I got my design board set up!!!  Here's part of the quilt I started last year.  I couldn't get all of it on - it's going to be a big quilt!  

I'm happy with the setup - much easier to see that laying it flat on the table.  

Yesterday was Ralph's birthday - he's 62!!!!  He got the best birthday present from Margene - she came down and cooked liver and onions for him (Alli and I had something else......)  She treated him royally - grass fed bison liver, organic onions and mushrooms.  I fixed the sides for them - rice and green beans with mushrooms, and then left the to enjoy their liver.  After dinner, we watched Divergent - Ralph just finished reading the books.  Margene left us the next movie in the series  - Allegiant.  We'll try to watch that this week too.

While they were eating, and during the movie, I finished up a crochet project and most of another - not bad!  Lisa has requested a red headband with a heart on it for Valentine's Day - she wants to wear it at work at the Casino.  I had her look at a few pictures I put on Pinterest for what she was looking form, and Here's what I finished up last night.

The beginning and ending of it is the the adjustable "Baby It's Cold Outside" headband pattern from awholelottaknotting.com found here.  Then I just did a double crochet for the main part.  I think I'm going to put the hearts on a pin so she can pin them wherever she wants to on the headband.  I still needs a button too.

Then, rather than go dig through my buttons during the movie, I grabbed some yarn and started this baby hat.    This will be a snowman hat from Repeat Crafter Me - here is the link to her pattern.

Buddies!

The book club group!   They loved their Christmas presents - gloves and scarves!  (They liked the snowmen bookmarks too)

Turns out most of us either didn't read the book, or didn't like it - To Kill a Mockingbird was a better story, personally.  It was still a fun evening, even though, once again, there wasn't a lot of discussion about the book.

AJ and I took the dogs for a walk Sunday.  Clover Creek is way up!  It was even higher the next day - Jasper wouldn't even get in it on Monday.

Beading Day Saturday (and maybe today too.....)  Here was the table yesterday with all the beads spread out.  Meredith, Veronica, their Mom, and Emma were there to create.

And the two bracelets I made:

I also finished up (finally) my scarf with jewelry attached - no picture of it though.....maybe tomorrow?

So yesterday, I sewed......We have a new quilt for the year at my quilt club.  We have the option of 2 different quilts - I'm doing Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt.

This month, we are doing the first 5 blocks on the top row.  I got three of them done!!!  A suggestion from the author is to make some mini-design boards to use - some of the pieces of the material are tiny!!!  (3/4 inch squares!)  She has really nice directions here and here for making them - even a video if you like.  You use a foam poster board ($2.77 I think at Walmart) and it makes 6 10 X 10 boards.  Then, you must decorate them...(to quote Lori Holt - "if it's worth making, it's worth making it cute!")  

So, I made 6 of them.....not bad!  I admit - they are very handy with the blocks from the quilt.  I don't know that they will work as well for my bigger blocks.....so does that mean I get to make more???

And now, not only do I have finches and song birds at my feeders, I now have quail!  They are so cute!  And fat - though they are probably just fluffy - it was pouring rain all day yesterday.  According to the paper, we have received almost 8 1/2 inches of rain THIS MONTH......no wonder I feel soggy!

Rain, rain and more rain.  Bring it on!  (Though I will admit quietly to myself - I'm tired of it!)  Today is supposed to be a break between storms - two more lined up ready to come in.  That means that the weekend will be wet.  That's okay - I have indoor plans - Meredith, Veronica, their mom and I are getting together Saturday for some beading fun.  Allison may be playing with us - Ralph may be kayaking.  He hasn't gone since the 1st of the year, so he needs to go, so...I need to take Alli with me.  

Poor Alli - Wednesday night, I cooked the frozen battered fish fillets.  She took one bite, spit it out, and then proceeded to 'purge', just in case she had swallowed some of that nasty stuff.  Yuck! Then to add to her misery, later that evening, her right eye swelled shut.  Just her right eye, so I don't think it had anything to do with the fish, but....I'm not cooking fish for her again!  She missed school yesterday because her eye was swollen shut.  Much better today, and she is off to school!

Book club is next week  but I was confused and thought it was this week.  The good news - I'm almost done with the book, and since I thought it was this week, I'm done with the bookmarks.  We are reading "Go set a Watchman by Harper Lee.  I couldn't come up with anything from the book for a bookmark, so.....we got snowmen!!!!

I found a pattern here for a pattern, and then modified it a bit (she did hers in yarn.  Since I was using thread, I switched to half double crochets instead of single crochet to make the body bigger).

I think they turned out cute!

The lights are in!  I can't get a good photo because of the dark, but they are really cool.  They are in lots of colors (though I prefer just the plain old white) and can rotate through them.  Ralph likes the orange because it looks like a volcano.

I got the best Christmas/New Year's present.  I put up a bird feeder in the front yard a week or so before Christmas, and Christmas day, the birds finally found it.  At first, it was just the seed on the right being eaten, but on Saturday, the finches moved in.  I was out learning my first new skill of the year (running the leaf blower - look at me go!).  When I finished in this area, AJ and I noticed the birds were just flocking to the seed bag.  Cool!

The photo is a test of the new i-phone camera - not too bad!

Here's some of the new yarn I got for glove edging.  It works up very nicely, and the colors are great!

Here's a photo from the neighbor's party for 'the boys'.  Four of the boys lived in our neighborhood and played together fairly randomly.  Alex, back left to right, David (went to high school with Dallas, and his parents were Allison's daycare providers) Dallas, Spencer (lived across the street from Dallas) and Jonathon (in front - he lived down the hill from out neighborhood - he and his sister went to the same daycare as Alex and Allison when Alex was in 1st or 2nd grade...)

They're all grown up now - 2 are in college, 2 are in the military, and one works full time - managing two Dutch Bro stores, and one is married.  It was amazing that they were able to all get together at the same time.  I know AJ spent quite a bit of time at Spencer's and Dallas's growing up, and the other boys did a lot together over the years as well.

Happy New Year!  What will 2016 bring?  I'm hoping good health and happiness for everyone!

My resolutions this year (not that I'll be any better this year than last, but....here goes!)  Not in any particular order:

Make time to call my siblings/family more often
Crochet more for me
Set aside time to sew more
Get more physically active (Koori is getting fat - time for both of us to start walking!)
Finish turning the computer room into a welcoming, functioning sewing room/office
Enjoy my new landscaping, including the fire pit and fountain
Find new adventures with the kayak and/or RV
Get Mom's house sold, have the estate sale, finish everything up from the estate

All of those are doable this year, I think, in some form or fashion.