A good start for a new year!

Happy New Year my sweets!
I hope your new year is starting off on the right foot.
We are at the tail end of our road trip, and will be heading home Sunday. We were in Utah through the 26th and were lucky enough to enjoy a white Christmas:

 This is my father-in-law's "moat". He dug it himself a few years ago because he wanted a waterfall in his back yard. I think it is 6 feet deep, 5 feet wide, and 9 feet long. Creativity comes in all shapes.

Speaking of creativity, the lady convinced her daddy to build her this for Christmas:

It is a bed for her 18" doll, Molly (a hand-me down from my childhood).

But wait, what is that in the bed? It is not the doll. It is a...Hedgehog!!!
Yup, I made a second one and only decided to give it to the lady after seeing the bed love had made for her. When we get home I will have her pick out fabric for a quilt for the bed. I might even be able to get her to help me tie it.

After Christmas, we made our way to a small family cabin near Lake Tahoe. Love was hoping to snowboard, but the conditions were just not good enough to legitimize spending the money at a ski resort. So we found an okay spot to sled and build a snow cave instead.

Have I mentioned that I do not care for snow. Or the cold for that matter. I was happy to leave early and head to my mother-in-law's for New Years eve. 

Do you remember that big quilt I was working on. The one with the Japanese style ladies and other Asian style fabrics? It is for the bed we use when visiting my mother-in-law, and I finished it in Tahoe. We visit about once a month and have a room on the property that is all ours, and we needed a better blanket for that bed.

  I think it turned out amazing and is exactly what this room needed.
I have also picked up that green and purple sweater for the lady. It is funny how much longer things take when you stop working on them. I know this could be done already, but I had other projects and I want to do something different with the hood.
but the sleeves are done!

As you can see, I have started on the hood, but my count was off and I will need to rip it back. (sigh) I will have to buckle down when I get home. But for now I am choosing to focus on the fabulous bit of surprise:

  This was my Christmas present from mother-in-law and her fiance. Fiance had seen me ogling it a couple months back at a local fair we all went to. This is not wool. It is raw cashmere! It will take some time to pick out all the guard hairs and figure out how much I can use. But, this is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received.

Well I must get back to the family.
Thanks for checking in,
XO Lue Lue Ellabee