Anya's Home!

Anya arrived home despite the ice storm only an hour late. Which was vastly better than her boyfriend, Steven, who had his flight canceled yesterday out of Boston. Hopefully he will make it home today. Anya was dead tired and went to bed shortly after our dinner with Josh. She actually got up this morning and had breakfast with us at 7:30 am!!

Above are some of my Christmas creations! I just finished the fleece baby jacket today for Elizabeth that I created from an old baby dress pattern . I had to switch the opening to the front and redesign the collar and pockets and added a pleat to the back. It closes with snaps that I covered with ribbon rosebuds I had in my stash. I bought the pink flowered fleece as a remnant (along with lots of other beautiful colors of fleece in a moment of weakness!).

The flannel for the boxers as well as the boxer pattern I've had for a while. I changed the pattern slightly by substituting a jersey knit covered waist band which I think is more comfortable. They have flat-felled seams - which take a while to make, but are worth it in looks, durability and comfort.

I knit a lovely headband for fun and just to try out the pattern and am currently tackling knitting socks out of colorful wool yarn. I have one more Christmas sewing project I will hopefully start and finish tomorrow.....we'll see. I'm also making another red dishcloth to give to Amy's sister Amanda. I must have made 3 dozen of those dishclothes by now this year! I seem to have to have several projects to work on at once. At least I'm done with baking cookies for a while. The chocolate dipped cheesecake bites were a hit as were the almond toffee crescents half dipped in chocolate and the spiced chocolate crinkles. I sent a plate of the pumpkin spice cookies in to George's work which they all loved and wanted to the recipe. Our circle of ladies at work did a cookie exchange so I have several other kinds to add to all the cookie plates we'll need during the next week's events!

Made a great pumpkin soup the other day (from the pumpkin that graced our table as a fall decoration - the cookies used up the rest of the recycled pumpkin centerpiece!) and a yummy mushroom soup as well. I've been baking oatmeal bread frequently since its become our new favorite.

Snow covers the ground here but at least it isn't ice! We lost power for 2 1/2 hours yesterday and branches fell from the weight of the ice in the morning.

Make it a good day!