Best Wishes!

From our house to yours, we wish you a safe and festive Christmas and 

a New Year filled with Joy!

And from our furry family, they wish you lots of treats under your tree!

                               Phlash

                               Daisy

                       Muffin

       Spunky

Prickles

Is It Time?

Think I'm ready for the holiday!! Packages are wrapped, house is decorated, baking done! Now I can sit back and knit a bit and sew on the Christmas projects I didn't finish!! But what would I do if I finished everything? That would take all the fun out of it.

I didn't do lots of baking, just a couple of favorites and a couple more  for Sweetie to take to work. Drug out the pizzelle iron after several years.They are so good I should make these every year. The iron is beginning to show its age--my Dad brought it home one Christmas season after a friend gave him some to try. He liked them and my Mom thought they would be a good addition to the cookie plates my Grandmother gave to all her friends each year.  Anyway, I made pecan sandies--great with morning coffee, loaded bourbon fudge--from Pinterest and REALLY tasty, bacon caramel corn (don't judge till you've tried it--swoon worthy) and maybe the best cheese crackers I've made. I have an ongoing search for the perfect cheese cracker. I'm going to have to make a batch of my other top pick to make a final choice.

Now on to some decorating.

Just about every ornament on the tree means something to us. If it isn't handmade it came from a vacation or represents something special. We have several of the Hallmark ornaments from back when they were metal and nice, that we now know would be worth lots if we still had the boxes, a couple are still boxed, but most of the boxes have fallen apart. The tinsel stops just out of cat reach--they like to eat it--not a good thing! Every morning I come out to find and ornament on the floor that was the "chosen" one to bat around all night! On the plus side, Spunky has not climbed the tree this year!!

A few years ago on Christmas morning we found these cutouts of all the cats that my Mom made and set in front of the fireplace. They always make me smile and I set them out each year. She did a great job at capturing each one's look and personality.

My ongoing love for all things penguin. I got the big one last year, and when Pier 1 added the little one this year, I had to have him too. Then I made the mat.

Stitchery pillows are so much fun--they fit in anywhere.

I brought these patterns out of retirement. I have made several of these, but never kept any for myself!

It is my intention to knit more stockings for the banister. I made the stitchery stocking years ago, but it is still a favorite!

Oh, I almost forgot--I still have 3 Christmas cards to send out! I always do my cards at the last minute--maybe I'll make that my 2013 resolution--cards out early.

Spunky's worried we're out of food.

 He's laying it on thick with that sweet look, "I've been good"... but behind that sweetness lies the sparkle of a naughty little cat.

Hope you Holiday's are Merry and Bright!

Hill Country Get Away

It was a couple of weeks ago, (time is zipping by) that we took a little weekend get away to get into the holiday mood.

Sweetie suggested the Texas Hill Country--it isn't too far, and it takes us through San Antonio and an excuse to stop for our favorite  burgers at Chris Madrid's.

You're probably getting tired of my hamburger pictures, but these are just so good I will always have to stick in a picture when we go there!

After our late lunch we went to the big outlet mall which was fun,  but didn't provide much inspiration, just a couple pair of jeans. 

The next morning we went to Comfort, TX, a small town known mainly for antique stores and home of The Tin Smith's Wife yarn store.

We had a nice brunch at 814 Texas Bistro.

Then we decided to check out the local wineries. The number of wineries in the Hill Country has really grown over  the past few years. A small amount of grapes are grown in the area, but most of them  come from the Texas high plains and California. They are getting better at their wine making and we enjoyed all three.

We came home with 3 bottles of wine, a jar of exceptional peanuts and a bar of really tasty Espresso Chocolate made in Comfort. The peanuts are "Jump's Gourmet Almonized Peanuts" from Dayton, Ohio. Almonized-ing is some process they do to the peanuts, resulting is a peanut with more snap and crunch and they really do taste better than regular peanuts--go figure!

I  couldn't go before sharing the best find on my most recent visit to Trader Joe's --

                                           

Way better than any other chocolate mint cookie I've had. Guess they are a seasonal thing, I'm very glad I got two boxes and I'll look forward to them next year!

I'll be back real soon with some holiday decorating pics!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving that includes an extra piece of pie! (maybe I'll have this little runner finished for next year)!

