Thanksgiving turns into Christmas

We spent our Thanksgiving dinner in Colonial Williamsburg, enjoying turkey and fellowship with some friends.

Our host was just getting off from work - about 90% of the time I see him, he's dressed like this. :)

Before dinner, we strolled around the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. The sun was setting and cast a beautiful glow on everything. It's such a lovely place to visit!

I was feeling pretty good about myself because I had just assembled some Christmas decorations for our front door. The kids collected pine cones and painted/glittered them, I hot glued the ribbons. Not bad, eh? Snow covered pinecones when it's about 70 degrees!

Yep. I was pretty happy. Then I saw the Christmas decorations going up in Williamsburg. Wow. At the risk of sounding un-thankful on Thanksgiving day, these make my creation look like a 2nd grade craft project (ok, it pretty much is!). I know these are done by professionals, but still. Gorgeous. This year the decorators have gone beyond the typical fruits and seed pods. Just look:

wheat, clove-studded oranges, lavender and cinnamon sticks (or cattails??) I love how they chose the wheat instead of greens - it stands out against the red so well

turkey tail, pine cones, & green apples - simple yet striking

this is the more traditional fruits and seed pod wreaths

my favorite: antlers, pheasant feathers, holly berries and cotton pods

Now I'm really in the mood to start my Christmas decorating! I'll have to go back to CW soon when they finish putting up all the decs to see what other ideas they've come up with. This could turn into a fun kids' project - making wreaths with objects found in nature only.

Preparing for Christmas

I know, Thanksgiving isn't even here and I'm talking about Christmas. But an important day requires some forethought and preparation, especially if you're busy chasing little ones. How do you make Christmas meaningful beyond the presents and sugar? One way we've enjoyed is by tracing the spiritual lineage of Jesus all the way from Adam through the Old Testament prophets to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

I made these felt magnets with little fingers in mind. They are stuffed with a cotton ball and the magnet is INSIDE so I wouldn't worry about someone prying it off and swallowing it! Yes, there's a fair amount of work here, but we've enjoyed these for years and they've held up well! It took me 3 years to make these....so maybe if you're diligent and get started now you could have a complete set by Christmas!

Here are the people represented, reading from left to right, top to bottom:

Spirit, Adam, Noah, Abraham

Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses

Passover, Rahab, Gideon, Ruth

Samuel, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah (chains - it's hard to see in the photo)

Jonah, Esther, Daniel, Zachariah & Elizabeth

John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, Jesus

Creative Burst

Oh my, the bug has bitten me! We're gearing up to start school again in a few weeks, so I'm trying to finish up a bunch of projects so I'm not distracted.

Noro Cash Island & Noro Kureyon scarf, improvised the pattern and love it. Half way finished!

Daughter said "I have no shirts to wear!" and so I went into action. Gingham, pintucks, and vintage buttons! The lace is reclaimed from one of great-grandma H's handkerchiefs. I kind of improvised this pattern too...it's not as short as it looks, the camera lens did some strange things here. The neckband needs to be finished and I'd like to adjust the sleeve bands a bit to allow more ease. This reminds me of 4th of July picnics for some reason.

The England Swings charm square bag is DONE! I used a solid yellow for the lining and added some purse rings to the straps. Also added a button and loop closure.

Here are two pockets on the inside using leftover charm squares.

Our deck is done! This was a big project (which we did not do ourselves). I had a lot of fun dreaming up an outdoor space suitable for entertaining larger crowds. Our builder did a great job of catching the vision and making it reality! Now to dress it up - flowers are starting to go in around the front...
...purple coneflowers and an orange tiger lily, and no summer is complete without red geraniums.

I finished the binding on my Christmas quilt today! This was supposed to be finished for Christmas 2010, but it got a bit delayed. :) This used a honey bun of Glace by Three Sisters, plus additional yardage for the red border (same for backing). The rest is Kona cotton in khaki. I cut my teeth on straight line quilting with my new walking foot on this one. I'm waiting to see what it looks like after a run through the wash....

Whew! That's a bit this week! It feels so good to finish projects, but then again I love to start projects! I just cut out the pieces to make a rain hat for myself with some laminated cotton. Can't wait to see how that sews up! When that's done, then my creativity will be turned fully onto the school plans. Perhaps I can sneak a little sewing in during breaks. :)

Mother Daughter crafting

I bought a little embroidery kit for my daughter in February - it had patterns to stitch 6 mini Christmas stockings. I figured little projects would be more attainable for her than something substantial. She's done a great job so far! She helped me press and sew a few of them this afternoon. That proved to be some great teaching time for lining up seams, how to pin fabric, and even how to press seams (daddy's shirts are next!) She's excited to fill them with treats for Christmas morning!

Snowglobe Soaps

We're busy as elves in Santa's shop over here. It's a challenge to come up with handmade gifts that the kids can help with that don't look like, well, the kids made them. You know what I mean. Popscicle sticks and glitter and all that. I'm not the kind of sentimental mom that saves THOSE kinds of crafts for long.




I saw this post on how to make snowglobe soap and thought we'd try it. What fun! It was easy, not dangerous for little hands to help with, and relatively quick to make. It uses melt and pour glycerin soap, mini figurines, a bar of white soap and some glitter. We used an ice cube tray as our mold.



It only took about 15 min for the soap to set up in the freezer, which was just enough time to clean up the MESS!! Big downside to this project - soap bits everywhere! But hey, it's soap, so it's an inherently clean mess, right? Of course, my 7 yr old son decided to take up soap whittling in the process which didn't help our situation any. (He has two friends who've taken off bits of their fingers with knives, so rest assured he got "the lecture.")



We're excited to give these cute little treats to our friends!

Feeling Merry!

The Christmas season is upon us!! How about spreading that merry spirit to all you meet by wearing a bow yourself! As a kid, the gift-opening protocol was to pull off the bow then stick it on top of your head (I guess mom and dad thought that made for cuter photos!).



Here's a (slightly) more grown-up way of doing that. A bow bobby pin! I followed the tutorial here. You could easily apply this to ponytail rubberbands, pin backs for brooches, or a very reuseable bow for your gifts, decor, etc!

Christmas Hexagons

The Christmas quilt top I've been working on since Spring is finally finished! This was an exercise in scrounging together my scraps of "Glace" fabric by Three Sisters for Moda. I was literally digging through my waste bin looking for bits of leftovers in order to come up with the border of squares! Sewing hexagons was a new thing for me. It's not very difficult, but as you can see from some puckers, precision is key.


The top measures about 42" square. Now the challenging part - quilting!