Whirlwind Visit

 Last Friday I puttered in the sewing room waiting for the phone call to say my parents, brother and sister in law were almost here!  They drove from NY to FL.

 This is a Christmas gift from my kids-I had fun cutting out all the fabric so I can sew it all together again-you have to love quiting to understand this!  It is going to be fun to arrange all the fabrics!

 I also worked on the quilt on the frame for Millie.

 Finally!  The snowbirds arrive!  The temperatures were in the 80's and just what they needed to thaw out.

 On Saturday and again on Monday,  we hit the Realtor trail-this is the guy inspection-

This is Shelly rescuing a downed cactus.......

 ....the ladies check out the view,

 I check out the texture on the very tall sand pine tree~

 We took a drive to find out how far they were from the ocean-10  minutes is manageable!

 We got there just as the sun was setting behind us.

 The light was very pretty on the water........

We stayed just long enough to see it slip low behind the clouds.

I am knitting up a fair isle vest (Corrie Vest) which is a kit from KnitPicks.  It is fascinating to knit and see all the color magic going on under my needles!

Saying goodbye to Bob and Shelly last night was not the best part of this visit.......having Dad and Mom here now for the winter sure softens the blow!

Grout Grind!

 It was messy, and frustrating until I found my method but I love the results!  I have a completed and functioning fireplace!  Just in time for our three day freeze unfortunately!

 See the improvement on the neckwarmer!!!  All blocked and merrily on its way to Marsel!

 I plied some more cotton-I amstill enjoying the process of spinning the cotton on the takli.

 I finally finished the last of the men's suit samples quilt!

 The quilting echoes the cool colors-Bill gave it a try last night-because it is fleece lined, it is very snuggly!

 Bling is finally relaxing in the house-he goes in spurts of being a house cat for a few months and then transitions to an outside cat-he does not like winter , so we see him when the temps dip!  I think he might be smarter than I thought.......

 A new quilt from Millie is on the frame......

I have random flower pots all over the house to help them avoid the freezing temperatures-isn't this Italian spinach plant striking!

Mantel Masterpiece!

 I started in this morning setting the tile on the wall between the fire box and the mantel.  It was a little trickier to lay tile on the wall but I got the hang of it after an hour or so!  (No pun intended.)

 See the pretty design in the top tiles?  Tomorrow I will have to apply the grout between the tiles.  I am sure it will be a mess in the making..........  Bill started a fire tonight because we are under a frost warning!  We had to cover and move a ton of flowers to protect them.

 All my work tired Nyki out!  The fire sure is a feline magnet!

I did manage to get the neck warmer finished today..........it is now being blocked (overnight) and you will see a great improvement in the design and stitches when it is dry!  (Even though this is acrylic yarn, I learned from my blog friend, Lynne, that acrylic blocks very nicely also-thanks for the information!)

And because words hold a special place in my heart.......here is a little lesson on the spelling of the word
mantel        or       mantle        when referring to my fireplace!  But the word mantle also refers to the outer crust of the earth, part of a bird's anatomy, or layer of a mollusk to name a few.......see why words can be wonderful!    ( Further reading   mantel           or         mantle.   )

Closing Out 2011

 David enjoyed the job of crushing all the soda cans we emptied over our week of festivities! ( The price of aluminum has gone up enough to make it worth the saving. )

 Abigail enjoyed Wizard of Oz while Marsel and I sewed on her new quilt.  (We did finish all the blocks of an old one first!)

 Civil War reproduction prints in a two block quilt.  We worked out all the bugs so she can get to work on it at home!

 Bill found a surprise while spraying to kill some ant hills...........forget the ditty about red and yellow kill a fellow-it takes too long; remember black head, you're dead!  Bill has thumped it for my picture and then removed the head.  It was 28" long-good sized for this deadly coral snake.

All the Christmas decorations are taken down and put away for another year.  See how big the living room looks again!  I will be working on the tiles around the fireplace this week!
The last of my visiting family left this morning.  Always sad to transition to empty again.
But my brother and his wife are driving my parents down for the winter at the end of this week!  Yippee!

Merry Christmas!

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:11

Our Christmas Day

 Crafts with the grandkids........

 An abundance of sweets.........

 Plenty of chairs around the dining room table

 The fireplace mantel arrived in the knick of time!

A dip in the pool (74F) and lots of family time.  Christmas 2011 is memorable on every level.

