Another Trip part 2

I won't bore you with all the photos I took while we were together but we did get a couple nice family ones.  

The Old Folks

 

Four Generations

 

The Entertainment

A little more than a month before leaving I decided it would be a good idea to have a Christmas apron, better yet...one for everyone; because everyone was going to doing kitchen duty at some point, so I went through my stash and started matching up fabrics (sort of) and grabbed the rotary cutter and started cutting. No pattern but I managed to get 12 of them together in every range of sizes from the smallest to the biggest, before leaving.

 

 

Count'em! TWELVE reversible holiday aprons. No excuses not to help in the kitchen.

I made 12 holiday (Christmas on one side and Thanksgiving on the other) placemats for the table as well and everybody got to take their placemats home with them.

I made 22 zippered bags and we filled them with gifts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is only a few of them but I can't say enough about the cosmetic/travel bag pattern. Very clear instructions, easily made. Probably doable in 3 hours from start to finish. It is called the Emmaline Retreat bag and comes in 2 sizes. The large one did not have handles but it was easy to add them.

The have a wire frame that inserts in a casing at the top of the bag that enables the bag to open and stay open, making it easy to use and find things. Best of all, it is a free pattern!

The hardware can be ordered at the same site as the Just go to patterns and add the free pattern to your cart like you are buying it, and follow the prompts. You will receive the pdf. pattern in your mail and it's that easy. I can't say enough about this company. Very easy to do business with and the prices are great! She carries an extensive line of purse/bag hardware in many finishes. (I am not affiliated with this company in any way and was not paid to say this.) This is the link...Free Bag Pattern

I thought it might be fun to buy everyone a pair of fun socks and get a group photo. I had no idea just how much it would be. All the socks were in a bag and we just reached in for them. One pair however look like normal socks but when the recipient put them on this is what it looked like when he showed them off...I laughed until my sides hurt. I mean seriously! How did these get by the quality control person?

 

 

 

 The last time we had a family Christmas Mr O and I made a Family Tree from a Scrabble board and tiles  and that was won by a family member and we thought it might be nice to do another scrabble

Thing this year. Here is what we did...

 

 

 

Everybody got a Christmas ornament with their name on it.

 

Our daughter brought the Christmas tree with all the trimmings so we all got to hang our ornament after she did her magic.

 

The kids got together and bought Pa and I a beautiful Thank You/Christmas gift. It is absolutely beautiful and I can hardly wait to get home a find the "perfect" place to hang it.

 

It is Large and so beautiful and all the gears move as the clock is running. I love it! Thanks kids!

 

 

 

 

 

There was time for making gingerbread houses, games, making puzzles, sight seeing, skating, snow shoeing, swimming, eating, gift giving and lots of laughs, but the best thing of all was just being together. When it was all over we continued on to Saskatchewan to spend New Years at my sister and brother in law's home.

P.S. for those of you who are wondering about the knitting picture...one of the tell tale signs that a quilter has to rip something out and resew, there are usually tiny bits of thread left from the ripping out process; with ripped out knitting, you end up with kinky,curly yarn to have to re-knit with. I had to rip back about 2" of my sock because of dropped stitches. That's what I get for knitting in the car in poor light and trying to sight-see at the same time. 

P.P.S 

We travelled home through the U.S. Yes I stopped at quilt shops. What a surprise eh!