Christmas memories

Christmas on Long Island was quite cold this year. Many days were only around 25 degrees F. Nevertheless, we took advantage of the slightly warmer days to visit some local sights. First, we went on our yearly visit to a local house that goes all out in the decorations department and collects funds for St. Jude Childrens Hospital. Sadly we discovered that this will be the last year that the family will be decorating. Here are a few videos of the many decorations.

As well as a photo of my son and daughter-in-law when they visited on a warmish night.

It was too cold during my daughter's visit to bring my granddaughter to see the house. 

There was also cookie decorating to do.

Even Natalie got into the spirit with a handprint on a Christmas tree cookie.

On Christmas Eve the tree was surrounded by presents.

And the stockings were hung.

We had a very nice Christmas celebration.

Ruby was a little bewildered by all the people.

My mother-in-law got to visit with her great-granddaughter who wore several outfits that day.

It was all topped off by a delicious Christmas dinner.

While she visited, Natalie enjoyed playing on a play mat I found at a local children's thrift store. There is mischief in that face.

We were all supposed to go to Westbury Gardens' Shimmering Solstice on the Friday before Christmas, but rain followed by plummeting temperatures force the venue to cancel that plan. The extreme cold temperatures made it impossible to attend any other night that my daughter-in-law or my daughter and her family were still here. Happily my son stayed a few extra days and we were able to see the event.Thankfully a friend's son was able to use the extra tickets so they didn't go to waste.

Here is a photo tour of the event. This is the view of the side of the mansion as you enter.

You walk on paths through the gardens of the mansion that are lit up with many different styles of lighting. 

That's Hubby walking through the arbor.

I thought the pattern on this lantern was gorgeous! Can't you see that as a quilt stencil?

There were fire pits, heat lamps and benches throughout the walk. There was even a hot chocolate food truck and popcorn cart. The wide hedge lined area below leads you to the mansion. When you arrive at the back of the mansion, there is a light show with music that is projected onto the mansion itself. It was very beautiful.

This is the final display as you leave down the front walkway.

Not everything went smoothly during the holiday season. On the Tuesday after Christmas, soon after my daughter and her family left, I decided to strip the beds and wash sheets, blankets, towels, and table linens as well as our clothing. The first load of wash was in the dryer, the second in the washer when my husband brought down the hamper full of clothes and immediately started yelling for assistance. He was fine, but our sewer line had backed up into our slop sink and overflowed across the basement floor. I don't have to tell you what was in all that mucky water. Thankfully, I think, I had left a big pile of sheets, blankets and towels on the floor and it absorbed a bunch of the water, but the water ran under one wall into the main part of the basement where there is a sectional, rug, television, computer and my sewing area. We used a big pile of scrap towels that we had to absorb the rest. Only the rug and one cardboard box that held my daughter's school keepsakes were ruined.....I was able to empty the box quickly and save the keepsakes...just lost the box. The plumber came within the hour and the sewer line was cleared. Needless to say there was a whole lot more laundry to do once he left and the whole basement tile floor to be washed. I am so glad this happened after most everyone had left and not on Christmas day. 

I hope you enjoyed sharing our Christmas celebrations.

Thanks for stopping by!

First Stitch Along Post for 2023!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it is 2023 already?! Wow! I am still working on the Woodland Animals Christmas Stocking for my daughter-in-law, this might be the last update on it for a while as I want to start the birth announcement for my future grandson. I don't need the stocking until next Christmas, but the baby is due in June. 

This is how much of the stocking I had completed for the last update.

I stitched a whole lot in the last three weeks.

 

The lynx and the elk on the left are now completed. The mother deer on the right is all stitched also and the bear above her is started. I have filled in a bunch of the snow and the tree as well. I really tried hard to get this finished for Christmas, but there is still a lot of cross-stitching to do followed by beading and assembling. It will get this done for next year for sure. 

Here is the birth announcement that I am going to start stitching soon. You may recall that my son bought this chart for me while on his honeymoon in April.

I have the Zweigart fabric and all but one of the necessary flosses. I haven't gathered all of the colors together from my stash just yet. 

I will now be making this for his baby boy. It looks like it will stitch up quickly. I am so looking forward to be a Grammy for a 2nd time. 

If you are interested, you can see a review of my crafts and life events of 2022 here.

  Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

2022 in review

It is time to look back on the past year and make note of all the crafts that have been finished and the family events that have made this such a wonderful year for me.

First though,  for Carol in Texas, the header photo is Little House Needleworks "Through the Woods".

April was an eventful month. First, I finished the Baby Elephant afghan for my first grandchild.

