Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends.

Another Visit to Alabama

I flew to Huntsville, Alabama, last Friday to help my daughter pack her apartment. She is moving to Lafayette, Indiana, to attend Purdue University to get her masters degree in Statistics. We drove back here to Indianapolis yesterday and brought a car full of her things including Squeaky, her cat. This is the huge tree in Indianapolis International Airport. While we were in Alabama, we took a break from packing to make a last walk through Bridge Street and enjoy the Christmas decorations there. It was warm enough on Monday evening that we sat on one of the benches next to the tree and ate ice cream.

Here is the sunset over the lake our last evening in Huntsville.

In the evenings we spent time knitting and I finished the pair of Malibrigo worsted weight socks. I got this yarn from a friend for my birthday in April so this wasn't a speedy finish - but a finish nonetheless.
Hope you are finding some time this holiday season to do some stitching.

Christmas Decorating

I'm still getting out the Christmas decorations. This is an afghan that my Mom made for us many years ago. She passed away in 1996, and we enjoy using it every year. This is my Dear Jane Christmas swap quilt. I made the center feathered star to use in a round robin but changed my mind and didn't use it. So it made the center of the quilt surrounded by my swap blocks.Since my knee replacement, I was able to get up in the attic....a place I hadn't been able to get to in years. I found this breadboard in a box. I had forgotten I had it and don't know how old it is. I haven't done any cross stitch in several years.

Here is a close up of the house.

This is a crocheted ripple afghan that I made several years ago.

I hope that you are all finding some time to do some Christmas sewing, knitting or crocheting and enjoying the holidays.

Thanksgiving Revisited and Christmas Decorating

I am going to try and update my blog more often in the New Year, so I'm trying to get a good start now. I found this photo of the dinner rolls from our Thanksgiving Dinner in my camera. This cross stitched breadcloth was made by my friend Sharon from Michigan, and I use this breadcloth every year. Sharon and I used to be avid cross stitchers, and we have exchanged a lot of cross stitched things over the years. Sharon and I have been friends since we were in grade school, and still keep in touch. I have a breadcloth from her for every holiday where we have a big dinner, and I always think of Sharon on the holidays.

This is the Christmas pillow that Sharon made me several years back. I checked and there is no date, but I've had it for a lot of years.

I haven't done any sewing since the Dear Jane retreat, but I went to knitting down at Mass Ave Knits the other night and worked on my Mitered Square Sock Blanket. I've traded a lot of sock yarn with others that are making this blanket, and I have a great assortment.

Also, November was National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO), and I finished my 50,000+ word novel on November 30. That is always a fun diversion from the other projects that I do.

Hope you have some time for stitching today.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hope all of you are having a Happy Thanksgiving and are having plenty to eat. My daughter, Kim is here this week and is helping in the kitchen which I think is just great!!!

I spent most of last week up in Shipshewana at the Dear Jane retreat. Here is the fat quarter boat at Lollys. This is one of the sample quilts hanging in Lollys store located in the Davis Mercantile building in Shipshewana. The quilt is called Eldon, and the pattern is by Edyta Sitar.

Shipshewana is like a wonderland after night. Most of the buildings are decorated.

This is Rebecca Haarer's store on Morton Street.

These are just some of the quilts for sale at Rebecca's.

I think this is my favorite show and tell quilt. This was made by Prue and the blocks are from the book When The Cold Wind Blows. She used by fabrics by Kaffe Fassett, and it was striking.

These are the 3 inch blocks that I made for our swap at the retreat.

The rest of my retreat photos are posted on my webshots page at

http://community.webshots.com/user/luann426

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Hope we all can find some time to stitch this weekend.

Retreating Again

Tomorrow morning bright and early I leave with a quilt friend for another quilt retreat. This one is up in Shipshewana, Indiana. I have been fortunate to have been able to attend so many retreats this past year. Tomorrow evening I will be having dinner here at the Blue Gate with old friends. I can't wait.

Visiting Alabama

I'm visiting my daughter in Huntsville, Alabama. I flew down last week, and we have been seeing the sights and are having a good time. These are mountains off in the distance.This is the rocket at the space center here in Huntsville. Lots of school groups come here to attend space camp.Here is the view from my daughter's apartment.
We made a trip to Yarn Expressions, and I bought some of this Mochi Plus yarn to make fingerless gloves while my daughter is at work.I hope you are all finding some time to stitch or knit today.