Catching Up...

I haven't been very good about keeping my blog updated lately.  Looking through my past few posts, I realized that I never even mentioned a few things...

Mary

1.  I was lucky enough to go to Houston for Festival this year!  My dear friend Mary and I had a wonderful time.  We took a full day class with Elly Sienkiewicz.  One of my life goals was to go to her Applique Academy.  Not anymore.  I feel like it's almost sacrilegious to say this, but she was not a good teacher.  She constantly got lost in what she was telling us and seemed very confused.  If someone questioned how she did something, she changed her mind and tried to explain another way, but couldn't quite do that either.  It was hugely disappointing and I felt that I wasted my time and money in taking the class.  She didn't bring enough supplies for everyone in the class, all in all it was a complete disappointment.  It's a good thing I had Mary with me...she's a great teacher and I learned a lot from her!  We did have fun walking around the show and it was so relaxing, spending time with her and her wonderful DH.

2. We really enjoyed the holidays this year.  We loved having the kids all home for opening gifts on Christmas Eve and for dinner on Christmas day.

Ellen, Andrew, Dayna & Grace

3.   I did finish a few small gifts for Christmas.  Grace and Dayna each got a crocheted, slouchy beret.  Here is Dayna's beret...I don't think I took a picture of Grace's, but hers was the same pattern in burgundy.

Ellen was the recipient of this year's "Unfinished Project"...a slouchy hat in a different pattern.  But hers didn't take nearly as long to finish as Dayna's quilt did last year!  I finished it this past weekend, and here it is...

My sister also received a knitted gift this year...a scarf that I started in a class last spring and finished a few weeks before Christmas.  This was my knitting project on the plane coming home from Houston.  It appears I didn't take a picture of it...or if I did I can't find it.  You'll just have to believe me, it was very pretty and so soft!

Since the "Unfinished Gift" has become a family joke, I'll have to figure out who will get it next year!

The boss and I were looking back over 2011 and decided it was a very challenging year.  We learned a lot from some of the experiences we had (like not to take in our kids' stray friends), I have some ongoing health challenges which have followed me into 2012 (do any of you have experience with shingles?  If so, please share your story with me.  I've had them for about a month and a half and never anticipated how debilitating the pain would be.  I'm at the point where I feel kind of stupid saying that I have shingles since it's been so long, but that's what it is.).

I'm looking forward to a very productive 2012, because heaven knows I wasn't very productive in 2011!  More on what I'll be working on in the next post!