Happy New Year!!!

Where to begin?????

Christmas and its many activities has come and gone and 2017 is here!  I did start a new job at the chiropractor's office, but discovered that it just wasn't going to work.  While I really enjoyed the work, I was experiencing lots of foot pain (have had foot trouble before, but not for a long time) from standing from 8-6 every day.  So, I gave notice and am now currently staying at home this week.  I may be returning to work part time at the Martin Community Center.  In the meantime, I'm gearing up for piano lessons to start next week, both at MVC where I will have 2 students and here at home, where I may have as many as 9.  

In early December, David and I participated in Journey to Bethlehem, a joint effort put on by 2 local churches.  The set design was amazing.

I was the village basket weaver.  Here is my station.

Over 400 visitors came to Bethlehem (they all had to register for the census), and it was a busy night.  I got 3 baskets woven to the rim stage that evening.

David is the shepherd (real sheep..........there was a real donkey named Dudley too).

Here are the 3 baskets finished.

The 2 round baskets are part of a 4-piece set (the challenge being getting them woven in the graduated sizes).  Here they are (the last 2 not stained yet).

They turned out pretty well.  This was something I'd always wanted to make.  The other basket was a gift for one of my nephews at Christmas.  The 2 older nephews got bread baskets (with homemade crescent rolls) for Christmas.

Christmas was lots of fun with many games and cards played.  Sarah also received a 1000 piece nutcracker puzzle which took her about 3 days to do.  She started it on the 26th and worked all day on it, totally ignoring the 3 new PS 4 games she had also received.

I know she's had fun being at home, but I think time is starting to drag for her.  She still has next week at home as well.  She has been trying to entertain Cici as much as possible.  Cici really enjoyed Christmas...........especially playing in the wrapping paper and boxes and checking out the goodies left for Santa.

Quilting has been in the works as well.  I started the Bonnie Hunter En Provence Mystery Quilt.  I have to say that now that it's almost done, I really don't like it.  I did a really good job keeping up with the clues though.

Here are some of the units layed out on my cutting table.  I have been watching posts online and think I may have come up with a few minor changes to make so that I will like it better.  While I like yellow, it think I'm going to cut it out of this quilt and replace those yellow squares with some half square triangles.  I don't normally use much purple or pink, so this quilt is quite a stretch for me.  So, I still have a few units to make before I start sewing it into blocks.

This year our quilt guild is doing a monthly scrap basket challenge.  Every month, a different color or style of fabric will be drawn and you can challenge yourself to use it somehow during the month.  January was solids.  I made this table runner (not quilted yet) from a new book I purchased in December.

TTFN..............what I really should be doing is cleaning up the sewing room.  None of the leftover fabrics from these projects has been put away, and I just need to do some organizing...............New Year's Resolution............keep the sewing room organized!

Christi