Explaining the Radio Silence

while we were at my daughter's for Thanksgiving, she pointed out to me that part of the fun of Christmas for her is being surprised by what other people are getting when we open presents

so in an effort to give her a bit more of a surprise on Christmas day, I have instituted a "no talking about Christmas projects for anyone" policy here on the blog -- at least in terms of things she doesn't already know about

which also means at this time of year there is a whole lot of what I'm doing that I can't talk about

just brace yourselves -- the post I'll make right after Christmas day will be full of "look what I made" pictures!

this is a project she does know about

direct from the garage workshop -- the little stove is taking shape

we were beginning to worry about being able to get this finished in time when the temperatures dropped to almost freezing INSIDE the garage and we weren't sure the paint would ever dry, but the DH has been running his little barn heater out there and yesterday the basic structure was glued and screwed together

today he'll start working on the fill and sand work needed before the paint goes on the outside (note the inside of the oven has already been painted black)

looking good!

there is still some serious Christmas knitting going on, to be revealed later, but some afghan squares are still being done too, and this is the latest one -- this actually includes five different yarns -- I'm using up bits and pieces that were left from other projects here

I have been able to squeeze in some work on the art quilt I've been working on too -- not the best picture in the world (ok, there IS a limit to what you can do in a badly lit room with a cell phone camera!) -- but you can tell here that the wall, the floor and the couch are done and I'm slowly adding the pieces of the dog

I'm actually getting pretty antsy to get back to working on art just as soon as I finish the last few Christmas projects!!

we have a cotton tail that hangs out under our big blue spruce tree

during the last week's snow and cold I've seen him several mornings as I've gone out for the paper 

he seems pretty okay with my getting pretty close to him, so I was able to snap some pretty good pictures of him one morning as he had nestled down into the snow and was enjoying some sunshine

I have an idea for another art quilt as part of the "Slice of Life" series that will use this photo

well, projects are calling, so it's time to get busy!