Instant Design Wall

Like many of you I do not have the space for a big or regular type design wall.....I solved that today with the help of a bit of self adhesive velcro and a cheapy $7.00 twin size blanket from my local Wal-Mart.

What I did was to cut 2" strips of the loopy side of the velcro and place them on the door frame of the closet in my sewing room, then I proceeded to hang the blanket on the door. I stretched it a bit so it would be taunt and "Voila....Instant design wall!" I trimmed the blanket to the size of my door and now I have the perfect place to 'try out' my blocks. It's an easy job to pull the blanket off the velcro strips to get into the closet, and there are no nails or hooks to damage the woodwork. This would work well on the back of any door also.

The cute quilt you see on my new design wall is a kitty quilt for my daughters cat 'Lucky'. Since my own cat 'Duke' will only lie where I place his little quilt my daughter asked if I could make one for 'Lucky'...I had some scraps of fabric left over from my Valentine project and decided to use it along with a bit of pink gingham, I framed it in black. It's not finished yet but I do believe that 'Lucky' will love her blanky. I will just back the little quilt with some fleece and machine quilt in the ditch to finish it off. I have all sorts of scraps of fleece left over from my Christmas projects, so I guess you could call this little quilt a "Freeby".

Having a bit of fun with this as it's too darn cold to do anything else but to stay put. That always means me and my 'pet' projects. (Sorry for the pun but I couldn't resist...*LOL*).....

~~Fran...:c)

Sweet Dreams

Well I certainly hope that these pillows will only hold sweet dreams for my two little pussy cats.

It was Belinda at http://browndirtcottage.blogspot.com/ that shared with me the idea for making these for my grandaughters. I was having a brain freeze and just couldn't think of what to do for them for Valentines and Voila!!.... all it took was for a crafty lady to put the bug in my ear and I was off and running. Thanks again Belinda.

I have to tell you that here we are approaching the end of January and (touch wood) I have not bought any new fabrics. Mind, I haven't been near a fabric store, so no real temptations there :c)) These cases were made from 100% of stuff I had on hand, right down to the lace I've been hoarding for heaven only knows how long....I very seldom throw anything away....LOL.... I am such a pack rat, I cringe when I think that someday my family may have to deal with all my 'junk'. Hopefully they will do it with fond memories of what came out of all of it.

~~Fran...:c)

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What's your score?

Are you up for a challenge?

Janet Wickell on About.com Quilting Guide is asking how much you really know about quilting.

Name the Quilt Block Quiz This might be the most popular quiz on the Quilting site. Can you name these thirty traditional quilt blocks? Some are way easy, and a few are a little more obscure.

Name the Quilt Design (or Layout) There's a bonus built-in to this quilting quiz. It's based on twenty quilts, all made by the About.com community.

It's tough and I'm not too proud to say I've got a lot to learn...but...I did pass by the skin of my teeth mind you, but I scored 63% on the first and 65% on the second.

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It wont be hard to beat these scores.

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Take the challenge if you DARE....and let's compare scores.

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I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. Good luck and ....what was it Luke Skywalker use to say?.....oh yea......"May the force be with you".

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~~Fran...:c)

Valentine Contest..Don't miss Out..

Go check out this lovely Valentine Day contest at http://www.golanigo.blogspot.com/.
She has an amazing little contest going on and you could win all the goodies in this picture and more!!
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As much as I've tried I can't seem to make up my mind about what to make for Valentines day this year. Every year I try to make something new....I could maybe try to make something red for the kitchen....hmmmm...that's a thought!
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Since my daughter and her husband usually go out for dinner on Valentines we have the grandaughters over for a candlelight dinner of our own in the dining room. I lay the table with a white cloth and use large red doilies for place mats, Papa's flowers to Nana are the centerpiece and I always use the best china and light red candles. We drink the "champagne" of ginger ales and we have a fabulous decadent cheesecake for dessert. It's become a tradition for the last 5 years. Just 'cause your little doesn't mean you can't be treated to a fancy night out. (At the same time I feel it makes them appreciate the finer things in life). Heck to tell the truth...I do it for me...when else can I use the best china and have a candlelight dinner with 2 beautiful girls and one handsome old man...*lol* (hope he doesn't read this blog). Every year I try and make a craft with the girls for Valentines and this year I'm stumped... If you can give me some ideas I'd be forever grateful.
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I'm plugging along on my Bonnie Hunter Quilt called 'Virginia Bound'. The only way I could get it all in the picture was to turn the camera sideways...so you see my fabric shelf in the back sitting on it's side...*lol* I am trying a new technique of sewing in strips and machine quilting as I go. The theory is when I've done these 2 strips, I will make 2 more and attach them to this one, thus only having 2 strips at a time to quilt instead of a whole big quilt. I'll keep you posted as I go along...hope it works, because I have a few quilts in my arsenal (closet) that need quilting and I get discouraged just looking at the great mass of fabric in each one. Heck if this works I'll even pick out a few rows of the other quilts and try to do them this way also.

