Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas is over...

We had a nice Christmas weekend, starting with friends on Friday evening. We did our annual ornament exchange/Chinese auction style.  Above is the glow-in-the-dark snowflake that I made for the event.
Ethan, Hope's boyfriend (below right) ended up with it.


After eating & exchanging ornaments, we played Pictionary-man. Much fun & silliness ensued.
The crowd left about midnight. We blew out the candles & crawled into bed until... (I'll finish this story at the end of the post.)

I wanted to share other things I've done for Christmas first. I got a blank PFD white silk scarf for one of my gifts from Jan at my Calendar Girls group. I used it to make a gift for my friend Kathy, who always exchanges with me.


I finished up a customer quilt for Tracy Trasky. This bear who I think should be called "The Guardian", because that's what he felt like to me, when hanging on my studio wall, waiting to be bound.


I also quilted the top that I gave to my DH for Christmas last year. I was a day late fining it, because of the rest of the story....



At 4 a.m. on Christmas eve morning, we were awakened by the electronic voice of the fire alarm screaming "FIRE! FIRE!" along with it's obnoxious alarm that even the hard of hearing can't ignore. I grabbed my robe & ran up the stairs, & found we indeed did have a fire blazing on top of the bookcase where earlier there had stood a candle. It was burning the cotton batting that was snow for the nativity. My first stuporous impulse was to smother it with my robe. Well, I found out that fleece burns quite well. Now I had a fire right by the Christmas tree, that was burning a package & a robe along with the cotton snow-batting... I ran to the kitchen & grabbed my tea kettle & a pan of water, & ran back pouring it over the fire, putting about 2/3 of it out. I think this is when I carried the flaming robe, & burning foot stool, which were melded together, out on to the snow covered porch, & got more water to put the rest of the fire out. Warren was working on damage control at that point, & I think that's about the time that I realized my hands felt like they were on fire. The right hand fingers got the worst of it. We went to the ER where they gave me drugs & attempted to bandage my wounds, but I couldn't stand having my hand out of a cold bucket of water for any longer than a few seconds before I had to plunge it back in again. It was about 24 hours before the fingers no longer felt like they were still in the flames. We felt very fortunate that so little was damaged, & we are safe, & healing. My hand no longer hurts.

The final photo that I am posting is another piece of silk that I dyed when I did the scarf. I think it looks like fire.




16 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

Well, that is a very adventurous way to end a great time! Hope you are feeling better now-that pan of water is the only thing that gives relief! The quilt and scarf is amazing-nice work but it looks like a bit until you are going to be working that hand for quilting! Take care.

Dean and Katie said...

oh my goodness! Glad you are healing & it wasn't any worse! Also glad you both are safe and there was much damage! Love you both!!

Gina Docherty said...

OMG - I am so glad you are all right! What a scary thing Deb. Hope you have a Happy, uneventful New Year.
Gina

Vicki W said...

Now that's a real Christmas memory! I'm glad you and the house are OK!

mindy said...

You know I really didn't want you to join my "sisterhood of house fires"!!! Now I'm worrying who will be #3 and have changed my xmas gift plans from candle holders to electric light fixtures.
Also interesting to note...is after our garage fire...I made some fused glass pieces of fire...perhaps its cathartic. Glad you're healing...wish I could have been there for you like you were for me.

Jen said...

Oh my! So glad you put the fire out. I hope your hand heals soon. Thank goodness you had a great alarm. Now you need to get a fire extinguisher! Great quilting, as usual :) glad you had a merry Christmas.

The Calico Cat said...

So glad it wasn't any worse.

Don't tell me Broccoli slept through all of the drama...

Kathy -MIQuilter said...

Only you could take the lowly nine-patch quilt and with the quilting design make it spectacular!
Love the bear quilt too.
I'm glad your healing and the fire wasn't any worse.

Stephanie said...

glad you are on the mend. I'm also glad that it didn't get any worse then what it did.

Ali Honey said...

Well it might make an obnoxious noise but it worked didn't it and you are all safe if somewhat the worse for wear. Hope the pain goes completely really soon.

Happy Safe New Year to you ALL.

Anita Heady Fiber Arts, LLC said...

Oh Deb! So glad the fire was contained. How's the hand feeling today? The party sounds like a blast and we can't wait to meet you.

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Deb. I was so sad to hear about the fire and your poor burn fingers. Hopefully they will heal with No problems. I am so glad it was not worst and you still have your lovely home. You do lovely work on that scarf. I wish you both a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Hugs Judy

Micki said...

I am so glad that the fire wasn't any worse than it was. I hope your hand starts feeling better soon. Have a safe and happy New Year!

Quilt crazy said...

So thankful you are healing and it was not worse!

Marsel said...

Oh my -- so glad you are okay, hoping that your healing is coming along well by now.

Tracy said...

OH Deb! I'm glad that you weren't hurt too badly and that your house is ok. Sending cool fuzzies and warm wishes your way. Thank you again for quilting "The Guardian;" it's hanging in baby's room right now.