Heather's BD gifts

Heather was very gracious when her cousins received American girl doll beds for Christmas. There was envy in her eyes and she questioned her Uncle Andrew about being family too, but she didn't get nasty. Little did she know that there were two more beds hiding under a sheet in grandma's sewing room just waiting for her January birthday.

Before her birthday, I made two mattresses with matching pillows and machine quilted up this fat quarter that I have had on my shelf for years. It seemed appropriate since I had just received
The Quiltmaker's Gift from Heather's family for Christmas. While an elementary school librarian, I ordered this book for the library. It came as a gift pack with a fat quarter of material which coordinated with the book. It's hard to check out fabric from the library, so I claimed it as my own :)

A fat quarter is just the right size to back or make a quilt top for an American Girl size doll bed. I loved that the colors in the fat quarter also matched my birthday theme of items for Heather's Josephina American Girl doll.

I used this stripe fabric leftover from a quilting project to make a dress for Josephina using one of the original Pleasant Company patterns published 20 some years ago and now available as PDF files online. I had also purchased AG accessories including the golden colored shawl with embroidery and Josephina's doll. Heather was delighted.

Book of Mormon Reading

Glen and I are reading a different than our usual version of the Book of Mormon and loving it. Glen has been fascinated with chiasmus and other forms of Hebrew poetry found in the Book of Mormon for some time. This is a large, paperback version reprinted so that the poetic forms are readily apparent.

I am loving all that white space. It seems to allow my brain to "see" or visualize what I am reading in a new way. This version is published by BYU. We both recommend it!

Newest member of the family

Look who came to town! Emilia's sister had a baby girl this week and Emilia came lickety split. She not only met her new niece, but also the newest addition to our extended family.

Santa brought a little male kitty to Ruby and Sadie because they decided that if both of them put a kitten first on their list they would probably get a kitten. They figured that they almost always get the first thing on their list. It worked! Meet Tiger, my first grand kitten. He even climbed up on my shoulder and purred in my ear on my last visit. He's a blur because he's constantly moving just like the grand babies!

Civil War Quilt Blocks finished, almost

47 Dixie Tea

The weekly posting of Civil War Quilt blocks during 2011 ended on the 53rd Saturday, the last day of 2011. With the holidays, I got behind, so while Glen watched bowl games on Monday I worked on my blocks. When I look at my tin box full of blocks, it makes me very happy.

The above block represents the creativity which people had to use during the Civil War to find a substitute drink for tea.

48 West Virginia

Once again I wrestled with "Y" seams on this block in honor of West Virginia.

49 Yankee Puzzle

Yankee Puzzle looks complicated but was really one of the easier blocks. Look closely and you will see 4 small blocks just the same and turned for effect.

50 Grapes of Wrath

I broke down and bought a fat quarter on sale which was on the purple side just for this block. How can one have grapes without purple?

51 New York

I loved using my tiny flower stripe in this flag block.

52 Christmas Star

I just finished this more complicated block yesterday. I had skipped it until I had more time. I had looked on the flicker group and liked how some had made it look like a wreath in the center. I think in a redo I would move the paisley corners to the outside. I think the blue would have made the wreath stand out more, but there will be no redo.

53 Union Shield

The last block was simple and bold. The suggested layout is to have 7 X 8 blocks. That would make 56 and Barbara Brackman suggested making 4 of this block for the corners. I considered this, but instead have decided to make three more different versions of block 2, North Star, instead.

That is why I am almost finished. I also decided to applique a "Seven Sisters" block now that I am comfortable with hand applique. I have finished 6 stars, just 1 to go!

Glen Jay's day

This cute baby boy turned 61 today. I love how he still resembles his baby picture.

We dropped by Dave's and Sally's to deliver Sally's birthday present after eating at Tia Rosa's with the sister missionaries and they surprised Glen with a Krispy Kreme doughnut cake.


It worked for Ruby in July and it works for Glen in January.

I think the rule is that you get to start over with just one candle again after your 60th.

Thanks to this cute little family for creating a cake on their red "You are Special" plate.

