More Dickens Christmas

Here's some other pictures of the characters we saw yesterday in Skaneateles.

Top picture is of Patchwork Plus, Rt. 20 east of Skaneateles about 4 miles, a poor man holding a spoon to the restaurant window begging for food, a handsome older man we met on the street, strolling trio, another man seen on the street.

It was a great trip to Skaneateles. First we stopped at Patchwork Plus where I found the new book Loose Change by Claudia Plett and Le Ann Weaver. It just had to come home with me. Also purchased some FQs of black & whites and thread.

Because Mickey had gone to the Skaneateles Chamber of Commerce site and found there would be a truck convoy thru the town comng from Auburn about noon, we were prepared for a bigger crowd than usual. The truckers were protesting some legislation prohibiting truck travel on some of the area roads. Because of the large crowd of people finding a parking place was more difficult than usual.

We went to Blue Water Grill for lunch and watched the convoy pass on Rt. 20 as we ate. When we left the crowds had diminished so we could shop.

The weather was good until we left. It snowed and then rained as we traveled back down Rt. 41 to Homer. We stopped at JoAnne Fabrics in Cortland. Snow and rain accompanied us down to the Marathon area. Then we had dry roads the rest of the way home.

A shopping tip....wear comfortable underwear and shoes. Clean non-essentials from your purse to lighten your load.

It was a great day. I've never kept count of the number of Black Fridays Mickey and I have gone to Skaneateles to enjoy their Dickens Christmas.

Happy Christmas!

A Dickens Christmas

Here's a few pictures taken in Skaneateles, NY yesterday. Marley, Scrooge, some ladies resting in rockers on the porch at Pomadoro, Pomadoro and Rhubarb, myself at lunch at Blue Water, daughter Mickey.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wouldn't you think with all the kitchen time I'll log today that I would be sleeping. No, not me. I've been awake since just after 3 a.m. It's 5 a.m. now. Too early to put Big Bird in the oven.

There will be eleven of us today for dinner. The menu will be turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, butternut squash, green bean casserole (daughter Mickey is using Alton Brown's recipe), scalloped oysters, pickles & olives and apple & pumpkin pies. I baked orange cranberry, date nut and banana blueberry breads. For befores we'll have veggies, dips, crackers, cheese and shrimp.

Granddaughters Nikki and Becki will stop with their husbands Mike & Jeremy on their way to other dinners.

Becki & Jeremy moved into their first home about a month ago. Cuzzin Elly Mae and I made a trip up to see it one day. Finally found the right road, saw a blue house and pulled into the driveway. Cat statue on steps. Must be the correct house. They have cats. Peeked in garage windows, no car or truck there. Went up steps. Kitchen window...peeked in that. Nobody home. Emailed Becki that afternoon. Wrong house. I didn't even stop on the correct side of the road. Their house is nearly across the road from the one we stopped at. Sure glad nobody was home to peek back out at me.

What am I thankful for. Family and friends and the ability to meet together freely. Books to read, the daily newspaper, lots of fabric and ability to sew (thanks, Mom), the Campfire Girls and our Red Hat group that I seem to get to rarely, a great local history and genealogy library, my computer and chat rooms where I've made many good friends. My list could be endless. And of course I'm thankful for SweetOldBob who tries to keep me from procrastinating.

I hope you and yours have a most happy Thanksgiving.

UFOs are us

I finally finished a UFO and looked at the small stack of 8 tops left to complete. Top left is a Mile a Minute quilt, top right is the remaining UFOs and at the bottom is the finally completed table runner.

The table runner is done using Eleanor Burns' pattern Nana's Garden. I made 6 blocks back in 2001 to see if I liked the looks before I settled down to make a yellow and blue queen size quilt for daughter Mickey and son in law Eric. I liked the looks so went on to finish the quilt around 2006. The quilt went to 3 or 4 retreats, Material Girls on Sundays more times than I like to think about and finally went off to Wendy Swears to quilt. I took it to Mickey and Eric the night of my birthday dinner in 2006. Mickey said "Happy Birthday, gimme my quilt."

The table runner languished for ages until yesterday when SweetOldBob asked again for a "doily" for his coffee table. I machine quilted it and sewed on the binding. And it goes on the coffee table on Thanksgiving Day.

Quilts, etc.....mostly etc.

This is Cuzzin Elly Mae assemblying her strawberry-blueberry shortcake for a 4th of July picnic.

Here's my Mixed Up Disappearing Nine Patch completed. The backing fabric is "Child's Play." The quilt is so easy it could be called Child's Play too. I made the nine patch blocks, cut them and them put on the wall randomly. Only item I was consistent with was putting 2 yellow blocks together. Now who do I give it to?

