Another gift

Before I explain the photo, let me tell you something about my family. Without using real names, I'd like to explain the guys here. My husbands name is ABCDE. My sister's husbands name is also ABCDE. My brother's name is LMNOP and DH's brother is named LMNOP. My daughter, Mrs. S is married to PQRST (known as Mr. FancyPants) and my other daughter (Ms. A.) has been dating for a long time now,)a boy named , yes, you got it, PQRST! Now both of the boys, PQRST's names start with the letter C. Therefore, Ms. A's boyfriend will be known forevermore on my blog as C2. Add to the mix that Ms. A goes by her given name at home and for legal purposes but her Hebrew name everywhere else and I use the names interchangeably, you really need to concentrate on the conversation if you want to know which ABCDE, LMNOP or PQRST or daughter we are discussing! (For many years my friends thought I had three girls. Mrs. S, Ms. A by her given name and Ms. A by her Hebrew name!!!!)

Sometime this fall C2 and Ms. A came home. During the course of their visit I heard C2 say,
"What does it take to get a quilt around this family!" I cracked up because in my sewing room was his gift. I made this quilt in record time. Pieced and quilted in 3 weeks.

It is free motion quilted on the longarm. I used an allover patter and was amazed by how even I was able to get it. I used Brytes thread. The picture is a bit fuzzy

I am upset that I didn't get a betert picture. It sat there waiting for me to give it to him and get a picture and then I was sick and could have cared less! This was the best I could do. You'll have to believe me when I say the quilting is pretty cool.

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah!

It's been a busy, crazy, tension filled but successful week and a big YEE. HA. WHOO. HOO. My party is over and seemed to go well. We celebrated Hanukkah as a family (Ms. A came home overnight so we could be together as a family for one night of Hanukkah.) I managed to eat everything I shouldn't have and the instant 5 lbs. is showing on the scale (it's not real weight but it's annoying nonetheless.) BUT, with this week over, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders! For the next week I have nothing to do but clean house, sew and get ready for vacation. I am so relieved.

I thought I'd share pictures we took on Weds. night. I might be prejudice but I really think I have the most wonderful family ever! We had so much fun opening gifts. We decided this year to only buy "what was within our means." In other words, I didn't want the girls going crazy on us. I really don't enjoy buying presents so it let me off the hook to go very simple this year. We have this thing about wrapping presents. We are always running so late that it doesn't get done....we don't like to waste the paper... and generally we are lazy. Many years ago we began to use "instawrap." Instawrap is grocery bags, reused gift bags proclaiming the wrong event (happy graduation on Hanukkah, etc.), anything that will cover the gift but isn't' wrapping paper. We get really silly with this sometimes. One year for my birthday, DH used a Hanukkah gift bag, undies as tissue paper and a lighter as a candle on my cake! It made for a great scrapbook page!!!! This year we hadn't planned on getting together as a complete family at all. On Mon. Ms. A called and said she'd be home Weds. It was a mad dash. Actually, I already had a box to mail to her ready to go but dinner and everything else was crazy! We didn't even eat until 8:30 because Mrs. S is in school. None of us wrapped our presents....at all! Mrs. S put my gift in a Bath and Body works bag, I didn't even put a bow on the luggage I bought her and Mr. Fancypants and Ms. A put Mrs. S's gift in a bag and used a bed pillow as the tissue! We had a blast! We had to keep running out of the room to get the next gift! The gifts couldn't be in one room....nothing was wrapped! Fun, fun, fun~~~Chaotic to some....just plain family for us!

Since beginning this this morning, DH took me shopping. He bought me a docking station for my mp3 player and a new chair for sewing! I have no excuses left. Expect a quilty post tomorrow!

Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish friends and to those of you that celebrate Christmas, hang it there! Santa will be here very soon!!

Two Bags of trash and an unused sewing machine!

I posted this once but blogger rejected it! It was witty and fun....I forget what I wrote....

In order for me to actually get into my room to insert the elastic on the pajama pants, get my nickel quilt going again or get ready for the log cabin I am about to begin, I must first CLEAN MY ROOM. When I described the mess my room was in, my Grandma promptly told me to "get busy young lady!" I cleaned for a bit, called her back and described what all I found amongst my disaster. Here is what all I unearthed and removed from my room. Duct tape, a thermometer,allergy medicine, Vicks type mentho medicine, phone book, an empty water bottle, an empty water glass, an empty box from a griddle we bought, two cordless phones, two bags of trash and an used sewing machine. The last two I sang like the end of the song 12 days of Christmas. This time she giggled. It's always a good thing to make your 91 yo grandma giggle.

Mrs. S. has now inherited my White Quilters machine. 1) she needed it, 2) I never used it 3) I now have an empty spot where I can put other stuff. YEAH!

Can you say YUM! This is mmm, mmm, good latkas frying in the pan. Yes, they are artery clogging, fat inducing, greasy, bits of potato, onion and matzo meal but is there any better smell in the world? Unfortunately, the smell lingers for days and days and ceases to be delightful or welcome. We grew up dipping our latkas in sugar. We finally figured out that this tradition must come from a specific area in Europe. Not sure of the exact area but it is the only explanation why so few have adopted the tradition. I have met only a few others that do this and their ancestors are from the same general area as mine. Most dip them in sour cream. We have learned that if you are sneaky, you can put the sour cream and sugar close to one another on your plate and serendipitously get a bit of sour cream and a bit of sugar in every bite.

Could anything be funnier than frying the latkas in shorts and a hawaiian shirt? Not terribly Decemberish but I suppose since the temps were around 80 it was appropriate. I do miss cold temperatures. It just isn't' the same sweating while you make your Thanksgiving turkey and Hanukkah latkas! DH would DIE if he knew this was online!