Fatty was just lamenting our lack of houseplants when - BAM! - two friends gifted me some this weekend. I thought that was kind of funny. I also really LOVE how my friend planted this in a beaker. It fits our shallow windowsill perfectly and made me realize just how much I miss that super deep window from our house in Western Springs where I'd line up all my McCoy pots planted with ivy, herbs and primroses. So I'm on the hunt for beakers now so I can have green things to look at on these gray winter days.

The auction quilts are now quilted and await their bindings. I'm super happy with how they turned out and can't wait to share that and some other auction projects with you all.  I've been spending a good deal of time at school so no sewing or knitting or much cooking for me.  If I would have had the time, I would have made this skirt today. Super cute and relatively fast and easy (just my speed) and it would have been *perfect* for my destination tomorrow. I actually dreamt about finding two free hours in my day to sew it. Then I woke up. Oh well. I'll still make it when I get back.

I better get packing. I have a few more things to throw in the suitcase and a book or two to find. I'll be back here sometime next week once I've returned. Take care.

Fatty was just lamenting our lack of houseplants when - BAM! - two friends gifted me some this weekend. I thought that was kind of funny. I also really LOVE how my friend planted this in a beaker. It fits our shallow windowsill perfectly and made me realize just how much I miss that super deep window from our house in Western Springs where I'd line up all my McCoy pots planted with ivy, herbs and primroses. So I'm on the hunt for beakers now so I can have green things to look at on these gray winter days.

The auction quilts are now quilted and await their bindings. I'm super happy with how they turned out and can't wait to share that and some other auction projects with you all.  I've been spending a good deal of time at school so no sewing or knitting or much cooking for me.  If I would have had the time, I would have made this skirt today. Super cute and relatively fast and easy (just my speed) and it would have been *perfect* for my destination tomorrow. I actually dreamt about finding two free hours in my day to sew it. Then I woke up. Oh well. I'll still make it when I get back.

I better get packing. I have a few more things to throw in the suitcase and a book or two to find. I'll be back here sometime next week once I've returned. Take care.

It was a good one.

Got the two runs in.

Ate and drank with friends. Twice.

Sewed a little.

Cleaned the bits I wanted to clean. Ignored the rest.

Cooked a few great meals.

Slept in.

How was yours?

It was a good one.

Got the two runs in.

Ate and drank with friends. Twice.

Sewed a little.

Cleaned the bits I wanted to clean. Ignored the rest.

Cooked a few great meals.

Slept in.

How was yours?

It's been a long week. Stress has been building and I let it get the better of me. I've been crabby, irritable and generally not fun to be around. Just ask my family.

Something shifted this morning. I don't know what it was and why it happened, but I am thankful for waking up with a better attitude. Two free days lay ahead of me - the weatherman is promising sunshine and mild temps. I'll take it.  My personal agenda includes two good runs, some house cleaning, hanging out with friends and some recreational sewing. Sounds promising, doesn't it?

The word I chose to represent this year is present.  And I have to keep reminding myself that it's important to be in the moment, whatever that moment is.  To live in the now and not worry so much about what the future may or may not hold.

I've also been shooting film with the new to me, but old camera. I'm learning as I go, but I like some of what's happened so far (see above).

This turned out to be an entirely random post, but this is what's on my mind at the moment. I hope you all enjoy the weekend. Back here next week with a long overdue and entirely new look for the blog.

When I started this blog over four years ago, I thought I knew what I was getting into. It was going to be a place for me to show and tell about the things I made, to keep a record of all my creative pursuits.  That was it. An online space for me to journal my comings and goings and makings.

I had it all wrong.

I'm not saying that this blog isn't a record of my creations and doings.  It is.  But House on Hill Road has opened up a world to me that I didn't know existed.  I'm talking about the community of blogging - the relationships I've made with people I wouldn't know if it weren't for my little slice of the internet.  How I connected with these people is a bit of a mystery still, but the connections are solid, built on common ground.  It's hard to explain this to people who don't blog.  In fact, Fatty did not understand it for a very long time despite my efforts at explaining it to him.  But when you are in the thick of it, or perhaps, in Fatty's case, when you witness those connections face to face, it's immediately apparent that these friendships are real and valid and important.  That my "blog friends" are more than people I correspond with via the internet.  They are my friends, plain and simple.

Getting to spend the weekend with six of my friends was an incredible blessing.  We talked and laughed, supported and cheered.  It was comfortable and comforting, seeing these amazing women all in the same room, laughing with each other and taking photograph after photograph.  The houses were cozy and familar and the personalities just as I had imagined. We shared stories and told tales, celebrated a book and its author and photographer.  We saw art and learned from an expert.  We ate great meals and traded gifts. It was all I had hoped for and then more still.

That's the thing about good friends.  They rarely disappoint.  And mine blew my expectations away.

Yes. Thankful. I am.

2010 was the third year that I took a photo (almost) every day.  I'm missing 2 or 3 over the course of three years - not bad!  One of the reasons that I continue to do this every year is that I love looking back and having memories of our every day life, of the little moments that make up our days.  This year, I decided I'd compile the least memorable, but still recorded moments of the past year month by month.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Most of these are every day life types of scenes - things that don't mean much to anyone other than me.  I find it interesting that I glazed over a big construction project...I wonder what that says about me.  Hmmm...

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.  Here's to a wonderful 2011 full of many memorable events and ordinary moments, too.  Cheers!

I'm am really excited for Christmas!  Like over-the-top, giddy, excited.

It's awesome.  And silly.  But mostly awesome.

So, really the anticipation around these parts is at an all time high and I'm looking forward to spending the next few days hanging out with the people I love best.  I'm especially excited that Christmas day we are staying home  - we have planned some yummy meals and the thought of eating too much and staying in my p.j.'s for over 24 hours is really appealing!

If you are celebrating Christmas, I hope you have a magical holiday full of warmth, happiness and maybe a surprise or two.  I'm looking forward to starting the New Year in high spirits and I can't wait to see where it will take me.  I hope you'll join me for the ride.  It wouldn't be the same without all of you.

Cheers to you!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!