Christmas decor explosion

It's that time of year again -- time to dig out the mostly gaudy Christmas decorations that I keep buying at 90% off after the holidays. I do have a few tasteful items. Every year I have visions of a peaceful, tasteful winter display, but I always end up overwhelmed and overstimulated.

I blogged about the Christmas explosion three years ago here:  http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2010/12/tis-season-to-be-gaudy.html

And yet, I keep buying more stuff every time I give stuff away! I just bought these birds and berries on Saturday -- because they were 70% off. I went to Michael's JUST to buy holiday paper and ended up spending $138 on a bunch of stuff. The kid with his mom in line behind me yelled, "Wow, she's spending a hundred thirty eight dollars!" In my defense, I returned half of it the next day when I came to my senses.

So, most of the old stuff stays in bins, but I do use my homemade pillow covers and table toppers.

This 15-foot-long snake of a garland must be 15 years old. We hung it every year in Illinois around a huge mirror over the fireplace. We don't have a fireplace here, so I think I'll hang it on the front porch.

Above is an example of how I try to keep it simple and natural (even though that's a fake tree). Below is how it gets out of control.

Then my Quilting Arts came in the mail and I took a little break before tackling the forest of trees that I cluster around the house with little white lights. I do like that part.

It took fortitude to fluff out all those trees and replace burned out light strings (how does that happen when they're in storage?), so I powered on through the afternoon with Jimi Hendrix and coffee.

This is the sleigh that I put on the front porch as a decoration. My husband came home and yelled, "You have a package." He presented it to me because he truly thought it had been delivered to us, bless his non-decorating soul. I have to clean up the contents because when you're standing at the door looking down it's a mess:

Speaking of taking down decorations, my STITCH art quilt group started the day taking down our library display. Two of the husbands helped and all 50-some pieces came down in 15 minutes! Thanks, guys.

Have a colorful day!

Sweet and cute: Macaroons and bunnies

I still can't show my latest sewing projects because they're all gifts to people who read the blog, but I CAN show the chocolate-and-nut-dipped macaroons that I made tonight. They're quilt related because I'm taking them to our guild's holiday potluck party ...

... at least I'm taking the ones that don't march right into my mouth before tomorrow.

Bunners, front, and Frankie.

As if that isn't sweet enough, how about these bunnies? My daughter came home for Thanksgiving with her brown rabbit, Frankie, so we had a photo shoot with Frankie and Bunners.

I just cuddled them and melted. They're sweeter than macaroons and they weigh less than three pounds each! I'm going to gain at least that much from our potluck party.

Floppy-eared Frankie, a male Holland lop.

They each had a health scare recently and we thought we were going to lose Frankie, but he's recovered and we gave special thanks this Thanksgiving.

Sleek Bunners, a female Polish rabbit.

 Have a colorful day

Thanksgiving color 2013

Silent guest watches over us.

I've sufficiently recovered from our rowdy Thanksgiving dinner to blog about it and bring you the color.

Wilderness Chef Dave decided to do smoked buffalo ribs this year instead of turkey, but the skull is NOT from the buffalo we ate. It's from a buffalo farm in Wisconsin and it reminds me of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings and my beloved Southwest, though now it's taking on that tinge of Northwest green.

This is the calm before the storm. My favorite part is always putting together the color, and I love these sunflower napkin rings that I've been using for ages. Candle smoke bothers Dave, so this year I used battery-powered fake candles that still give off a nice glow.

We made the pickled beets and spicy pickled cucumbers, and Dave pressed some salmon between salt blocks for a lox-like appetizer with capers and thin cucumber slices.

Julia makes yummy vegan pies

 

and you really can't tell that there is no butter or eggs in this pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust or the apple pie (which I was slivering away at around 2 a.m.). Actually, it was more like I was shoveling it into my mouth with total lack of control. It was good.

Buffalo ribs and wilderness chef

Here's the wilderness chef with his buffalo ribs that he rubbed, sauced, smoked and then garnished with a berry sauce. He made up the recipe and I have to admit it was excellent. I'm not much of a meat eater, so this is high praise.
 

Dave's buffalo berry sauce.

 

 

We spent six hours together and never left the kitchen! Now that's a good party ... good friends, family and food to enjoy together and be thankful for. Good color, too.

While we were letting the food settle in our stomachs before launching into the desserts, we had a little incident with the whipped cream dispenser. Paula forgot to add sugar, but Duane insisted on tasting it before she ditched it and made more. That'll quiet him down for awhile.

After they left and we had turned on the dishwasher, I collapsed on the couch and enjoyed getting close to my coffee table pumpkins. I rescued them from a friend's Goodwill box and gave them a good home.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with much to be grateful for. 
 

Have a colorful day

Thankful for illusions

Today I'm thankful for illusions -- shimmering, sparkling water reflections and shadows of my friends and me. These illusions mean the sun is out, and for that I'm always thankful.

This looks like a double-decker bridge, but it's a reflection.

Earlier in the morning, our bay was fogged in, and as the mist lifted and sun broke through it turned the fog a soft shade of pink.

An hour later, I was down in the harbor with the Feet and Forks looking at this incredible tree sculpture at Crescent Creek Park burnished with late-autumn sunlight. Another illusion -- Northwest animals of the sea and sky emerged from two cedar stumps.

The masterpiece is being created by Gig Harbor artist Jeff Samudosky of J.M.S. Wood Sculpture from the 20-foot stump of twin cedar trees that had to be removed because they were in danger of splitting. The 150-plus-year-old trees had been cabled together for years. Jeff is a world-renowned wood sculptor who is self taught. He took up carving after a snowboard accident ended his career as an outdoor adventure guide.

 

Thankful for the Feet and Forks!

  Now the sun is going down and it's time to be thankful for my sewing room:

Have a colorful day

Sunday reflections

Bunners is dwarfed by our garden carrots.

Could it really have been this warm and sunny and bursting with life just two months ago? Today we hung little white icicle lights all around the inside of our house because it's cold and dark by 4:30.

I came across these photos as I looked up something else, and now I'm reflecting on that light. It seems like years ago that our sunflowers and beans were in bloom, but the photo file confirms it was only September, two months ago.

Have a colorful week

Yummy colors for a surprise

I wish, wish, wish I could show you what I'm doing with this Grunge fabric from Moda, but I'm working on holiday surprises so I can't. But the colors are too luscious not to put on the blog.

I found them in Gig Harbor's new quilt shop, Quilt Revolution. These bolts are about half the colors at the shop.

When I got home, I cut them free hand into strips and added a few others from my stash.

As I sewed my free-form surprises, the scraps got smaller and smaller until I had to start throwing the smallest away:
 

I may end up saving them from the wastebasket and turning them into yet another project!

Have a colorful day