Off the Top

i had no idea i left those horrid cookies at the top of my blog - yuck!

the new year has been busy - for you too?

okay, i am going to share some stuff with you i meant to:


this is my friend jill - i don't see her near enough

we were talking the other time about when we met - 18 plus years ago or a little sooner - funny that we both distinctly remember meeting for the first time at different times

in this picture we are meeting for coffee to celebrate christmas in mid-january

we don't always meet on time - we believe in the 'ish' as in 5 o'clockISH

the barista gave us the nicest compliment - said we were surely sisters
wonder if we would be such good friends if we were....

am going to try to hit the blog every other day and share some new and old stuff
...next up - casey's quilt - almost quilted and bound

what is it???

we made these very festive morsels tonight - 

can you guess what they are?

not beef tartare ...

not dog food ...

not mounds of barf ....

yes the coloring on the picture is correct

they are a cookie - cherry almond macaroons

they taste only a little better than they look

we tossed them...

or will ... as soon as we stop making fun of them
such a waste of almonds

Nutcracker Puppets

these are the flowers with the snow king in front

The Sugarplum Gang - not sure what the poodle is all about

Everyone in their spots

Tea and Coffee

The Snow Queen and snowflake

 

Clara, Uncle Drosselimier, and the Soldiers

my mom made these puppets some 40 years ago - maybe more - they are a treasure to me and i am so glad they have a safe and lovely place to reside

 

Nutcracker Post II

After trying everything I could think of I couldn't get the slide show of my nutcracker box to load.

so i will just have to show you the pictures one by one...
 with the dark days here in the nw, it is hard to get 'bright' pictures'

first, the outside of the box -

and then the inside -

i will share more pictures of the puppets later when i

can upload faster

Are you feeling the spirit yet?

The Nutcracker

when I was a kid my mom made finger puppets of the nutcracker characters.

they were magically to me. 

she kept them in a box on straws and we would play with them very carefully.

recently, i was honored to receive this set.

and so i set out to honor the gift.

last winter I worked on an appropriate container for such a special memory...

then I got busy this fall to finish it...but i already know i need to do more to the box...

so for now,

this is the nutcracker stage or memory

you can view the video, or I will post pictures soon