Last post of 2015

I realized that I should do a last post for this year.  I did manage to make two Christmas hats, although one wasn't finished till the day after Christmas.  I made the Baa-ble hat  (design from the Shetland Wool Week people) (the one that everyone seems to be knitting), and gave it to the girl child for Christmas.

And the boy child had to wait an extra day, but he got the Pressed Rib Cap (design from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas) in his favorite colors, purple and orange.

(Yes, he's reaching out to pet Mia.)

And I finished putting in all 24 squares from my Opal Sock Yarn Advent Calendar on my mitered square blanket.

To backtrack a bit, the kids came home the weekend before Christmas to decorate the tree.  Hooray!

And we had a nice family Christmas celebration on Christmas.

I'm not planning to do a year in review, but I will post a pic from a hashtag that seems very popular on instagram, #2015bestnine.  Here is my best nine, according to whoever developed this app or whatever it is.  (Google it and you'll find it.)

These were the pics that were "liked" the most in instagram this year, according to the app.  As I said on instagram, I guess I'd better get back to stitching!  :D

Mia is never quite happy around Christmas.  Too much activity for her accustomed routine.  But she did enjoy her Christmas presents.

(And yes!  We saw Star Wars!  Of course!)

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.  And many wishes for a happy, healthy, peaceful and safe New Year.

Vertigo

This morning I suffered a bad bout of vertigo.  Ugh.  I did the Epley maneuver several times and that helped, but all day I've still been feeling weird.   A blogging friend  (thank you!!!!) sent me an email telling me to Google "Colorado doctor half somersault."  It turns out to be a new technique to treat vertigo.  If you ever experience vertigo, these exercises work!  Not perfectly -- I'm still not back to normal yet -- but they work well enough that you don't suffer anymore in comparison.  There are videos on Youtube for both.

Anyway, since I can't stitch or do much else (even reading seems to make me motion sick), I decided to write my blog post.

Here is His Eye.  I'm actually down to the last motif, the big flower next to the deer that goes in the corner.  The deer and the big bird are done. But with my vertigo I haven't taken a picture of that.  So you'll have to be satisfied with this picture, the last one I took.

Here are my fussy cut star halves (I'm doing half stars to fill in the sides of the quilt) for the week.  One is a mystery fabric and the other I forget.  lol!  It's by Me and My Sister Designs though.

We got our boy child back home for Christmas break on Friday night.  Hooray!  (Father type was being silly....)

And Saturday evening, the girl child came home for a few hours in between events on her busy social calendar.  So we got to decorate the tree as a family for the first time in  years.  Yay!

(decorating the tree stump for this year)

If you want to read about our tree stump collection, go here.

We had a good time, and it was so nice to get the kids to pose in front of the tree like old times.  Although they are a lot bigger than in the old days.  lol!  

Mia was not very contented with the goings on.  She even attacked the man bun.

Silly cat!

I made it through this post!  Hopefully I will feel normal tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!  Seriously, I'm a lot better now than before, so it's not bad.  Thank goodness for those techniques!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Christmas!

So close, yet so far

Here is His Eye.

I'm so close, yet so far from being finished.  So many more motifs to go.  See?

Yup, lots more motifs to repeat!  Including another big bird.  Ugh.

Here are my fussy cut star halves, both mystery fabrics.  (Only two more Fridays to go!)

I thought the numbers were fun, and everyone needs at least one polka dot star, right?

I never do exchanges, as you may have noticed.  But Paula of Kelmscott Designs persuaded me earlier this year that we should do an ornament exchange that is sampler based.  So we did.  This is what I sent to Paula.  It's a design from the 2014 JCS ornament issue by Cherished Stitches.  The fabric it's on is the backing.  (I think it's a Minick and Simpson fabric from the Wiscassett collection.)

And look at what Paula sent me!

Paula said the design was a French freebie.  I just love her finishing and the hornbook too!  Thanks again Paula!  It was so much fun to do this with you!  I hadn't finished finished anything in so long -- I'm so glad I could find my cording tool!  lol!

The father type and I went out to our local charity Christmas tree lot yesterday to get a tree.  I'm not sure Mia was quite happy about it.

But she grudgingly watched the activities.

We are going to wait to decorate the tree until the boy child is home.  Hopefully the girl child will come and help too.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Less than two weeks till Christmas!!!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop.....

Before I get to the title of this post, I have to say TA DAH!!!

Ann Grant by Shakespeare's Peddler

40ct. Vintage Sand Dune

mix of AVAS, NPI, Gloriana, Threadgatherer, and Belle Soie

(all called for fibers)

Isn't she pretty?

I did use AVAS 3745 for the dark areas of grass instead of Belle Soie Chocolat -- just because they're similar in color anyway, and I hate the striping effect overdyeds give.

And I used Gloriana pecan for the dog and bunny since the Belle Soie Baguette was too close in color to the AVAS 3431 that was used for the pathways.  (Also didn't fill in the windows for the same reason.)

But isn't it pretty?   :D

I do love her!  But I'm also glad to be done with her!  She was a big one!

Ok, now to the title of this post.  Seems this year has been one thing after another -- power outages, flooding, propane tank problems, -- there must be something I'm forgetting.  Well, add this weekend to the list.  First off, poor father type is sick.  One of his periodic mysterious fevers, along with bad cold symptoms.  Ugh.  

But then the doozy.  We had strong winds and rain on Saturday and overnight into Sunday.  After one big gust of wind Saturday, we heard a very very loud crash outside and knew it wasn't a good thing.  Well, it turns out one of our neighbor's pines that borders our properties lost a huge part of itself, and the branches/trunks fell directly toward our house.  We were extremely lucky -- we only lost a windowsill off one window and the gutter got a bit damaged on the house.  We're hoping the AC unit is ok.  But the fencing around our old swimming pool and the swimming pool itself are destroyed.

Hard to tell from the pic, but the pool is totally squished.   And the fence that the pic is taken through -- well, it's squished too.

See how lucky we were?  It could have been a lot worse!  So anyway, I have a feeling this whole year I'm going to be holding my breath, waiting for the next thing to happen, whatever it may be.  Sigh.

Oh, I forgot to mention -- we were also under a flood warning this weekend.  lol!  Thank goodness the basement stayed dry.  Knock on wood, we won't have anymore flooding down there!!!

In other news, yes, the boy child is still busy.  He has his trial run -- or practice session -- with his piano accompanist for his NYSSMA audition later today.  I'm hoping it goes well.  The boy child isn't as ready as I'd like him to be (his audition is on April 29), but hopefully he's ready enough for the accompanist to be able to rehearse with him!   It's spring break this week, but the boy child has to practice, practice, practice!  Plus he needs to work on his SAT prep, and study for upcoming AP exams.  Argh!  His orchestra concert in NYC is the same weekend as his NYYSMA auditions as well.  College searches?  Visiting colleges?  What's that?  lol!  No time!

Here is the boy child in a contemplative moment with his favorite companion.  (Mia is sitting on his leg.)

Aren't they cute?  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I love to read your comments and visit with you!  I'll leave you with another pic of Mia.

Have a great week!

Addendum:  Forgot to say -- it's a fairly safe bet that you'll need two skeins of AVAS 3745 if you're stitching this project.