Happy New Year, I'm Back, Downton Abbey

Ahhhh..........
I'm back.  I missed you all.  I missed this. 
So, here's what happened...my new Christmas desk chair got to partying with my desktop computer and they partied, just before the new year, like it was 1999.  And then...they (well, the computer anyway) pulled a Y2K on me - complete shut down.  ???  No idea what happened.  Probably a virus, I guess.  Anyway, it (the computer) has been visiting the fix-it shop this whole time and is finally back - with all my blog photos, files, and other important stuff in tact - yay!
In my down time, I watched the Downton Abbey DVDs, all of season one and two.  I even pulled Kate in and got her hooked also.  So, the evening of January 6th, us girls camped out in the basement with popcorn, wine (me) and hot cocoa (Kate) and our ancient hand-me-down TV and watched PBS, Downton Abbey, season three, episode one.  Ahhhh.  Love it. 
Our basement "retreat", where the ancient TV lives, is also my sewing/craft room.  Partway through our viewing, Kate wandered over to the yarn bins, removed a ball of varigated yarn, sat down and began finger crocheting.  I held my victory dance in check.  After a bit, she put the yarn down, sat at my sewing desk and began snipping scraps of fabric with my sewing shears, enjoying the crisp woosh of each cut. 
Okay, she left quite a mess behind her. 
But. 
But. 
Remember, neither she nor John have ever been much interested in the creative fabric, thread, string, needle stuff that I love.  So... I did not mind this mess one bit.  In fact, after she went to bed, I stitched all those snipped scraps onto a background fabric.  This I will save!  My Downton Abbey/Kate/scrap sampler.