We've had lots of snow, but I love it!

You'll see from the photos this time that most of them revolve around snow....even the dogs.  I do enjoy snow and like driving in it too.  After shovelling last year and hurting my back, we purchased a snowblower (Mark secretly has been wanting one for years now)....after all, we aren't getting any younger.  All I've had to do is use a broom a few times.  Mark is really enjoying his new job outside!

 Ivy is enjoying her job....patiently waiting for a squirrel to come down from the tree....

it doesn't happen.

 Lily enjoys eating the snow....

she would rather do that than drink from her water bowl in the house.



On Martin Luther King Day, we went to the zoo and met Anana, the new polar bear who was very entertaining.  Of course, there is glass between her and the kid.  She's chewing on a huge bone.....taking a break from swimming and jumping on a plastic barrel.

Mark with his 'manly' scarf I made him to keep his neck warm.

 

 Me in my purple 'Poppy' sweater from the Yarnplay book.  I never choose purple which was my mother's favorite color...so this is an homage to my mom.  This sweater is made from Noro Silk Garden and Cash Iroha.  It does have wool in it...so another warm sweater to wear in the snow.

 On the hangar....

The back!

The weekend of the 21st and 22nd was a girl's weekend for me.  My old buddies from my quilt guild up north and I, who took the Sue Spargo class, Magnolia.... like to get together every few months to work on our blocks.  It's lots of laughter, food and wine and of course, you can see we do get hand sewing accomplished.  The night before I drove back north for this fun weekend we had 6" of snow. 
Ohio does a great job of keeping the expressways cleared.

 Beth's block

 One flower from my block

 Linda Henderson's house block (the center of her quilt)

 ...another of Henderson's blocks.

 Paula worked on a different Spargo quilt class we took.  She calls it her 'dark' quilt.  It's actually a basket block quilt and very nice.

 Linda Robb's handwork on a netbook messenger bag she's making.

Sue Elze's flower on one of her blocks.

It's so great to share ideas and you can see how creative everyone is!  We use wool fabric, velvet, cotton and beads to make our blocks. 
The weather won't stop me from having fun with my friends...it was so worth driving in all that snow. 
That's it for January. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back to life as we know it......

The holidays are over.....so sad.  I love our family get togethers and the build up before the big days.  We had a really nice Thanksgiving here at our house as we gathered around the table.  The main theme this year seemed to be that we were all thankful for our health, having jobs and the fact that we have family to share our love with.  The events that had just occurred in Mount Vernon where the Tilmant's live was fresh in all of our minds.  The gruesome death of a mother, her son and her friend was almost too much to bear and was too close to home to believe.  I just heard on the news yesterday that the man who committed this crime will spend the rest of his life in prison.  Sometimes these things happen to remind us how we should appreciate what we have....and I sure do.  I love my family and appreciate them every day.

So....on to the next holiday.....Christmas!

Patrick came to spend the three days of the weekend with us.  I really enjoyed his help with last minute gifts to purchase on Christmas Eve and the making of our traditional lasagna.  The Tilmant's came on Christmas Day with Luke.  He always brings a smile to our faces.  They all stayed overnight too....the house was beginning to fill.  The 26th was the day of our big meal and gift exchange.  The Hicks family rolled in first, then Matt arrived and rounding up the tail end was the Swaggard Family with Taryn and Morgan in tow all the way from Texas.  All of the little girls got dressed up in pretty Christmas dresses....so cute.  The last three of our adult kids that rolled in on the 26th also stayed overnight with their families while Patrick and the Tilmant's did not.  It was so fun to have our Christmas holiday last for three full days this year!

Luke and Stef

Ivy and Lily with their Christmas outfits on.

Matt, Jenny and Mark having some fun.

On to some of the gifts I made and received.....

Joel was happy with the quilt I made him.  He's such a patriotic soul and loves to read about war history, so I chose these fabrics (the center block is the Declaration of Independence written out on fabric) some of which are Civil War reproductions, which is his favorite time in history to read about. 

This was the gift I made for Matt's girlfriend, Kathleen.  It's basically a moebius scarf that gets wrapped around the neck twice with a cable pattern knitted in.  Here's the link for the pattern if any of you knitters would like it:

http://ilikecake.org/?p=141

Look at this lovely gift I received from Mark!  He picked it out from Knitters' Mercantile.  It has 1,450 yds., is hand-painted with beautiful colors and is enough to do a sweater which I will chose from this book he picked out for me.  Please notice that just because someone has white hair doesn't mean they are old.

You can see how huge the skein is after having it wound, compared to the skein of Ritratto he also bought me.  Mark did a great job choosing my gifts this year.  I did not give him a list or ideas like I usually do.  Nothing makes a knitter happier than receiving yarn and books.

He bought me these 2 skeins of Ritratto, which are mohair and rayon, to make a pretty ruffle scarf with....

.....and Matt trucked all the way to a yarn shop in Chicago to buy me this luxurious skein of cashmere and silk yarn!  It's color is lavendar, but my camera thinks it's blue.  This one skein will be enough to make myself a wonderfully soft cowl to keep my neck warm.  This was a special treat because I wouldn't buy myself cashmere.  I was thinking about that book.... "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron....I may wear this cowl as much to hide my neck as I will to keep it warm! 

I wish you all good health this year of the rabbit....enjoy your family and be thankful.