Just have to brag for a minute. Raf, Tommy's best friend, got a call yesterday from his wife. His daughter has won a FULL scholarship to PRINCETON in MATHEMATICS.

As I was looking through the pictures on my puter tonight, I came across the ones of the goodies Elizabet of http://veridianeyes.blogspot.com/ included in the wonderful Victorian boot I got from her in the CQforNewbies swap I hosted this fall. She sent me some wonderful treats.

I thought that since I had mentioned them earlier that I would post pictures of some of the pieced blocks I will be working on during TAST. I just sat down one night and began putting the pieces together using the flip and sew method and the machine. Originally I started out sewing them by hand, but I have never been known for my patience.

In January 1985, 6 months after high school graduation, I got my first post high school job. I was a cashier at a local Wendy's. While the job was less than memorable, I did gain something that I thank God for everyday....my best friend Allison. We are so very different and yet the same. Even though she didn't finish high school, she kept at me when college got hard and I wanted to quit. She cheered me on through both my degrees. She was with me when we buried my dad. She was my matron of honor when I married Tommy. Now she is helping to plan our 5 year vow renewal in 2008 which be in full Renaissance dress. (Yes, I am making most of the clothes, which is why we are starting a year ahead of time.) I don't know what I would do without her. We can go a year without talking, rare, and still pick up as if we had spoken just an hour before. I look forward to the next 21 years with her.

I have to share this picture with everyone. This is my family and they all look so happy and all at the same time. From left to right: Jeremy, my brother; my mom; Tommy, my husband; Sheila, my sister in law; Thomas, my nephew.

While I have not done any cq since before Thanksgiving, I have been busy sewing. I made two reversible quilted blankets for the great nieces of my best friend Allison. I appliqued their names on the flannel side to match the reverse side. Misty, Rose's mother, said she loved the blanket so much that she was not going to let Rose use it but was going to use it as a wall hanging instead. I soon set her straight on that point. I now have orders for a couple more blankets for other nieces and nephews who felt left out.

Marie, my mother in law, loved the velvet cape I made her. I think Tommy did a very good job of choosing the color.

Jeremy, my gorgeous 21 year old brother, enjoyed his nice warm flannel robe. He also liked his colorful jammies.

A week from today, January 2, Sharon B.of the blog http://www.inaminuteago.com/blog/ is starting her Take a Stitch Tuesday. This is a year long challenge in which each week she will introduce a new stitch. Those of us following the challenge will explore the stitch using a variety of threads and forms. Since I only know about 5 stitches, I am hoping to learn so much. To read Sharon's post about TAST, go here http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php/take-a-stitch-tuesday-challenge/. So far she has over 100 people who have joined the challenge. I am planning on working on several pieced blocks during the challenge.

This fall in the group CQ for Newbies, I hosted a Victorian Christmas Boot/Stocking swap. Fifteen ladies participated. They each created and embellished a boot and filled it with four squishies of goodies. On the 15th of November, I emailed eiach of them the name of the person to whom they were to mail them. No one knew whose boot they were going to receive until they arrived in the mailboxes. These ladies are very talented and creative. I hope they are thinking about next year's boot as this swap has been requested to be repeated.

Well, it is one week til Christmas Eve. Am I ready for it? NO NO and NO. We are pinching pennies this year (a nice way to say we are sooo POOR…lol) and I am making all our gifts. HHmmm, with the exception of a few small ones. Tommy, Raf, and my brother Jeremy are all getting jammies. Jammies are simply scrubs in wild fabrics. They are also getting robes. Tommy picked out some flannel that has flames on it for Raf’s robe. Raf always says he is “sooo hot!”, so Tommy thought it was appropriate. My mother and my mother in law are both getting capes in crushed penne velvet. Mom’s is cranberry and Marie’s is gold. Mac, my father in law, is getting his usual gift card to the Outback. He loves that place. As for my beloved husband Tommy, I was finally able to get him something he has been wanting for a while…..a MP3 player. When RadioShack had them on sale the day after Thanksgiving my mom went and picked one up for me. He is going to be so surprised.

Monday, the 18th, was Zoe’s birthday. She is a year old. Tommy says she is no longer a puppy but now a dog! Why then does he continue to call her Zous puppus??? Our vet, Dr. Mike, says Zoe is getting so fat. Tommy says she is just healthy. He said she is going to be a tick—big body with a little head. He is such a silly man.

This weather is absolutely crazy. We went from temps in the 60’s to the upper 20’s and then back to the 70’s all in the space of 10 days. Is it any wonder that we all got sick. Raf is to blame though, he got it first and brought it home. He missed three days of work. Tommy ended up having to work a double one of those days. Boy was he ticked. Then, just as Raf is starting to get better, Tommy gets sick. Why is it that grown men always revert to being small children when they are sick??? I could probably make a fortune if I could answer that question. I have been fighting off the bug for a few days now. So far I have done fairly well. Unfortunately, my sinuses laid me up for several days. Started out with a migraine, (dang do I hate those) and then went straight to the eye and ear area. A few years ago, I had my jaw dislocated and now every time my sinuses flair up, that area is the most painful. It took me a while to convince people I didn’t need to go to the dentist; it was my sinuses making my teeth hurt. I was finally able to prove it to them. Now they just hand me sinus meds and it soon fixes everything. I think now though that we are all on the road to recovery. Raf is back at work. Tommy took one day off and slept the entire time. And me, I’m still taking meds swearing I’m not gonna get sick.

December started off with a bang. Friday, the first, was my birthday. I turned 41. Am I getting old or is everyone around me just getting younger? My mother in law called me at midnight on Thursday to sing me Happy Birthday. I was already sleeping so Tommy didn’t wake me up. She called again the next morning. Tommy got me a new digital camera and my mom sent me fabric for a skirt and a jacket. Who knows when I will have the time to make me anything. Other than Tommy telling me as he was going out the door to work that he would eat there, which meant my birthday dinner was a lonely bowl of cereal, it was a quiet day.

Tommy only gets two days off for Christmas and they are his normal days. We will be making a whirlwind trip north. On Sunday we will make the six hour drive to his parents house and have Christmas with them, Then on Christmas Day we will drive an hour and half east to my family and have Christmas with them. Late that day, we will make the five hour drive home. Tommy then has to go to work on Tuesday. I will need to sleep to two solid days after that. Much to Tommy’s dismay we are taking the dog with us. He wanted to leave her here with Raf, but I said no way, she goes.

New Year’s Eve we are having an open house. It will mainly be people from the hotel where Tommy and Raf work. Several people from the surrounding area in the French Quarter are also coming. It should be fun.