My "deer" visitors

It's always a delightful surprise when I look out the window to discover one or two deer have come to visit our yard.  First thing, "Where's my camera?"  Thankfully, close by today.  It's snowing again today but still not cold enough to stick.  Last year, we bought a "salt block" and a "mineral block" for all the animals who come by to visit.  I was surprised to see how much the birds love both the salt and mineral blocks.
In the past few years, we have seen squirrels, bunnies, baby foxes (which were adorable with a cute little bark), a huge wolf with a bunny in it's mouth, a possum with babies hanging on it's back, coyote, geese, owls, hawks, and skunk.  The deer are my favorite.  For a few months, we even had peacocks wandering around our neighborhood, enjoying themselves on neighbors' front porches.  It might not seem so amazing for those of you who live in the country but we live in the city.  When we first moved in, the fellow behind us, mowed 7 acres of beautiful grass, but after a few years, he decided to let it grow back to it's natural state.   

It's Snowing

Our backyard view

Just happened to look out the window and discovered it was snowing.  My DH said I had better be quick with the camera or I'd miss getting any pictures.  The big flakes didn't last long and it's not cold enough to stick but it sure looked beautiful. 

Little Gifts

Recently, I bought a Double Diamond Ruler for a class given by one of our guild members.  Judith taught us how to make bookmarks.  After I made a few, I discovered the bookmarks are great little gifts.  Here's a sampling of the ones I still have.  They are also great for bazaars. The best fabrics are batiks or two fabrics with good contrast.  My favorite bookmark is shown below, mostly because I love this print fabric.

Merry Christmas

Last week, I changed the Bulletin Board in our Sunday School class and hung "The Nativity Quilt".  The pattern was designed by Naomi Norman of Franklin, TN.  Two of my best friends and I had the opportunity to test this pattern in September 1996.  Wow,  that was a long time ago.....
The wall-hanging is 38" X 50" and used freezer paper piecing for speed and  precision.

Our Dear Sweet Doggie

Today was a sad day.  Our dear sweet doggie, Nipper was diagnosed with kidney failure on September 21st.  She quit eating her dog food and only ate "people food", which we hand fed to her.  She had good days and bad but continued to go down hill.  On her good days, she still wanted to play with her toys.  The highlight of her day was walking out to the mailbox.  Today we decided it was time to put her down and end her suffering.  The picture here is from 8 or 9 years ago, when she was in her "heyday".

December UFO Challenge #4

I was delighted to read that Judy from Patchwork Times plans to continue the UFO Challenge for 2013.  By finishing the December challenge, I can report that 6 of my projects were completed.  Thank You Judy!!

December's Challenge is "Here Comes Santa", which is a Christmas Table Quilt.  I see it still needs Santa's reins embroidered prior to quilting and binding.

November UFO Challenge #9

The day after Thanksgiving, I got November's UFO Challenge quilt top out of the box.  The Mile-a-Minute  top was complete, along with the back and the label.   Discovering who should receive this quilt, inspired me to finish it on time.