Christmas Eve

We were supposed to spend Christmas Eve at Bill's sister's house.  But we spent Thanksgiving over there and we really wanted to spend this time at home.  So, we're at home.  We watched the second Star Wars movie and ate some really good chili/stew that I made in the new slow cooker.  I found a book at Hastings, one of those dummies type of books with all kinds of instructions and over 300 recipes.  I'm looking forward to making more things from it. 

Bill wanted to give our new boss a pillow quilt so I finished it the other day.  I did it all on the machine and my hands didn't hurt.  So I think I'll continue to quilt but do most of it on the machine.  Unfortunately I didn't think about taking a picture of the quilt.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it looked good.  It was a whole cloth quilt, not pieced and that made it a lot easier.  Bill picked out the material and he was going to do the work but put it off so long that I ended up doing it.  I had a feeling that would happen.  He tends to be impatient with my machine.  If it doesn't come out just right he thinks there is something wrong with the machine when really it just needs some adjusting or even a new needle.  The quilt batting is hard on needles, makes them dull.  I started hand quilting a pillow quilt several years ago and set it aside because of the pain in my hands.  I think I'll just finish it on the machine too.  I'm glad I don't have to give up quilting because I really enjoy doing it.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we're only going to have one service at church at 10:00, no Sunday School, no early service and no evening service.  A lot of people are out of town.  But then also a lot of people have guests too.  It's hard to say how big the service will be.  We're going over to my brother's house after church for Christmas Dinner or luncheon, whatever you want to call it.  We'll exchange gifts then.  We went to Bill's parent's home today and gave them their gifts. 

I finished the colored pencil drawing.  It's based on a photo that I took close to 30 years ago at Glorietta, New Mexico.  I really liked the way it turned out.  I moved some of the trees over to the right and added another mountain.  That's the fun thing about art, you can make it look any way you want.  Now it's time to pick out another photo to draw.  I might use oil pastels next time.  I haven't painted anything in a long time and my paints are beginning to get old and dry out.  Need to get some new ones.  I have some soft pastels too but they're worked differently than the oil pastels.  They are a lot messier but they look really beautiful too.  Need to draw something with them.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Photo of the day, my latest work of art.