After all that work getting ready for the Christmas tour of my house, I woke up sick the morning of the tour. It may have been a reaction to the Bactrim I was on, or it could have been the sinus infection that just got worse (until I switched to a different antibiotic), or maybe it was a virus. Whatever it was put me on the sofa for two days. Luckily I was able to go to mom's sofa during the tour and Steve took over. 

As it was, I'll bet the folks who came through enjoyed having the man of the house there to talk to. Steve assured me that it went well and I think he enjoyed it. Today I am happy to be back on my feet with my house decorated and nothing on the calendar for a few days.

In other news, I did finish quilting the Chain Reaction quilt. It's a Christmas present so I couldn't put it off.

The quilting was simple and not particularly dense. It went fast and is perfect for this quilt which is intended to be used and loved. I put the Larkspur big print on the back…

It is entirely possible that Ashlyn will like the back better than the front which is something I'll just have to get over. Note to those of you who never buy this kind of print… this is why I do buy them. They make great backs!

In other Christmas-related sewing, my neice, Rachel, requested a stocking for her daughter. I had this Christmas fabric from Michael Miller and it seemed perfect – bright and festive and girlie!

I couched Annabelle's name in two different threads, sewed on some bells (of course!) and was able to use a sparkly trim that I've had in my stash a long time.

This sort of stocking is really easy to make. I admit that I referred to the directions for the lining and the cuff in our Quilt A New Christmas book rather than making it up as I went along, but if you don't have the book, you could probably do this without a pattern. 

Oh, one other thing! I got in a new brown polka dot that I love. It reminds me a lot of a brown dot that Linda and I did with P&B Textiles years ago. A yard of this one is going in my stash for sure.

I subscribe to NextDraft and get an email 5 days a week with links to the interesting things Dave Pell finds online. That's where I found this (and, just like a good Hallmark commercial) I got a little bit teary-eyed. I might want to be Mrs. Reiffel when I grow up.

I think you are going to enjoy this. Janine Spepherd has an amazing story… I could say more, but she says it better:

When I was shopping with Jeff in NYC we went the The Paper Source (twice). The first time they put a catalog in my bag and the second time I went back to buy what I found in the catalog. Which is why they put those catalogs in the bag!

I bought the supplies to make a wreath from paper straws. Remember these striped straws? Where have they been?

They had the flat cardboard rings but I didn't buy them. Silly me. Luckily, I am able to cut my own. I've looked on their website and can't find the wreath ring or instructions to make this wreath so let me tell you what I did. 

I drew a 5 1/2" circle inside an 8 1/2" circle on white illustration board and cut out a wreath form. Cut 40 straws (144 in the box) to 6 1/2". I have 40 little pieces left over that are 1 1/4" long that I get to figure out what to do with. 

Hot glue a short straw to the wreath form, with one end even with the inside of the ring. Next hot glue a long straw to the form. Alternate glueing short, then long. Change the angle with each straw. Cardboard shows between the straws.

My wreath ended up with two short straws together but I sort of hid that with the bow (below).

I hot glued the bow in place and hung it up in the bathroom. You wouldn't know how exciting this is because you can't see the ugly control box for the vent/heater that used to live above this towel rack. It was about even with the light switch, maybe a bit higher. It was scratched chrome with an ugly dial in the center. I hated that thing for 19 years!

Two weeks ago I hired an electrician and he rewired it so that now the vent and heater are each controlled with a switch (the switch plate now has 3 switches which you see above). It took about an hour and was not that expensive. He fixed the same thing in the other bathroom too. Steve patched the holes in the wall from the old control boxes and I painted. Hooray! Now that you know that story, doesn't this wreath look even better?!

I also, today, had a little fun sewing… I made the Peppermint Fairy Spoolkeep that I've got on the website. It makes me smile and I think it will be a nice Christmas decoration for the home tour this weekend. At least that's my excuse :-).

