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Archive for December, 2007

A Burst of Christmas Spirit

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

This morning Mr C and I slept in. It seemed like a good thing to do on the longest night of the year. This morning we spiffed up the house and I finished arranging the nativity sets and putting out some decor. Here is the beautiful nativity set made for me by the ever so talented Kristin. (She will soon be in Oregon for the holidays and I get to spend a day with her!!) This is on the buffet in the dining room.

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It was raining quite heavily so I called Steph to check in about what we might do this week-end. The weather was not conducive to visiting any outdoor holiday venues. So, we decided that M & M would come over and make cookies with me and spend the night. It was so lovely to have this burst of happiness and joy.

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Miles loves to wear my Santa hat. He also has the stuffed word “Cheers” wrapped around his torso. Gotta love this outfit.

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Here are our Spritz cookies:

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. . . decorated by M & M.

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Here is Mia in a more grown-up moment, catching up with the New Yorker:

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She brought her birthday present from her Mom — this adorable squirrel. I am in awe of that tail!

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Speaking of her mom, we can now announce the book deal that she and her friend, Maria, in Portland, ME, have with Princeton Architectural Books. Their photography blog, A Year of Mornings, will be published in a book next fall. We are so proud of them. They were approached by another publisher and so it has taken some time to work out the details and get a signed contract.

Thank you all for the commiseration about my fender bender yesterday. Today, I drove back out to the scene of the crime so that I can make an accurate diagram for the police report. I will turn that in to the DMV on Monday morning and put it behind me until after the holidays. Lisa arrives on Monday and I am looking forward to a week of family fun.

I am wishing a very happy holiday season for all my blogging community.

Slam Bam – A Dent in My Holiday

Friday, December 21st, 2007

. . . but nobody got hurt.

But, first, a photo of my Christmas Table Runner. Mr C says this is his favorite of all the runners that I made.

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OK, I woke up feeling pretty good. I noticed that the stores were opening at 8 am. So, ate my breakfast, got dressed and headed out to finish my Christmas shopping. I am toodling along in the inside lane, the car on the outside lane was stopped and then I see a car pulling out of a shopping center, in front of the stopped car and aimed right at me. I slammed on my brakes, she hit my front fender and then the whole side of my car scraped against her license plate and front bumper. Total damage to my Lexus, probably $5-7000.

We both pulled into the parking lot. She had two very small children and a school age boy. She said he had a school field trip and she was picking up a lunch for him. I called Mr C to see what I needed to do. I got her name, her driver’s license number, her license plate number. She showed me the insurance info. I saw that it expired March ’08. I wrote down insurance company name and phone number and policy number. It was her mother’s car. She says she lives with her mom and takes care of her as she is terminally ill.

The kids were crying, the little boy was anxious to not miss his school trip. I said I would call her later. I was just so happy that no one was injured.

I went on and did my shopping. When I got home, I called my agent. He said that I have 72 hours to file a police report – required when the damage is over $1500. He said that since it was not my fault, I needed to file a claim with her insurance. Whoops, phone disconnected. I am getting nervous. I called her. She said she would find the right number and call me back. No call. In the meantime, we got back with our agent who tried to track down the insurance company with no success.

I called the driver again. The phone rang and rang and rang. I remembered that she told me she had caller ID and didn’t need me to give her my phone number. I called again on my cell phone and her son answered. After giving me the run around about her not being home ( I could hear her in the background), I told him to tell his mom that she needs to talk to me and that she needs to file a police report.

I am feeling bad about this. I could tell that she is a young mother without much — driving her invalid mother’s car. But, I can’t have my insurance cover this without filing a police report and I have to give them her information and I don’t want her to get in more trouble by being in denial. Sigh…..

So, what did I do while all this phoning and detective work was going on? I was making Mrs. Maus’s Fruitcake a recipe from Martha Stewart. Mr C loves fruitcake and since we are doing an open house next week, I thought I would make some. This is what 6 pounds of fruits and nuts looks like.

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I also got my studio organized and put the piles of fabric away and swept up all the trimmings. There are lots of trimmings with the mod log cabin runners!

Tonight, we went out to dinner. I enjoyed a wonderful roasted beet and fresh pear salad and sauteed sole with spinach. I had enough left to bring home for lunch tomorrow. It was delish.

Thursday This and That

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

In Portland, the winter weather reports use two descriptions (in addition to rain). They are dry spells and sun breaks. Well, today, we had both, and it was greatly appreciated.

I awakened, after a restful sleep, feeling much better than I did yesterday. I sandwiched my last table runner with fusible batting. I have been able to use up some odds and ends of batting for these projects. I took a short walk in the morning with Mr C and Maggie. Mr C left to help cook and serve a holiday meal to the residents of a low-income housing project near our church. This afternoon, I quilted the runner and attached the binding. I am still hand stitching the binding so photos will have to wait.

Since it was so beautiful late this afternoon, I grabbed my camera, a bag of corn for the ducks and Maggie and headed for the Rhodie Garden.

Here are some photos of the sunsetting over the Crystal Springs Reservoir.

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The ducks were happy to see us.

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I love this silhouette of a Cormorant, perched on a log.

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We even saw the moon rising.

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So, I spent a very relaxing day, totally ignoring the Holiday frenzy that still awaits me.

A Code in My Node

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

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I got myself up, showered and dressed. I went to WW to weigh in. I lost a half a pound. I came home and went back to bed. What an exciting day. Thank goodness for the left over turkey soup in my freezer.

A Mod Log Cabin Table Runner with Attitude

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Just a quick check-in. I have spent most of the day nursing a very bad head cold. I made it to my studio just long enough to whip up 5 more dupioni blocks for a Mod Log Runner for my dining room table. I used two different tiny striped fabrics for the centers.

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Here it is ready to be sandwiched and quilted.

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I am loving this.

Now, I am going to load up on some cold meds and hit the bed.