A Very Happy and Healthy New Year

Can Christmas really be over and ready for a New Year? We had a very nice Christmas, saw the kids on Christmas Eve day and then came home, Al and I had a quiet Christmas Day.

I even had an order for 2 of my Homespun Christmas stockings 2 days after Christmas. Now that is REALLY starting early for next Christmas. Maybe we should all take a lesson and start early to make it easier.

In my mind I am making New Years Resolutions, perhaps I should put them down on paper so I have no chance to deny them. LOL

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Touch base and let us know how it goes.

Giveaway

You might want to look at this. Nana Thena has a giveaway which I am participating in.
Sorry I am so late in posting this but am still in cruising mode, I guess. I have not been swift in getting it together.

The Cruise.........

We went on a wonderful cruise this past month with my youngest sister and her husband and another sister and her grown children (with a couple of grandkids) and a brother and his wife. We had a grand time, although it was tough for Al to get around, the ship is VERY big.

The service on the ship was superb, no attitude, lovely people all of them. The ship is beautiful, staterooms are larger than normal and beautifully appointed. Food was good but not wonderful, probably better than most, although we went on another cruise where the food was really gourmet quality.

Three of us went to St.Maarten and I loaded up with souvenirs. Very inexpensive tote bags, I could not have bought fabric for what they charged for a good quality embroidered bag. T shirts and hats and bags were the items of the day.

It was nice to get away-----it was nice to be home.

Wedding is over.....

The wedding is done. I went to take pics and found my card was full so we will have to wait for Dianns pics.
It went off well, the weather in Florida was lovely, no rain and it cooled down the weekend before the wedding.

Sara had gotten real sunflowers and gerbera daisies for the bouquets and they turned out well. It was hairy with the thick stems of the sunflowers and the delicate stems of the gerberas but it worked. Just what she wanted. Lots of family turned up.

The shower ended up with lots of food, drink, balloons and presents. We had some fun games which Ashley emceed. I think Sara was happy. Joann worked very hard to make it nice for her. This is a time when lots of aunties come in very handy. Sometimes many opinions make it crazy but I am always grateful when the girls get together. One was missing due to another wedding commitment in California. We missed her.

The day after the wedding I went with Alison, Michael and Bailey to Blue Springs State Park. Wow has it changed since we started going there 20 years ago. We saw some huge fish and a few manatees. We met Billy, Di and Ashley there. Then we headed to Daytona to the boardwalk, sorry it was closed. All in all a great day. Later that day I took Melissa, Michael & the kids, Sam and JJ to Beef O'Bradys for dinner. (kids eat free on Tuesday) and we had a good chat.
Wednesday back to Massachusetts on Amtrak. (More about the Amtrak trip later)

A Florida Wedding

Sara is getting married in Florida, a wedding in the park and a reception at home. The wedding is a Fall wedding and basically a do-it-ourselves. My daughter Joann is giving the shower and working hard on making soap for the favors, she is cooking the food for the shower.

After my daughter Diann and I had a lovely lunch last Friday we stopped at Gardencraft to get ribbons and to check the sunflowers. We would love to have real sunflowers for the wedding but the ones at Gardencraft are so realistic you would have to be on top of them to know they weren't.
I did buy gold and sage green double faced satin ribbon for the girls bouquets. It is exciting to get together all the stuff for the wedding and the festivities.

Stay tuned for pics of the shower and the wedding festivities.

Labor Day

A beautiful day ending our summer. (Not that we really had one, summer that is)
The acorns are falling off the trees, though not as many as last year. Maybe that means we will not have a rough winter. Oh, we could only wish..........

I am using the acorns to make small wreath like centerpieces. It takes a lot of work, washing the acorns, letting them dry out and then gluing the caps on before you can even start the wreath.
I made it simpler this time by using some small pinecones along with the acorns. My original had nothing but acorns and took hours to complete.
I am cutting a circle of cardboard, with the center cut out--to make a place for a candle. Then I will glue around the perimeter small pine cones then start the acorns. Stay tuned for a tutorial.

Berries and more berries....

I have been picking blackberries and raspberries on the property here----hoping to get enough to make a couple batches of jam. Last week I made samples of salsa, orange marmalade and spicy corn relish for the Out of the Box Sampler. I sent samples of spices the first 2 months I was in the boxes, since I only signed up to do 3 months I thought 4 ounce jar samples would be a good thing.
Hopefully there will be some business from it.

Glad the blackberry season is over, my body is all scratched up. I saw some blackberries at Whole Foods and they were $19.95 a pound so I forced myself to pick every day of August.

My tomatoes have finally started to ripen, we put 3 plants in a BIG pot and 2 small plants in a topsy turvy, cannot say it is a better way to grow. The tomatoes are late due to all the rain and lack of sunshine. Hope the frost does not get them before i can make my salsa, it is soooo much better with fresh tomatoes.

September 3 Our summer ends.....

Where has the summer gone? Our family has had lots going on this past summer.
Graduations, parties,a clambake and lots of getting together.
Our Evan started MassMaritime 2 weeks ago, I went with his parents and brother to see him off.
It is an impressive place and those young men are VERY impressive.
They have a wind turbine which furnishes most if not all of the energy needs. Nice to see that at a college.

Ashley goes off to Hampshire college next week for her last year.

An After the Party critique......

Evans graduation party was this last Saturday. A gorgeous day at the South Shore. (DH says it poured here for 3 hours) But the Gods shone on our boys party. There was enough food to feed the army, lots made by his mum and more brought by friends.

