Christmas Video

I spotted this on a friend's blog. Go to this site and play the video. It is lovely! Thanks, Bonnie!

http://www.joytoeveryone.com/

End of the year with Sunbeams

The year is coming to a close. All good things come to an end, right? One of those "good things" involves the class I teach at church. They are all four years old now and in January, will move up to the next class. I'll be getting a new group of three year olds, fresh from the nursery, and starting all over again. Back to the "sit on your chair, please." "no..with your bottom, NOT your face!" Sigh. While the new Sunbeams are cute, I always feel a bit sad at this point. For one thing, by the end of the year, the children are doing so much better at sitting and listening! And...for another...the biggest reason...I've gotten attached to them over the months, and really have grown to love them. Yesterday I told the children I'll miss being their teacher, but anytime they wanted to say hello and give me a hug, I would be happy for that. Lucy, who was feeling particularly grumpy since her best buddy, Cameron, wasn't there, stood up--hands on her hips and declared she didn't want to be in another class--she wanted to STAY IN THE FUN CLASS! How about that? Lucy usually acts like she doesn't want to be in my class at all, and here I find out she thinks we have fun! That's good to know. While secretly pleased, I assured her that her new class would be fun too.

Here are the Sunbeams, with Evelyn, the other Sunbeam teacher, but minus Michael (who was home sleeping--they have a new baby at their house), Treavor and Cameron. Can you spot Lucy The Cranky? ;-)

Gumby Tom

Before Thanksgiving, Tom flew to Anchorage and took an arctic wilderness survival class. Since he has to wander about in the Alaska wilderness at times, working on the FAA radar, they decided it was prudent to have him know what to do if faced with bears, moose, or snowstorms. One of the things demonstrated in the class was a winter survival suit, which Tom, of course, volunteered to model! He went outside in shirt sleeves with the temperatures in the 20's. Very cold at first, but once he got into the suit, he was "toasty." As you can see, it isn't a suit you can walk around it, but rather wear while you wait out a storm or wait for rescue. When he took it off, he found he was cold again by the time he got into the building. Brrrr! Everyone at work decided Tom looks like an orange gumby, hence the title of this posting.





aha! Liz told me that the suit actually IS called a Gumby suit. So there you go...but isn't Gumby green?

50 Fat Quarter Quilt

On a quilty note, here's the latest quilt finished. For the last two Christmases, one of the gifts Tom has given me has been a box with fifty fat quarters in it. For non-quilters who might be reading this, a "fat quarter" isn't a body part. ;-) It is a piece of fabric that is 18 inches by 22 inches--a more useable shape than a quarter of a yard of fabric (which would be 9 inches by 44 inches) I think it's pretty impressive, that Tom would go to the quilt shop by himself, wander around, and pick out fabric! Fat quarters are already cut and ready to go, but still, for a man....a non-quilter...that's pretty good! Ahhh, but here is a man who knows what I like! FABRIC! The first year, I used up the fat quarters randomly. One here, one there, until they were all gone (sigh!) This last year, though, I decided to use them all in one quilt. I got the pattern from Fon's and Porter's "Love of Quilting" magazine. It is in the January/February 2004 issue and is called the Barbara Frietschi Star. It actually calls for fifty fat quarters. I added a neutral for background in the stars, but other than that, the top is made only of those fat quarters--including the borders and the binding!

Thanksgiving in Utah

We got back on Sunday from a long Thanksgiving holiday in Utah, with Jeff, Frieda and Aurora. This is the first time we've gone out of town for Thanksgiving in...I can't remember when! We had an early Thanksgiving with Jim and Sheena, so I actually didn't get out of cooking a turkey--but we did send most of the left overs home with them (I kind of miss those left overs--but Christmas is coming, so here's another chance for left overs!)

Tom got to meet our granddaughter for the first time and as you can see, he is smitten. Yes, another big person Aurora has wrapped around her wee finger!

The weather was wonderful; no snow. They "always" get snow for Thanksgiving, but not this year. That made traveling the 800-some miles very easy, though, so I'm not complaining.

Frieda cooked the whole meal herself. Oh wah, poor me--I didn't have to do anything but cuddle Aurora! heh heh heh

Here are some more photos from our holiday:




Frieda is blessed with a nice family--brothers and sisters that actually get along!

Here are photos of Aurora with the stocking I made for her. Well, she is IN the stocking! Also the redwork quilt I finished in time to deliver in person.




Aurora was blessed at church while we were there. Which, of course, meant a family gathering.


More baby photos, in case you haven't gotten enough yet! (I haven't! lol)







.

Redwork Quilt

Unfortunately, my loyal Quilt-Holder-upper is out of town at the moment. He's in Anchorage, Alaska, taking an arctic survival class on what to do while installing FAA radar and a bear...or a moose...or a snowstorm..gets in the way. Sounds interesting (but better him than me!)

This quilt is for Aurora, seeing as how I worked on the redwork blocks last month, when we were waiting for her to be born...as well as during her first week of life, when I was visiting in Utah (and waiting for a turn to cuddle her!) Aurora's nursery is pink and brown. Redwork is red! How to combine it all? I hunted online and was delighted to find fabric with a pink background, with red, pale pink, and brown spots on it! One of my favorite places to hunt for specific fabric is www.virginiaquilter.com I love that site. Their fabric is searchable by theme, color, manufacturer or designer. That makes it so easy to find exactly what I'm looking for. I think the quilt turned out pretty cute!

Quilted Kitty update

I received part of my order from the Quilted Kitty today. At the end of July, during their sale, I ordered TWO sets of their fat quarter bundles. Each bundle contained 15 fat quarters (for you non-quilters, that's a piece of fabric 18 inches by 22 inches) Now the way I add 15 plus 15, I come up with 30....but I guess the folks at the Quilted Kitty are using a new math, as they only sent me 21. What happened to the other 9, which I have, btw, paid for? I am SO frustrated with these people! Three and a half months to get me part of what I ordered and it still isn't right.

arghhhhhhhhhhh