Tea Towel Designs

P really enjoyed her grandmother's visit earlier this fall. She loved sitting next to her at the table and watching her embroider butterflies on a pillowcase. After grandma left P really wanted to make a special gift to give for Christmas.I was working on some embroidered tea towels to give as gifts and P decided that is what she wanted to do for her grandmother.

She drew out a very detailed picture that included people, flowers, and sky. I looked at it and told her it was a lovely drawing but that at the speed she embroiders would take a VERY long time to finish. I suggested that she finish one of the projects she has started and we could make a gift from that. No, she REALLY wanted to give grandma a tea towel.

I remembered some drawings she had done the day before of some vegetables. We looked at those and I suggested that we take those designs and applique them to a towel.

Carrots, a parsnip, and a beet.

P chose the fabrics and threads and helped at my sewing machine. I think it turned out pretty cute.

She drew these vegetables because they grow in our garden. We ate a lot of them while grandma was here.

We had a wonderful time in the sewing room together thinking about grandma and being excited about the surprise we were making for her. Ah, THAT is what it's all about.

I'll share a few more of our hand made gifts tomorrow.

Elf Shoes

You may know that I can easily get sucked in to fads on the interwebs. Well, it happened again.The last few weeks I had been seeing cute elf shoes in all sizes pop up on blogs and flickr streams.

So, on Christmas eve I asked my neighbor to download and print out the pattern for me (we don't have a printer).

I threw D's half knit Christmas socks in a box, wrapped them, tossed them under the tree and started knitting these.

I finished knitting them and felted them on the 26th.

P loves them. We even think they may posses magical powers.

I am already knitting a second pair and have another request after that.

I shall have to restrain myself a little so that I can finish D's socks before he heads back to college.

Play Time

P and I had a play day today. I got to wear my fantabulous vintage apron that was in my stocking while we prepared a tea party with some of P's new (vintage) tea party stuff. 

Ack. I can hardly stand the cuteness of it all --the "Three Little Kittens" dishes, those little ice cream bowls, and wood handle utensils. And don't you just love that tiny cake holder???!!!

We set out this morning making some tiny shortbread cookies.

After the first tray which only held four tiny cookies we switched to a slightly larger play tray. The tiny cookies bake in about half the time of the regular cookies.

We also made a tiny layer cake to fit in that little cake holder. With the cake, ice cream, cookies, and milk it was a fun party! And the servings weren't so big that they spoiled dinner.

Actually, the boys said that you could accidentally inhale one of those cookies and never even notice!

Boys.

What do they know? I guess that is why they were not invited to the party.

Happy Christmas

We enjoyed a slow and quiet Christmas Day at home.

Still, it seems to be gone in a blur.

Have a great weekend.

My Little Angel

P an I were looking through this Christmas book and really liked some of the simple and classic decorations that were described.  We decided to try making the angel shown in the book but to use felt instead of paper. P was able to practice some stitching. She couched the rick rack, did some spectacular beading, learned to stitch X's, and even learned how to make French Knots.

I think they turned out pretty cute. I do wish I could have gotten the face and head on mine to look a bit more like the picture in the book. P really likes her angel because it has such a happy smile.

I hope you have a happy smile on your face today too.

Popcorn and Thank Yous

We have been enjoying family time. P has not been taking naps so much anymore but now likes when we pop a big bowl of popcorn and sit in our reading corner to read Christmas stories in the afternoon. I enjoy that quiet time too.

I also like my quiet time here, composing and sharing bits of our life that will help me remember these precious times later, when I am older and more feeble minded than I am now.

Thank you to all of you who visit and especially those who leave comments for me. I do enjoy hearing from you.

I also want to thank JEK at Scrumdilly-do and Bella Dia of The Crafty Crow for featuring P's cat bean bag tutorial. I am glad it is not just me, her mother, who thinks her little cat bags are the bee's knees.

Excited About New Yarn!

Do you remember when I posted about this future project? Well, I sent the photo to Chris and she custom dyed this wool! I can hardly wait to get started! I need to finish up a few more things but this is really calling me.

Chris had a booth right across from me at the craft show last weekend. It was fun to be able to chat and catch up. Sometimes it was a little difficult to hear her over the screaming calls of the yarn. In addition to the custom wool I came home with a few other things.

Three hanks of this fabulous wool jumped into my bag. Chris said she dyed it for me the same day as the rose yarn. She thought it would look good on me. I think she is right. I put it in my bag before I knew she had dyed it with me in mind! How perfect is that? I plan to make a pull over sweater for myself out of this.

I am eager to spin this Blue Face Leicester roving.  I know it will look different from the dyed yarn.

And, because it called to me from across the hall, I picked up this pink and brown wool.I think finishing so many projects in the last few weeks has me ready to start some knew projects after Christmas. I am looking forward to some comfort knitting this winter. I may even participate in the Knitting Olympics this year.

Are you getting excited about any new projects?

I hope you have a  happy Winter Solstice. Remember, after today the days are getting longer. It is a good thing to keep in mind while shoveling snow the rest of the winter. Each day is a little longer than the one before. That is what gets us through until spring - that and the knitting.

Thoughtful Sunday

"As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys--and Saint Nickolas, too."

"A Visit From Saint Nicholas," Clement Moore, 1823.

