Christmas Tree

Mike and I went to a Christmas tree farm to cut down a tree as we have done for the last 25+ years, but this time we didn't have any children with us.  These trees had their branches trimmed several feet from the ground. We cut it about 3 feet from the ground, then Mike cut another 20 inches off before bringing it in the house.  He still had to cut 6-7 more inches and several branches before it fit in the tree stand.  It is a big beautiful tree!

Changing the Wedding Dress

My friend Mary asked me to help her by making her daughter's wedding dress have sleeves.  I haven't ever worked on a wedding dress like this, but I told her I was willing to try.  Last fall, my friend Julie helped me figure out how to change the pattern for Hannah's homecoming dress to go from strapless to one with sleeves.  I borrowed her pattern, combined it with the pattern I had, & sewed it into a very beautiful dress.  My friend Becky helped me with the draping.  (I am very grateful for my friends!)

 

Making that dress for Hannah gave me the confidence to work on Mary's daughter's dress.  This is what the dress looked like when they bought it.

 This is what it looks like now.  I made the top of the bodice from a dress pattern.  I made the satin bias tape (trim) to finish the edges of the sleeves and to go along the neckline.  I added the beads & sequins on the trim.  I resewed all of the sequins and beads on the appliques that are over the shoulders.  I am very pleased with how it turned out!  It is nice to have it finished!  I felt like an artist when I was sewing the beads on.  The bride told me she really likes it and that it doesn't look like someone was trying to fix the dress--that it looks like it was purchased this way.  What a compliment!

Snow and Ice 3

These pictures were taken Friday, January 20.

Snow and Ice 2

These pictures were taken on Wednesday, January 18.

Snow and Ice

These pictures were taken about 9:00PM on Thursday, January 19. We had a little snow on Sunday, Jan. 15 followed by a lot of snow Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of that week. Thursday was supposed to be a better day, warming up and raining, but we ended up having a terrible ice storm. We had many branches break both on the driveway (pictures above) and in the yard (pictures below). One branch that fell by the chicken house was about 12" in diameter. The last picture shows snow then ice then snow on the trellis. Mike was in Georgia Monday to Wednesday. We were grateful the airport was open so he could get home. He was able to go to work here Thursday. We lost power on Thursday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. (Many people had their power out for several days.) We were able to keep warm with our wood stove. Hannah even cooked top ramen for lunch on top of the wood stove :)