Merry Christmas!

 Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Minimalist Christmas: 2015

Our Christmas tree this is year, is ten inches high.  It might be difficult for some of my friends to believe this; the weekend after Thanksgiving usually mean my house looks like Christmas exploded inside it.

For years, my son has asked me "What do you want for your birthday or Christmas?" My reply has always been, "Less."  I don't want him to worry about buying something for me.

Last year was a game changer.  I finished decorating the house, took the dog for a walk and promptly broke my foot.  At least the house was decorated until Christmas Eve--in the middle of cleaning the house and cooking for our annual brunch--the unexpected happened: I got vertigo.  I don't remember much after going to the doctor except that I told my husband, "you have to do all the cooking and prep."  And he did.

Christmas day I kept falling asleep (from the vertigo medication) and all I know was that the holiday survived despite the fact that I was checked out.

I probably would have forgotten about all this except I spent some time this autumn deleting photographs.  I stumbled on this one from 2012:

the land that Christmas forgot AKA the after Xmas mess.  My little sewing area is in the attic and after the holidays, I would not only have to put away all the decorations but then tackle all the stuff I had moved to the attic to make room for Xmas...which of course became worse if I was doing some last minute gift sewing.  It would take nearly the whole month of January to get the house back in order and those memories flooded back as I reviewed old photographs.

So this year, all the boxes of Christmas decor have been ignored.  I spent 5 minutes decorating the window from my grandmother's house which sets above our living room wardrobe. Included is a ten inch high Christmas tree that I once used to decorate a doll house for Christmas.

My friend Beth gifted me some small glass birds (I'm an avid bird watcher) and I put them and a few other birds on a teeny tree.

And the funny thing is, I'm happier.  I feel absolutely liberated.  The Christmas presents are already wrapped, the house is in better order than in years past, and I have more time to think about things that truly make me happy.  Today I'll start preparing the cookie dough.  Some of the cookies will be served on Christmas; more will be given away to some of the seniors in our neighborhood that have become very attached to Seamus.  

I'm not ready to dispose of our regular tree.  I might feel differently in years to come and want the whole Christmas experience again.  But I wanted to post this to remind myself that it doesn't really matter.  This year I don't have to tell Peter I want "less" for Christmas.  I gave that gift to myself.

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Pennsylvania Piecemaker

My new blog is up!  Please join me at www.pennslyvaniapiecemaker.blogspot.com for insights and thoughts about quilt collecting, history and the joy of living in Pennsylvania! :)

A Quilt for Maggie

Maggie is my oldest niece and I finally was able to give it to her this weekend when she visited!  The quilt has been finished for a while but I wanted to give her the quilt personally.  She is busy most of the time, working on her degree and also has a great job in the science field.
She picked out the fabrics, etc. and I was happy to make it for her!

Simple but hand quilted and I hope she enjoys it in her condo!  Love you gal!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Wishing you and your families a happy and blessed holiday!

Hugs, Mickie and Seamus

Prayers for Paris

Crossroads

I've been using this blog for many years.  It started when I babysit my granddaughter and I wanted to share photos and anecdotes about her and our life with the poodles.  We had three poodles then, and Helena was not yet in school.  It is shocking to me when I think about the fact that she will be 12 years old in a few months.

Life changes.  I don't feel comfortable posting photos of the kids on the internet anymore and to be honest, we don't see them as often because of our schedules and theirs.  My business has grown from being a lecture every few months to actually having to schedule time off in order to develop more programs and catch up on things at home.

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I'll always post now and then on this blog.  But I want to focus more on the work related blog.   Part of the reason for the new blog is that many guilds have requested that I offer a blog for them to follow.  Additionally, I need to concentrate more on my research and continue to focus on writing. The new blog will be launched December 1.  I'll post a reminder of that when it is up.

Hope you are all doing well and having an easy (and warm) autumn!  Hugs, Mickie

Last tomatoes, winter on the horizon...

I've picked the last of the tomatoes and have been gradually been putting the garden to bed for the season.  There is a lot going on here (my husband's health) but will wait to post about that later.

Nothing cheers me up more than acquiring new quilts.  I struck gold at a local auction last week when I got a day off just to myself (a rarity these days).

This is an Amish quilt from Lancaster County, circa 1905.  I can't photograph the quilting too well but believe me it is a beauty!  Anyway, I just wanted to post something before the end of the month.  Hope everyone in blogville is doing well.  Hugs and hugs!

The apron, the poodle and a wonderful weekend!

Don't ask Seamus about last weekend.  He was a bit miffed despite all the company we had visiting!  Dear Jessica and Peter came up for the weekend.  They wanted to get out of Philadelphia during the Pope visit and spend some time with family.  We had a great weekend!
On Friday Jessica had another sewing lesson--this time with my friend Carol who taught her how to make an apron, we had a wonderful day!

Working away...except SOMEONE wanted to be in the middle of everything which kept Jessica giggling...

 Seamus is very attached to Carol.  She accompanies us on our evening walks and he can always rely on her to throw the ball except when she is explaining how to sew an apron....

 Adoring looks at Carol....

 When one tactic doesn't work, try another...

 The finished project!!!!

Peter had picked out a great movie for us to watch on Saturday night.  It was a perfect "mom" movie called "Chef."  If you haven't seen it, I recommend it!  It was very heart warming and funny!  
Other things are occurring here and will be keeping me busy during the next few weeks.  More updates about that later...
In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!