December!

Hello and welcome December! I love the last month of the year. It is filled with busy days, joy, music, church, birthdays, shopping, friends and lots of family fun!  I spent the days after Thanksgiving decorating our home. I have the house all decorated and today I will go over to my dad's to decorate his apartment. Once that is done, it's on to St Nicholas Day and my birthday celebration this weekend.

My daughter Angie always gives me tiny gifts wrapped up like an advent calendar for each day of the month of December. It is my birthday gift every year. I really don't know when she started this, but she has never missed for years and years. It is so much fun and I just look so forward to it and love it. Even the years when she was really broke, she gave me the same gift. Yesterday was December 1st, so I opened my first treat! How cute is this! It's a Cinderella slipper filled with Jelly Belly candies.

Thank you my sweet Angie.

Time for one more cup of coffee and then I need to get ready to go over to dad's. Let the decorating continue!

Tea Time Thursday #54~HAPPY THANKSGIVING

A quick note to wish all my blogger friends a Happy Tea Time Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving!
I love this holiday and I am looking forward to the day with my little family. I am so thankful that God has given us this time to be together and of course, I am especially thankful for our little grandchildren...Ava and Otto. Ava will be with her mommy this Thanksgiving and we will miss her.
I'm sure her mother will be so happy to have her for this holiday. We all have to share her! My friend called her a bonus grandchild and that really is so true! It will be hard to get my hands on Otto today!

When we were in Ilinois for Jim's mother's funeral, we stopped in a thrift store to look for an extra suitcase to bring back home some items. I found this night light for $2. It is so cute....a teapot shape with a turkey. I have a Christmas Spode on that is similar. I just love the gentle light.

We also had some good news last night! We have a new great niece that was born in Illinois. She's a tiny little thing. Welcome dear Audrey.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

It's almost Thanksgiving and I always get a little sad to say goodbye to autumn. We are going to take the kids to The Black Rabbit at Edgefiled this year. It's a sentimental place for our family and we are looking forward to it. Eric and Gina will be coming from Seattle.

Tomorrow is grandma's day with little Otto. I haven't seen him for awhile and I am looking forward to playing with the little guy. He's really at a fun stage right now.

Today I finished all my Tasha Tudor exchange gifts for St Nicholas Day~December 6th. I was in charge of it this year and it really was fun. I will post pictures after the 6th. Jimmy was very sweet and took all of my packages to the Post Office for me.

It's time for this old grandma to get some sleep! Otto will be waiting for me!

Tea Time Thursday #53

Something different for this Tea Time Thursday post! I found this little miss when I was out shopping with my good friend Lynda. Handmade and just a cutie made of wood. It just reminded me of the nursery rhyme " Polly Put the Kettle On". I love nursery rhymes.

I think my little miss looks a lot like the little maid in the graphics below. Her hat and her dress are really similar.

Here are the words for the nursery rhyme and the song. It was first published in 1803 and it is English.

Enjoy a  cup of tea and enjoy the graphics.

I handed over my two quilt tops to my friend Nancy to do the long arm quilting. I will get them back after Thanksgiving...exciting! Pictures will have to wait until after Christmas. I am now working on my Tasha Tudor exchange gifts for St Nicholas Day.

Tomorrow I am going to the Monticello Antique Mall Christmas Open House! I look forward to it and will do some Christmas shopping.

One week until Thanksgiving.!

Quilting

I spent the day at my little quilting group today. I am finishing up some projects that I started in October when I was able to attend my favorite quilting retreat. I was thinking of my other quilting friends and how much fun I had with them all. Most of the ladies live in Central Oregon and belong to the Scrapbaggers quilting group. We have given ourselves the nane Can Bee Quilters for the retreat held in Candy OR. It's a great conference center with very nice private rooms and good meals provided.

Here we are....all smiles and having a great time.

Susie is Gloria's friend from Hood River OR. I had actually been to a few retreats with her years ago.
She was having fun with a Jelly Roll race quilt in greens.

Charity quilts ready to be delivered. The group works on these all year. The contact person came to pick them up.

This is Nancy's modern quilt. Such a cute little fun quilt.

Kathy was finally able to finish her kitty quilt. It turned out so cute. I ike the boarder too.

Roberta and Ina were working on these amazing pot holders or hot pads. They are just beautiful.

One of Vicky's many quilt tops that she finished. She is amazing.

Nancy was helping Peggy make scarves. They are really fun to make.

Nancy was finishing her baby quilt. She didn't want me to take a picture, but how could I resist?

Peggy and Gloria are such good friends. They went to Alaska this summer with their husbands for 2 months! They had a ball.

Serious Nancy!.

I can;t wait to go back next fall. 

A November Sunday

How I love November! I cherish this month and I am always a bit sad when it slips away. I like the slower pace, the short days, the woodstove burning, thinking over gift giving and even time to work on some handmade gifts. This autumn month suits me.

Today is Sunday and the perfect for thinking and praying for my two grandchildren. We had a busy and fun week with the snow and ice and time with the little ones. I am so thankful that I have been blessed with grandchildren. I just didn't think we would be grandparents.

I wanted to share a few pictures from the busy and fun filled week with Otto and Ava.

Otto and Grandpa getting all bundled up for a ride in the stroller. They both wanted some fresh air.

Ava and Otto at the pancake house. Ava is so good with her brother. It makes me happy that they look like brother and sister even with different mommies.

Ava and I spent the afternoon and part of the evening yesterday playing with our American Girl dolls.
That's my Rebecca in the background. The dolls live in my Tea Room, in fact, they may be taking over the room!

This is Ava's doll Saige. Miss Ava is wishing for Samantha this Christmas. The doll is coming out of retirement.

Do you like November? 

November Snow on Tea Time Thursday #52!

Tea Time Thursday....in the snow???? In November???? In Oregon???? Unthinkable yet oh so pretty and a treat really. I know some of you must be laughing, but we don't get much snow here in Troutdale, so it is a novelty for this month. My charity quilting was cancelled and Jimmy didn't have to babysit Otto, as Angie works for the Centennial School District and the schools were closed. A bonus day for Jimmy and Linda! The reason school is cancelled here is that when we get ice, it's really dangerous with all the hills in this town. We did have ice before the snow and we may have more later in the afternoon.

I snapped this photo a few hours ago and it's been snowing ever since. The temperature dropped and the freezing rain became snow. It may shift back later. I put on a big pot of homemade soup and the woodstove is humming. It's a good thing that Jimmy got our snow tires on last Monday.

I wanted to share my fall card and tea exchange that I joined in. I belong to the very fun ATAA group, which stands for Afternoon Tea Across America. I have been a member for almost a year now. LaDonna does just a fantastic job as moderator and organizes these card exchanges. I LOVE going to the mailbox and finding treasures for days. We send along tea and some little tuck ins. It is amazing how creative these ladies are with little goodies. I can't bear to part with my cards, so as I have shared before, I like to keep them in albums. I just like to look at them sometimes.

These were the cards I chose for the autumn exchange this time. I love to find artists on Etsy or Ebay. It is nice to support small business whenever I can. I put my tea and a goodie inside the little treat sacks that I also found on Etsy.

Thank you to all the ladies that participated in the exchange again. Our Christmas group is so large that we will only be sending cards...38 people signed up! How fun is that?

The other nice thing about these exchanges is all the different teas you get to try. I think it's time for a cuppa as I watch the snow fall, just a bit longer.