P's Super Easy Cat Bean Bag Tutorial

P made another cat bag today. We thought we'd share a tutorial.

Here is the pattern. It is on one inch grid so that you can draw your own. I hope you can follow P's directions.

1. Fold the fabric over and put the cat on top of the folded part and then cut it out. Then take the pattern off.

2. Put pink thread on your sewing machine.  Sew around the cat. Leave a little hole on the bottom.

3. Turn it right side out. Make the face with a permanent marker.

4. Stuff it with rice. (about 3 tablespoons). Sew the hole on the bottom closed.

5. Hold the cat upside down by the bottom corners.

6. Put one corner under the other.

7. Stitch them together.

Another kitty for the set.

There you go. Super cute and you can even wear it on your fingers.

Something in the Air

I love the flurry of creative activity that occurs in the last days before Christmas. Everyone in the family seems to be working on projects.

D made this origami crane. Tiny. VERY tiny.

P has cranked out a few of these little cats on her sew handy sewing machine and filled them with rice. I think they turned out super cute!

Here is a peek at one of my recent projects.

I'm still working on this one.

Yep, we love all of the holiday crafting.

It's time to put my feet up and knit....I hope you are keeping warm and doing things that you like to do.

Magic Hour

Magic hour of the day.

Magic hour of the year.

I love them both.

Christmas Memories

I have said it before, but the holidays always bring back a lot of memories for me.

This 1950s Santa is one of my favorite decorations. It was given to my mother by one of her friends. I remember visiting in her friend's home and seeing this Santa on display when I was young. My mother had a large collection of Santas and her friend gave this to her to add to her collection. It reminds me of my mother and the wonderful friends she had and the joy she got from giving to others.

I love that in December my home is filled with reminders of family and friends.

Thoughtful Sunday

"Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more."

Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne, 1926.

Color

So much potential.

Patterns from Nature

P and I cleared out all of the waxed leaves to make room for our Christmas decorations. Before tossing them in the compost I traced some to use as embroidery patterns.

A Year on the Farm with The Little Red Hen

Last year I made a calendar that I gave to friends and family. I wanted to publish one that I could share with all of you but I wasn't 100 percent happy with last year's calendar so I didn't offer it to you. This year I tried again and am thrilled with the result. The print quality and paper are much better than last year. It was hard to narrow down to just one photo from each month. All of the photos were taken here on our property. Some months required a family vote. But here it is:

2010 - A Year on the Farm with The Little Red Hen

Decking the Halls

Decorating for the Holidays is always a trip down memory lane for me. I love getting out the decorations that we haven't seen since January and recalling the history behind them.

These old favorites always make me smile. The one on the left made by M in third grade and the one on the right made my B with leftover plaster from a home renovation project. I love how they are like family so, different yet still alike.

This girl with the roses around her dress is another favorite. When I was young we had three of them on our dining room table. My sisters and I each had one at our place to admire during meals. We thought they were so very special. I hated to split them up at first but now I am happy that we each have one at our homes.

These deer belonged to my mother. We did not have them when we were young, she thrifted them after we left home. They do remind me of my mother's love of Christmas and her favorite quote from Santa, "It is better to give."

Holiday decorating brings new opportunities for memory making each year. The kids and I enjoy making decorations and I enjoy picking up a few "new" items like these during the year.

Yes, the holidays are a time to remember, share, and pass on the family traditions.

Family At Home

I love times when we are all at home without a lot of planned activities. We had almost a full week over Thanksgiving holiday with both boys at home. Homework was finished early and there was a lot of time for games and activities. The boys showed a renewed interest in origami.

They both belonged to the origami club in elementary and middle school. The club met once a week and they learned how to make a lot of projects.

I had recently gotten out a few of our simple origami books for P. We did a few of those together. D and M, however, found some interesting projects online. Oh, the joys of a faster internet connection. I love the way they challenged and encouraged each other.

The project on the far right has a tiny, black, origami crane trapped inside. The red one on the left is made from one  piece of paper where the orange and green one on the right is the same shape made with origami units.

I always think of December as a crafty time when I like to make gifts for family and friends. While creating I think about the person the gift is for and what they mean to me. It is fun to remember people in this way. This year P and I have started a few projects together. I like to see her excitement in thinking about loved relatives and close friends. To me the spirit of the holiday season lies in making something (or thinking of something) that will make the recipient smile.

I think with these projects we are off to a good start on the crafty holiday spirit that I remember from my own childhood.

Also in the spirit of enjoying the season I will be taking a holiday theme photo a day. You can see more from others in the Christmas Countdown 2009 flickr pool.  Here is the first:

Thoughtful Sunday

“Think left and think right
and think low and think high.
Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try.”

Oh, the THINKS You can Think!, Dr. Seuss, 1975

Swallowtail Shawl

After finishing the Ishbel shawl I still had a large ball of the lace weight alpaca left. I pulled out the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits to knit the Swallowtail Shawl designed by Evelyn Clark.

The first part of the shawl knit up very quickly. Then, I got to those nupps in the edge lace pattern. They just about had me pulling my hair out. 

Purl. Five. Together.  What a crazy idea - especially since two of the five were yarn overs.

I think it was worth the effort once completed. Don't you think?

Shawl knitting is addictive.