Christmas Is Coming...

I have been derelict in my blogging duties - mostly because I've been planning and executing a few things.

All last week I prepared for Skip's birthday party. There were lots of lists to make, lots of groceries to buy, lots of food to make, lots of tidying, cleaning and last-minute things to do.
I procrastinated about ordering the cake. When I finally went to A & P and looked through their catalogue of cakes, I flipped through the Barbie, Spiderman, Dora and Simpsons cakes and happened upon a 'golfer' cake. Score!!!
















And here's the birthday boy with his cake:
















Another cool thing I did was finally make some window coverings for our front window in the living room. I painted the room 2 1/2 years ago and never did get anything on the windows. I thought, 'why not get something festive for the holiday season' and found some inexpensive sheer nylon fabric silkscreened with gold stars. After a $17 Cdn. investment and sewing a few straight lines, I had festive sheers.

(click on the photo for a close up view)

That is Skip's little tree adorned with bird ornaments and ornaments Scooter made and displayed as a small child.




Since the party, which was a big success, I've been doing some Christmas baking. Yesterday I made my sister-in-law's Chocolate Macaroon recipe (this one is pretty close) and also a bunch of Rolo Pretzel Turtles. I've also made devilled eggs for 3 events in the last two weeks. It's actually like an egg salad filling for the egg halves. The tortilla rollups I made were also very popular. To make them healthier, I used whole wheat tortillas and low-fat cream cheese. Also, last week made phyllo cheese and artichoke triangles. Unfortunately, I forgot to serve them at the party so we fed them to Skip's brother and his wife the next day when they dropped by with Skip's birthday card. They were yummy, if I do say so myself.

I love having parties because it forces us to get the house tidied and cleaned up. Over several days, I managed to get everything done (and all the detritus shoved into my office upstairs).

Last night was the pot luck event and ornament exchange for our Trillium Embroidery Guild. I contributed a hardanger ornament which Vickie picked.


Here it is before I cut around the buttonhole stitch and added the hanger.










Here are all the ornaments that were exchanged taken on my cell phone, hence the crappy shot.


The one I received was the lovely, fancy one on the left created by Amy who coincidentally happens to be a Sarnia native. The one I stitched is on the right in the middle above the long, thin one (Vickie's blackwork book mark).



After I got home, I started a toe-up sock using Judy's Magic Cast-On which made much more sense to me after watching Cat Bordhi's YouTube video. I'm using Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn and am enjoying how cozy the sock feels as I try it on at various times in progress.





















Today I'm pretty much having a pyjama day. That is, until I have to clean myself up and get ready for the pot luck festivities at Kniterary this evening. After that, I may head to downtown Oshawa to hear one of my former students entertaining on the piano at Izabella's Cafe.