Christmas 2010

What a nice Christmas.  The house was decorated, presents wrapped and we all waited for Santa.  Stephen had a hard time with the waiting part and Christmas morning he was up at 4:10 am!  Art told him to play in his room, that he was up too early.  He finally woke me up at 5:45 so Christmas began at 6:00 am at our house!

SANTA!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Stephen played Santa and read every tag.

A digital frame from Claire.  Just what I wanted.

Claire designed Art's logo and printed and framed it.

Does this mean I got a Leapster 2 ?!!!

Dad loved his gift and the bottom is still in the back of my car.

So excited about this gift.

LEAPSTER 2 !!!

Stephen loves Toy Story 3.

Claire made a beautiful scrapbook for Chris of their 1 1/2 yrs together.

And my Christmas was perfect when I got to Skype with my Texas family.
Hi Mom, Robert, Gordon and Hayden!

And, we were gifted with a beautiful snowfall Christmas night.

Christmas Church Celebration 2010

 Here are the 5 paper lace banners we cut from photography background paper.  We had Ellen Phillips, http://ellenphillipsart.com/ , come to our church and teach a workshop.  She designed the banners and our liturgical arts guild cut them out.

About twenty years ago I took a week long class with Nancy Chinn at the Montreat Worship and Music Conference and learned to cut the banners.  Ellen learned from Nancy.

We hung them using tiny eye screws in the ceiling beams with 80 lb fishing line and curtain rods.  The banners are velcroed onto the curtain rods.

First Sunday in Advent; Wonderful Counselor

Second Sunday in Advent; Mighty God

Third Sunday in Advent; Everlasting Father

  

Almost ready for Christmas.

Fourth Sunday in Advent; Prince of Peace

Electricians hanging fourth banner with lift.

 

Cutting Christmas Eve banner; Mary and Jesus

Christmas Eve; singing Silent Night

Christmas eve banner; Mary and Jesus

Making progress

I've made just a bit of progress since the basement renovation was completed.  I just couldn't make myself go down there to deal with all of the STUFF....Art's stuff, Claire's stuff, my stuff.....  Then Claire encouraged me to come on down and do a little at a time.  She would go get a box of fabric out of the store room and we would go through it and I actually got rid of lot of it.  A few boxes at a time and we're making progress.

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of window coverings for the French doors and two large windows.  And,  I've got to get going so I can make some money doing alterations and creating heirloom christening gowns.

Looking down the stairs.  I like the look...but do I have to go down there......

I love my chairs from IKEA.  Claire put them together for me.  I still need to get rid of the cabinet in the right corner.

Shelves in front of windows while we organize.  I'm pretty sure I'll get rid of them later.

Sewing tables to the left, cutting board to the right on top of my favorite organizing tool...an old music library cabinet.

Love having my Dad's oriental rug in my room.  Nice memories.....

Building Ikea cabinets

We made a trip to the Atlanta Ikea Saturday 10am to be first in line in the kitchen department to place the cabinet order for my sewing room. Then we did a little more shopping, while we waited to pick the cabinets up, and wouldn't you know!  I found a neat work/cutting table made out of the same oak as my countertop,  at a closeout price.  SO, Art really liked it and 'encouraged' me to buy it.  It seems a bit large, in the boxes, but the top is the same size as my cutting table top.  I'll just have to wait and see what it looks like put together.  Six flat carts later and we're in the truck and headed home, with Art grouching all the way because of the weight and number of boxes....HEY, YOU TOLD ME TO BUY THAT TABLE!

We spent several hours Saturday putting the cabinets together and stacking them across the wall.

Then today, after church we worked some more and it's almost finished.

You wouldn't believe the amount of cardboard you have left over when it's all built!!!  I wish the trash man would take it and recycle it.

One more trip to Ikea to get the correct drawer hardware, install the drawer knobs and handles and the kick plate...are we there yet?

I'm headed to Anaheim CA for the Shaklee convention via RV with my Mom so it will be a while before I get my sewing room put together.  So, stay tuned to this channel.....

My days in Montreat

I've spent the last three weeks in the beautiful mountains of Montreat NC.  The first week was spent with good friends from Pine Bluff AR.  We've spent this special week together for the last 20 years and look forward to another 20!  We spend the whole week rocking on the front porch and knitting.  That's my chair in the corner, my favorite spot.

I started these green socks three summers ago, on the porch, and have almost finished them with the help of my PB knitting friends.

My friends drive from Pine Bluff AR and this year took their time and enjoyed the sites.  They discovered an Amish community and made several purchase of vegetables, preserves and bread along the way.  Here is the 11 lb cabbage that they paid about $1.50 for.  We ate boiled cabbage and greens, cabbage slaw and several other cabbage dishes and still had cabbage left over at week end.  The apple butter and FROG jam was fabulous on the fresh homemade bread.

Their description of the different Amish families they bought from was fascinating and said the children were so beautiful and very shy.

And, construction is finished!

Well, this is it!  The basement/terrace level is complete.  Now, we just have to move everything in and get it organized and I'm hoping that will be next weekend.  I can't wait to get my sewing room organized.  I still have to buy the Ikea furniture, and build it, for my sewing room and am hoping to do that sometime this summer.

Bedroom and closet

Bathroom

BedroomDenFrench doors to sewing room

Sewing room

Kitchen, still in progress