Christmas Decorations

While driving through the neighborhood today, I've started to notice that decorations are going up. I'm sure they are lovely at night when they are all on and going strong, but at 10 am they are just a little sad. I call this yard "Christmas Character Mass Murder Scene". 

Too morbid?

Farewell Tour - Enchanted Rock

This past weekend was great! There was lots of family time and there is nothing better, especially when much of that time is spent laughing. 

The weekend started out with Thanksgiving at my sister's in-law's. We all brought contributions to the meal and then ate and ate and ate with some football watching thrown in as a bonus. For those of us that aren't big football watchers, a game called 'Head's Up' was played. This was a lot of fun as it is a game where you have to guess a word of phrase while being given clues by your teammate (although we didn't play with teams but just had everybody shouting out clues). 

On Friday, mom, my sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and I all piled into the car and drove down to Fredericksburg, TX. We got down there mid-afternoon and dropped our stuff at the hotel, which was a block off the Main Street, then walked up to the main drag and walked around, did some minor shopping, and lots of people watching. We grabbed dinner at a really great restaurant called Rathskeller. After dinner, we stopped for some fudge and then walked down to the square and watched the Christmas tree lighting then headed back to the hotel. It wasn't even 8:00 yet, but Fredericksburg is one of those small towns that pretty much shuts down when the sun goes down. We all gathered in my and mom's room and played a couple of rousing rounds of Head's Up and once again finished the night with lots of laughs. 

On Saturday, we got around early so that we could get to Enchanted Rock State Park early before the crowds showed up (and they did show up). Mom made the decision to take the path around the rock and left some of dad there. Marti, Graham, Kathleen, Colin, and I headed up the rock. Graham and the kids headed off like mountain goats while Marti and I took our time and enjoyed the scenery (and breathing). When we all reached the top we found a nice area without other people around and took a moment to send Dad on his way. 

I know he will enjoy this view. 

We then did some more mountain goating around: 

And saw some beautiful scenery:

When we finally got off the rock, we headed north towards home, but made a detour to Dublin, TX where they used to bottle cane suger Dr. Pepper. Sadly, they no longer make it there, but we were able to experiment with some other cane sugar sodas...and I think all sodas need to go back to using cane sugar rather than corn syrup, but that is just me. 

After that we headed home and relaxed. It was a great weekend and I'm so thankful for the memories we made. 

Flights of Fantasy - Whimsy

The most recent challenge for AQATW is called "Flights of Fantasy" with the expectation to delve into the various worlds of fantasy for inspiration. My inspiration was my friend, Angelia, who makes fairy wings for costumes and is also a wonderful fairy named Whimsy. Here is my quilt:

I did this by painting on fabric using Derwent Inktense blocks and added a tulle skirt. Here is the finished painting with skirt: 

I then went back in with embroidery thread and fancied her up:

For some reason, her hair and bodice make me very happy. 

And for reference, here is a picture of my inspiration:

You also need to check out her website On Gossamer Wings.