Dreaming in Pink and Red

I honestly thought I wouldn't want to be near the sewing machine for at least two months, but this past week has my head buzzing with ideas for Valentine's Day. One day I was simply possessed to take out everything in my craft room that was pink, white, red, or covered with roses and lay it all out on my table. Talk about motivating! I can hardly get myself out of the basement.

The day after I made the raggedy wreath I set to work on a cushion cover. Like most of my projects, this started out in my mind as something completely different. In the end I'm happy with it though; pink and red are such a cheery combination.

I will have to get to work on my other projects soon; we have decided to frame and drywall our basement. The basement is where my sewing/crafting area is, so it won't be easily accessible for quite some time. That's a drawback, but once it's done it should be much brighter and more pleasant to be down there. An even bigger plus is that there will be no more fluorescent lighting to make dingy lighting like in the picture up top:)

Happy crafting!

Are you selfish

...with your stash? Be it fabric or fibres, papers , stickers or embellishments? Do you buy pretty things and just can't part with them, because you're sure another, better project will come to light using them? Or maybe you love them so much you don't want to use them up in projects for other people because you won't be able to get more?


I am guilty, guilty, guilty of that. I have fabric in my stash as old as my marriage. That's almost 15 years folks. I have pretty little do-hickeys to put on those handmade cards I'm always saying I'll make which have been sitting patiently in their neat little plastic divider boxes. I have a small collection of silk threads for embroidery, but once I got them I'm convinced no project is "just right" to use them on.

I don't make resolutions at the turn of the year, because once I say I'm going to do something, it invariably never happens. This year, instead of a resolution to use up a large portion of my stash (or rather, stashes) I have a sincere desire to make stuff with it and get it out of here. We talked about this on New Year's Eve with the kids. I told my kids my 'sincere desire' (because remember it's not a resolution!), and My Favorite Boy replied; "But then you will have to buy all new stuff". Oh what a smart boy!
Now when I try to use up some of my prettiest bits of stash, or decide not to go to the fabric store, instead of feeling deprived I'll remind myself that there is a gold pot of stash to be gotten at the bottom of the pile! They will always come out with cute new fabrics and stickers and papers and do-dads, so I don't need to be greedy or clench-y with what I've got now. "Go forth into the world" I say to it.
When I picked out all the fabrics for today's project, I almost put it back, because it went so well together that I couldn't possibly use it for this. However, I remembered my sincere desire and kept on. I even ended up with a project I really like. So there crazy brain, there's no need to hoard!

Anyway, onto today's project. My Favorite Boy and I spent a good hour browsing in the craft store this afternoon. Aside from getting an insane deal on Christmas wrapping paper, I saw some heart shaped wreaths made from fabric strips. "Ah-ha!" I thought to myself. "I have the makings for that in my own stash, clothes hanger and all!"
Mr. Crafty World had to work late tonight, so the kids and I ate hot dogs in our pyjamas while watching Tinkerbell, and during the movie I happily snipped strip after strip of fabric with my pinking shears. Some time after that spent tying knots and here is my new raggedy wreath for Valentine's Day.
I like it, but I think I need more pink. What do you think?

*Edited to add:
I just found this tutorila to make rag wreaths if you are so inclined. Go here to see what the talented Flossie Teacakes made.

I finally "de'Christmas-ed" today. Normally I'm itching to get everything put away by January 1, but this year I really wanted to just let the spirit keep going on. I had a really good Christmas, and 2009 was a pretty good year, so I was a bit reluctant to let it go. However now it's done, and I'm looking at the empty spaces around the house and enjoying the calm that comes from it. I still have 2 poinsettias left over; by some miracle I didn't kill them off before the holidays so I get to enjoy them for a while longer!

As I said we had a nice Christmas. Lots of treats for good girls and boys. We didn't really do anything for a week, and it was so nice. I actually read a book; a whole book in a week. I haven't done that in years. Here's the book:


Mr. Crafty World bought a few things off my Amazon Wish List. Don't you love those things?!
I really enjoyed this one, and have made quite a few recipes from it already. The author has a blog, Orangette (which I haven't visited yet), and this book is a compilation of some of her posts. It's an easy read, but I did cry when she wrote about the death of her father. (Don't worry, that part isn't a spoiler; it's mentioned on the jacket.)

I have been trying to stitch up one of Shepherd's Bush nativity story pieces every year, so that one day I'll have eight lovely pieces to display. I don't think I did any last year, and this year I started this one in November.

I got so busy in December I didn't finish it, and just about put it in my UFO pile. Once I saw how little I had left to do (and felt the guilt about having one not done and 5 left to go) I sat down the other day and finished it off. I felt good about that.

I've been doing a lot of puttering around as well; nothing too notable but things that make me feel like I am accomplishing something, even if I am still in my pyjamas at 3p.m. I purged our filing cabinet and came up with a new and I hope improved system for filing all the stuff I have to file in a year. I cleaned up my sewing area, which you can imagine is always a mess right after Christmas. I moved some stuff around in there so it's not really easy for me to pile stuff on my machine and then get frustrated that I can't sew when I want to.
Oh, and I did my Christmas cards! I did them on January 1, so they ended up being more "Happy New Year/Thank-You for the Gifts" cards, but I finally got them sent. Guilt, be gone!

All that organizing always put me in the mood for doing something creative, so I picked up my crochet hook and a pattern and have been having a go at this:


It's supposed to be a scarf someday. I have pulled it apart at least 5 times (no, I'm not exaggerating) and am so far only on row five, out of seven. Then repeat, repeat, repeat until you get a scarf. I think I may have picked something a little too challenging for my current abilities.
Anyway at least I'm getting practice. I no longer have to look up how to do a double crochet everytime, since I have had to do it over and over and over.

