End of 2024 RSC ...

 ... As well as the beginning of 2025. You can probably tell by my lack of posting, things have been busy around our house. At least I've managed to read a couple of blogs here and there and saw that we will be starting the year with Pink! Thank you, Angela -- our fearless Rainbow Scrap Challenge leader, for giving us a heads up already.

The holidays here started on Dec. 18th with the arrival of our daughter and the two grandkitties. Two days later on the 20th was the arrival of my brother, my SIL, and their German Shepherd. Saturday, the 21st came our son with his wife & the two grandsons and then right behind them was our niece Kelli and her fiance Jack. Out of their car also jumped her Golden Retriver, Mac! My nephew & his wife flew in on Sunday. Whew! Lots of names for my mother to remember. Lol!

Not everyone was at our house at one time -- only one dinner actually -- but there were multiple meals where we had ten. We swapped Christmas gifts, we talked, we laughed, we remembered good times, we played games. Have you ever heard of the game Double Ditto? It's a great one for a crowd.

Here are some pictures I've got to share. NOTE: There are a lot so feel free to scroll down for a quilt picture.

Grampa with Jacob
Hase & GG watching

Kelli & Jack in the St. Louis Arch Car
Preparing to Go to the Top

The Gateway Arch with Busch Stadium in the Background

Kelli & Jack Enjoyed Ballpark Village

Jared Daring to Touch Polly

Grampa Showing Brody How to Ride His New Scooter

Karen & Me Posing for Our Picture
Gracie in Front

Mom, John III, Kelli, Jack, & John Jr
Mac in Front

Karen & Me

Sarah, Jack, Kelli, John III, & Katharine
Gracie in Front

Katharine & Karen Have Matching Shirts!
(DIL & MIL)

Pile On Katharine!

Grandkids & Mates with Mom

Sarah got me a Lego Poinsettia project. We assembled it together. Good thing since I'm not good at pictures for instructions (give me words!) and spatial relationship gives me fits!

We Finished Step One

Step Two Completed

Worked Out Step 3

Step 4 Had Us Blooming

And Done!

It's very sweet and makes a great centerpiece. I'll bag it up later for next year.

Polly Wondering About the Tree

Sarah left this morning from our house for Virginia. Kelli & Jack left from her other grandmother's house and are headed back to NC. Jared & family have spent the last few days at my DIL's house and are on their way back here right this minute. John III & his wife fly out of here tomorrow morning, Oklahoma City-bound. Jared & family will depart on Monday for their Maryland home and my brother & SIL will go home to NC too.

Quite a couple of weeks. No sewing done to mention. Of course, there was some handwork and don't forget my Lego Poinsettia! Right before Christmas, I did manage to mostly finish-up a couple of placemats. Well, poop! Guess I didn't take a picture. I'll catch up with those another time. I did get the final borders on this beauty though! Even managed a quick picture!

So that's been my story lately - very busy and it ain't over yet! Dinner for 7 tonight, breakfast & dinner for 9 tomorrow, and lastly dinner for 5 Monday night. Even though it's been great having everyone here & there and I know that family comes first, I'm looking forward to kicking back and petting my sewing machine! First thing I'm going to sew up will be the final pineapples and it looks like they'll be pink!

Sorry this ran on so long but I wanted to get it down for posterity. If you or family are traveling this time of year, I pray everyone gets where they need to go safely. Happy New Year!

Pineapples!

Finally I can share with you two dark purple pineapple blocks! I even have another in the works. I'll need to do a recount but I believe I'm only two short now. Progress -- I really like that!

Wow! That top green is really bright!

Another thing I liked this week was news that I received from my niece & goddaughter. She's engaged!

Beautiful Rock(s)!

Here are a couple of extra pictures from last weekend. Kelli works for Wilson Sporting Goods and had an event in the metro-St. Louis area so she was in the area. Jack decided to join her. We caught up with the two of them at Kelli's other grandparents' house for lasagna dinner. I brought Turtle Brownies for dessert and for her birthday which was the previous Thursday.

