December flying by with family happenings

I am starting to do hand work in the evenings again.  Time is flying by.  I am spending a lot of time helping with the babies and Charlotte, but the babies are sleeping through the night, and I am also making better boundaries for myself.  It's all been a big learning curve. 

I love seeing my quilts used and loved!  At Kaela's, here's Eleanor napping on her nine patch... and the Christmas tree quilt in the background on the couch.  

I finished up Christmas stockings for the twins with simple embroidery - I had made a stash of these stockings while we lived in Tokyo. 

And a similar one for Camille to put next to Tommy's hanging from the mantle.   Starting next year they will be married and can fill each other's stockings;).  

I used a whipped straight stitch which looks more complex than it is.  I see how the fabric puckered but I'm calling good enough good enough. 

Kaela's twins were "blessed" at church last week - it's a special prayer where a baby is blessed and prayed over.  Their names are announced in the prayer, wherein a special blessing is also given.  It is more or less comparable to a baby christening.  Often this blessing is given by the baby's father, and no two blessings are exactly the same.  Joe did a great job (twice!) and there was such a spirit of love in the meeting.  Lots of family came into town for the occasion and we held a big luncheon at Kaela's place afterwards.

The babies are growing by leaps and bounds and we love being their grandparents! 

Meanwhile with a little more free time I'm getting our place in order... 

And David and I decorated for Christmas - this is our first year (in the U.S. anyway) with an artificial tree. Charlotte just loves it.  "What's this?" repeated 100 times, looking at each ornament.  

I've switched around my upstairs.  There are two rooms up there - a guest room and a bonus room (plus a hallway bathroom).  I've decided to combine the guest room and sewing room into one.  

Here's my the guest/sewing room with just about ALL my "stuff" moved into the closet, to make the room ready for company: 

We put three (!) twin beds in the bonus room and we are calling it "the dorm".  I put denim duvet covers on the beds.  They will be durable, and more or less "go" with any quilts I put at the foot of the beds!

My little nephews were so excited to be the first "dorm" occupants.  Here they are at Kaela's, decorating gingerbread cookies: 

Meanwhile, Noelle, my oldest, turned 30 - my how time flies.  I loved making her a cake - like old times - and bringing it over to her place.  We ate sukiyaki, YUM.   

David and I went to see a performance of Handel's Messiah one Sunday in Cary. 

And a Black Nativity performance in Durham last Sunday: 

Both performances absolutely knocked our socks off and got us into the Christmas spirit for sure. 

I'm starting to bake Christmas cookies, which I love to do.   Each year I try at least one new recipe for Christmas time.  Sometimes a new cookie, sometimes a new cake, or even baked donuts one year.  

The other day I tried this Hot Cocoa Mix, from a New York Times Cooking recipe that I simplified slightly (in terms of the proportions of chocolate to powdered sugar - I just used two bars of chocolate and didn't worry about exact measurements) and I really like it a lot!  I'm going to experiment with different chocolate bars.  Next up: raspberry dark chocolate combined with Cadbury milk chocolate.

Hot Cocoa Mix: 

1 C (105 grams)  powdered sugar

scant 3/4 C (90 grams) cocoa powder 

1/4 C (120 grams) dark chocolate (I used a 3.5 ounce (100 grams) Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar)  - chopped 

1/4 C (120 grams)  milk chocolate (I used a 4.4 ounce (125 grams) Lindt milk chocolate bar)- chopped 

3 tsp vanilla bean PASTE 

3 pinches fine sea salt 

Mix all together thoroughly in a blender.    Store in a large mason jar.  

Stir into piping hot milk-  2-3 T or to taste, per cup.  This mix will make about 12 cups of cocoa. 

YUM. 

I hope to post again before the end of the month but if not... 

  xo Merry Christmas to all my quilty blogger friends!  

Cynthia 

a blur of babies, and Tommy and Camille are engaged!

 

The biggest news out of October was that our son Tommy and Camille got engaged.  Yay!  We are so happy with this news - it just makes me smile!  They make a great and easy-going couple.  Tommy has started his job in San Francisco and they are thankful for the new quick and cheap direct flight from SFO to Provo, where Camille is in her senior year of college.  Lovebirds!   They will get married in May. 

We saw them a couple weeks ago.  We all convened in Boston for the weekend and drove up to a wedding (the daughter of dear friends, and she's one of Tommy's best friends) in New Hampshire together.   We saw so many great old friends.  Everyone, young and old, danced and danced, and it just felt like a joyful break-out from the Covid years.  It was so wonderful, just what we needed.  

