Christmas Luncheon

Here are some photos from a Christmas luncheon I hosted for some colleagues.

The entryway table includes some Santas from my mother-in-law's collection:


The dining table:


A place setting (Dansk Winterfest china):


The sideboard with candles, my mother's crystal punchbowl, and a live tree set in an ice bucket:

Christmas Jammies

Thanksgiving evening I gave E and T, my grandchildren, presents to open -- Christmas pajamas for them to wear during the holidays. Aren't they adorable??

Thanksgiving 2009

Here's a close-up of the table setting I used for Thanksgiving this year. I wanted to use my grandmother's wedding china, and to highlight the colors, I placed her dinner plates on top of gold ceramic plates from Pier 1. I used my own silver and crystal (wedding gifts from 1972).

China: Admiral pattern from Heinrich/H&C (1927)
Crystal: Lenox Moonspun (1972)
Silver: Lunt Belvedere (1972)

The napkins were embroidered by my grandmother. The cutwork tablecloth was also hers, but I think it was purchased.

Here are two views of the table. For the centerpiece, I put mums and hypericum berries into a glass and silver dish that belonged to my husband's parents. I added two silver candy dishes holding sugar pears.


Here is a view of the sideboard, with the dessert plates, coffee cups, and some serving pieces of Grandma's china. I love the round, covered butter dish!

Grandma's china also includes multiple vegetable bowls and platters -- perfect for all the Thanksgiving menu items!

Fall Decor

Here are some photos of my fall decorating -- baker's rack, sideboard, dining table, and entry table.

Auditioning Christmas Cookies

First up, White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread, from the Better Homes and Gardens web site. Very pretty and delicious, too!

Easter Decor

Here is how I arranged the Easter decorations this year. Time to replace them with a more summer-y theme!

Dress for Lexi

Here is a dress -- another version of McCall's 4814 -- that I made for a friend's granddaughter. I love this pattern, and I have made several dresses from it for my granddaughter.

Sewing for Thomas

I decided to try making a shirt for Thomas, since I've been sewing mostly for Eleanor recently. I found a pattern with good reviews on Pattern Review and some cute fabric. First, I traced the size 3 pattern from the multi-sized pattern onto some interfacing, then used that to cut out the shirt pieces. Due to the print, cutting out the shirt pieces so that the trucks lined up across the front and were centered on the back and sleeves was a bit tricky. I had found some good tips for making shirts on the internet, and I used several of those, like topstitching everything and finishing the facings neatly. Everything went smoothly, and even the buttonholes behaved! I'm pleased with the way it turned out, and I think Thomas will like it, too.

Patrick's Birthday

We celebrated Patrick's 23rd birthday last weekend with a family dinner. The grandchildren helped make and decorate his birthday cake. Thomas insisted it needed a car on top. Much fun was had by all.

Fun with Grandchildren

We kept the grandchildren last weekend while their parents enjoyed some much-needed R&R. Amanda entertained them beautifully with her amazing balloon art skills!

New Year's Update

We had a lovely and relaxing Christmas holiday this year. With Rachel's family in Tennessee, we had just five around the table -- the three of us, plus my father-in-law and Patrick's co-worker Scott. I was pleased to receive TEN books! Here are are few photos.






For our anniversary, we went to the outlets in San Marcos, then had a wonderful seafood dinner at Eddie V's in Austin. We spent the night at a hotel nearby and drove home the next morning.

We accomplished a number of organizational and improvement projects around the house before returning to work this week.