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~~Fran...:c)

Tree Napkins

I know..I know...I know...Christmas is over and it's the new year and we should be thinking of other things, BUT...my friend Ann Perry sent me this picture and I fell in love with it. I just HAD to share....I asked her if I could post it on my blog and it turns out that another old friend, Irene Puzinas made these and she very generously shared the pattern with me. You can get it at http://home.att.net/~sewandsew/christmas.html The instructions are clear and precise and you can download the pdf file to your computer. The lady who wrote these instructions is named Dee Barber. So go take a look and if you like them you can write a quick note to Dee to thank her for simplifying these instructions.
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She cut 4 out of 1 yard of fabric, and just look at how beautiful these are. Apparently, Irene tells me that the secret is all in the folding. I can just see these decorating the table for Christmas dinner. For my own table they would have to be red/white or red/green to match my Christmas dishes. I guess I could use a combination of green/gold or red/gold as the plates are rimmed in gold...Hmmm...to the fabric cupboard...
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I was lucky enough to receive a $50. gift certificate for Wal-Mart from my oldest son this Christmas, and when he visited on NewYears day he said "you and I are going to go shopping mom, and I want to see just what I got you for Christmas". He knows me so well....I would have put this in my purse and piddled it away on household stuff and not have got anything for myself, and he said.."I'm not getting you toilet paper or laundry detergent for Christmas. End of story!"
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Anyway to get back to what I was saying...I was lucky enough to hit all the sales on Christmas fabric at 75% off and I loaded up. Now when I saw these napkins I thought ...wow, I can make these for the girls for next year and since they are so easy to make I will spoil myself and make a dozen for me also. Now I can get a head start. I never want to leave Christmas sewing to the last minute ever again.
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~~Fran...:c)

Creature Comforts

And the stockings were hung....on the banister?... with care. (Oh well Santa always finds them no matter where)

Being the smallest member of the family does not mean that you don't get to hang your stocking with the rest of the family...There were visions of 'catnip' dancing in his head, and a surprise Santa if you would..."I've been a really good kitty this year".

Now it wouldn't have been Christmas if 'Duke' had not received his Christmas wish.... a sock full of homemade catnip toys and a 'surprise' quilt of his own! If you take a close up look you will see by the look in his eyes that the cat nip has been put to good use...a VERY mellow kitty, that is after his mad dash around the house and rolling all over his toys...*lol....lol...lol*

I had some crumb squares which have been hanging around for a year or more, and since I only had 6 they were perfect for this little treasure. I figured all those colors would maybe hide the cat hair...*lol*

What??? Do you think all think I'm crazy?.....You may be right...*lol* but of all the members of this family he is the least complaining or demanding one. Now that deserves a reward! And to reward me he has taken to sleeping on his quilt only and stays off the white couch. No more cat hair on the couch. Now that's a bonus...!!

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~~Fran...:c)

Revealed at Last

At last I can show you what I was so busy doing before Christmas. These are "Pillow Quilts" also known as "Quilows" I'm told. I made 13 of these for Christmas presents this year. These are just some of the pictures I was able to find. As I've said in my last post, I am in the process of trying to get all of my "stuff" off my husband's computer onto my own. I've lost a few pictures, found a few I thought I'd lost and have become totally confused and frustrated in the process.

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I am happy to announce that my family were all thrilled with their Christmas gifts. I can even go so far as to say that the grandaughter's were "over the moon". Although I do admit to fussing a bit over those, adding beads, sequins, and appliques, the grandson's were much simpler in that they got none of that 'fancy' stuff...*lol* But man-0-man was that a tough one for me to get done on time. As it was I ended giving up trying to make some for the whole family and my sons and one son-in law ended getting store bought gifts this year. Their turn next year....BUT....I'm going to start those babies in June!

I will continue to post pictures as I find them. My other son-in-law received a Christmas chef's apron and hat, (he loves cooking) . I made a Christmas set of oven mitts, pot holders and apron for one of my daughter-in-laws, and a set of pot holders, oven mitts, and 6 linen tea towels for my other daughter in law.

