Merry Christmas

I have had a productive summer and fall. 

The cruise to Alaska at the end of August was awesome. Until I went, I did not realize how big Alaska is. We had a wonderful time on various shore excursions and enjoyed every meal during our trip. At times it was cold and rainy but a very enjoyable trip.

Here are a few pictures:

Falls at Portage Glacier

Portage Glacier

Salmon running

Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward

Celebrity Summit

Juneau

Mendenhall Gardens

Mendenhall Glacier

Part of the Lumberjack show

This summer I decided to try my hand at sewing. My niece had my mother's sewing machine. I got it from her and had maintenance done on it to make sure it everything was ok. The machine would only do one stitch and go backwards and that was ok with me.

The above was my first project.  Back in 2006 I bought enough blocks to cross stitch 2 queen size quilts in the double wedding ring.  Unfortunately, I only completed 6, so I did a lap throw instead.

I then played with a pattern to see if I could get the blocks to be correct.  I have no idea how many I did before I was satisfied.  Unfortunately my mother's machine needed more work. Instead of getting it fixed, I bought a new machine. This is a wonderful sewing machine. Making it easier to sew my projects. Many features I probably won't use.

The above stars were not the easiest to sew. They are not perfect but acceptable for me.

The above table runner was to be longer, but I felt it to be too long for my table. I then had left over material, so I made 2 pot holders.

I would like to make lap throws for my 8 grandchildren. I now just need to figure out what to do.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.