House Half Full

I just love the names they give paint colors. Our house is going to be a lovely combination of kitchen twine, caribou, and penny loafer. Doesn't that just put an image in your head? We almost went with baguette, eclaire and espresso, wouldn't that have been yummy?
We were lucky enough to be able to hire on some extra help for our house painting yesterday. My running partner Tom's son is in town visiting and available by the hour. With his help we powered through half the house in our first day! It was the bottom half of course, which is the easiest part. We're going to have to rent scaffolding for the top part and didn't want to leave it up over Christmas. So instead we are finishing the detail work on the bottom and letting the rest wait until after the holiday.
I went out this morning and finished up the edging and trim over the garages. I even got the carriage lights and house number put back up. I'm not very good at electrical though, and only one of them lit up this evening. I don't know why, but it makes me feel better to have one small section all the way done. This afternoon I braved the cold to go out and paint the shutters on the bottom floor. Wow, shutters take a long time to paint! All those nooks and crannies have to be taken care of one at a time.
Nothing much on the quilting front. I've started a new Christmas quilt that is meant to be a going away present for a neighbor who is moving, but I've been bone tired at the end every day recently and haven't made much progress. I'd better get a move on if I want to get it done, they are leaving before the new year.