The 1st through 4th Days of Christmas

Sorry to have been missing in action. DH is home on vacation, DD2 and P & C are here, so there is not a lot of extra time. We are enjoying everyone's company, though.

P did not have a wonderful Christmas day. He had a touch of something, and spent the day with a bucket within reach... we ended up taking him to the emergency room on Christmas night before his stomach settled down. He did manage a couple of smiles the night before when he opened his presents, but didn't feel well enough to enjoy playing with them until the 26th. He is back to normal now!

I did not get either of the presents done that I was working on before Christmas. DD1 had found a wrap on Etsy that she fell in love with, and sent me the link, (about 10 days before Christmas!). I managed to find a kit for this, and had a few pipe dreams that I would be able to finish it... but here we are a week later, and I am still not even 1/2 way. It is turning out lovely though, and she was thrilled that I had found the exact colors.

The other project is a smocked outfit for C... not a dress (a smocked dress would not be her style at all!) but a Princess Jasmine outfit. That too is far from being done, but I was able to finally get all the pleating done, after fighting with my pleater. After a personal lesson from my friend Carol, I got the pleater to work, and I have about 1/2 the smocking done.

The summer before last I had smocked the front of a dress for C, but had never finished the rest of the project, and then she grew so much that I would not be able to use the finished embroidery for a dress for her. I had showed her the smocking, and she remembered it! Every couple of months she would ask if I had finished the dress. Again, Carol to the rescue! She suggested taking the finished smocking, and making a pillow out of it.

C loves it! (Do you recognize the trim I got from the Textile Warehouse?) My last image of her on Christmas night was her hugging the pillow on her way to bed (warms the cockles of a grandma's heart).

Another of her presents was a cooking kit with a mixing spoon, tiny cupcake pans, an apron, a cupcake stand, etc., so of course we had to use it.

There was enough batter to make some big cupcakes too, and you can see they were good!

We tried to go to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday... big mistake. There were NO parking spots anywhere in the region, and the thought of all those people together in one place was giving me fits. DH thinks I should have known better than to even try! I am going to call next week to see if they are going to be just as busy then too... we might try again.