Today my daughter Mickey & I have been emailing about details of our Thanksgiving Dinner. I forgot to put cranberry sauce on the menu. Family tradition is to forget the cranberry sauce until dinner is nearly over and to burn the rolls. We will have at least 7, maybe 8 or 10 that day.

I remember family holiday dinners in the past. So much food, family together, laughter, inside jokes that families have. So many memories. It's fun to look at pictures of all of us in years past. Our hair, clothing and size are commented on.

Last night I made Tortellini Soup for supper. It was so good. SweetOldBob ate 2 bowls but didn't want any for lunch. I had a bowl of it for lunch. It was even better than last night. Cuzzin Elly Mae told me how to make it. She claims not to enjoy cooking but does a great job of it.

Economy Patch

Here are a few of the blocks I've done to recreate that beautiful museum quilt that Stitchinjoy found and took pictures of. Mine won't be done as quickly as Joy's. I am making 2 blocks a day. Late in 2009 I should have the top done.

The blocks will be alternated with soft beiges & creams and set on point.

ROAD TRIP! I don't have enough beiges to finish this project. Darn. Just hate to have to go to a quilt shop. ROFL

As I look thru my stash I see more and more fabrics I can use in this quilt.

Happy Quilting,

Chris

Pictures of weighted quilt

Finally Done

Do you heave a big sigh of relief when you finish a project. I did that a little while ago. In May my daughter emailed to see if I would be interested in making a weighted quilt for one of her co-workers. The woman has a daughter with a sensory perception problem. We met. I said yes. Various things kept us from getting together. Finally it was partially done. And this week the inside with the poly pellets was completed. This morning I finished the fleece cover. The girl picked a pretty pink and white fleece for her cover. The weighted part is velcroed inside the fleece cover. It will be picked up tonight. Hopefully it will help.

As I have a grandson with Aspergers Syndrome I know how much these children need all the help they can get. The picture at top is of grandson Aaron at his graduation party in 2007.

Now I need to shorten living room curtains. Oops, think I need a trip to shop for thread. And I heard that shop has those neat handles for long rulers. I need one. Tried one several times recently and it helped me keep the ruler in place without stressing out my hand and arm.

As my cousin says "ROAD TRIP."

Generation 13

Yesterday I was delightfully surprised to receive a big envelope from cousin Bobbie who lives in NM. She sent a hard copy of the Huntington 13 newsletter and CDs of it. 13 refers to our generation.
Simon (generation 1) Huntington and wife Margaret Baret sailed from England in 1633. He died from small pox aboard ship and was buried at sea.
In the mid 1850s my line of this family went from VT to WI. One small cemetery in North Pittsfield, WI has 3 generations of great grandparents buried there.
In May 1920 my great grandparents Charles S. and Lillie Ann Victoria Carter Blondheim, along with their 4 living children Pirlie, Adie, Corlis and Gordon came to NY. Charles and Lillie were originally from St. Lawrence Co., NY.
Their oldest daughter Pirlie Dorcie met and married Clark Ray Huntington in WI. My mother Dorcie was their oldest child. Also with them on that trip were their other children Avis, Orval and Forrest. Two more children Reva and Belva were born in NY.
Aunt Adie and Uncle Paul Regal were also on that journey with their children Violett and Edith.
The Blondheim-Huntington families came here by train, excepting Uncle Corlis who drove his father's car out. There were 6 adults, 1 teenager and 6 children under 10 on that train trip. Mom was 5 and remembered very little about the journey.
Grandpa and Grandma Huntington settled on the Tunnel Road on what is called the Altitude Farm. It is at one of the highest points in Broome County.
This summer 10 of the 19 cousins in Generation 13 gathered, some not having seen each others for many years. We had children and grandchildren with us that day. All six of Generation 12 are now deceased and one aunt by marriage is still living, Uncle Forrest's widow.
The last time I saw cousin Belva she talked about a family newsletter. I mentioned this to Bobbie and it was a done deed. Bobbie also edits a newsletter for her mother's family.
What fun we had bringing out old pictures and remembering things about Grandpa and Grandma. As the oldest cousin I was able to remember a lot about the family that nobody else did.
Thanks to Bobbie for those gentle hints to get it written. She scanned pictures, edited my ramblings, drew sketches of a house our grandparents lived in and did all the computer work involved.
For those who don't know me well, genealogy has been my hobby since the late 1960s. When I've done genealogy workshops I urge people to write down their memories, even if on scraps of paper. Somewhere in a generation or two someone will be interested in what we did way back in 2008.