Billy cooked burgers, hot dogs, ( of course) on the grill along with steamers and quahogs brought by nephew Brendan and a couple of pork roasts, cooked to perfection. Add to that the pasta salads, potato salads, tossed salads and the special Caesar salad made by Bills friend Michael and his daughter Mariah (from way back on the west coast) Aunt Linda brought bruschetta and Grandma made salsa and chutneys.

And desserts!!!!! Whoopie pies from Janet, pastries from Karen, cupcakes and brownies from Auntie Trish, and Di's oatmeal cookies, filled like a whoopie pie. (Can you tell this is a New England party?????)

I made him a Congrats pennant and forgot to take a pic. We hung it on the front of the house, only problem was the pennants were too light to stay flat. The wind kept twisting them.
James stood with the glue gun whilst I glued pennies on the backs, it helped but if you make one and are hanging it outside I would recommend weights, heavier than pennies. Tassels might work as weights if you can go to that expense.

When I was getting ready to get to bed at 12:00 o'clock there were boys and girls still coming in nabbing munchies and finishing off the desserts. The party was still going on around a campfire when Di went out to shush them at 3:30.

Around 8:00 a.m my son from next door stuck his head out and offered to go get me coffee, which I accepted gratefully. I peeked out back and there were shoes all around the jumpy, 6 big boys were curled up on the jumpy floor in blankets and quilts. The party finally ended.

It is raining again, thanks sun for shining on Evans day. All in all a great day, he is off to Mass Maritime in the Fall.

Cooking Chicken or Turkey

If you are cooking chicken on the grill or roasting a chicken, even roasting your Thanksgiving turkey. Brine it first. You can brine in the refrigerator overnight or for 3 or 4 hours.

2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar added to 2 cups of boiling water. Let it cool and cover chicken. What a difference on the grill or in the oven. Double the recipe for large amounts of poultry.

Pat the poultry dry, add any rub etc. and cook as usual.

You will be amazed at the difference in taste and it takes only a little time.

Some people have a life.......

Too bad I am not one of them. I laugh when I read my daughters blog. She is such a graphic writer. She takes you to a venue and you feel as though you were there.
She and her husband, and children, go to lots of concerts, etc. people I have never heard of cause I am a country girl, (you know, they used to call it country and western) and never got into all the Warren Zevon, Jimmy Buffet stuff. I just smile when they all start talking music.

I still like Anne McCaffrey, J.D.Robb, Vince Flynn and W.E.B.Griffin. Never could figure out Atlas Shrugged, or the relevance of Gloria Steinam to my life. I was never aware of the glass ceiling until all the women were complaining about it, and lifetime jobs are still an anathema to me. I always tried to give 60 minutes of work for every hour I was paid, actually I did not know any better.

August Rush is my very favorite movie of the year, I never watch them more than once and have seen August 3 or 4 times. Doesn't hurt that that cutie pie Keri Russel is in it.

You all have a nice weekend, looks like it will by sunny and warm, at last, here in Massachusetts.
I will be busily quilting all weekend.

Is Spring truly here?

It is warmer today and the sun is shining. My happy!!!

Time for planting and watching the crocuses and daffodils pop their little heads up. I am looking forward to warmer weather and being outdoors.

I have been busy setting up my spice and preserves shop on etsy. When I have time I am getting all my spices pictured and up on the site. I hate taking the pictures, never have been a photographer. My girls love taking pics, they have them everywhere. No such thing as digital cameras back when my kiddos were young. It was expensive to have pictures developed.

Well, check out my spicy shop on etsy,please. I will have over 75 different spices,nuts and seeds eventually. www.CountryGirlSpices.etsy.com

Oh those blogs.......

I have been checking out blogs today.
My daughter has a new one, check it out, http://igetthewindow.blogspot.com

Someday, perhaps mine will be as interesting as hers. She is a seamstress, does window treatments mostly but CAN do anything with a needle. I remember when her twin boys were newborn and rather than go back to her job she looked for something she could do at home and got herself a curtain job and it began from there. She has had a successful business for over 20 years.
When she was 16 she asked for a sewing machine for Christmas----she was very surprised when she got it.

I have been working on some new spring bags and have a couple of quilts in the works.
Though I do not work as fast or as much as I used to it is still what I do every day. The TV holds no fascination for me, books and the computer are my friends, and, of course, my sewing machines.

My grandchildren are the lights of my life, some I see more than others and I cherish them all.

Well, off to see what the Quiltsy Team is up to..........

Almost March can Spring be far behind

And a good almost March day to you all.
Still cold here in Fitchburg and we received 6" of the s word last week so we still have lots of it.

If you are looking around for quilts or wallhangings or just some unique quilted items go to www.etsy.com and type in quiltsy team. There are some very talented quilters on this team and you can find almost anything quilted, from grocery totes, to handbags to coupon holders, pillows and potholders. I am a happy member of this team.

I also belong to the RibbonRebels Team on etsy and have lots of ribbons, bows and hairstreamers, as well as some crafting supplies on my www.ribbonsetc.etsy.com site.
Look up Ribbon Rebels Team for interesting and unique bows etc.

Hi all,
Its February and still cold and snowy here in Massachusetts. The groundhog saw his shadow so we will have, at least, 6 more weeks of winter.
The porcupines are out around here and my DH says when certain animals are roaming that means Spring is close. We can only hope.
I have been weaving baskets and working on quilts, as well as making bows and hair streamers. The days are not long enough.
Gifts and decorative items are in www.theduchesscollection.etsy.com
I welcome comments

Happy New Year

Good Morning, Happy New Year, it is very cold here in Mass. about 8 degrees, we are huddled in today. Hope all had a quiet and Happy New Year.
Check back we will be weaving baskets soon. There might be a free pattern.

Have you made your New Year Resolutions yet?