We're  going a bit non-traditional this year with salmon and crab cakes. And sticky toffee pudding cake. And a nice bottle of Pinot!

I'm working on several cute snowman projects, so I'll be back soon with some fo's!

Take care!

Favorite Booths & some Shopping!

For me, Quilt Festival is all about the shopping! I love 20 rows of booths full of fabric, and patterns, and notions, and sewing machines, and anything a quilter could ever want and some stuff you never thought you would need (but do)!

I should have taken pictures at Preview Night when it wasn't crowded, but I was too busy looking and touching. But I did end up with a few pictures of some favorite booths, just to give you a peak at the wonderfulness that is Festival.

Unfortunately, I don't remember who's booth this was, but they had a wide variety of patterns and kits available. Seeing patterns made up is so tantalizing!

Farmhouse Threads  had a cute  booth. I like that many of their patterns are small so I will actually finish them.

Lynette Anderson's booth is always a popular one.

Primitive Gatherings is usually my first stop. This was Saturday afternoon--Preview Night they had a long line at the check out.

Red Button Company has some very cute patterns and kits. Good thing I checked at home after preview night cuz I almost bought kits I already have! Guess I should get those made up!

This guy was too cute! I remember when the pattern came out a few years ago--loved him, but he would be REALLY hard to stuff!  

This was a booth full of nice wool. You can see where my interest lies--if it is wooly or dark, I'm there!

I'll share a few of my purchases with you. Think I showed some restraint, which is never easy, but I'm trying to adopt a shopping plan where I have to" love it vs like it" and know it will haunt my thoughts if I walk away.

Everything on this mat speaks to me.

Had I not seen this made up, I would have walked right past it. In fact I did! It was made up in one booth--no kit--then when I went back to Primitive Gatherings looking for needles, the kit--no sample--was right next to the needles. Figured that was destiny so I didn't even hesitate.

This was one I thought about overnight and couldn't get out of my mind.

Last, a few patterns. A couple I have already started on (yay me!). " Wish Upon a Star" isn't new, but I've admired it online quite awhile and just never ordered it . I plan to make both the banner and table mat. The Halloween cats are another that looks best made up. They are just kind of silly looking and perfect for Halloween.

I've never been a big kit person, but am finding that with wool it is much easier. You get the colors you need in the amounts you need without having to search all the booths for just the right pieces. I did  bit of searching for one project and it just takes a lot of time.

So that is Festival for another year--my house guests who came from Colorado for it have already "reserved" their rooms for next year, so the anticipation will begin anew!

International Quilt Festival 2012

One of the best things about living in Houston is that this is home to International Quilt Festival! I don't have to get on a plane or worry about getting  all my purchases in my luggage and I get to sleep in my own bed at night!

Two cousins from Colorado came for the event and I think I can safely say that a good time was had by all! One has been here before, but for the other it was her first visit. Petty sure she had a good time!

We went to Preview night to shop, back Thursday morning to buy what we missed the night before. We stayed home on Friday--it gave us some time to regroup and rest up a bit, then we went back on Saturday, just because we could!! And of course each time we found stuff we had previously missed.

 We have our traditions--we get there early so we can get a good parking spot in the parking garage across the street. We go upstairs to Starbucks, get our coffee and sit on the floor people watching until the show opens. This year we got smart and left our lunch in a cooler in the car rather than lugging it around all morning. We went to the car, unloaded our purchases, got our non-squished lunch and sat on the patio at the convention center and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

It's a wonder I even remembered to take any pictures, as I was on sensory overload, so please forgive the lack of detail accompanying these photos.

Shopping for buttons.

This "booth" was by a batting company--the waterfall and all the flowers are made from batting. It was pretty impressive.

Best of Show quilt. Pictures can't do it justice. There were over 5,000 crystals on it and everything represented something, nothing was on the quilt without a reason.

 Two more winners.

 Another winner. There was such depth in his eyes.

 The top one was really pretty, the middle one I loved the turtles, and the bottom one has wool on it ! I'm sure better pictures and information on the winning quilts can be found on the quilts.com website.

Stay tuned...up next will be pictures from some of my favorite booths and a peak at my purchases.