Later that month, Hubby and I traveled to California to celebrate our son's wedding.

In June, I finished the first of two vintage embroidered bibs. This one is quite small.

I finished my son-in-law's Christmas stocking in July.

I finished the second, larger embroidered bib. I don't think I ever posted the finished photo so here it is now.

We also celebrated my daughter's baby shower in Rhode Island.

I made the diaper cake that was part of a game as well as the centerpieces.

In August we took another trip to California to visit my son and his wife. We went to the San Diego zoo and did some other great sightseeing.

September was most notable for the birth of my first grandchild, Natalie.

I finished her cross-stitched birth announcement in October and had it framed.

I also made this cute little crocheted dog for her.

Hubby and I took a trip to Hyde Park, NY where we visited the Vanderbilt Mansion, FDR's home, Val-kill and a vineyard. We also had dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.

I finished hand-quilting a crib sized quilt that my mother hand pieced years ago. It still needs a label.

I also finished two sets of four Christmas placemats for each of my kids.

I made an ornament to commemorate my granddaughter's first Christmas.

I stepped away from stitching to make two cork Santa hats from the many, many corks that I have.

All in all, Hubby and I had a very happy and eventful 2022. Looking back, I did finish quite a few crafts this year. I have several WIPs that have been hanging around for quite a while, but I have several new projects that I want to work on also. I will make a blog post on all of those in the new year.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishes for all.

 

HQAL update and Christmas cooking

On our last update I was trying to decide whether to quilt a table topper that my mom pieced or her Overall Sam quilt. Ultimately, I decided to quilt the table topper as I needed to find a different backing fabric for Overall Sam. The navy fabric that my mom had ran terribly when I washed it and obviously couldn't be used as the backing for a mostly white quilt.

So I have been slowly stitching the center medalion of the table topper. It is almost done.

I am using the variegated brown perle cotton that I inherited years ago. I offered the thread choices to my mom and that is what she liked best. I have yet to decide how to quilt the borders. I was thinking piano keys, but they won't work at the corners, so I have to think on this.

The HQAL is an opportunity for hand quilters to share and motivate each other. The talented quilters below post every three weeks to show our progress and encourage one another. Stop by their sites to see what they are working on. If you have a hand project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Cathie 

I have been busy prepping food for the Christmas season. The first cookie that I made were good old Nestle's Toll House cookies. 

I haven't made a batch of these in a long time. I don't usually make them at Christmas, but my mouth was watering for them and they freeze well.

Then I stirred up a double recipe of Raspberry Walnut Thumbprint cookies. I made one half with seedless raspberry preserves and the other half with apricot preserves.

Next up was making Stuffed Clams to serve as appetizers on Christmas day. My mother got the recipe years ago from my Aunt Emma and she used to bring them to every Christmas celebration. Now I make them.

A local restaurant supply store sells the aluminum shells, but I am sure you can find them on Amazon.

Here is the recipe:

Stuffed Clam Shells

1/2 cup chopped onion              1/4 cupp chopped green pepper                  

1/2 cup chopped celery              4 Tbsp margarine

2 Tbls flour                                1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

dash of pepper                           dash of tabasco sauce (optional)

12 crushed Ritz crackers             1 can minced clams (do not drain)

1. Cook the onion, celery and green pepper in a medium sized saucepan until tender, but not brown.

2. Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook until thickened.

3. Stuff the clam shells. At this point you can freeze them and defrost before baking.

This recipe will fill 9 large clam shells or 15-20 small clam shells. (I always use the large) 

4. Bake on a aluminum foil lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

I tripled the recipe as everyone in my family loves these and ended up with 26 large stuffed clams.

Lastly, I made Peanut Butter Dog Treats as my daughter will be bringing her pup, Ruby.

Someday I will get a bone-shaped cookie cutter, but a plain circle sufficed this time.

I hope you enjoyed this post and try some of the recipes.

I am also joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

SAL update

Once again it is time for a Stitch Along update. I have been steadily working on the Woodland Animals stocking for my daughter in law. This is where I was three weeks ago.

Looking at this now, I realize how much I have been stitching. I have almost finished the bottom half of the stocking.

I added the squirrels and the bunnies. Here is an up close photo of the squirrels before I had done the backstitching on the bunnies.

I am going to keep working on this until Christmas, but I doubt it will be finished. I still have the whole upper half of the tree and several more animals to stitch. 

I have been very busy decorating my house for the holidays. You can see that post here. This coming week will be spent figuring out what to serve for Christmas dinner and baking cookies. I am sure I will work on the stocking too.

 Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world, so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, 

Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Thanks for stopping by!