Holiday Greetings To My Faithful Readers

May your holidays be bright, full of love and laughter and remembrance of those who have gone before us into that good night. 

We didn't get any new snow, but that just makes my walks around the neighborhood easier - don't want any falls dislodging any of the hardware in my back! There are quite a few new renters on my street and not as many decorations as I've seen in the past but these two put a smile on my face - and they are lighted up at night!

And there have been deer browsing behind our row of townhouses and yesterday I noticed one reason why. There is quite the apple tree a few houses down from me and it is still just loaded with apples which the deer obviously love. Sorry not to get a better picture but it's this cheap cell phone of mine . . .

The one was in a staring contest with me while the other soon fled back into the bushes - look at that white tail warning!

So peace to you all! Don't forget to put your feet up and relax, go for a long walk, enjoy any visitors you might have, and maybe sneak in a little creative endeavor. Mine will be knitting on that sock - I've just turned the heel!

Merry Christmas !!!

Snuck Up On Me

Gift wrap backed with rice paper & folded into a double pocket

I started working on another gratitude journal last week, knowing Christmas was quickly approaching and I'd better get going if it would reach its recipient as a holiday gift. But as I was perusing the calendar to plan my holiday to do's, I realized I didn't have two weeks left but just one! So I've had to put it aside to work on cards and such but I thought I'd share this nifty trick I tried with the gift wrap. I'm not the only one in the book club that had difficulty gluing gift wrap to bookboard without it bubbling and wrinkling. And I worried that my paper wasn't as strong as needed to keep the pockets from tearing. After much random mulling, I wondered if I couldn't back the gift wrap with rice paper the way one does fabric to make book cloth. But I still wondered about what adhesive to use when I ran across a "hack" for adhering decorative napkins to something like an envelop.* Ahh, here was something else book club members had struggled with when it was suggested to make cover paper using decorative napkins glued to copy paper. I watched the video and it looked too simple to be true How many times have I struggled with a technique that a video had presented as easy? But this time it really was.

So here is all you do. Lay down a sheet of parchment paper and your regular paper (the video showed an envelop with the flap open). Smooth a layer of plastic wrap over that (Saran Wrap is one brand name you are probably familiar with). Finally, lay down your decorative napkin, or in my case, a piece of gift wrap, right side up on top and cover with a piece of parchment paper. Now evenly press the whole thing with a hot iron which will melt the plastic wrap and create the bond between plain paper and the decorative paper. Oh my - did that work slick! Now I can't attest to the longevity let alone the archival quality of this process but for what I am using it for, that doesn't really matter. And I can tell now that by doing this with the gift wrap for covering the boards, I'll have paper I won't have to worry about tearing or not lying smooth when glued. Can't wait to do this to the rest of the pocket paper and the cover paper. But I'll have to because it's back to getting my Christmas card done.

*If you're on Facebook, you can watch the video here, my little gift to you: Cling Wrap Hack

An Alternative To Paint and A Finish

Years ago Washi Tape crossed my radar as a thing. I didn't understand what it was exactly, nor why it was being touted as a must have item but I bought some anyway. The 4 or 5 rolls I bought have remained unopened until the other day. I've gained a better understanding of how to use this tape but still couldn't figure out how to work it into any of my various projects - it just didn't seem to be the sort of thing I'd use. But as I found a page in the gratitude journal to add a gratitude to, but one that did not have the painted borders, it dawned on me that I could put strips of Washi tape around my entry. Oooo, so much less messy than paint, quick and easy, I'm going to have to tape off some other pages! And yes, last week's challenge was dealing with a crown that came off. Just what one needs in the weeks before Christmas! All better now for the time being but I'll be staying away from things like sticky caramel (which was not the culprit btw - I was just eating a slice of soft crust pizza . . .).

As for my finish, I finally got all the lines of quilting on the 4-patch strip quilt resewn. I started working on that back in August but not very steadily. But I could see the finish line approaching the last time I worked on it so devoted big chunks of time over the weekend to get it done. And really, this was not something I was going to do slowly and carefully; perfection was hardly on my mind and so there are lots of places where my new stitching did not go exactly over the old stitching. Can you hear me yelling "I DON"T CARE!!! I just want to get this done!"? It seemed to take forever anyway. I don't think there's any other repair or mending work to do so I can move on to some other more interesting sewing project.

Kicking Off the Holiday Season

We all have our holiday traditions, and for me, I don't touch anything Christmas until the first weekend in December. On that Sunday morning I break out the 3-disc set of Bach's Christmas Oratorio and I'm off! This year my niece sent me this advent calendar with specialty jams and spreads behind each day's door along with a brief message like "Be Merry!" And after brunch while the Oratorio was still playing and snow falling outside my window, I worked on my sock - so very Christmassy. The knitting seems quite slow going to me even though I am now past all the increasing and have the ribbing pattern set up, so I can just knit away without much thought. Those are size 1 needles I'm working with so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that progress is not speedier. However, I am halfway now to turning the heel.

Now that more of the sock is visible, I can see how the hand-painted yarn's variegation is working to create a subtle pattern. But I can also see now something I couldn't before, that this is not just gray yarn of different values light to dark but that there is also a purplish blue in there, also light to dark, so very pretty. No plain Jane Gray here. Working on this has not just scratched an itch, but made the itch worse! I keep finding myself picking up pattern books and going through my yarn stash to figure out what I might knit up next.

I've just learned that my goddaughter finally had her baby, a couple of weeks late but just fine. She had originally told me that she planned to have 3 kids and that was it, and she was no spring chicken when she started. So she had the 3, I dutifully and joyfully made a special quilt for each, and thought I was done. But no, she has surprised me with a fourth. I will wait until after Christmas to get started on one but to be honest, I have no clue what I will make. I am so used to having ideas just waiting for an excuse to make up but I'm drawing a blank. Time I guess to start looking through my many books and patterns saved from magazines and find some inspiration! You can see the previous 3 quilts here, here, and here. If you check these out, you can see why I feel that I can't make just any old baby quilt. But hey - it's a girl baby so I can break out some pink!