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I have started a new project and I'm taking this one nice and easy. It's called "Virginia Bound" and can be found in Bonnie Hunters new book, 'Scraps and Shirttails. It's the first one in the book and although she makes it look so easy, I think I am mentally challenged when it comes to making these bits and pieces look as nice as hers do. Well time will tell, and believe me time it will take. I'm giving myself a good 2 months for this one project. As I figure it will take me that long.

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Now if my "N.Y. resolution" holds up, once this quilt is finished my goal will be to finish at least one UFO from last year before starting another quilt. Sounds reasonable and do-able doesn't it?

As I said time will tell.

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Till next time...

~~Fran...:c)

Happy New Year

Hi there, hope you all had a very good holiday season and look forward to a bright and productive new year.

"Santa" was very good to me this year, I received goodies from everyone in my family and one of those goodies was a new computer. We are trying to set this computer up in my sewing/sitting room, and we are experiencing all the fun problems that you can expect when trying to do this kind of thing. NOTHING...ever goes right the first time....or the second...you start making progress around # 5 and that's where we're at. We are trying to put in a wireless router and to have my own 'stuff' up here there will have to be a lot of file sharing between our computers. It seems that I also had to get a new account with Outlook Express. My new e-mail address is ...quilters7@sympatico.ca... All of our picture library is still downstairs in hubby's computer, have to move that, along with all of my folders and quilt patterns and whatnot's, so please bear with me while we try and work this out.

I always say I won't make any New Years resolutions, but as always I broke the rule and made one.
My goal for 2009 is NOT to buy any more fabric until I have used up at least 1/3 of my stash.

I just love scrap quilts and boy-o-boy do I have scraps. I bought Bonnie Hunters book Scraps and Shirttails. It is an amazing book, you should see all the beautiful quilts that can be made from your old scraps. I've made a promise to myself to make at least 3 of these quilts this year.

I also MUST finish my 2008 UFO's, if for no other reason, that the space these projects are in is piling up......{the closet}...it's getting to be like Dagwood's closet, for those of you that remember Blondie and Dagwood... I can't open that closet without 3-4 things falling out...that's pretty bad...*lol*
I've asked Belinda at Brown Dirt Cottage to keep me 'honest'. Have you all had a look at that beautiful baby quilt she's done? Gorgeous and all hand quilted. Big hand of applause for her.

Spent the afternoon at my quilt guild and now I have to go get dinner ready. I think the evening will be spent on trying to find some Irish ancestors. My daughter is doing our genealogy, and doing a darn good job of it but she's reached a snag, and I'm going to try and help. Wish me luck.

Until next time...

~~Fran...:c)

OMG First Quilt !!!

O My Gosh!! My grandaughter just finished her first quilt. It's for her dad for Christmas. He's a Nascar fan....loves those races and watches them on TV and attends them when he can. My daughter decorated "his" room (the recreation room) all in a Nascar theme. Chelsea made this lap quilt for him with all the Nascar pizzaz, the colours, and the checkered flags.. I am so proud of her.

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For those of you who have not read my posts of last August ...(We have a new quilter in the family)...she visited me and I taught her how to quilt. Her very first project was a purse, to me a large bag, and she took to quilting like a duck to water. And now would you look at that?

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Of course where you find a quilt you'll find a cat. This is Lucky. So named because Chelsea found her abandoned by the rail way tracks, 2 years ago. She was a pathetic little thing, half starved, with a wicked eye infection. The vet estimated her age to be 6-8 weeks old at the time, lucky kitty he said and I think my grandaughter and the family feel as lucky to have her as she is to be there. But talk about a pampered pet. She rules the roost, even the dog has to give over to her when she gets after him....*lol*

They also have a dog. His name is Moose. As you can see he is very large, and at the moment he is feeling very left out because they are trying to take pictures of the quilt, and this guy is a real ham. He loves to have his picture taken and they kept saying "Moose get out of the way." So this is Moose feeling very rejected.

I haven't posted for awhile but honestly folks I was all done in at the end of the day. BUT...."I'M FINISHED!!!! all my Christmas sewing presents are done. I've put miles and miles and miles on my sewing machine. I had that baby smoking at the end, but I'm done., and I don't believe I will ever do this much again. Too much pressure. Trying to get things done by certain dates so they could be mailed off in time for Christmas....phew....wore me out. I have not been able to post pictures of my endeavours because most of my family read this blog. But get ready for a LOT of pictures come the New Year. The last of the gifts will be received on January 2nd when my 2 grandsons come to visit. After they leave and we take down the tree, this quilter will take a well deserved rest.