We went for a walk in Central Park for the last morning of my visit. It was foggy and gray, but not quite as cold. Jeff waited here for me, near a famous park fountain, while I took the photos that follow. This is Jeff, waiting patiently…

These alcove vignettes on the walls around the stairs were amazing. Each was different and I had to stop myself from photographing them all. 

Remember, you can click on these photos to open them bigger. The next one is so full of design ideas that you might want to do that. Can you see applique?

I don’t know that I have ever seen a witch on a broomstick in this sort of space. I didn’t even see the jack o’ lanterns until I was cropping the photo. 

All in all, these reminded us all of Harry Potter.

We walked through a group of farmers’ market stalls on the west side of the park. I like this sign and wish I could have taken those extra signs off for the photo. Oh, well, Jeff would have given me that look and then walked away…

I took more manhole covers. Jeff was almost enthusiastic – just one foot’s worth.

This guy was sitting with his dog outside of the coffee shop we stopped at. I am not a dog person but this dog gave me a look that I would expect from a person. You could tell that he was thinking behind those eyes. I could love this dog. The guy is grinning because I asked if I could take the photo. 

I didn’t quite catch him looking at me in the photo, but I think you can see what I mean. And he’s wearing a hoodie with a skull and crossbones on the back. I love this dog.

We went to one more holiday fair on the SW corner of the park and shopped a little bit more – I finally found something (spices!) for Steve – and then it was time to pack up and head to the airport. Jeff went with me on the subway as far as the airport (such a good boy) and now I’m on the plane home. It’s amazing how much fun it is to be connected to the web on the plane! 

It was such a great visit. I am truly blessed to have such good boys!

We got tickets to this art installation. It was so cool! It is an apartment built on scaffolding, around the statue of Columbus that is in the middle of Columbus Circle. This is an easy walk from Jeff’s apartment!

 The ‘apartment’ is about 6 flights up… 

 And then you are in Columbus’ apartment! 

It was so much fun to be this close to a statue that is normally so far up in the air. And I have to tell you that this was way cooler than I would have guessed. It put this sort of sculpture in a whole new perspective which must be the point.

The views out of the apartment windows were amazing! We all got great photos of the streets below.

 I particularly love the polka dots in this crosswalk…

Next we went to Rockefeller Center. It was early in the day but the lights were lit. It was very festive. I tried to shop at the Lego store but it was so very insane that I had to leave. I’m sure I can shop for Legos in Texas and Jack won’t care a bit!

We shopped and walked and got coffee and headed to Grand Central Station which is lovely. There was a marvelous holiday fair where I got a paperweight from Scott at Internal Fire Glass. I should remember his last name, but don’t and his card is buried in my luggage and I can’t get to it right now. (Amazingly enough I’m writing this from the plane on my flight home. I’ve never bought wireless in flight but thought I’d give it a whirl. It works!) Anyway, if you collect paperweights, his are definitely worth a look.

At Grand Central Station I saw this person who was just amazing to look at. How could I not take a photo? 

Jeff is pretty cute isn’t he! He gives me this look sometimes… it’s that ‘what are you doing and should I not claim you?’ look. Luckily I’m his mom and he claims me – but I try not to push my luck.

We went to Bryant Park where there was another (wonderful) holiday fair. And how can you not love these wonderful trees against that cool blue building?

We went for a late lunch farther uptown at Smith. The food was good, the cocktail better, and the floor demanded a photo. Yet another good hexagon design.

We went to the Folk Art Museum. It has moved since I was there last. It’s in a smaller but very nice space. The primary exhibit was of shiny objects. Goodness knows I love pretty, shiny things. This is a foil painting. The painting is on the back of the glass and foil is mounted behind that. There are open, clear spaces in the painting for the foil to shine through.

This one by Milton Wallace Bond of the Flatiron Building is my favorite. Apparently this style of painting was all rage in Victorian American.

We shopped the gift shop and then Jeff and I went to Whole Foods. There is a Whole Foods about 40 miles south of us in Texas but it felt a little different on the upper west side.

When it was all said and done we had walked for the better part of 7 hours and it felt nice to go back to the apartment and chill. I love NYC!