Merry Christmas!

Holiday Collar

If you're looking for a quick and festive look for your pet this season, try these covers for his collar. This project will take you less than 10 minutes and it looks great! My cats are much more tolerant of this than a kerchief or any of my other homemade costumes. And, you can change out the collar cover throughout the year. If you get really ambitious, you can choose a sturdy decorator fabric and embroider your pet's name, nickname, phone number, or address.

If you want to give this project a try, here are the steps I used:

* Start out by measuring your pet's collar length and width. I was able to cover the full length of the collar, minus the buckle, however you may have to shorten the length if you have a lot of tags that can't easily be removed. Measure the widest width (usually the buckle), as you will be sliding the cover over the collar and you want it to be easy to do so.

* Find a fabric with a cute, festive pattern. I recommend using a pattern that is small, especially if you're making a cover for a cat or small dog collar.

* You'll need to cut a piece of the chosen fabric that is 1" longer than the measured length and and 1" wider than twice the measured width of the collar.

* Make clean edges of both short ends of the cut fabrics. Fold over 1/4" and then another 1/4" and sew straight across. Repeat with the other end.

* With right sides together, sew along the length of the fabric.

* Pull fabric through the tube that you've sewn and slide the completed cover over the collar.

The Tree

This year's tree may just be the most boring tree yet! For those of you that know our track record with Christmas trees - this is a good thing!

You might think we're lucky to have a tree farm less than a quarter of a mile down the road, but I would have to disagree. This farm is one of the most pathetic farms I've seen, because the trees are never trimmed! Last year we managed to find a beautiful Blue Spruce, but I made the comment that we wouldn't return the following year because of the poor selection.

Unfortunately, since convincing Zach to go tree chopping is literally like pulling teeth, I make compromises. He's not a big fan of traveling an hour to my favorite tree farm, so I agreed to go to our local farm instead. I'll let you be the judge of this one. I admit that it's growing on me. It certainly is wayyyyyy better than any articial tree that Zach tries to convince me to buy every. single. year.

Cute Onesies

These cute onesies were made for my friend, Anh, and her soon-to-be baby boy! She and her husband are sports fans, so I thought these would be appropriate. They were fun and easy to create! I downloaded some black and white jpeg files for the templates, cut my fabric, used fusible web and zigzagged the edges. They gave this gift a personal touch!

Are You a Fan?

I'm currently running our company's Facebook page and I'd love to put a plug in for it. Please hop on over to Willow Mill's Facebook page. I'd be honored if you become a fan and "Like" our page! When you do, you'll get to see some of the cutest faces of the dogs and cats that I get to see everyday. (I love my job!) Along with pictures, you'll also find pet health information, animal-related news, local events, cute videos and more! Stop on by, leave a comment or share a photo!

A Conversation

After my Saturday morning shift:

Me: "Hi."

Zach: "Aren't you working today?"

Me: "Yes, but I'm done now."

Zach: "But aren't you working all day - dogsitting or housesitting or something?"

Me: "Yes, but that is later this afternoon."

Zach: "Oh" (Obviously disappointed that I intruded on his day home alone.)

I guess we've moved through the newlywed phase!

The Quilt is Done!

It is with great pride and relief that I can announce

my quilt is officially completed!

Here is a summary of what was involved to pull this together:

I began this hope quilt during my junior year at PSU (2002). Zach and I had just started dating.

Each of the squares contains 25 pieces that were machine-stitched. I created 103 squares, but only 75 were included in the quilt. The others didn't make the cut due to size or color selection.

I set the quilt aside for quite a while, primarily because I was so frustrated at the way the squares were coming together. In the meantime, I completed seven quilts: a twin-sized quilt for my bed, a hand-quilted PSU quilt and a Keepsake T-shirt quilt for Zach, and four baby quilts for friends and relatives.

In Dec. 2009, the center, including 49 squares, was pieced together. The quilt top, with borders, was finished that same month, but the fabrics for the borders didn't work well and I ended up redesigning it.

The redesigned quilt top was finished in August, 2010. It is for a queen mattress and measures 90" x 90".

I began hand-quilting in August, 2010. Each square took approximately 50 minutes to quilt. I used over 250 yards of quilting thread. Over a year later, the hand-quilting was finished on Nov. 20, 2011. The binding was hand-stitched and it marked the true completion of the quilt on Nov. 27, 2011!

I thank my mom for her knowledge, support and encouragement while I took on this project, which was honestly very frustrating for me at times. She spent many hours on this quilt as well! Thanks, Mom!!

PSU Has Changed

Last Saturday, Zach and I had the opportunity to attend the PSU/Nebraska game in Happy Valley. The decision to attend this last home game of the season was made in advance of the recently released sex abuse scandal and the resultant firing of JoePa. I had mixed feelings of attending the game, knowing that it would be a different PSU experience. But we decided to go and in the end, we were happy that we did.

As I'm sure everyone knows, the game was special. The team and the fans handled themselves the best that they could, given the situation. And the news reporters got one thing right - in the end, we won't remember the score or who won. The game will be remembered because it was more than a game. The team spirit, the supportive fans (for both teams), the pre-game prayer, the tears, and the absence of JoePa.

