Monday, December 6, 2010

Sweet Stuff


Another day spent in the kitchen! This time, I was decorating gingerbread houses with the family. Hubby chose not to decorate one; instead, he watched football and kept us all updated on the scores and admired our houses.

Well, I guess he wasn't always admiring. Best quote of the day? Hubby to the Wild Child's boy friend: "Marty, with all due respect, what the hell are you making?!"

Here's their creation:


Marty had to head back to Chico in the mid afternoon, so he and the Wild Child got an early start on their house--since Marty's visit was a last minute decision, we didn't have a house for him, but he and the Wild Child were happy collaborating.

Soccer Son and his Lovely Wife to be Someday each had their own house and knowing my son, it's better that way, although they were both supportive of each other's efforts and shared ideas.

Soccer Son's house has solar panels on the roof, I think:


And his is a little minimalist for a gingerbread house, but I think he was just as interested in watching football with his dad as he was decorating his house, so his attention was divided.

His Lovely Wife to be Someday covered her house--you can see a front view in the first photo above, but I wanted to show you the back, which I thought was rather clever!


So clever, in fact, that I stole the idea for the sides of my house--I really liked the pretzel squares on point. I already used pretzel squares on the front and roof of mine, but after I saw hers, I added them to the sides too--on point:


The houses were left here to dry for the night and Soccer Son will pick up theirs tomorrow; in the meantime, I was able to get some photos for you. It was a lovely way to spend a rainy December afternoon!

For those of you who may have printed or downloaded a copy of the Christmas Wreath version of the Paganini quilt, there was an error in the original published directions--I had said to cut 72 1-1/2" squares from the gold fabric for star points, when it should have been 144 squares. The corrected pattern can be found HERE.

How observant are you? If you've been reading my blog for a bit, you've probably noticed I don't publish photos of me--other than my nude self-portraits! But in the first photo above, there's a picture of me and the Wild Child--probably taken about 20 years ago. Neither of us looks quite the same these days, as you might imagine! Did you spot it before I told you?

12 comments:

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

How proud your family is of your talent and the joy you bring to them. I missed the photo and just saw the houses. Cuties!

Jo-anne Blossy said...

The gingerbread houses look great. I almost feel inspired to make one myself :)

Jocelyn said...

What fun! Love the gingerbread houses. You've been a busy gal :-)

Nicole said...

That is the sort of holiday experience that memories are made from. What a lovely day you all had, and the gingerbread houses are amazing! I love the way they look all clustered together--a little gingerbread village.

Greenmare said...

excellent job everyone! and you know me, I KNOW gingerbread houses!

Dena said...

Everyone did a spectacular job on their gingerbread houses. What a fun way to spend the day.

Great picture of you and wild child. And no, I did not notice it until you said something. I was too distracted by all the yummy houses. LOL

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

I spotted it! LOL. We decorated gingerbread houses yesterday too. I need to post. Punkie did a great job with ours.

Robin said...

1) Not very observant, apparently! Y'all look GREAT!
2) Lovely Wife To Be takes first place.
3) Your somewhat pirated version takes second place
4) Wild Child and Marty take 3rd place for their inventive use of waffle pretzels to create the fence
5) Soccer Son takes 4th place, but also wins the Good Sport Award for attempting to decorate houses when he clearly wanted to be watching football!

Bonnie said...

Can I be part of your family?! What a fun was to spend time together.

quiltmom anna said...

Love the Gingerbread houses Kim- Your husband's quote made me laugh out loud- It seems you had a great family time reflecting your personalities in the terrific gingerbread houses.
Did you make the house parts from scratch? Do the houses get eaten?
I love the pretzel roofs and your son's solar panels- He gets marks for originality.
Thanks for sharing your very fun family time.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Bowbailey said...

The gingerbread houses look adorable. This year, I have been making "Freshly Baked, Ready to Decorate" Gingerbread houses to sell. The taste of homemade gingerbread houses is so yummy!! Thanks for your funny blog

BJ in TX said...

Yes, I saw the picture but thought it was two young sisters....no way could that be our Kim!!!