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 

To Texas and North Carolina... with quilts

My month in the U.S. is drawing to a close.  It's been pretty wonderful, in between some stressful travel days here and there.  

First up, Texas - we got vaccinated immediately, the Johnson and Johnson "one and done".  Such a relief to finally be vaccinated. 

The thrill was David finally meeting Charlotte for the first time!   Very happy Grandad!

I brought Charlotte her butterfly quilt: 

Little lovey napping with her log cabin baby quilt and an afghan made by her paternal Grandmother.  Cozy, so sweet. 

She really likes the little kawandi quilt too and brought it over to Kaela last night - so cute.  It's a bit of an "eye spy" or "identify the colors" type of quilt and it's pint sized and soft with the double-gauze backing. 

Minnie hanging out with me in my room: 

I sometimes joke that in this house, every quilt is also a dog quilt (I don't mind).  

I also brought them their Christmas quilt.  I tacked back the binding over several evenings.    Kaela is real pleased with it so that makes me happy: 

Did I mention that every quilt is a dog quilt?  Minnie wanted to get in on the action. 

After a week we flew to North Carolina for four days.   Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was so in the moment I hardly took any photos. 

Walking a possible lot (the dream is to have my brother David build us a house in or near Chapel Hill, once our time in Japan is finished) 

 

My brother in his new shop: 

And the cozy apartment he and Janette created above it, to live in while they build their next home.  

In North Carolina we stayed with Noelle and Keenan in Raleigh and sure enjoyed the beautiful trees outside our room: 

Two of their cats - cozy cozy. 

Noelle's college quilt still in use;).  

I gave Noelle and Keenan their Christmas quilt too (no photos!) - I think they will enjoy it! 

Next we went to Massachusetts and Maine and I will blog about that next. 

Right now I'm finishing up my extra week in Texas, nursing a bad head cold (ugh), expecting a negative result from this afternoon's COVID test....  and David is already back in Japan quarantining in the apartment.   The bad news for me is that Japan just added Texas to "the list" and I will be put into a government designated facility for the first 72 hours of my quarantine.  Fun times ahead (not).  

I'm packing some provisions to supplement what is bound to be a difficult-for-me food situation during those three days.   I expect a lot of fish and mystery items, but I also expect I will have a water kettle to use (standard in Japanese hotel rooms).   And wifi!  Please let there be good wifi! 

So, I will blog again in a few days, during my "hotel jail" time.  ;).  

xo 

Cynthia 

Christmas trees, and furoshiki

 I've been really busy lately but just about every day, I make a few trees for Kaela's Christmas quilt.  I have 24 out of the 38 trees made, and most of the cutting done, which is half the battle.  

It's really straightforward piecing for a very straightforward quilt.   I love making these while listening to music, a podcast, or a book. 

The other day I saw this wonderful episode on NHK (Japanese public television) about furoshiki.  

Furoshiki are wrapping cloths, used to carry goods or wrap presents. If used as gift wrapping, the furoshiki stays with the giver to be used over and over again. 

Click here for a link to the program.  

I collect furoshiki with Christmas wrapping in mind.  They are beautiful and eco-friendly.  Theoretically if I have enough furoshiki, at some point I won't be buying wrapping paper anymore (except for any gifts I might mail).   I also love the idea of the wrapping becoming familiar year after year.  

Of course we quilters can also hem pieces of nice Christmas fabric and use that!   Do you ever use fabric as wrapping paper??  

Anyway, David helped me find the shop featured in the program -  Musubi, which was quite tucked away in Harajuku.   I really wanted to support a local business while adding to my collection.  

Very hard to choose. 

Some were beyond beautiful and prohibitively expensive. 

Others were in my range and I did purchase a few, to add to my budding collection.   

They wrapped my parcel up in a complimentary furoshiki (photo taken with permission) - 

"Shippo" (seven treasures): 

David really liked this little "confetti" furoshiki: 

There is so much to appreciate in Japan in terms of design!

I loved this one featuring trees and animals, and an injunction to "MOTTAINAI" (waste not):

I leave you with this just for fun - the storefront of a small boutique clothing store in the same neighborhood - gotta love Tokyo!   

Back to my forest of pieced trees... 

xo gratefully 

Cynthia