Livin' La Needle Loca

...I can't believe how quickly this year has passed! Here's a photo of this morning's sunrise to document the day: I managed to take some photos of the quilt I finished. Here is Going Snow Global: Specs: Start date unknown; fabric line is from 2006, so sometime after that. Finished top and backing fabric: 12/31/12 Completed: 12/26/15 Pattern: Yellow Brick Road pattern by Atkinson Designs Fabric: Moda’s Nick & Rudy snow globe fabric and other Christmas fabrics in the line I also finished spinning the singles for Calypso [ Ravelry ].  I planned to ply it today, but that might not happen as we had a little fire drill this morning for a web site we manage. At any rate, the Husband and I have a bottle of Champagne chilling outside (it's cold enough that we don't need a cooler) and we have some munchies. We'll ring in the New Year tonight in a very low-key manner, as always. Happy New Year! .

...things got very busy at work right before I went on vacation and then spiraled into the Christmas chaos. I thought about posting a few times, but just didn't have the energy by the end of the day. Yesterday, I finally finished packing the boxes to be mailed and made the trip to the post office. The house looks like a disaster area, but at least that's done. I still have a couple of bags to deliver, but I'm pretty much done with goodies. Here are a few photos to show the volume of packaging that I do. Here is the biscotti staging area, right before I start putting them into bags: Here are the containers ready to receive cookies: ...and after they are filled and ready to distribute: All-in-all, I packaged 36 goodie bags/gifts this year. It's been unusually cold in our area and I wanted to knit a hat for the Daughter to help keep her warm. I tried this hat, but I wasn't happy with the tight cast-on edge: Specs: Started 12/17/15 Finished 1...

...a week before Christmas. Holy Cr@p! Today is my last day at work for the year. I packed cookies and biscotti for my co-workers. I managed to get one small batch of Peppermint-Chocolate bark made and into their goodie bags. The snowflakes turned out fine this year: and another view: Up this weekend: I need to make all of the chocolate bark, finish another batch of nuts and start packaging all of the goodies. I figure that will take a while, so I'll spread it over a few days. The goal is to get everything packed up by Wednesday so I can remove the extra table from the kitchen and get all of the baking supplies put away. I also need to finish decorating the tree and the house. This is probably the latest I've ever done that, but it's hard to get motivated when it's so friggin' cold at night! When I'm done with the packaging and the decorating, I can clean the house and get ready for Christmas Eve dinner. At the last minute, I decided to knit ...

...blog-and-run. This week is very busy as I clean up my desk so I can take my annual Christmas vacation. I have so many open enrollment things to wrap up! Almost no crafting is happening right now, but cookies and biscotti are. Saturday was Biscotti Day. I baked 666 (I know!). Sunday was Icing Day. All of the sugar cookies were frosted and I spread chocolate on a little more than half of of biscotti. I also made 16 cups of Amaretto Nuts and 14 cups of Grand Marnier Nuts. I made one batch of Macadamia-Lime Fudge. Still to make: Chocolate bark, Chile-lime Nuts Still to do: Package everything! Not to mention Christmas shopping...I'm going to need this vacation! Here are a few photos of Icing Day. The staging area (the dining room table): Bee and ornament cookies: Chocolate snowflakes: Peppermint biscotti: Cranberry-Pistachio biscotti with Gingerbread biscotti in the back: .

...and it's all Christmas all the time around here. Crafting has come to a stand-still. The biggest WIP right now, besides the baking, is out Christmas tree. We got it last Saturday and it's been sitting in a bucket of water until last night. We moved the furniture and brought in the tree. Getting it in the stand is always challenging, but we managed by trimming some branches on the bottom. Getting it upright took brute force. At some point we're going to have to admit our ages and have someone help us. For now, we can still handle it. After moving the furniture into the Christmas configuration, we decided that was all we could do for the night! I checked the stand for leaks this morning and found a small one. I puttied it and will check tonight when I get home.  If it's not leaking, I'll start decorating tonight. I have a few pictures from Sunday's cookie baking. Here's one; the rest are in my Flickr photostream . WIP Roll Call: Worked ...

...and the weekend report. Saturday was bread and cake day. The results: Lemon bread - 8 mini loaves Pumpkin bread - 6 medium loaves and 6 mini loaves Fruitcakes - 8 medium and 12 mini loaves We bought our Christmas tree Saturday morning, between the baking of lemon bread and fruitcakes. It's destined to come inside tonight after I get home from work. In between bread batches, I did most of the laundry. At one point I had 3 timers going: one for the oven, one for the stuff in the refrigerator, and one for the laundry. I also made the dough for 5 cookies that must be chilled before baking. Sunday morning, on preparation for my friend Linda's arrival at 1pm, I cleaned the kitchen, living room and bathroom.  I had already arranged to have the Husband do the grocery shopping so I didn't have to go out for that. Then it was on to baking Linda called and had to cancel...totally OK because her family had some time open up so they could go together and get their tree. It was...

...we had our card-signing party at the office today. Between that and some HR stuff I needed to do, the day got away from me.  So, I'm keeping this simple. One of our Thanksgiving guests brought a gift and flowers.  The gift was a beautiful, scented candle: The flowers are still going strong a week later: Up this weekend: The baking orgy begins! Saturday, we're going to get our Christmas tree. After that, I'll bake the fruitcakes, pumpkin breads, and lemon breads. I also need to make the slice and bake cookies so they can chill. On Sunday, our friend Linda is coming over to help bake cookies. While she's handling the slice and bake cookies, I'm going to try a new cookie.  Linda and I will do a taste test and decide whether it's a keeper. My goal is to finish all of the breads and bake most of the cookies. The following weekend will be biscotti and icing. Somewhere between now and the 18th, I need to make a batch of Grand Marnier nuts and packa...

...finished a couple of things, but really didn't make much headway on the WIPs or on my reading. Finished: 11/29 Sail (cross stitch) 11/22 Additional Christmas stockings for Jane (sewing) Books: Infinity Lost, S. Harrison, Daughter of Sand and Stone, Libbie Hawker Prince Lestat, Anne Rice Moonstone Beach, Linda Seed Wishes for Christmas, Fern Michaels Started: nothing Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Works In Progress, did not work on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...it's December. You know what that means...it's cookie time! Baking is my main WIP this month, at least until Christmas Eve!  I have purchased all of the ingredients, although there are two that haven't arrived yet. I will start baking on Saturday! WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] I have 20 of 67 inches completed on the scarf portion of this project. Works In Progress, did not work on: Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Sail (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)\ Tuscon Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...I managed to finish two things in the last 10 days. First, a completed cross stitch piece. This is Sail: Specs: Started 9/6/2015 Finished 11/29/15 Monthly Musing by Shepherd’s Bush I'm happy that this is finished. It's not my favorite piece because of the problems with the blues, but it's part of a series and it's done. Next is the stealth sewing project. It is now in it's new home, so I can reveal it. I made 3 additional stockings to match 6 that I made in 2008 for my friend Jane (story below): and She also requested that I embroider a new name on an already-completed stocking. Specs: Started 10/24/15 Finished 11/22/15 Created 3 stockings to match the 6 that I created for Jane in 2008. Fabric:  Nancy Halvorsen panels; unknown plaid fabric for binding; new backing and lining fabrics to match the colors of the originals The story: I originally made 6 stockings for Jane. Two were for Jane and her husband and 4 were for her daughter...