December 2018

December was smooth and it was nice to observe some "family time" and the traditions of the holiday, "couple time" and some "me time" as well.

Near the first of the month, my youngest grandson turned 10, (my favorite number btw!).
He and a friend who was too quick for me to catch on film were having fun popping the balloons by sitting on them.

Robbi won in this endeavor.  They are great friends.  They play Fort Nite on the X-box, Hockey, are in the same grade though not the same class this year at school and have been friends for years.







Then we were back in Boston for another heart biopsy, clinic check, echo, and blood work.

While there, we were able to see "How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Wang Theatre, it was a fantastic show.  The props, music and story line so closely followed  the Suessical book and DH tolerated it well as he'll go to honor my enjoyment of these shows.

The following two pictures are some of the architectural details within the Wang theatre.

We had a nice dinner before going back to our hotel room at the Park Plaza with an enjoyable stroll along the street.

I actually was humming the "Silver Bells," Christmas Carol while strolling and just a hint of snow was falling.

It was Beautiful yet so.o.o.oo Cold.

Our stay at the Park Plaza was very nice and comfortable besides it was conveniently located.
They happened to have an in-scale  gingerbread House of the Plaza as part of their decor in the lobby.  You could walk around the whole gingerbread table for a full view of the establishment and the accessories finishing the scene were perfect and quite nice.
It was massive and Gorgeous!

Shortly after that, my Mother sent a package for her Great Grand son #3, my  PGS#3.
It wasn't for any special occasion like Christmas or Birthday it was just because she loves him and she wanted to make this quilt.  She made a label hinting at him flying to the planets in the future and when I saw it, thought they were flying pucks, so I'm calling it "triple play" not quite a hat trick yet, lol. 

He showed me his favorite block and then started dodging away from the camera.

While spending the night, we played games as is our usual but we spent time reminiscing by looking through my blog books of years gone by.

He loved hearing stories about what happened and the roles he played within those stories.
I let him know that I couldn't produce those stories and pictures if he kept hiding from my camera.
He graciously  thankfully stayed put and I as able to take the shots.  (Not sure how long this will last!)

This pic he reminds me of Mcauley Culkin when he did the Home Alone series,
another holiday tradition we l;ike to watch and make time for. 

Then Christmas came with all the usual flurry of the season.

Christmas concerts, church services, family gatherings all contributed to make it a wonderful Holiday season.

PGD#! plays trombone for the Christmas concert, she's the second one in.

PGS#3, is in the grey sweater for his class song presentation.








I found and made some time to sit by the fire and stitch while listening to Christmas music.  Heaven!  Started a new Cross stitch project after the holiday just befor eNew Years.













As for finished projects, there were a couple of successes in that domain-


The long time WIP of St. Patrick's Day a Patch-a-bilities design took me
F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

The rainbow I embroidered the old fashioned way, then started to play with shiva paint sticks for those coins and then Mod Podge for the white petals on the daisies so the background fabrics wouldn't' show through as I learned from Lara's book, Crafted Applique.

Then to make the daisy centers stand out better I did colonial knots, not a gazillion but probably around 35 or so until it was enough.  The next step I puttered around to make the gold piping which I used a roll of lace sold by Sue Spargo wrapped around the cording to "finish" it. 
Am so happy with the final results.







Another project that I started and actually finished in December was the needlepoint called "Liberty Stars" designed by Nancy's needles.
I  find the rhythm of the needle even in needlepoint is so enjoyable and with this design found it easy enough to do anywhere.  When company stops by I can pull a length of thread/yarn  as the pattern became quite evident to me.  With this one,  I'll wait to frame for a couple of months, perhaps get it framed later in the Spring.
Notice the Christmas themed reading glasses.



It was a very eventful year and I'm glad to see it behind me.
Things can only be up from now on.