New Block of the Month

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas!  Mr. Squash and I had a lovely, quiet day in each other's company!  I cooked a small Prime Rib using Pioneer Woman's recipe - it was fantastic!  I also made Kaaren's recipe for Brussels Sprouts and now have a new favorite!  While we didn't have a white Christmas, we did have a beautiful, partly sunny day, which is OK by us!

A while back I decided to do a Block of the Month from The Quilted B.  It's called Rosewood Farms and uses mostly the Etchings collection from 3 Sisters for Moda.  Not only do I love the colorway, but the farm theme is adorable!  Here is the first block.

And here is the second block - see the heart?

This is the original pattern which was done in more rustic colors, but still adorable!  To see how the Rosewood Farms version will look finished, click here.  I am bound and determined to keep up with each month and can't wait to finish!

I'm also still working on this - it's going pretty fast and I should have it on Vinnie by next week.  I don't consider it a UFO because it's the only project I'm working on other than the BOM.  Believe it or not, I don't have any UFO's - just lots of complete projects ready to begin!  I am trying to decide which one to begin next - first in, first out, or last in first out!  Which would you choose?

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Chickens & a Piping Trick!

Our neighbor Ted recently built a chicken coop for his wife, Andrea.  You might remember some of my posts showing Ted's work in the Squash House.  He is a custom builder and did quite a bit of work for us.  My favorite work of Ted's is our custom Maple Bar.  Well, Ted has a warehouse with a lot of leftover materials from which he pulled the makings of his chicken coop!  He said given the materials he used, the first egg was probably worth around $3,000 - lol!  It's really well designed and includes a little door knocker just for the chickens! (Click the photo for a closer look.)  They needed a little holiday cheer, so Ted and Andrea gave them their own set of holiday lights!  I can just hear the girls laying eggs while they cluck Christmas carols!

I've been doing some secret holiday sewing.  I'm a little behind getting caught up and have made a deadline for myself to get it all done in the next few days.  Two of the items have piping, something I love, but dread to make.  I can never sew the piping evenly into to the fabric and usually wind up scrapping it for another idea.  This time I was determined to make it work - and all of a sudden a light bulb in my head went on!

I was given some Lapel Stick to try and I thought - why not stick the piping to the fabric before I begin sewing it!

I finger pressed my piping fabric in half, ran the lapel stick down the fold and onto the front portion of the fold.

Then I simply stuck the piping down the fold and pressed in half before sewing it all together.

Voila!  My piping and fabric stayed together perfectly while sewing and it's ready to insert into my projects.  Many times I look at the mountain of many notions I've accumulated and wonder why - and then an idea like this pops into my head and all I need to do is reach in the notions drawer!

Fairy Frost

This morning Mr. Squash and I awoke to what we thought was snow!  It wasn't predicted - the weather here has been cold and sunny for quite some time now, but it sure looked like snow!  Then I remembered that Freezing Fog had been predicted!  Fairy Frost sounds better, don't you think?

Here is a shot right outside the front door.  This is our new winter flag - we're beginning to amass a small collection of them!  It's something I've always wanted, but this is the first house where it's been possible to have them.

Looking the other way at my car parked in the driveway.

Aside from the Dogwoods, this is my favorite plant in the front yard - European Cranberry.  It always  puts on a show no matter what the season!

Speaking of the Dogwoods, isn't this gorgeous!  Click on any photo for a better look.

On my way back inside I snapped a photo of our wreath.  I was going to try making one this year, but on a trip to the farm store this one called my name!

I ventured out the back steps to get a couple more photos.  Some years the fog can stick around this part of the Columbia Basin for weeks.  I don't remember any last year and I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for this year.  But wait....it's Fairy Frost, not fog....

Looking the other way at the Juniper trees which hold some of our firewood.  (In case you're wondering, the wood has not spread the trees as you see - they were leaning apart prior to the wood being stacked.)

I have absolutely no sewing to show that isn't a gift.  I've also been doing a bit of holiday baking.  Today will be a peanut butter fudge recipe I found here.  I've made several of Marie's recipes and become quite a fan!

So what about you?  How are your holiday plans coming?