Something New

 So I made a large purchase with Hubs.  This is what the snowy ramp looked like before the purchase....

And here's what it looks like AFTER the purchase!

I bought the Heat Trak mats that melt the snow and ice, so I never have to shovel the ramp. 

It was about $750 bucks to get the mats, but so far they are working out really well. Here's a link to heat Trak LINK

Flea Market at The Englert and Christmas Lights

 SO I got the tree up and was really debating if it was worth it to put on ornaments.

Meanwhile, there's a flea market downtown in Iowa City at the Englert Theater. 

Bean and Dilly and Darling Daughter loaded up and we went to check it out. It was cold out!!! And our driver parked about a mile away.....

But we made it.

The theater is really beautiful-a real gem of a vintage theater.  Actually the flea market was more of an art market. Lots of crafty folks with their work for sale. 

The vendors were set up all over the place, in the upstairs bar reception area, downstairs in the dressing rooms and on the stage!

See how pretty the theater is? This is the view from the balcony.  We all had some good looks. but didn't buy anything. SO we also had a dinner plan, but couldn't get a table until later, so we went out to the dam to drive through the light display there.

I had never been out to this annual display, and it was fabulous!

Every kind of light is on!

It costs $10 for a car load to drive through, and it's worth every penny! The funds raised go to the local hospice program. 

It was a great night out with the family. I love spending time with my kids-the available time always seems hard to come by and doesn't last long enough-I'll take all the minutes I can get with these guys!

A Finish

 I have been a pretty bad blogger lately. And I just realized I haven't shared this finish. 

I used some of the All Iowa Shop Hop fabric to make this quilt for a baby's Momma that DD works with. 

They are farm folks, so I thought the farm fabric would be fun. 

I loaded it on Freddie and used some fleece for the backing. 

It cam out pretty good-I learned not to have the backing too tight, it makes the front kind of puff out.  Heres a link to the free pattern

LINK to Sew Can She

Anyways, here's the finished quilt. 

Those little sheep on the back are so cute!

The sun was shining the day I took these pictures, so the shadows are pretty bold.

It's a cute pattern, a little tricky to keep the squares aligned, but it came out nice!

And there's a November finish in December!

Getting up to date with Dilly And Light Up Oxford

 

Dylan

Dylan

Dylan

Bob

Dylan

Dylan

So our small town has an event each year called Light Up Oxford, where they get the downtown area all lit up for the holidays, the local businesses are open and lots of local folks set up tables to sell goodies. We went and had walking tacos sponsored by the Little league folks. 

There is a photo op stage set and we got all the kids in there.

If only we could get ONE picture where EVERYONE looks good!

Dilly and his Mommy ALWAYS look good!

And Santa came to see the kiddos

And Drew got a hot dog at the fire station. 

The community really steps up and supports all the local businesses this time of year, it's fun to get out-but really cold-and see what's new in our small town.

And we had a nice Birthday celebration for my Mom she turned 90! Here's the big table at Legend's restaurant. 

OK, now I'm almost caught up!!