Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmas Things Around Chicago

Mini graham cracker "gingerbread" houses. An annual event with friends at our house.

The girls at our village's Holiday celebration. They hated posing for this! Just a few years ago, you couldn't keep them away from these!
A trip to the Art Institute of Chicago with my sister & friend to see the Victorian "Playing with Paper" exhibit. A very cold but extremely enjoyable day!

In front of the Art Inst, the lions are dressed for the holidays & very politically correct! No red, green, or blue to signify any ethnic celebration. Very Sad! They used to have big green wreaths with red ribbons on them every Christmas.

Another trip downtown with 2 friends to the Kriskindle Market at Daley Plaza. We took an early train & had time to pass thru Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields as it will be forever remembered). This is the tree in the Walnut Room where I have only lunched once in my life. People wait for tables to be sat next to the tree. Its decorated different every year & always beautiful. We viewed it from one floor up.

Without our kids with us, we got to roam the 1st floor aisles at Macy's and look at jewelry, purses & other accessories without anyone asking, "Can we go now?" It was very pleasurable and very beautifully decorated.



Here's Chicago's tree at Daley Plaza. To save $, this is the first year that the tree is just one large one, rather than many smaller ones pieced together to be a huge full tree. I think it looks fine because it actually looks real, like it should!

On to 2010!
Wishes for Health, Happiness & Craftiness to the Max!






Projects completed, Birthdays & Holidays passed!

November & December 2009 done, but not without being packed with good times. I'm happy with completing a few crafty projects, but of course,never as many as I would've liked to. For K's ice skating b-day party, I made monogrammed gloves for the girls, they loved them. Easy w/ pearl dimensional fabric paint w/ the help of foam stamps for placement of the dotted initial for each girl. Posted a pic on Michael's to win a trip to see Martha Stewart if I get enough ratings. It's worth a try!




Finished the Hope Squared quilt in time & shipped it out before Nov 15. I'm so proud that I started & finished something of that magnitude (for me, that is) for such a great cause! Started & finished in a week & a half and made with repurposed fabric from a favorite shirt! For details of my beginner free motion quilting, see link for flickr.http://www.flickr.com/photos/44958656@N02/4132099353/in/photostream/


For Mom's birthday, I wanted to make something for her with an applique silhoette of her lovebird, "Sunny" . I made this zippered pouch based on the one in Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing but a little larger & quilted. Luckily, I had the afternoon free to start & finish in time for meeting her & my sister for dinner & a movie that evening. I love the way it turned out, just wish I could plan ahead a little better & make things before the day I need it!