Then, David flew directly to Japan for 10 days, and I flew home to North Carolina and back to this crew!

 

On Monday, Noelle came over to help with trick-or-treating.  It all started really early and the atmosphere on their street was so festive.  Afterwards, finally a chance for a family photo: 

David and I loved tending the babies while watching the parade of cuteness!  Joe, and then Noelle, passed out candy, while Kaela walked with Charlotte.  

The fall weather has been just glorious here and it's making us feel better about living in North Carolina.  Kaela loves fall and loves the "Fall Festival" quilt (Jan Patek pattern).  I love seeing her use it! 

I've been spending 10, often 11 or 12, hours at Kaela's every day.  She just needs so much help.  My sisters-in-law are helping some, as well as Noelle, and my niece Alyssa.  The church ladies have set up a "hold the babies" signup, now that Joe has gone back to work.   

I did take the morning "off" this morning.  I organized this-and-that in the townhouse, just puttered really, which felt great, then took a walk solo in the sunshine.  This is our street looking back towards our place from the mailboxes.

One of the things I love about this little neighborhood of townhomes, is that there are stairs leading up and in to a small "meditation garden" behind our ring of townhomes - nothing spectacular, but really lovely and sort of hidden.   I feel so grateful to live in a walkable neighborhood.  Now I just need to re-establish the actual habit of walking.   

Now I'm writing this blog post, and it's suddenly afternoon.  I can't even believe it.   After lunch with David I'm heading for a Walmart pick-up and then back over to Kaela's.  My sister-in-law Janette is there now, bless her.  My other sister-in-law Dottie drives two hours each way to come help sometimes - bless her too!  

Eleanor on the left, Amelia on the right.  Kaela paints their toenails - Amelia frosty white, Eleanor bright pink - and yes we check their toenails often!  

No quilting going on over here yet, but I did organize my quilting space in the bonus room:  

I keep my books in the adjacent hallway with all our other books, and I use a guest room closet for the other machines, extras, etc.  I de-stashed and gave my sister in law Dottie a bunch of fabric.  THAT felt great.   I have put child-safe "locks" on several drawers.  

The other half of the bonus room is for KIDS young and old! 

Oh! 

Yesterday morning on the way to Kaela's I early-voted at a nearby community center.    

PLEASE VOTE!  

xo

Cynthia 

Boston and Maine... and Indigo Sofa Throw finish

During my month in the U.S. we went to Massachusetts for a few days and reconnected with several good old friends (I wish I'd taken some selfies with each of them!).  

I do love Boston and it was so great to be back home-home for a few days. 

Then Tommy arrived and we headed to New Hampshire to our storage unit.... he found a few things he wanted to take back to college, and I sifted through some old photos for fun. 

The Christmas my brother and I got new bicycles, 1975: 

We rented a little house in Ogunquit, Maine for a week.  It was so cozy and homey.  I loved the trees and it was walking distance to cute shops and restaurants as well as the little beach.   We watched the Olympics each night.  I did a tiny bit of handwork.  I brought so much, but just worked on ONE block, lol. 

Beautiful gardens to admire in the neighborhood - 

Kaela, Joe and Charlotte were with us all week - 

Playing with Grandad on the beach: 

Soaking up Charlotte time: 

Noelle and Keenan joined us from North Carolina for a few days: 

My three children - my heart: 

Sweet Noelle:

Kaela did some haircuts on the porch: 

 

Beach baby: 

In our happy place: 

We celebrated Tommy's birthday and I gave him the indigo sofa throw.  How I forgot to take photos, I don't know.  But later he sent me some: 

It measures about 45"x65" - I used a mix of new and vintage indigo.  No batting.  Soft thick indigo backing.  

Susan Briscoe gives excellent instructions in her book The Book of Boro.  Highly recommended. 

When the throw was "finished" I added little patches here and there - with needle turn appliqué - to create the balance I wanted. 

Without batting, it is very compact but substantive with the heavy backing.  

I added our family's Pawlonia kamon to the lower left hand corner.   

David flew back to Tokyo from Boston and I flew back to Texas for an extra week with Charlotte.  You know the rest of the story from my whiny previous post, lol.   I am now back home in Tokyo with ten more days of quarantine - but we are allowed to take walks close to home, so it doesn't feel too restrictive at all. 

xo

Cynthia