In a somewhat melancholic mood, we walked through campus and Zach and I reminisced on our experiences at PSU. We had such a fun time while we were students, experiencing life without our parents, falling in love, figuring out what our future would bring. Nearly each building held particular memories for us - watching the twin towers fall on the HUB TV with hundreds of fellow students, walking across the lawn of Old Main late at night as Zach escorted me home, statistics in Thomas building, dungeon-like classrooms in Bouke, endless hours studying in Paterno library.

Yes, PSU is more than football, but the loss of JoePa was tragic. I am still PSU proud, but I am also sad.

Monogram Pillows

For a recent wedding gift, I made these monogram pillows. I have had limited experience with fusible interfacing, but I really like how it has expanded the types of projects I can do. I did an online search and downloaded a font that I liked and used that for the pattern of the letters. I used the interfacing to secure the fabric applique pieces and they were reinforced with a zig-zag stitch. These pillows were actually quite easy to make, and I think they turned out great!

Otis

Just another post of my handsome boy, Otis. He found a nice spot on top of this comfy chair, looking out the window. Love!

Happy Halloween!

All of the boys obediently posed with their festive bandannas.

Upper left, clockwise - Sam, Fred, Beeker, Wilbur and Otis.

Beeker was very cooperative while I balanced these bat wings on his back!

Fall Wreath #2

I found the idea for this wreath here. I don't care for gold paint, so I used cinnamon instead. I'm debating a ribbon. It's a little too dull for me at this point. I'll keep working!

Fall Wreath

This weekend I made a nice wreath for the front door. I'm getting in the mood for fall and I've got quite a list of projects, including three more wreaths to make! We'll see how ambitious I will be this week!

Craft Day

My mother-in-law hosted a spectacular craft day at her house. She was able to bring a friend in to teach us how to do mosaic tiling. I had such a fun time working on this project! I definitely appreciated the opportunity to express my creativity since I have been unable to do much of anything crafty at home recently. It's still a work in progress - a few more tiles in the corner and then we'll lay grout to finish it off. I love it!

What do you think?

Catching Up

It has been too long since my last blog post! I have been incredibly busy and I still feel like my head is spinning! Let me do a quick synopsis for you.

On the last weekend in September, I had a solo driving trip. I traveled first to Long Island, NY, through heavy rainstorms, at times crawling on the expressways, to see my good friend, Emily, and her family. The drive was something I'd rather forget, but the visit was lovely. Her three kids are so cute and she and her husband are such great hosts. The visit was too short, but hopefully I'll return for another visit in June and visit her four kids!

From NY, I drove south to Philadelphia and visited my sister. We had tickets for So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour! We were both super excited and the day of the event seemed to pass so slowly. The performance was phenomenal! Two straight hours of fabulous dancing. This year's winner, Melanie, does an awesome dance that stands as a very close second to the last dance in Dirty Dancing. Loved it!

When this weekend concluded, my next two weeks flew by. I drove from Philly to a home where I dog-sat for four nights, caught a plane to Chicago for a four-day work-related conference, returned home (finally!) for three whole nights, dog-sat away from home for three more nights, and visited my in-laws for a day. I am, thankfully, home and enjoying the company of my cats and husband once again!

Perhaps you can understand why this post has been a long time coming?

Cuteness!

Because I absolutely love the fact that Beeker and Otis are actually true friends, I have to share this video. The cutest part is Otis's attempt at starting play - very gentle touches and licks to the head. And then there's the part when Beeker initiates the attack. Oh, and when they're on their sides batting each others' paws, that's cute too! Well, I suppose the whole video is darn cute to me!

Flood 2011

Thankfully our home stayed high and dry despite the best efforts of Tropical Storm Lee. The flooding, however, made an impression on our neighbor's yard. The stream reached its peak on Wednesday night and the current was so strong, both Zach and I were wide awake. Even though it was 1:00 am, we walked outside in the torrential rain to investigate the damage. We were quite surprised by what we saw.

The entire side of the adjoining driveway on our neighbor's side washed away. We happened to see neighbors outside from two doors down and they had heard the wall give way. It was rather incredible. Thankfully, that was the extent of the damage and the bridge remains stable and intact. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

High water line

High water line

High water line

Neighbor's bridge - large walking bridge brought down from upstream neighbors

This road was flooded with swifly flowing water, running off the hillside.

Pictures of our yard

Obviously, this damage is rather trivial in comparison to flooding disasters along the Swatara Creek, Yellow Breeches, and Susquehanna River. Below are some pictures of the area that I have included to document this historical flood - the worst since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Definitely a state of disaster.

Water rising along the Susquehanna, near Sunken Gardens in Harrisburg

(PennLive photo)

And it continued to rise.

(PennLive photo)

Union Deposit/Canal Street

(PennLive photo)

Dog rescue

(PennLive photo)

Amtrak trains submerged in Harrisburg

(PennLive photo)

Shipoke area in Harrisburg

SEAN SIMMERS,THE PATRIOT-NEWS

Aerial short, Susquehanna River

SEAN SIMMERS,THE PATRIOT-NEWS

Myerstown

(WHPTV21 photo gallery)

Pizza Hut in Hershey

(TwitPic from @ChristyFromPA)

Grounds at ZooAmerica, where two bison risked drowning and were euthanized

(PennLive photo)

Hershey Park

(PennLive photo)

Bridge Street, New Cumberland

(PennLive photo)

Nick's Cafe, New Cumberland

(PennLive photo)

Aerial view, Bridge Street, New Cumberland

SEAN SIMMERS,THE PATRIOT-NEWS