Home Sweet Home

 We worked at making the rooms into home again!  Fresh bedding and curtains, no dust in the rooms!

 The room looks more spacious with the hardwood floors-wonderful! The picture over the bed is an aerial photograph of our farm in NY.  Bill worked on restoring all the lights/fans and the switch plate covers and then we worked to heft all the furniture in place-can you say Ibuprofen?!

 The dining room is more formal than I have ever enjoyed previously-very nice to have room for all the furniture now.  This set was my in-laws, they bought it when they got married in the 1940's.  Cool, huh?!

The china cabinet is filled with my mother-in-law's teacups and fancy dishes.  Very nice to give it all a good clean and rearrange it tonight!  (The cats added their own decorating touch-that is a turkey feather on the floor!)
 A few minor touches is all we have to do tomorrow-like shave 3/8" off the bathroom and bedroom doors because the new floor added just enough to render them inoperable!  It is so worth it!
I am almost ready for my family to start arriving!!!!!!!!!  Well, actually, they could arrive anytime and I would be ready for them!

I am Floored!

 This morning I applied the grout to the hearth.  It was messy work but looks so good when you are done!  Bill has tile accents planned for more places in the house-he really likes it , too!

 While the men were busy laying the floor, I had to go into town and this caught my eye.  The price was right and I became the proud owner!  It is fully functional, too, and will be great for demonstrations and home use!
I got all the parts in the car to bring it home but the wheel itself is 52" wide and wouldn't fit in my Toyota!  Bill went back and brought the  wheel back in his truck!  I will be practicing my cotton spinning on this!

 We have floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The hall to the dining room from the breezeway-Nyki is testing it out.

 JD is making good use of the dining room floor-the cats are very glad to say goodbye to the fast moving, busy, loud workermen!  See how nice the floors flow into the kitchen (right) and the family room (left)?

 The hall to the guest room.  So pretty and open now!  I am just thrilled with this, can you tell?!

It looks so inviting from the front door!  It has been quite the marathon of renovation but this is a big hurdle!
By Monday morning, Bill and I should have the energy to move all the furniture back into place!  Good Night!

Color My World!

 I slept late this morning because I woke up with another head cold.  I loaded up on the ibuprofen and got to work!  I needed to get to use the tile saw to lay the tile on the fireplace hearth.  Today was the day.

 I had a few glitches but got the rhythm finally and look forward to laying out the rest of the tiles on the wall when the mantel and surround gets installed-they promised me it would be here soon!  I will be applying the grout tomorrow.  It was hard to work on the floor-it is not as easy to do that anymore....

 Bill worked all day spraying the primer on all the new sheet rock.  When that finally dried, we began to roll on the new room colors!   It went well considering it has been a long day!  This is the guest room.  A tropical blue that matches the pool which you see out the window!

 The hall is the same color as the dining room-Sherwin Williams Comfortable Cream-it is golden which I wanted and almost a beige which thrills my husband!  We both love it.

 This room gets the morning sun and it will just glow.

 The hall will shine now, too, as there is only one small window, this will make the space more light and open.

We had the marathon of painting today because the men come back tomorrow to lay the flooring!

 In between coats, I did a little knitting.

 And a little spinning-the bottom bobbin is my before bobbin and the top one is my new and improved work-I see progress.  (Progress being smoother, thinner and less lumpy!)   I am enjoying the cotton finally!

I sewed some little gift bags-I think the pattern is from Hannelore Nunn from TheQuiltShow.com

Textures

 The doorways are all taped off and mobility is definitely impaired around here!

 The cats were very confused with our new traffic patterns!

 This morning when I had to walk around the front to the garage to come in the back way to my sewing room-I had a moment of panic that it was taped off, too!  The guys took the extra time and made it able to be opened for me!  Now that is kindness!  (The cookies I feed them helps their disposition, too!)

 I was able to finish the stocking marathon!  Bill and I already have ours, Marsel made ones for her family and is bringing them and now everyone else is represented!  Now all we need is the fireplace mantel!

 After lunch, I did some more on the quilt-and I did a lot of lay down time because I have come down with another cold!

This is why the guys had the new rooms closed off-they sanded everything and then used their sheet rock sprayer to apply texture to all the new surfaces!

I received a huge box of fabric from a blog friend, Benita, and the cats immediately inspected the emptied box!  She has two new kitties who sent feline messages to my guys!  Thank you so much for the additions to my fabric stash-I need another shelf just for your yardages!