A Sunny Spot

After a few stressful days of

decorating the house and the

demon tree, I had to pause

and grab the camera when a

photo op materialized!

My Westie Yogi just loves the sun.

He will wander the house and

find a spot of sun coming through

a window and find a way to get in it!

The sun shining through the lattice

on our deck made such a wonderful

texture on the couch and his face!

Is he not just absolutely adorable?

Our third (and most stubborn) son!

***************************

Can you believe it’s only 17 days

until Christmas????

Are you ready?  I am

sooooooooooooooooo

NOT!!

PLEASE leave me a comment and

tell me what you have left to get

done by Christmas so I don’t feel 

like the only slacker around!!

Oh, and P.S. -   

Go here to find out about a great

children’s charity quilt opportunity!

The Demon Tree

Or maybe I should say -

the demon lights…

Are you ready for a story

full of frustration and woe???

Meet…  the demon tree.

Looks pretty good during the day.

It’s a 7’ Frasier fir

with a luscious aroma.

So, now begins the story…

of the demon tree.

For the last 25 years or so,

I’ve been in charge of

going out and buying the real tree,

driving it home, getting my husband

and sons to unwrap it, trim it and

get it in the stand and bring

it into the living room.

Then the rest is up to me!

********************

I get out the strings of lights,

plug them in and check each bulb,

then  I start at the top and wind the

lights onto the tree, adding more

strings until I get it all done. 

Then I always turn off the lights,

plug it in and admire my work. 

And indeed, it was perfect!

For about 10 minutes.

Then suddenly as I am

hanging the ornaments,

half of the top string of

lights wink out.

WHAT IS THAT???????

So, I opened the plug and

replaced the tiny fuses and

plugged it back in…

This time the other half of the

strand that was dark is now lit,

but the part that was lit, is now dark.

So, I went to bed. 

I was SOOOOOOOO done.  :-(

***********************

The next day after work, I got out a

brand new string of lights, plugged

them in and checked every bulb-

all of them worked perfectly. 

So I took off the top defective

string and replaced them

with the new string.

And VOILA!  :-)

It was perfectly beautiful!

For about 10 minutes.

Then the exact same thing

happened… half the

new strand winked out.

I sat down and laughed for awhile.

    *****************************

Then, just for fun, I plugged

in the faulty string of lights I had

just removed from the tree.

And wouldn’t you know it-

EVERY SINGLE LIGHT WAS LIT!

     ***************************

I’m thinking next year, we might

just buy our first PRE-LIT fake tree.

I now totally understand the phrase

     B A H       H U M B U G!!!!

Hope your decorating experience

this season is perfectly sane.

 

Santa Welcomes All!

I have been using the same quilted Santa panel on my front door for the last 10 years at Christmas time.  The black boots have faded to a moldy looking grey and all the other colors have also lightened considerably. YUK!

So, I decided it was time to toss out the old and make a new one.  I saw this adorable wall quilt in the Christmas edition of The Quilter Magazine.

There was ordering info in the magazine for a kit, so I went online and ordered a kit.  Really good price! Go here if you want to order one.

I did change the corner stones in the last border.  I used leftover pieces of red and white to make little pinwheel blocks and I like the way they look like peppermints!

I have a dark red front door, so the green shades in this quilt really stand out against it!  I especially love the red and white striped binding that looks like candy canes!

I just love the “old world” look of the Santa and the softness of the toys and background. I started quilting it by outlining him, but after about 10 minutes, I stepped back and looked at it, and didn’t like the look…so then I ripped that out and just went with a red/green variegated thread and an all-over meander.

The backing is a sweet striped Santa in his sleigh print, and the label finished it up!  Do you have a special front door decoration?