Cute Mabel insisted on getting a piece of the doughnut with sprinkles.

David quickly led the clapping of 61 times! Happy Birthday Glen Jay!

Good works = food prep

Yesterday at church a young women gave a talk about "Good Works," one of the Young Women Values which she had chosen to address. As she spoke about the ways we serve others, I realized that most of the service I had rendered during the last month was food related. I had prepared and served food for several large gatherings, as a part of our family Christmas traditions, and as gifts for friends and neighbors. All that cooking and baking included dozens of rolls, dozens of doughnuts, dozens of cookies, 40 chimichangas, a Christmas ham dinner with all the trimmings, and 20 pizzas prepared on the grill and served with salad from the garden.

I started to do some number crunching in my head after church. That means:
* 50 lbs. of flour
* 12 lbs. of butter
* 6 dozen eggs
* 10 lbs. of sugar
* tablespoons of yeast
* several pounds of ham and beef roasts
* pepperoni and shredded mozzarella
* 40 large flour tortillas, two heads of shredded lettuce, a dozen diced tomatoes, salsa and guacamole, plus sour cream by lemon tree (do you recognize the melody?)

I've always felt that when I put on my apron I am putting on an apron of service. Good food shared brings us together and leads to good conversation and special times remembered. Bon appetit!

Beginning a new year and endings

It is a quiet New Year's Day. Once again, it is the sabbath and we have enjoyed a wonderful 3 hours of church meetings. Now we're at home, just Glen and I, and I've been thinking and pondering in my very quiet house.

It was such a blessing to have so many family members come through our home during the month of December. I can hardly get my heart around the loveliness of being able to hug so many of the ones I love most. Now that same heart is feeling a bit sad, might I say, even lonely.

The big guy, Nate, moved his little family to Utah this past week. Shortly after this picture was taken I found myself in tears in front of the house as I watched him drive away on Wednesday morning. I know I'll see him often, but there won't be all the little impromptu visits from Nate, Nichelle, and Oscar that I've become accustomed to the last two years. Better stop, the tears are back!

Why is Raymond wearing that sling around his neck? Tuesday night he broke his right arm from just a little fall in the hall while rounding the corner quickly. It is the same bone he broke last summer falling off a trampoline in California. Luckily, the emergency room doctor here quickly fixed him right up until he could get back to his orthopedic doctor in California.

He and his family pulled out on Thursday evening. They opted for a night drive.

Their hope was that the boys would be asleep by the time they hit the 202 freeway. Their almost two week visit was a joy. These little boys make me so happy with the funny things they say and do.

My beautiful sister, Lynette, left this morning for Kansas. I love hanging out with her so much. We did our own little quilt shop hop yesterday and then dined and shopped at Ikea (have you seen their red checked area rugs?)

Her son, Gary, and my other sister, Jolene, and her son, Ric, joined Lynette on the drive from Albuquerque to here on Wednesday. It was so good to see them all. It felt so good to have all my sisters in town. Earlier in the month we enjoyed a long weekend visit with my son, Ryan, and his wife, Emilia. So you see, Glen and I really haven't been home alone for a month!

Speaking of endings and beginnings, the Civil War Quilts block of the week ended on Saturday. I still have the December blocks to make and three more to make the 56 total needed for a 7 X 8 block quilt top. I had my fabric out auditioning combinations for the final blocks last night.

Saturday I found the border fabric for the outside edge at Zoe's Quilt Trunk at their end of the year inventory reduction sale. I plan to sash the blocks in red with fussy cut red stars blocks at the corners. I can't wait to begin to finally put it all together.

We ended the Arizona year with autumn.

The deciduous trees are losing their leaves. The other trees are hoping that there are no hard freezes in their future.

Our seasons are so mixed up. The arbor roses are blooming and the flower beds are beautiful. In just a month, those front yard deciduous trees will have new buds. That's how it's done in low desert Arizona. This week will be our "Indian Summer." High temperatures will be in the high 70's and low 80's. Happy New Year!