Peace to All

Peace on Earth. I ask for this from Santa every year. It doesn’t hurt to try.

This photo was taken from moon orbit by crew of Apollo 8, Christmas Eve, 1968. I was a young mother at the time, and I remember it well. This is worth a read/listen.

Crystal Stars quilt (aka "Ocular Migraine) is bound and in use. Here it is at night, laid out across the bed to show off the borders:

Here it is in the daytime.

I copied the pattern from “Sumptuous” from Connecting Threads, which was only available as a kit, with colors that didn’t work for me but with a pattern that was so attractive. Most of the fabrics were from Connecting Threads, although the border fabric, backing and binding came from some local quilt shops, and some of the block fabrics came from my stash. I eliminated a lot of the seams by making a star block and an alternate block, described in my blog post from September 2014. It was so nice to have it quilted and bound in time to decorate the bed for Christmas.

Nekkid Dolly has been making me feel guilty, so I CO a new outfit for her I’m calling “Dolly Does Dinner.” It’s sort of a going out outfit or party dress. I’m using Stroll Tonal in “Blue Yonder.” This is the project that inspired me.

Here’s what I had as of Friday: 

The outfit will go to Miss Daphne for her birthday in May for Dolly's counterpart, who arrived safely in Wisconsin the day after the clothes) to wear. Can you believe Miss Daphne will be six? I’m so glad most of my grandchildren weren’t born in November, December or January! Between November 21 and January 10, we have birthdays for DS2, DS1, mine, DD, DSIL and DGD1. As a day-after-Christmas baby, I appreciate how kids (even adult kids) feel about merry-Christmas-happy-birthday presents, so I don’t do it. Each receives a special day, if I can manage.

This time of year, the pups really enjoy a cuddle together after a walk in the snow (we’ve had lots) and a nice lunch.

Thursday wasn’t good. DDIL1 had a heart attack (her second) and we learned she needed bypass surgery. Not long after we found out about that, DH slid off the road and into a snowbank. It took us (and a friendly young woman who stopped with another shovel to help) 45 minutes to get the car out. The irony: He was on his way to get an estimate of damage to his car from snow and ice thrown onto the hood from a snowplow going over the overpass he was driving under. It’s not all bad, though; the bypass surgery Friday morning went well, she has beat all the estimates of a timeline for milestones, and DDIL will probably be home in time for Christmas, with DS1 taking leave to look after her. And the car goes in next week to be fixed.

But winter still sucks.

Friday night was the last concert of Park City Singers. We were so squished, some of us didn’t have any place to hold our music. I gave up and just had a 3 X 5 card with the order of the pieces. This photo was from the Sunday performance, a week ago, held at my church.

We had a party after the Friday performance, which was a fun chance to get to know people I had only talked with in passing during practice. One young (50-ish) man in the choir guessed my age as 60-ish. I would have kissed him, but DH was standing right there. It’s the hair. The grey is mostly where it doesn’t show.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate. By the time I post my next blog, I will be one year older, and that’s only next week.

I’m feeling grateful for all the blessings I have in my life, especially these guys:

What's on my needles:  Still the Trickle Socks and now the “Dolly Does Dinner” outfit for Dolly.

What's on my Featherweight: Still waiting on the last two blocks of the Kaleidoscope Quilt. More doll clothes coming

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to Christmas and holiday music. Still reading The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer on the Nook app.

What's in my wine glass: Rex Goliath Shiraz. (Wonder what it’s like to be awakened by a 47-lb. rooster.)

What's my tip of the week: Enjoy life!

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.