It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday.  One of our kids got to come home to celebrate with us and he brought along one of his college roommates.  I asked him later if his friend enjoyed his visit and his answer was that with all that food around, he really enjoyed himself. 

Speaking of food........

The "spread":

Cranberry Nut Bread (a new recipe I tried this year):

...and the pies:

I started something....baking cookies for every time I see the college boys.  Even their roommates have come to expect cookies.

My back pain is much improved although I still have to be very careful with how I move.  It's amazing how we take for granted moving without pain.  I'm so grateful to be feeling so much better.

I finished the model stitching and it has gone "home" safely.  I'll let you know when it's released.

I'm a little late on November's LHN Calendar Girl...and probably will be stitching a few Christmas ornaments so I'll probably continue to be late with this one as well as December's.  I'll eventually catch up.  I might even put Nov. aside and work on Dec. since I enjoy stitching seasonal items during the appropriate season.  (Sorry about the headless girl.  I started in the middle and like to work from the top down.  I like to pierce the needle from the back into a "clean" hole and then push it to the back in the "dirty" hole...if you know what I mean.)  I'll turn the piece upside down to work from the middle up towards the top.)

I'm also hoping to be able to crochet a baby blanket for our expected grandchild.  I'm a very beginner at crochet but a friend of mine showed me an "easy" design for a blanket just using single and double crochet stitches.  Wish me luck!

Speaking of the baby, here's the most recent profile picture of DD.  (She and her DH are visiting relatives in PA and OH this week and decided that's the last plane trip for her before the baby is born.)

We're enjoying a "cold front" (which in Gulf Coast Texas isn't very cold) but it helped put us in the mood to start decorating for Christmas.  DH managed to put up 3 trees and garlands above our windows.  I packed up both the Halloween decorations (that I'd piled up upstairs when I couldn't do much because of my back pain) and the Thanksgiving decorations and put out a few of the other Christmas decorations.  There's much more to do but we made a good start.  DH is having surgery tomorrow so I'll do the rest when he comes home.

We're expecting all 3 of our sons (including the one who lives in Denmark) to visit for Christmas so we're looking forward to it.

Happy stitching!

Louie's Pie

DH's birthday was last Saturday and, since he likes pies WAY more than cakes, I decided to bake a pie for him from one of his mom's recipes.  (She passed away just before last Christmas.)

She told me many times that this was his favorite pie...so she called it Louie's Pie.  He told me that, while he loves it, it's not his favorite but he never had the heart to tell her.  It IS very good and maybe MY favorite of the pies she baked.  lol!  It has a very thick custard filling topped with almond slivers, golden raisins soaked in rum, sliced bananas, and meringue.  Yum!

On the stitching front:  Diane at Little House Needleworks released a design for which I stitched the model..."Farm Fresh Cherries".  It was a fun stitch...I think the first "farm truck" I've ever stitched.

I hope to finish up another model for her this week and then I have a new model coming soon.

I'm also working on LHN's "Hot Cocoa" for an ornament SAL and doing a little crochet.

Happy stitching!

Almost March

Where did February go?!

It was pretty much a routine week here.  I've been model stitching and the piece is starting to come to life.

Saturday I went to a friend's house and (re)learned to crochet.  I'm a southpaw and never really "got it" when my mom and grandma tried to teach me when I was a young girl.  I watched a "how to" video before going to my friend's house and this time it came much easier to me.  (Or as DH said, maybe I matured and learned some patience since trying to learn all those years ago.)

Here's my future scarf:

I also finished stitching my February ornament...Sugar Plums by Country Cottage Needleworks:

I stitched and finished this once for a friend and ever since then wanted to stitch it again to keep:

I'm taking a day off from walking today.  I'm having issues with plantar faciitis.  Ouch!!  Hopefully I'll figure this out soon.

Happy stitching!