Ready for Christmas

The Holiday Open House was a success. Everyone had a great time and DH enjoyed being the host for his co-workers. In the end the weather co-operated and almost everyone came. A few had to opt out due to illnesses. We had more than enough food and the next day I took left-overs to a local shelter.

Amazingly, I managed to finish a table topper before the Open House. I made it entirely using scraps. Of course, on Tuesday of this week, I was at a quilt store in Annapolis - Cottonseed Glory- and I bought four fat quarters that just seem to speak to me. So basically the stash hasn't gone down much.

Now it is time to settle down and enjoy the upcoming Christmas celebrations and events. We were supposed to go to a Holiday Jazz concert on Wednesday but DH came home sick with a bad cold. Guess that party was too much for him. Since the evening's event was cancelled, I sewed instead. The recently purchased fabrics inspired me to try a Ricky Tims Convergence Quilt. Not really a difficult technique but matching the seams turned out to be tricky. I soldiered on anyway. A little well-placed applique is good for covering imperfections. Now I'm working on machine quilting it. It's just the right size for more practice using my BSR.

AAAHHHH! The Smell of Clean

Getting ready for company keeps one busy. I've been baking cookies and buying food and other stuff for weeks now. But the EASY part has been having Merry Maids come in and do a top to bottom cleaning in our four-level townhouse. I am sure that my house has never been this clean. They were here all day, dusting, vacuuming, polishing, scrubbing, etc. It was worth every penny to have someone else do it. A splurge certainly. Not something I can afford to do on a regular basis. It's a simple thing that has made me very,very happy. There will be no dinner cooked at my house tonight. I want the kitchen to stay this way for at least tonight.Last night was one of those great girl-friend get-togethers. My small quilting group, the Loose Ends (affectionately known as "the Loosies") got together at one of our members houses for a holiday pot-luck. We decided it was actually the first time all twelve of us had actually been together in one place. That was only possible because one of our members lives in California but she was here visiting. The food was delicious, the conversations uplifting and there was laughter throughout the house. We didn't quilt one stitch but we did have fun.

And to celebrate the season and get ready for Sunday's party, I got my hair cut. I finally got enough length on it to allow my hairdresser to layer and add some style. The big question is whether or not I'll be able to style it this way myself.Now I've just got to double the prayer efforts for good weather. It's supposed to be rainy/sleety/snowy on Saturday night into Sunday. Good thing I bought two 40-lb bags of Ice Melt. Otherwise, no-one will be getting up my front steps. They have to come. I don't want to eat hors d'oeurves and cookies for the next two weeks.

The Most Wonderful (and busiest) Time of The Year

The Christmas Season is upon us. This year we are staying home and celebrating by ourselves just like at Thanksgiving. I'll miss being with family but I'll not miss the hectic airports and stress of traveling. Just having to wrap, pack and mail gifts is stress enough.

The house is "getting there" for decorating. We're having an Open House on December 16th for my husband's co-workers so I've been trying to keep ahead of the game. There are lights on the front of our house and festive decorations in the living areas. There is just a little tweaking to do.

I'm almost getting sick of cookies. So far, I've baked at least 10 dozen cookies for this Open House. I'm so glad we're buying all the rest. Isn't Cosco wonderful? You can buy everything prepared including a delicious Artichoke Dip. My husband's fear is we'll run out of food. My fear is we'll be eating left-over hors d'oeurves forever.

Sewing and quilting have been on hold for the last few days. I did manage to make a Christmas Stocking for the youngest DGD. I even found that I had left-over material from making her sister's stocking two years ago. They've been sent off to California to be filled by Santa.

Time to get back to the endless list of holiday to-do's.