I Love England

 I found some cute England fabric and thought it would be perfect for a quilt for Katie. Unfortunately, I never took a full picture of it. Next time I'm at her house, I'll see if I can grab a shot.

I spy quilts are so fun. I know that Katie doesn't need another quilt, but I do love making them.

Christmas 2012

 We enjoyed a family Christmas this year and were grateful to share it with each other. Cookie decorating, skyping, and present opening were all included. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Concert

 We always love Christmas concerts in December. For our family, we just have to head to the high school to enjoy Christmas music. 

Frazier and Katie (and Calvin) have all performed with Chamber Choir and now it is Jackson's turn. They will always appreciate the musical education they receive under Mr. Ronning. 

Merry Christmas

 Every other year, the Arlington Stake transforms the building into a Creche Festival. Hundreds of nativities are gathered from members so they can be arranged and displayed. People sign up to come act as a live nativity. Choirs practice music so they can perform a Christmas concert. I signed up to play piano music for an hour of the event. Many cookies were made and eaten.

A few days ago, Katie and I went with Opal and Cathy to Christensen's Nursery to make wreaths. I love their machines and they are easy to make with our own greenery. Cathy always brings red-twig dogwood and a variety of branches with red berries.

Katie and Opal are so happy when they are creating. It smells so yummy and they have Christmas music playing.

Cathy using beautiful red berries. We brought many boughs, but Christensen's had more stems to purchase.

Trip to Salt Lake

 We decided to go down to Salt Lake to visit Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving and allow Katie to see Tyler. He just finished his mission so they might be engaged soon. Maybe this weekend! We stopped off and saw Krispy Kreme and enjoyed a Thanksgiving donut. That's priming your appetite.

Stanwood Library Show

 I had the opportunity to show my work at the Stanwood Library. With a growing collection of small pieces from classes, it is easy to fill a few walls. These are the pieces I hung.

Jackson's Birthday

 We enjoyed celebrating Jackson's birthday at The Chatterbox, an Asian restaurant in Stanwood. We've never had a bad meal there. Everything is delicious. On this day, they surprised us and brought out a piece of cake just as we were leaving. So sweet!

Kitchen Remodel

 We are almost done with the kitchen remodel. I'm so excited to get everything in place and actually use it. I love the quartz countertops. It's time to get the lighting installed and wheel in the refrigerator. I'm not too worried about the backsplash, but I'm thinking of something like penny tile. We'll see.

Union Jack

 Once I had three panels ready, I was able to stitch them together. But they are quite large and a little difficult to handle without tweaking the bias.

The entire quilt is about 70"x 55" and looks quite bright and lively in the living room.

The above is hanging outside in the sunshine and below in the Camano Island Quilter's Show. Note that the binding is not white. There is no possible way to keep such a white binding clean.

Check on the Garden

 When I'm busy, I prefer to go out into the garden. I love getting into the soil and pull weeds. I remember when I was little and wanted to earn money, my mom sent me outside to pull weeds, promising that she'd pay me a penny per weed. I earned $8. 

Lamb's Ears

Globe Thistle (Echinops)

Teddy Bear Sunflowers

Hellebore

Clematis

Peony

Rosa unidentified

Dahlia

Opal Quilts

 I was excited to hear that Opal's quilts were being shown at the Snowgoose bookstore downtown, so we went to see them in person. We also had a chance to look at books and I picked up "Wicked."

Slideshow Quilts

I love switching from difficult to easy patterns. It's fun to have many quilts in different stages of completion. Some days I walk downstairs and am in the mood to finish something. Other days I want to hand-stitch a binding or applique a bird.

Really best for large prints and complete fabric lines, Slide Show is quick to whip up. And all your extras can go into the border and the back.

My idea on the quilting was raindrops.

I picked up these batiks in Alaska on our inside passage cruise. I love the whales and indigenous designs. Skagway has a population of 1,200 and three amazing quilt/yarn shops.

These two quilts are from the very same pattern. Very different quilts.

Shopping at the Nursery

 I love wandering around Skagit Valley Gardens and looking at everything I could be planting in my yard. I lack outdoor covered space, so it is difficult to create garden rooms. Everything seems so exposed.

Marnie is trying out the nice Adirondack chair in front. If I every created a garden room, this would be too big. 

McKay Family Reunion

 We hosted this year's family reunion in Sequim. It is quite a distance for my family in San Diego and Provo. But the location was a wonderful wooded sanctuary. Washington State has a collection of Environmental Learning Centers that are great for family reunions. Some are large enough to hold summer football programs for high schools. This one had a lodge and a few outbuildings, 3-sided buildings with bunks.

Some of the family hiked around Hurricane Ridge.

We brought our little boat to wander around Sequim Bay.

The commercial sized kitchen had a pass-through for Marnie.

We played volleyball in the afternoon.

We had to take a ferry to get to the peninsula. When the captain came over the intercom to tell these three to cease their horseplay, I loudly asked, "What would your mother say?"

As close as it seems, we have to drive up Camano Island, across to Whidbey Island, ferry from Fort Casey to Port Townsend, and then drive to Sequim. 

Each family was in charge of a meal during the week. And we have plenty of good cooks.

Jackson got to play on someone's motorbike.

We enjoyed outdoor cooking and the smell of good wood smoke.

Hurray for family reunions!

Carefully handling crab.

Tad taught me how to play ping pong years ago. Now she's trying to beat the master.

Adam and Jack looking to go out on Sequim Bay.

Marnie looking good at Hurricane Ridge.

Rachel and Liz enjoying some quality family time.