SAD!!!

This picture describes my feelings right now. Just had a repairman here because I had noticed that my heatpump didn't seem to be acting just right yesterday. I think they thought I was a looney when I called and talked to them yesterday about sending a serviceman out. I always hear...."well, heatpumps sometimes act like that!" Well, I was right....and the news is not good. The unit has a serious freon leak and will be a major repair. Guesstimate is $1000+ Now we have to decide whether to repair a 6 yr. old unit that has had 2 major repairs already.....or whether to just go ahead and replace it...probably to the tune of $3000 to $5000. I'm a bit miffed because this unit is a well known brand that was suppose to be soooo reliable. Here's a hint....choo choo.....train. Well, this well known brand has not been a good one for us and I will not buy their product again. I'm going to count my blessings because we do have a backup gas furnace so we have heat. I'm just a bit put out because I expected a heatpump to last longer and this is not the time of year I wanted to spend major bucks on something like that.

As you can see, I'm not being very regular at posting these days. I am busy though. I continue to do needlework that I have to complete before Christmas. Believe me....I'm not idle!!

This is what I'm doing today. Can you guess what's in the bowl???????????????????????????????
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Bread for lunch sandwiches. Since DH eats food with his pepper, so I decided to experiment a little with my dough today. I added about a teaspoon of lemon pepper, a dash of garlic powder, and a dash of red pepper. I'll let you know how the finished product turns out. I've taken a snip of the dough to taste....and that's good, so I'm hoping the bread will be too.

I'm also trying to prepare for another major event that happened in our lives during the month of December almost 28 years ago. DH and I got to bring this home on Christmas Day.
Isn't she sweet!! We got to bring DD home from the hospital on Christmas Day all bundled up in a red flannel stocking.....which she no longer fits in anymore! Through the years I've worked hard to make sure her birthday was a real birthday celebration....and not just a part of the Christmas festivities. It is going to be a little more challenging to do that this year. Does she look like a law school graduate?? I would never in a million years thought that's what she would end up doing....but she did!

OK...pictures as promised! Can't believe I'm posting twice in one day.

Here's the medallion block. Not a lot of progress since my last picture of it a long time ago. I'm only working on it at Wed. sewing group as I have so many other things to get done before Christmas. After the holidays, I'm planning to devote all my time to getting the Conway Album put together.
I've also dusted off my knitting skills. When we went to Texas, I couldn't applique in the car, so I took knitting along. I made several dishrags and have made several more since I got home. The black and white will go to DS and the green and white to DD. They already have some dishtowels in those colors so it was nice to find the cotton knitting yarn in their colors. I used Lily Sugar and Cream yarn for all of these. The little red and white one will go to the lady who has 8 of us come to her house once a month to quilt/sew and enjoy each others company.
I also knitted this blue dishrag from a pattern I found on the internet. I can't find my pattern to give the creator her proper credit at this time, but will find and post the link at a later date. Notice the image of Texas created by the stitches. Since I'm originally from TX, I couldn't resist giving it a try and this one will be just for me! The pastel multicolor was an experiment. I took 2 strands of size 10 crochet cotton that I had on hand and held those together to knit. I think I'm really going to like that one better than the ones I did with the "Sugar and Cream" as it is not as thick.
I have also finished a scarf for each of the kids. DS gets gray, DD gets the blue/green.
And to keep each of their heads warm, I made these.
DS gets the dark gray hat, DD gets the red...I think they call it a wimple. If you click on the link, it should take you to a pdf file of a pattern and description for one that I found online this morning. (Please be aware that I have not tried this pattern yet) I made my own pattern for this red one, but I'm saving the link to try to make one for myself when I'm not so pressed for time. Here is another picture of the wimple that I tried to take so you can see how it is worn. Imagine the white blog of batting as my face!

These 4 pieces....
Will become one of these.
OK....not a good photo! If you enlarge it, you will see the spout and handle of my clear glass teapot! The teapot sits on this.
A potholder that I made using a small quilt block, a piece of Insul-Bright(I'm not affiliated with this company, I just use the product) batting, and a backing square. Before I sewed it closed, I put in some whole cloves. It smells wonderful when a hot teapot sits on it.

