Wanted!

I have a good friend who sent me several skeins of yarn, in Gryffindor colors, to complement my new Harry Potter Knitting book, Charmed Knits.  I had been eyeing the Hermione hat and mittens set and knew instantly that is what I would make with one of the skeins of yarn.  My downfall was that I had no idea how much yarn was left on the skein.  When I finished the first mitten with the end of the skein you can imagine my sorrow.  Here are the lonely hat and lone mitten.  See how sad the look, because they are incomplete without their mate.

Now, I could go out and buy a new skein since there is no dye lot of this brand and color.  But, what is the point of having lots of knitting friends if not to share from each others stash.  I am begging and pleading if anyone has in their stash a yarn from TLC ESSENTIALS by Red Heart in claret that I could have and use to complete my mittens I would forever be grateful. Please let me know by post, email, or owl.  Thanks a million.

Many different squares

This year I have taken over the Block Of The Month (BOM) office in my quilting guild.  Basically this involves creating a quilt using 12 blocks of my choice.  Each month I print out the directions to that "block of the month", choose colors and make up the block to show what the next months block will be.  I chose 12 blocks with pinwheels in the center, calling the quilt Pinwheel Pandaemonium

.

(not the greatest picture but you get the idea)

This month I choose a very simple patter with scrappy fabric, hoping to make it easier on everyone, due to the chaos of Christmas and the new year.  Those who wish to make the block bring their block in and we raffle off the blocks to one person.  Here January's block

We had a good turn out with about 50% of the members making blocks.

February's block looks like this..

This past meeting we had to make a Presidents block.  We all make 6"X6" blocks in the colors of her choosing and give them to the outgoing president as a gift for her hard work.  She chose jewel tones with some type of 3 dimensional touch.  Many people made crazy quilt blocks. I found this link for a 3 dimensional cathedral window quilt block on you tube and had a great time making it.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Happy 12th Birthday Mark!

(Don't they grow up fast!)

Christmas Vacation

Now, that the kids are back in school I finally have time again to blog.  Here are a few pictures of the things they did to keep themselves busy over break (when they weren't painting)

Emma Painting a beautiful picture of a rainbow with her new easel and paints.

Mark checking out birds with his new digital binoculars.

Jack, doing what he loves most, battling Pokemon.

Jack's Bike

After much deliberation and painstaking decisions Jack has finally picked out his new bike!

Oooo-ahhhh.

A BIG THANK YOU 

to all who contributed to the Birthday Bike Fund!

The Epiphany

This Sunday was the celebration of the Epiphany, although the actual day is January 6th, today. For those of you who may not be aware, the Epiphany celebrates the arrival of The Three Kings.  In many Latin American cultures this is a day for celebration and one of the days where gifts are given.  It is celebrated with Rosca de Reyes  a traditional wreath-shaped bread and chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) and tamales.  Hidden inside the rosca are several small figurines of Baby Jesus.  Each person cuts a slice of the rosca and whoever gets the bay figurine has to invite everyone to a party on February 2nd, Candelaria Day.  We celebrated Rosca de reyes last year with friends and the kids throughly enjoyed it, of course Emma still carries her Baby around in her purse for good luck. Father presented this scenario and the rebuttal to us during the homily.  I got a chuckle out of it and thought I'd share.  

What if 3 Wise Men were Women?

What would have happened if it had been three Wise Women instead of three Wise Men? 
They would have asked directions, 
arrived on time, 
helped deliver the baby, 
cleaned the stable, 
made a casserole, 
and brought practical gifts. 

But what they would have said when they left...? 
"Did you see the sandals Mary was wearing with that gown?" 
"That baby doesn't look anything like Joseph!" 
"Can you believe that they let all of those disgusting animals in the house?" 
"I heard that Joseph isn't even working right now!" 
"And that donkey that they are riding has seen better days too!" 
"God only knows how long it will take until you get your casserole dish back?"

A Beautiful way to start the New Year

  

We spent New Years Eve with our neighbors and their 2 kids.  The kids played the wii and assorted make-believe games, while the adults played spades.  Believe it or not everyone was able to stay awake until midnight.  It was touch and go there for a while.  Well after 2 mojitos and a glass of wine I was so sleepy!  The kids and adults had a blast!  All were sufficiently worn out.  (Although not enough because they were all up by 7:30.)

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day!  The sky was clear and blue with not a cloud present.  It was hot but, there was a breeze just light enough to keep you comfortable.  It was so pleasant I was able to forget that the sun could be so strong here and we all ended up getting a slight sunburn!  Even as I write this at 10 pm it is still 62 outside.  What a way to start the New Year!

We have been very fortunate that the weather has cooperated with our painting.  Today we were able to finish the front of the house (with the exception of the garage doors).  We moved on to one side and almost finished it.  Unfortunately the days are short and we ran out of daylight.  There is always tomorrow. 

The kids have been real troopers keeping themselves occupied while we painted away.  Even Ginger was content to lie in the shade and chew on her bone.  Other than paint we had our evening family walk in which we played follow the leader and ran relays and sprints.  A little unorthodox but it keeps them from whining.  Tomorrows agenda holds more of the same...Paint.