A sad day in our church – Jon Dodd, age 44, laid to rest. Church was packed – he was well liked in the community and it showed. When Margaret and I were playing the preludes, I had too much music on the stand and as I turned the page the book dropped into my lap!!! Haha! Supposedly nobody noticed but I was embarrassed. You can’t make this stuff up!
Tonight the choir was singing the cantata at Prairie View – Bob, Molly’s dad, picked me up and we met Marline there. It was very enjoyable to sit in the audience and listen – a first for me.
Christmas Decorating
I promise I will write this down this time – who sent this picture and what’s the info? People still ask and I have a bad case of CRS – CANT REMEMBER SHIT!
From a prior post – made by Hank’s mom
This is a Country Threads pattern from Fresh Start Quilts.
Hope this answers the question, Debbie and everyone else who wondered but didn’t ask.
We’re going down to single digits but tomorrow morning, the first morning in a week that I don’t have to set my alarm, I’m going to sit and drink coffee till 11 am in my robe and slippers. Sounds great, doesn’t it?re
Watching Taylor Swift on Colbert while trying to write this post! As Becky just said, she really is a phenom!
Whoever has the nativity scene in picture five I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have some of the pieces you do. I made it in ceramics in 1980 and have never seen anyone with the same one. I was quite surprised and wished I had more of the pieces you have.
It was a beautiful day today – no rain – we too had the atmospheric river they had in Seattle. We are also lucky that our property is on a hill so the rain water ran down away from the house and barns. At one point every highway leaving the lower mainland was closed because of flooding or risk of flooding. Our Hwy 1 just reopen tonight as parts of it were under water. I understand another is on the way. Vicki, hope you stay safe in Seattle. The devastation is just horrible. A friends house in Sumas, Wa had 40” of water inside their house. I can’t imagine.
Teresa – the pictures we see on the news look like something created by AI – how can they be real???? I feel so bad for everyone and all animals living there and knowing many many will perish.
Interesting about your nativity.
I just finished decorating today. It felt like a long process, but now I can enjoy everything. Vicki I pray that you stay safe and dry. I’m sure it is so hard to see all the devestation. We were “gifted” a beautiful young cat a couple of days ago by a cruel person. I’m sure he was dropped off. He is super friendly and is in good shape so he wasn’t on his own very long. I’m glad it wasn’t a female so we don’t have to rush to get him fixed. I’ll wait until it is warmer. I’d love to get him inside the house but he is afraid of our dog and our inside cat is a meanie. He has all the food and water he wants, lots of cuddles and a warm place to sleep in our barn.
It is balm to a musician’s soul to sit and enjoy a concert, rather than performing. After this difficult week, you were fed the gift of music for yourself. Know that your musical skills fed those families this week, too.
Another post of such creative Christmas decorations. Thank you all for sharing!
Mary, this is my morning to sleep as late as I wanted, too. Still in my pajamas. My physical therapy exercises are next.
So happy someone mentioned the crocheted nativity as I missed it. I went back and found it. How sweet.
Outstanding quilts as always. Loved the blue and white embroidered alphabet one.
Prayers for all those hurting. Faith teaches us that suffering has a purpose, but it is so hard.
Mary, so glad you got to attend the cantata last night. Music is such a healing gift to all of us.
Thanks to all for sharing your photos with us. I have the Fresh Start book and am now inspired to make another quilt.
Washington state has been experiencing unprecedented rains, flooding and landslides for 4 days now. They call it an Atmospheric River. We are safe but so many are experiencing catastrophic losses. It has rained all night again and is still raining today. Thank you for your prayers. I am also very thankful for my sewing room to keep my mind and hands occupied!
Vicki you have had a lot of rain there and I’ve seen on national news the places and roads washed out. Hard to imagine where to begin feeling displaced during the holidays like so many are having to do. I’m glad you’re safe and have busy hands to keep your self occupied during stressful times. You make such beautiful quilts and share them all the time with us. Thank you for that.
Mary you deserve slippers and pjs this morning with your cup of coffee and no where to go. Grief is a step at a time and I feel for all the people in your small community. I’m glad you could sit last night and watch Taylor Swift as she is so poised and speaks darn nice! Sun came out here after a pretty snowfall this morning so time to go to PO and grocery store. Tomorrow delivering 15 filled stockings of personal care products, tablets, socks, to the moms at a women’s homeless shelter. Other agencies provide toys for the children.
Kathy – it has to be a satisfying feeling to deliver those stockings! I’m not a pop music fan but I AM a Taylor Swift fan in general. Very poised and well spoken – like my other favorite celebrity, Caitlin Clark. We’re under a winter advisory today which will probably turn into a warning – snow and wind. Thank goodness I don’t have to go anywhere.
