A Christmas quilt

When I have the time I love to sew or create something. 3 years ago when my mother got really ill and we thought we were going to lose her I started a quilt for her to have during her hospital stays. She loves purple and having some really pretty purple pansy fabric on hand it was easy to decide what to use. The kids even chipped in by sewing a block a piece and signing them. Thankfully she got better and the quilt top got put away. My two best friends, who are quilters also, have been bugging me to get it done. Mom's health is not very good and we've made tough decisions about where we want to go with her health care next year. So I knew I needed to get it done. The top was originally a twin, remember she was going to have a lot of hospital stays. I decided to make it a double though and added extra borders. My two wonderful friends had it machine quilted and we gave it to Mom for Christmas. She was thrilled.

Mom gets her quilt and she is thrilled.

Here's the front side. She's tickled purple so to speak.

Happy New Year everyone. May you and your's have a blessed year.

Love, The Kramers

A Belated Merry Christmas and Winter home tour

We hope every one's holiday season has been wonderful. The last few weeks have been just hectic. With two in high school that's double the semester final studying load. We were up until 12 and 1:30 a lot of nights. That's probably why we got sick. I know you're wondering why homeschoolers are having to do semester finals, but let me explain that we homeschool through a charter school and are required to do assessments. The kids take a science class and math classes with the charter school and they had to take their semester finals with them. I had to create history and English finals. I'm so glad it's over with. It probably wouldn't have been that bad if we hadn't gotten behind with our work. The play practices and other things took a bit of time out of our schedule.

I know we're behind but I'd really love to show the winter decorations that we have. We don't decorate for Christmas but I love to decorate for winter. I love snowmen and pine trees. It's a challenge to find ones that aren't decorated for Christmas, but one that I enjoy. I leave my winter decorations up until about Valentine's day. By then it's getting a little warmer and I'm ready for a change again. So let me begin with:

Grab a cookie and come along with me.

This beauty. Do you recognize it? Yep! It's the hutch that took the team to nationals in Las Vegas this summer. WE WON IT AT THE RAFFLE!! Of course I bought tons of tickets and that helped. Fortunately I had painted the living room walls in anticipation of winning. The dining room is too small to hold a table and a hutch. I'm not sure what I want to put in it yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Here's the inside of it with the doors open.

I have two winter teapots that I just adore. We use them Christmas eve for hot cocoa and popcorn.

Here's the new shelf that hubby installed above the corner sink in the kitchen. I'm thinking I'll have to get another light fixture because it interferes with the shelf display.

Here's another angle of the shelf. I still have to paint it, but I'll get it done eventually.

This oak shelf Neil made for me several years ago. When we did Seth's room redo I had to find another place for it. So I put it back in the dining room which prompted so other shuffling of things. I've put my collection of milk glass here. My collection is getting such that I'll either have to find another home for it or not collect it anymore. This is one of the two corner shelves in the dining room. If I were more tech savvy I could put those little send ya to the former blog where it's mentioned things in. I'm limited though.

The last day of finals finds us looking like this. Of course it's a perfect place if you're a cat in need of a nap. Hope you've enjoyed looking around and that your New Year is one of peace and blessings.

Amanda

Waiting to catch my breath

Oh my goodness! I didn't realize that it had been a month since I've posted. I've checked in on a few blogs, but haven't had time to write anything. I'll try to get something in next week. We're doing a really big push to get things finished for the semester. Hope everyone in blogland is doing well.

XOXO
Amanda