In the meantime there is still a week left before Christmas and now I have to move my buns and get this house in tip top ship-shape as I'm giving Christmas dinner this year AND... I have to finish my Christmas shopping. I have nothing bought yet for 1 son, 1 son-in-law and 1 husband. Now the reason for this is that these last three are SO hard to buy for. You know... we all have one of those people on our list, well I have 3, so if you will forgive me for not posting.... ( I'll be in the Mallsfor the next few days )... until the holidays are finished I will wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year

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~~Fran...:c)

Early Christmas Present

Wow, this is the best present ever....I've been so bogged down with sewing and making sure that all my commitments were filled and I was fighting a timetable.
I kept thinking that I only had less than 10 days left until Christmas, and I had no idea how I would manage all that's left to do. I was just talking to my daughter and she just said to me "Relax mom, there's still 2 weeks left to go until Christmas"....."What?" I ran to the calender and sure as shooting there it was in black and white. I just got an early Christmas gift...the gift of time....*lol*
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Today I made 3 batches of sugar cookies and my DH made 2 butter tart squares and a banana bread. All that's left to do in that department are the shortbread and the spice bars.
Phew...what a lot of fuss, but you know it just wouldn't be Christmas without all of these goodies that we only get to eat once a year. I never make shortbread or gingerbread at any other time.
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I don't usually make much of a fuss for New Year, but this year will be different. My 2 grandsons will be here on January the 2nd and I have to make special dishes for them. I make a French Canadian Ragout, and of course meat pies or Tourtieres and little "pigs in a blanket" which is small spiced pork sausages wrapped in pie dough... Yum... I won't be making these until after Christmas.
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Now, I'm going to go take a long relaxing bath, (might even add bubbles) and light a few candles in the bathroom and bring in my glass of wine. Enjoy my new found present.
Now how decadent is that?
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~~Fran...:c))

Gingerbread Men

Only 10 days left until Christmas and today was the day for the Gingerbread Men to be baked. ..The house smells so yummy... I just love the smells of Christmas.. gingerbread, cinnamon and spices, pine smells from the tree, hot chocolate...all of them have a special meaning for me.

These little guys are the best ever. Gingerbread made without molasses and it doesn't take a steam roller to roll it out. I've always had trouble with traditional gingerbread recipes, I've always found them so hard to roll. These are as easy as pie crust, and as yummy as any Christmas cookie you will ever make. My daughter found this recipe on line a few years ago and now it's the only one we use. So I want to thank the creator of this lovely confection.

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The Best Ever Gingerbread Men

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1 pkg. of butterscotch pudding mix (not instant, the one you cook, serves 6)

1/2 cup butter of hard margarine

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon of ginger

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

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Cream together the dry pudding mix, butter and brown sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients together, flour,baking soda, & spices and add to the wet mixture.

Chill dough for 1 hour or more, roll out 1/8th inch thick ** and bake on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for 14 minutes or until just brown

bottom. Cool on cookie racks. Ice with a thin icing. You can add raisins for eyes and

buttons, chocolate chips work well also. Makes about 3 dozen.

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** I used 2 wooden paint sticks on my counter and I place the dough in between

them. I then use my rolling pin and roll out the dough to the thickness of the

of the paint sticks. This assures me of nice even thickness to bake, and you

don't get any burning of the thin ones. I've been doing this for years. Works for me!

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Tonight is Christmas concert night for our granddaughters and I have to make sure they're all ready to go when mom gets home from work at 5:30, so I better get off this computer, make sure the camera is ready to go, and get the girls all dressed up on time.

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Until next time....

~~Fran...:c)

Remembering Christmas Past

For some odd reason I'm having difficulty posting pictures from my computer. So I thought I would try what 'Picassa" has to offer and these are the ones chosen. I had a lot more but I guess it only takes 4 at a time. So this is a test. The pictures you see are of Christmas 2005 some of the crafts I made for my daughter in laws and some of my grandchildren. I dried fruit and placed it with spices in antique preserving jars. They were made by Crown and some date back to 1937. The frames were just a bit of needle work that the grandkids could place in their rooms. Hope these all show up and you can see them clearly.

I'm finally finished all my "out-of-towners" and the last of them all went out yesterday. I spent the evening last night catching up on some long neglected posts. Way to go Nannete and daughters on your first anniversary of Freda's Hive. Go take a peek, she's giving out all kinds of prizes this week, and they are really neat. I have my eye on some that I know would look good right here in my home...*lol* I'm sorry I can't give you a link, I haven't learned how to do that yet.

