Sigh of Contentment?

T'was the day after Christmas,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.......

I'm never quite sure what's afoot the day after.  Is it relief or is it just a big let-down?  I suppose it's a different thing for each person, and it's probably a different thing each year.  I am contented and feeling wonderfully blessed this year, now that Christmas celebrations are over.

I don't have a tradition of celebrating Boxing Day, so that isn't on my radar.  I do have one more box to send to someone who's in Europe over the holidays so I could legitimately send the gift late. My one last Christmas-related chore.

My Christmas with my sisters is also in the future, because one is out of the area to enjoy Christmas with her daughter and son-in-law.

In an unrelated update, I knit many pairs of socks for my kids for Christmas, but the piece de resistance was this pair of sneaker slippers which was a request from my grandson.  I think it was a request------he posted a picture on Facebook without any comment.  Could it be a hint?

I couldn't find a pattern for the ones he posted, but I did find another pattern on Ravelry for slippers that look like sneakers and I'll show you how they turned out.

The pattern by Joan Hamer shows longer legs which look like sport socks with stripes at the top, but the recipient lives in Florida, land of the flip-flop. What does he need with long warm socks on his legs?  (I said to myself.)  It wasn't because I was too lazy to knit them, either.  I had plenty of yarn, and time enough to do them.  It just seemed to me they'd be more useful if they were less hot.  

So I find myself without a knitting project.  I stashed away a baby sweater when I rearranged my project bag and it hasn't reappeared yet.  In the meantime I have another interest to pursue.

Good Guy fulfilled my only Christmas request.  I wanted a portable, reliable, light sewing machine which I could take to quilting events and retreats.  He got me this little beauty which gets rave reviews from my friends who own her sister machines.

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She's a lovely, light addition to my stable of useful stitching paraphenalia  (spell-check won't pass any spelling I come up with for that word.  Forgive me.)  I now have four sewing machines.  The one I've had the longest was a wedding gift in the early 1960's.  It's a wonderful machine still, from the days when Singer was the brand name to buy. 

My second machine was purchased at a yard sale and had been sitting in a garage for awhile with nobody to love it.  I parted with $25.00 and somehow loaded the piece of furniture containing a sewing machine into my trunk.  It was jammed full of lint. but after it was cleaned and oiled, it ran quietly and beautifully.  (It was made in New Jersey in 1947.)   It doesn't have fancy stitches, but it's perfect for piecing quilts.  Quiet and reliable.  

The third machine has been used a lot by someone, judging from the stuff that came along with it.  Good Guy went to an auction in town and came home with a desk full of sewing supplies and a "portable" sewing machine which had a service tag attached with this date on it.  7/17/90.

It's portable in that it is in a carrying case.  However it weighs about 40 pounds, at the very least and I don't think it's easy to tote around.  I have gotten it to stitch, though and it's usable, if not "friendly".

This new "Little Sister" is very sweet though, and I will love her.  I need to devise a good guide for a 1/4 inch seam and then we're good to go. 

So that's a little bit of what's happening here on the day after Christmas.  In the time it's taken me to write this and take pictures, check dates, etc. more is stirring.  Bacon is frying nearby and someone is making fried potatoes and eggs, so life goes on-------even after Christmas is over.

Happy New Year, my friends.