next summer.  There were a LOT of deer tracks in the dirt right up near the house.  He has quite a bit of wildlife around him.  He was even talking about putting up some Christmas tree lights.  He just arrived back from spending Thanksgiving with Glen and Penny.  It was a great visit and he enjoyed his time with them.

 Now on to the pictures I took of the family.  Kay and Dick were there.  Kay lived across the road from me growing up so we spent a lot of time together when we were young.

 And there is her brother Jim.  He faithfully attends these events and it was good to see him.

 Denny was there with his grandson.  He bought the back field of the farm and has named it Landon's farm after this grandson.  The like to go out there and run around with tractors and other equipment.

 Aunt Kathleen is the youngest of Dad's family and is looking great.  I had a nice long talk with her about family and various events that she remembers.  She had some pictures of family members of long ago and I brought home a picture of my Great Great Aunt Della who I was named after.  I will scan them into my computer and share them at a future date.

 Aunt Mary and her son Scott.  Aunt Mary and Uncle Elmer lived just up the road.  She is looking good too.

 Aunt Florence and her son Bill just fooling around.  They are pretty good at that.

 Aunt Florence is 92 and looking very good.

 A cousin Marilyn and her husband.  She is Uncle Vernell's daughter.

 Leo, Aunt Kathleen and cousin Jim.

 Here we had the cousins that were in attendance.  Starting in the back row Jack, Victor, Bill, Denny, Scott, Leo.  Front row Marilyn, Jerry, me, Kay.  I think this is just about half of us.  I take a picture every year just to record our passing years.

 And here are the beautiful ladies that watch over our family.

 A couple of cousins, Scott and Marilyn

Leo and Denny.  Doesn't Leo look great???  He even has on a nice sweater that Eva and I bought for him a few years ago.

So that was my weekend.  I had a great time visiting with family and listening to some old stories.  It is a great season for reconnecting with family.

MY Thanksgiving weekend

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  

 It started with a wonderful dinner at the Nobles's house.

 Charlotte and David were home from college.  They are both doing very well in their first year of school.  David is in medical school at the University of Virginia in Virginia and Charlotte is in her first year studying music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.  It was good to see them and catch up on their activities.

 Jack was also home from the University of Michigan.  He is finishing his last year studying engineering and will be looking for a job this coming summer.  Any company would be lucky to have him.

 The talk around the table was lively and fun.  Brittany and John were with us in spirit only.  They were entertaining John's parents in Chicago where Brittany is in her first year of internship and John is an attorney at a law firm.  They are both working very hard.

 Charlotte is the pie maker of the family.  She made two very good pies, one pumpkin and one apple.  She does such a great job AND she even makes her own crusts, something I have never attempted.  She is talented in many ways.

 Friday morning we were up and on the road early.  We arrived at Eva's house just in time to meet Jess, Doug and their precious little one arriving for the day.  She is too cute for words. (Aunt Della gave her that cute little Santa hat)

 The Thanksgiving tradition of picking out Christmas trees was a cold event. Eva found her tree right away. We think that was a record for her.

 Matt and Diana had a little more difficulty finding their tree.  (Yes they get a tree in Michigan and take it home on the top of their car because trees are cheaper here and Mom buys them. She is thankful to have them here and VERY happy for the tradition.)

 Jess and Doug found their tree fairly quickly too.

 This little one was just along for the ride.  She thought all the trees looked beautiful.

 Uncle Doug tried to keep these 'southern girls' warm.

 Mommy did a good job of keeping her precious one warm.

 Tree hunting was followed by a great dinner.

 Diana just had to make sure the stuffing had enough sage in it.

 The older girls decorated the table and made our place settings.

 Matt and Diana sure have beautiful girls.  It was fun to see them and catch up on their activities.

 B. entertained us after dinner with her dance that she did with her 'praise' group at church.  Daddy was talked into being her backup dancer.  They both did a great job but B's was the best.  It looks like Daddy is a little behind in this part.

 At a little over 6 weeks it is time for this little one to try food on a spoon.  This was the second attempt and it worked better then the first one.  This time she tried oatmeal not rice.  She seemed to like it better.

 We all had our share of 'floor time' playing with the baby.  She is such a happy baby.

 The first Christmas tree with Mom and Dad

 And of course the tree with Gram and her grandchildren.

 I was a little late with the birthday gifts for Eva.  She was happy to receive them even if it was late.

 I was unsure about this purple jacket but it looks great on her.

 LOTS of pictures were taken.

 A snowman was made tool.  I am sorry to report that it rained on Saturday and had melted by the end of the day.

 The family packed up Saturday morning and headed back south.  This girl is waiting for her ride.  I couldn't talk her parents into letting her stay with me.

 Eva and I hit the stores on Saturday.  I wanted to find my gifts for Eva while she was with me and I was successful.  I also found a few things for myself.

Bud did some errands AND he fixed Eva's cabinets that didn't close correctly.  He got out the tools, did a few runs to Home Depot all in all had fun.

It was a GREAT weekend with family and for that I am VERY thankful.