When I returned from the post office yesterday I had a lovely surprise of my own in my mailbox. Belinda of Brown Dirt Cottage sent me 3 lovely snowmen panels. I was delighted and I hope I have the time to make them into a wall hanging before Christmas. I'll just have to make the time, that's all...I know just where I want to hang this panel. Thanks Belinda.

I've started Christmas baking by making 2 batches of cookies. Family favourites "Oatmeal Raisin Cookies" and Ginger Crackles"...YUM... I hope I can get some shortbread made and some sugar cookies done. I'm training my DH to make the squares and cakes using our old family favourite recipes. So far he's managed a date square, a butter tart square and a brownie. I also want a couple of banana breads and some pumpkin bread and spice loaves. He's great in the kitchen and it sure takes the pressure off of me. I will handle the cookies 'cause he doesn't want to 'fiddle around' with all the small stuff like that.

Today is the 9th I'm told...(I don't know for sure, as I can't seem to keep the days from flying by). There are 11 days left until Christmas, and I still have some sewing to do and last minute Christmas shopping. It's a good thing the stores stay open until 9pm every night, or I would really be in trouble.

I am so looking forward to my grandsons visiting after the holidays. The oldest I haven't seen in over 4 years and the youngest one, his brother, is a sweetheart that I thankfully see more often. Eric is coming home from South Korea, where he teaches English, and the 2 boys will get to spend a few days together here. AND....yes Eric Nana did make you one of those "thingies" also. Hope your not fussy on colour.*lol* ...could be pink.... then Brittney would take it over.... I know he reads my posts all the time and he has the nerve to tell me he thinks it's funny that I have so much trouble understanding this computer stuff. What does he know? He grew up in the age of computers, it's a lot harder for us older..ahem..I mean more mature... folks to master this stuff.

Until next time....

~~Fran...:c)

P.S. I'm seeing that the same pictures have been posted below this post. Grrrr...computers!!!

Well I'm darned if I know how to delete this .....~~Fran...:c(

Does anyone know??

Let's try that again.

Hi folks, don't know what happened there but the 'puter must have hic-cupped or something.Don't know how to undo it., either.

I have to take a week off for my own sanity. I'm getting bowled over with responsibilities and feel that "this will be a good thing" for me at this time..

Will post in a week or so. In the meantime. Have fun, Happy stitching to all.

~~Fran...:c)

'Tis the Season

Well at least it's the begining. Last post I showed you a bit of my kitchen and this post you get to have a look at the old lady who lives there...*lol*..

Concentrate on the two beautiful grandaughters ok?

Only for the love of these two great kids, would I put a toque on my head and go and stand on the square, freezing my toes and anything else that might have been exposed. I swear the older you get the more you feel the cold. The kids were fine, but I just couldn't wait for the old man in the red suit to get there. He's at the END of the parade. Brrrr.

The parade was a hit, best one we've had in years, marching bands, highland pipers, dancing academies doing their *thing* and float after beautiful float . It lasted an hour. My nose and cheeks, toes and my ...humph...thought it was about 45 minutes too long.

Anyway we had fun, we we're 'making memories'. It was their mom's and dad's anniversary and these two charmers we're having a sleep over. We came home, had hot chocolate, warmed our toes and...humph...then got into pj's and settled down to watch the movie "Wally" with bowls of buttered popcorn and all. Papa fell asleep about 20 minutes later and the little one Jaime was not long after him. Brittny and I made it to the end. Later they got tucked in under the 'sleep over' quilt and had dreams of sugarplums. (I hope)

This snowman wreath welcomes you into our warm kitchen.

This is our kitchen table, look at the neat placemats I picked up at the Dollar Store for $1.00 each.

Last week I gave my kitchen curtains a bit of a lift. I took some cordinating print and I put wide hems and side panels on them. I made tie backs and folded some of the dark print to put up on over the pelmets.

By the way, the 'cat' you see on top of the pelmet is a painted wooden one that I did during my Tole Painting Era.


The curtain over the the window on the door is a small table topper I bought at the $$ Store and added the fancy hem, (it was too short) and put a a rod pocket on the back. *LOL* I have had more compliments on this door curtain than anything else.



I guess I've made this post long enough. And now I think I'll go and finish the soup. It's the kind of day when a hearty Beef Barley soup will give you a warm homey feeling. Fresh Rolls and butter, a glass of milk and that's all you need. Then I will go spend a couple of hours in the sewing room trying to catch up on all those Christmas projects. :)

Well so long until next time....

~~Fran...:c)