Today I went to one of our local shops and did a bit of shopping. I have had a gift card from this place in my wallet for 9 months now and figured I should use it up. One of the things I bought was this book:

I have not seen it before and it's really cute. There are mini angel food cakes (from scratch) in here that only take 10 minutes to make. You just make them in a mini muffin pan. Can you imagine anything so cute?

Happy New Year folks!

Breathing

...normally again. Today is a great day because everything is done. I finished my sewing just last night, and any projects I had in mind for tomorrow will just have to wait for another time. After much cursing and tantrum throwing behind my trusty sewing machine, I did finally finish those pernickity houses. If I had started them last year, I probably would have put off finishing them until this year, but I am under a time crunch of sorts. You see My Favorite Girl is seven, and is probably too old for such things, and there is no way I could make it for her when she's eight. I figured it was my last possible year to make it for her, and I have been wanting to make one for her since she was a just a little bean. I think she will be happy; now she has a place to put all her little stuffie felt creatures that we make. I designed three new animals which she was very excited about. So far she only knows them on paper; I have been stitching them up at night after she's asleep. Without further ado, here are the houses and their tenants:

Yesterday we had a craft party at our house. The kids have been out of school since last Friday, and I wanted to do something that would take their mind off the wait...wait...waiting for even just a little while. Altogether there were 9 children here, and it went really well. So well in fact I may do it next year. I had lots of crafts to do, and they all made some bath salts for their mums and chocolate covered spoons for their dads and tiny graham biscuit houses for themselves. Their mums got to stay home and wrap presents or run out and get those last minute groceries, so everyone was happy. I was so busy in the hour and a half they were here I didn't take any pictures of their lovely creations, but they were beautiful! Last night I was exhausted, but it was a good kind of tired.

And now today is mine to just putter and put my feet up and convince the kids it really isn't the longest day of the year.

Have a merry, merry Christmas; and may all your gatherings be as magical as Christmas Eve.

Jolly Days?

Despite my intentions I am starting to feel a *little* bit of stress due to Christmas. My fabric houses are not going so well, and I have run out of kid-free sewing days, which means I have to stay up late and sew when I'm tired. Now that Christmas cards are coming in the mail, I'm really aware that I haven't sent out any yet, and those un-sent cards are not the hand-made ones I had planned on making through the year. The chocolate for my truffles is still sitting on the counter, waiting....

Looking on the positive side, I did get my parcels sent off and they should arrive at their destination before Christmas. Going to the post office last week made me realize that the date for international mailing has long passed, so once again friends Down Under will not receive a card in time. (Sorry S. Family!! Expect a letter in the New Year!)

Back to being positive: I did finish a few sewing projects that didn't make me have a tantrum at the sewing machine.

Some strawberry sachets for My Favorite Girl:

A reversible fleece vest for My Favorite Boy:

And some pouches for two marble collections:

Today will be busy, but fun I hope. I am volunteering with the kindergarten for their "Santa's Workshop". We will be spending the morning making crafts, and I always like that.

Have a great day!

Christmassy

We had our first snowfall this week, and those little flakes suddenly made us all very aware that it's almost the middle of December! Time to bake! Time to shop! Time to wrap and get ready!
I've got the shopping done, and have started on the baking. I had a white chocolate day of sorts, and made these goodies:


Chocolate covered pretzels with red and white sugar sprinkles; white chocolate bark with dried cherries and pistachios; chocolate biscuits covered with white chocolate and crushed candy cane. We have been feasting on them every night after supper, and I fear they may all be gone by the time I get the other treats made.

Last night I tried some simpler baking, and am very happy with the shiny, kitsch-y look of my cereal wreaths:

The kids are looking forward to after school time today, since that will be their first taste of them!

This year I made cookie mixes for hostess gifts. I'm really happy with how they turned out:

I used some vintage jars, and made the tags out of paint sample cards.

I spent all of yesterday sewing. I had hoped to be further along by now, but the instructions for this project are just horrible. I made two of these about 15 years ago, and I'm amazed it didn't scar me forever. Here's a sneak peek:


I will be working on it and another one today as well. Wish me luck because I really, really need it for this project!

Meet Jingles

I have had a bit of success on the crochet front. I made a little mouse in single crochet the other night, and he has no obvious bulges, holes or extra bits. OK, maybe he's a bit long in the nose, but he's my first! I had intended he be used as a kitty toy, so I put a little jingle bell inside of him. Once I had him finished I realized he would be too big; in fact he's probably half the size of the cat recipient! He has been christened Jingles and is now part of the menagerie of Our Favorite Boy. Since then I have been doing a bit more in the crochet critter department, and have a list from My Favorite Girl on what she wants. I think the kids saw that these little critters have a much smaller incubation period than other projects they have asked me to make!



I'm not the only one being occupied by Christmas: the kids have been producing ornaments and decorations at a rate that would do any Supervisor Elf proud. There are so many things, it would take forever to try and post them on here. I do love this coffee filter angel, especially her little smiling face.



Kiddie sewing has been done as well, with each of my little elves making a small "stuffie".

Yesterday we went to the last Christmas bazaar of the season, and I picked up this little ornament:

I thought it was just adorable, and something I haven't seen before. Next year I plan on going to this particular bazaar a lot earlier, and with a lot more spare change!

Now that the decorations and tree have been put up, I'm hoping to start my baking and chocolate making. I have grand ideas here in my Crafty World; I'm really hoping for sweet success! Stay tuned...