And here is the flannel rag quilt I am working on. Notice that my very best feline friend, Truffles, likes this quilt too!

I didn't get pictures of the table I refinishing, but here is a picture of the chairs.
I will take a nice shot of the table and chairs together and post that later.


And since I mentioned in my other post about a few snowflakes at my house on Wed.....here's what my backyard still has today....Friday at noon.

Happy Thanksgiving a day late. Seems I'm always a little late doing things these days.

It was a quiet day yesterday at our house. Just DH and I for dinner. This was our first Thanksgiving with no kids. I was please that they were both able to get together at DD's apt and cook dinner together. I sure would like to have been a fly on the wall to see them cooking! Even though we had no kids here, I still cooked a nice dinner for us.

On the menu was chicken and dressing, cranberry sauce, twice baked potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans with yogurt sauce, cucumber salad, homemade rolls with butter. Here's a look at DH's plate. He was a nice guy and set the table. We waddled from the table to the recliners and slept the afternoon away! Then, watched March of the Penguins last night as we were still sitting in the recliner.


We had our first snow on Wed. afternoon. Big fluffy flakes. Not enough to accumulate, but enough to make the commute home on Wed. evening tough. There were several accidents due to icing. It was 15F this morning. I guess winter is here. It was a beautiful fall though. Lots of color. Here's a picture I took a few days ago of the trees beside my house.
I have been very busy. The table and chairs are finished. I will take pictures of those later today and share them in my next post. I have also been doing some sewing. I've made a flannel rag quilt for DD. I am doing the clipping of the seams on that right now. Then I have to wash and dry it so the seams will fray a bit. I have also done a little work on the center medallion....which I keep promising to show you an updated photo. I do promise! I will take photos this afternoon and get them posted. In addition to these projects, I've been doing some knitting. I won't tell you about those, I'll just go downstairs right now and take pictures!!!

I told you in my last post that I was going to finish a small dining set for DS's apt. I've been busy, busy, busy with that. I did take pictures of the chairs before I started. Here they are:

I have stained them with golden oak and have also stained the table. I'm ready to start putting the poly coats on. I've got to work hard on this so it is ready to go when we leave to go visit them for Christmas. I also have a rag quilt that has to be done by then. I do have the squares cut. I'm going to try to sew a few today.

In addition to doing the table, I recently found this cute little wooden Christmas tree at HobbyLobby. It reminded me of some of the German ornaments I've seen, so I decided to buy it and just put a clear sealer on it. Then I'll get some miniature ornaments to hang on it and I think it will be perfect on my mantle. Nice part is...it pulls apart in 2 flat pieces so it will be very easy to store.
Sorry, but you'll have to lean to the left since I didn't get the photo rotated as I should!

I still haven't taken pictures of the center medallion I promised. I will get it done.

My posts will probably be somewhat irregular until Jan. since I have so much to get done from now until Dec....and will be traveling too. I will post when I can.

Just a quick post to say we're back from visiting family in TX. It was a hectic visit seeing my mom, siblings and their families; then to visit DH parents, sibling and their families. So many people to see in such a short time frame! When we got home, I spent all week trying to sort through the mountain of junk mail, getting all the dirty clothes washed, and getting food in the house again. Before long, we'll be off on another trip.

Guess I don't have to even mention that I hadn't picked up a needle in a long time. Yesterday I went to my monthly quilting group that meets at our public library. That was the first time to sew in a very long time. I got one more flower appliqued on the center medallion of DD's quilt. I will try to get an updated picture posted soon. I don't know how regular my posts are going to be because I have a lot on my plate between now and Christmas.

I have a major project to complete for DS's Christmas gift. He got his own apt. in June when he started his job and he has NO furniture to speak of. I bought a cute unfinished dining table and 4 chairs that I am going to stain and finish for him. I'm starting on that today and it must be complete before mid-Dec. I'll try to take pics as I work and share my progress. The wonderful part of this is when it is finished.....I get to deliver it to him in person!! We are going to visit the kids in MD and VA for Christmas. It will be my first time to see both of them since May. I'm so excited!!