In the Hive

I was busy today, cleaning and other things. I took a break and worked on my quilt mystery. I also got three more blocks made for my chocolate chip cookie and milk quilt.

Michael picked up a cute new fabric for me. Very woodsy! A little mole like Krtek (he is a cartoon character from a Czech cartoon), a hedgehog, a squirrel for Michael, and more!

I have been wanting to play more with my embroidery machine. I am still trying to figure out the correct tension settings. Below are some of the ditties I stitched out today.

I finished up the 80 blocks from the third step of the Quiltville Mystery and made 2 blocks for other projects! I would have got more done, but my husband locked himself out of the car at the grocery store and my son and I had to rescue him!

Karl made me a lovely card. Thomas made me a paper poinsettia. Andrew gave me some wonderful tea from Teavana and the movie Chocolat. Michael got me Mr. Bee so Mrs. Bee is not lonely, and some lovely fabric. One is a charm pack of 30 "dimes" or 10 inch squares of batiks.

Today is Christmas Eve. Last night we made the Vanocka to eat today. This year we did a six-braid bread instead of the 9 braid loaf. It came out very tasty. This am I finished up the pillows that Andrew asked me to make him for Christmas that he will use on his bed.

This is Thomas' favorite czech christmas cookie.  I filled the cookies with black currant jam this year.

I visited the fabric shop today. I picked up these charm packs from moda. They are really nice colors that made me feel warm! I would love some warmer days after seeing ice and snow all week!

The kids asked me to make some blossom cookies because my mother made them at Christmas time. I am missing her terribly and wish she was here.

My friend Jean's husband is a sweetie! When he goes on business trips, he stops at quilt shops for her and brings treasures back for the both of us! This fabric by RaNae Merrill for Blank Textiles. It came from a shop in Ohio called The Doormouse.

There was an inch thick layer of ice on top of the snow in the backyard from yesterday's storm. Karl and Thomas were able to go "skating" after school today! They were happy today because of the ice and wind they had a two-hour delay and were able to sleep in a bit!

Michael and I went and saw "Into the Wild" last night - a bittersweet movie. It was so sad to see Chris die alone in the end after realizing he needed others to share his life with to be happy. It felt a bit "into the wild" this morning with our latest ice storm! We lost power for about 1 1/2 hours and then I chipped the layers and inches of ice and mush while Michael shoveled for HOURS. Enough is enough already!

I could not find our old snowman snow gauge, so I ordered a new one from the garden supply catalog! It is meant to measure snow in the winter and then be a trellis for clematis or sweet peas in the summer. Really cool metal garden art!

I took a break from 9 patches to try out a new recipe today. The kitchen smelled wonderful with the scent of cinnamon. The recipe and wonderful close-up picture came from a cool blog called Bake or Break - Adventures of an Amateur Baker. She has lots of tasty recipes on her blog!

I finished step 2 of Bonnie's Carolina Crossroads mystery. 100 blue/neutral/red nine patches! To my horror, the next step is 80 more nine patches with a slightly different color placement!

I won two new bee fabrics on ebay for my bee collection!

My friend Jean found us two more civil war prints! The one with blue flowers is from the Jo Morton Jamestown line, the other with the stripe is from Windham's Civil War IV collection by Nancy Gere.

More baking and cooking! We are celebrating Mike's 40th birthday a little early! He wanted svickova with dumplings for dinner and he picked apple strudel for his birthday "cake" this year!

I made up a batch of Michael's favorite Czech christmas cookies this morning. I probably should hide them from him and the boys!

Michael had a business trip in Maryland this past week. While he was there, he visited a quilt shop called "The Fabric Chest" in Glen Burnie. He picked me up this chalkboard print because he spotted a bee on it for my bee collection!! It's a South Seas Imports print called " Chalking it Up to Success."

I finally had time to get Country Girl up on the wall rack!! This was going to be a king-size quilt, but then I got lazy and made it large lap-size with 60+ blocks left over. My husband asked why I did not make it king! Now I have to decide whether to make a twin quilt with the leftovers or make more for a king!

Bonnie at Quiltville started a project for herself and then turned it into a mystery for us that she is calling "Carolina Crossroads". Part one was to make 100 rail fence blocks! I did mine in blue/neutral/red like hers because I just wanted to sew and not think about my color placement too much. I also have been wanting to do a quilt in those colors for a patriotic project.

Tonight was Thomas' third grade holiday show. He sang "Holiday Lights" and "There'll Be No School Tomorrow If It Snows." He did a super job, even after having a little stage fright!

I finished my king size quilt top this am. It goes to my friend, Gisela, to quilt on her longarm machine in January. I am trying to be better about finishing my ufo's, this one was started last fall in 2006. My little boy and I had a fun time trying to fold this huge top up! It's 110 x 110 inches!

It's very cold here today. The kids are hoping for a late start to school tomorrow.

This is a funky sign I saw in a catalog. It gave me a chuckle!

Andrew wanted to practice his driving today so we did some errands and stopped at Wooden Bridge Dry Goods. I got two prints - one is a tan and maroon civil war background from the Windham New Nation line, and the other is a blue shirting print from Little Quilts by Henry Glass Fabrics.

I ran out to the LQS yesterday and picked up one new print from Jo Morton's new Jamestown Line. I really like working with older colors and prints alot, but I also am drawn to brights. What is it about civil war era prints that evokes such a feeling of satisfaction?

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Thanksgiving has come and gone. My dumpling dough really gave us a laugh! It definitely doubled when it rose! We had our second snow storm of the season today, so I spend the day catching up on my sampler blocks. I have one more block to catch up on!

I started working on some new blocks with my civil war fabrics, these are fun to make!

I got a new Shinzi Katoh tote!

We had our first real snow yesterday. Edmund (our tree the kids named) looks very colorful in contrast to the snow! I decided to trade my Elna 6003 in for a Pfaff 2027 to have as a second machine! My Pfaff 2044 is named "Otto", this is his sister "Otylia"!

I managed to piece 1/2 of the quilt for our king-size bed. This is quite a task!!!! I think we need a smaller bed.