Kathy, thank you for the kind words.
Vicki – we are seeing this catastrophic rain on TV – I wonder where all that water will go. Think of all the little animals – as well as big ones! – who die during this flood. Breaks my heart thinking of all the damage everyone is experiencing and will have to recover from. Hope you’re high and dry as well as safe!
Mary, we are on a hillside. Hopefully it will remain stable.
My heart also breaks for all those with animals and businesses. For many small businesses, December sales carry them for the whole year. The dairy farms, tree farms, ski resorts etc. will be devastated. The Skagit Valley north of Seattle is a beautiful area known for the tulips and vegetables. It is now under water and has an unknown future.
I know many in the Midwest and East are also experiencing severe weather conditions. My prayers that you stay safe and warm are with you all
Hi Mary,
I really enjoy your straight line quilting a lot. Can you tell me how you determine where to start & how wide your stitching lines are please? I really enjoy your blog!
Merry Christmas!
Karen in Ohio
Karen – first let me say that Connie does uneven random lines high is very hard to do on the long arm so I try to split the block before I start – avoiding the thick intersections. If it’s a wall hanging I tend to quilt closer but if it’s a bed quilt I don’t want it to be so stiff so lines are further apart. It all depends on the block.
Karen – if you have a specific block quilt you want to straight line quilt, send me a picture of the block and I’ll explain how I’d quilt it.
Thanks Mary. I don’t have any quilt finished right now but I am working on finishing some ufo’s so I will send photos later. I usually send my quilts out because I do very little machine quilting. I call myself a machine piecer & leave the quilting to the experts 😎
Mary, I hope you’re enjoying your coffee and sitting around in your bathrobe. It’s been a hard time for your town this last couple of weeks. I’m sad for those families and friends.
I’ve loved seeing everyone’s decorations in the last few posts. I especially like today’s crocheted nativity. They look familiar – maybe were in a magazine or Christmas crafts book I’ve read? Thanks, Mary, for postiing the photos. And thanks to our community for sending them.
Today, one of my neighbors is coming over to get help with her knitting project. She has an almost finished shawl which has been waiting a couple of years to be bound off. The pattern calls for a “double picot bind off”, and she can’t figure it out. I hope I can! I’ve never heard of this bind off, so I hope the pattern will explain it.
Dot – you must be an experienced knitter! I bet you’ll figure it out. Yes, I’m still chatting, drinking coffee and chatting with you – the perfect morning.
Love all decorations and quilty things. Its great to sit and enjoy coffee and not rush around. Have a great day!
Dee – it’s 10:20 and I’m still sitting here chatting with all of you while drinking my coffee. Just lovely!
Thanks Mary for the info on the quilt I had asked about. I donff to have the time right now and hopefully I won’t let it slip from my memory! I have the book and just happen to have a stack of Temecula red and creams! I’ll be trying to keep it on my radar! Have a great morning in your pj’s with your coffee!
Debbie – earmark this quilt in some way – remember I have full blown CRS!!
Thanks, everyone, for sharing the pictures. Appreciate those folks with imagination and talent for arranging decor, it’s not my gift. Just have a 5′ tree and a few items on shelves for seasonal color.
The embroidered quilts are so well done with the different borders. The crocheted Nativity is clever, what a treat to have for children! So many times they hear “look, don’t touch” at this time of year, and they are already excited about Christmas. We have a primitive wooden Nativity at church that I used in Sunday school, telling more of the story each week and letting the kids add the figures. Really liked teaching the preschool-kindergarten for many years.
So nice you could go and enjoy the music without being part of it yourself. What a treat after this hard week. Hope you have some more time to ‘savor the season’ in the coming weeks.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
RS – I really enjoyed sitting in the audience last night – more so than I had imagined. I remember the anxiety associated with all of it and happy to enjoy the season without it.
I have the Fresh Start book but didn’t recognize the quilt made up! Another one on the to-do list
The pictures are phenomenal. I’ve been making tree napkins for my neighbors. I don’t cook anymore, so no cookies from me, napkins this year.
I watched Taylor on Colbert tonight too. She is great and I think he’s pretty funny .
Our temps are not bad for December, but the wind is ferocious. Gusts of 60-70.
The fall table runner is made from Primitive Gatherings fabrics and a pattern from her recent fall book, Pumpkin Gatherings. The block is basically snowballed on one corner. The fabrics and book are probably still available. I plan to make it in Christmas fabrics. I like simple!
I foo suffer from CRS.
Donna – yes! Now I remember! I think I’ll just go ahead and make it – nothing new here to copyright and it would be so nice in Christmas – I don’t make table runners because I have a round table.