Turtle Brownie Recipe

Headed Home with Layover in Philadelphia
Philly Cheesesteaks for Breadfast! Hahaha!

We enjoyed the December Senior Luncheon. As promoted, we had fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, salad, roll, and a special cupcake for dessert.

Santa Passed Out Candy Canes Too!

Holiday Cupcakes -- Yum!

We were entertained again with a Christmas song-a-long. Mom really loves that!

Afterwards we had a "snowball fight" and it was so much fun. Where they got those ginormous cotton balls I don't know but everyone got into the spirit for sure!

It seems like I can't do a post without sharing something from a morning walk. The other day I heard this rustling in the bamboo that grows along some of the trail. Look what I spied (wish I'd gotten a better picture)!

After looking through my Illinois Bird Book, I discovered it was a bobwhite! One time, and only once, I watched a trail of baby bobwhites following their parent across the bike trail. Wonder if this one is related??!!

Chuckle for the day: I saw this on Facebook and it pretty much sums up the pre-holiday preparations:

I hope you are having a great week and are looking forward to fun times this weekend. I'll be sharing this post with LeeAnna's group at Not Afraid of Color and also with Angela at SoScrappy.

Later!

I Like Thursday #163

Another week of good things brought to you again by me! Christmas will be here in only a few weeks and we are busy making plans for the in-coming relatives. So looking forward to seeing everyone again. It's been quite a while since I've seen my daughter -- long overdue!

Our prompt this week from LeeAnna is do we get a real tree or an artificial one? We generally put up an artificial tree. I'm accustomed to them due to growing up with a father that was allergic to pine. Isn't that sad??? This year we will put up our artificial tree again. However, I also have a "live" one this year too!

For the last three years, my friend Sharon has come over on the Friday after Thanksgiving to enjoy some pumpkin pie, coffee, and catch-up time. As a thank you, she gave me this sweet little LIVE Christmas greenery. She told me it was a fairy tree. I'll be doing my best to keep it alive. Isn't it sweet???

Our "live" Christmas tree

One wonderful thing that came out of Covid was the transition to Zoom classes. The Applique Society (TAS) has provided some wonderful opportunities to take classes with instructors from all over to include anywhere USA and Australia. I recently took a class with Katrina Hadjimichael, an Australian designer. We were learning her prepared-edge technique with her pattern called Daphne. Here is my completed Part 1 of the class which was on November 3.

Daphne center with inspiration fabric

We had Part 2 of our class this past Sunday, December 1, and I've got a good start on it.

Glued down and needing to be sewn

I really liked this class done in two parts. If you ran into any problems during the interim, you had a second chance to ask the teacher questions!

Recently I finished the book "Sister" by Rosamund Lupton. It was very good! So good that I downloaded another book by her called "Afterwards". I can't say much about the new book as I only just started it last night.

GoodReads Synopsis Here

Do you watch Survivor? I still enjoy watching it after all these seasons! The season finale will be the next two weeks' shows. Then what will I watch? I'm so glad that so many of you have made recommendations for shows to stream. It'll get us through to the new year!

I recently sewed up the Cactus Flower table runner that I started years ago and worked on at a couple of Mascoutah sleep-in-your-own-bed retreats. I'll quilt it sometime over this winter but not until we get past Christmas.

This afternoon we'll be going to the Christmas Luncheon at the Troy Senior Center. We'll have singing and, rumor has it, Mr. & Mrs. Claus will stop by for a quick visit. The menu today is fried chicken, mac & cheese, Carol's famous Salad, and a gourmet cupcake! All that for a low price of $10 -- can't hardly beat that!

We are very cold here but, after all, it IS December. November went out with a bang here -- 70 degrees one day and then 3.5" of snow the next. We've been pretty cold since then except for yesterday we hit 50. Today's walk with Gracie was definitely back to winter again.

My weather app when we got home. Brrrr!

This home's residents will be thoroughly warmed up while singing Christmas songs at the Senior Center today. I hope you have a snuggly, fun day ahead of you too!

Linking up with LeeAnna and all the I Like Thursday folks HERE.

Also sharing my stuff with all the scrappers at SoScrappy HERE.