Crafty :: Quilt

 I'm finishing up the binding on the quilt I'm making. It's sewn in long strips first, alternating squares and rectangles. I'm following the process from Randy's Quilt Along Series, in which I made this quilt, originally. I needed a much bigger blanket, so I followed the same process but made much larger squares and rectangles. The original is 3.5 x 3.5 inch squares with 3.5 x 7.5 inch rectangles. This one is 4.5 x 4.5 inch squares with 4.5 x 10.5 inch rectangles.

Squares and rectangles alternate along in each row, then the rows are placed, replaced, and placed yet again, until it's fairly pleasing and random to the eye. Harder than you might think. Just saying. And because I managed to sew rectangle to rectangle at least three times, I kept the seam ripper quite handy. In this case, it worked out because it helped me make a last minute decision that makes my quilt pattern even more random. Good job, screwin' up.

Once I had the rows in place, and I was quite certain how I wanted them, I used a small piece of painters tape and marked each row, 1 to 20. Which was WAY MORE AWESOME than what I normally do (keep a stack, in order, which never works and I always get turned around and forget which way I was working from).

This system, so you know, is super fantastic. I thought so that first night, when I quickly pinned and sewed the first three rows together....one...two...three. Bob's your uncle!

I even thought so the next morning, when I woke and pinned and sewed number four to number one  and number seven to number 3. So....four...one...two...three...seven? It's a great system. It works if you work it. But, if you are like me, keep that seam ripper nearby. It's my number one must-have tool when sewing. If you think I'm kidding? Needle and thread are numbers 2 and 3, respectively.

Making :: Crocheted Baskets

Using the material I prepare for rag rugs, and roughly the same process, I have crocheted a few fabric baskets in recent weeks. They are sturdy and functional and, in my mind, pretty charming. The round one that holds (about one third of) Scotty's block collection was made using a pile of crib sheets I'd been saving. I'm not much of a home decorator, so 5 or 6 well-loved sheets were exactly the inventory that got me through both sets of crib years. No matching crib bumpers, no themed bedroom sets, just whatever few had been given to me by thoughtful, more stylish friends than I, and they made an adorable basket in the end.

I made the rectangular basket for wood next to the fireplace. Our San Francisco springs are so mild that the fireplace mostly sleeps from now until mid-November or so.....but the weather here is just unpredictable enough that you'd be a fool not to keep something to burn close at hand. So the ugly yellow-wrapped fire logs are cute as a button cozied into their new home.

Another basket, the first one I made, was started on Easter, watching the kids run around Aunt Barbara's backyard. Originally intended to hold my mom's traditional Easter presents (the vegetable starts I give her for her garden every year), I couldn't quite finish the basket in the few hours we were there. She took her plants home in the cardboard boxes they came in, and I took the basket home and ended up using it every day since. As you do.

It's amazing how much this basket holds! Camera and extra lenses, lunches and snacks for school/work/baseball field, veggies from the farmers market, a family set of water bottles, my (empty) wallet and keys (somewhere buried in there, i swear, give me a second minute and I'll find them), my ever-present notebook(s), at least three baseballs, my mitt, and random squirt guns and sticks I'm holding onto for The Things. 


Seriously sturdy.

Crochet Rag Rugs

... the multi-media version, I guess!  I had written about making crocheted rag rugs several times over the last couple of years.  Here, originally; then  here for a chair pad I made.  Plus all the ones I've documented giving away as gifts.  Even placemats!

I've been thinking for awhile it might be fun to turn that one blog post into a small video series.  My goal was to have a set of 2-minute videos that showed some of the basics...how to choose materials, prep the sheets into one long piece of fabric (fitted and flat sheets), how to change colors, increase, decrease, etc.  (I'm also creating a series of very specific posts that have pictures and patterns for some of the favorite ones I've made...but that's not done yet.  Soon!)

Here are those videos...but they aren't two minutes long!  And I filmed them by myself, with a tripod, so every video is made without my head.  Ahem.  And I made some mistakes in what I was saying (I tried to note the mistakes under the video) and oh, basically, I don't even know why I'm posting these!  haha

But, I'm wondering if they are at all helpful....and if they are, I'd be willing to re-do them, a little more professionally.  It was kind of fun, actually, so any feedback and constructive criticism would be super helpful.

Like, for example, I like to watch really short videos...I can't commit to anything over 3 or 4 minutes!  Do you feel the same way?  Would you rather see the info in the longest video broken into several shorter segments?  Or do the fitted and flat sheet parts just go together?  Am I talking to much or not enough?  There are a couple spots where you can't see EXACTLY what my hands are doing, so if that's troublesome, I could redo the videos.

Lookit, basically, if you look at these videos, and find them either helpful or troublesome, would you mind letting me know either way?  Thanks!  :)

I apologize in advance that I'm all "Boobs McBooberson" in these.  I watched them fairly critically (as you do ;) and I'm pretty sure that my hair is long enough to make these "Safe For Work and Small Children"... *cough* I promise a wardrobe change if these get redone.


Choosing Materials ~ click to see video on types of sheets and materials. (about 3 minutes)
Preparing Materials ~ click to see video on how to turn fitted and flat sheets into one continuous strip of material.  (about 9 minutes)
Simple Stitches for Working a Rag Rug ~ click to see video on decreasing and increasing stitches, for crocheting in the round. (about 4 minutes)
Changing Colors ~ click to see video on how to change colors using a slip stitch (about 8 minutes).

(In the last two videos, I make a couple of mistakes, which I think could ultimately be good to sort of show that you can make mistakes and your rug will still turn out just fine!  Lovely, even.)

Mistake number one:  I keep saying that you start the next round, when you're moving up in a round rug, with a single crochet.  I'm actually making a "chain one", which is correct, but saying "single crochet".  Oops!  So, in short, to begin the next 'round' in the single crochet circular rug I am making on the video, slip stitch into the first stitch of the round you are ending, to close the circle, then CHAIN ONE, then begin making SINGLE CROCHET STITCHES to create the next round.  On the video, I then go on to forget to do the chain one, and just begin single crocheting!  heh.  What you'll notice is, that it just doesn't matter.  It doesn't have to be anything like perfect! 

As I get the patterns finished/pictures to go with them, I'll include those here, too.
Good luck and have fun making the rugs...they are addicting!

Video ~ Crochet Rag Rug Choosing Material

Video ~ Crochet Rag Rug Preparing Sheets

Video ~ Crochet Rag Rug Increase and Decrease Stitches

Video ~ Crochet Rag Rugs Changing Colors

C Is For Cookie

 I got this scarf in the mail last week, and I've been dying to share it here.  Because I only LOVE it!

I love scarves anyway, and handmade scarves are my very favorite kind.

But knitted?  On one of those looms that remind of making looped pot holders in Girl Scouts?

By one of the people dearest to me in all the world?

Priceless.

 Now, in addition to a sweet reminder of my BFF Tracy, I get to be petted by my kids

(at home and at school!) and, because it's made in super soft homespun yarn in blue with  

I'm not kidding here

variegated blue fur and fringe, I get to giggle and call myself 

THE COOKIE MONSTER.

I can't stop singing "C is for Cookie"!  That's almost as good as getting a beautiful, happy, love-filled scarf...I do declare it.

72 Hours

I'm a sunny day kind of gal...for reals. In fact, Erik's mom gave me one of those light boxes for Christmas. It's called "the mood improver". Ahem. To her credit, she quickly pointed out that I could also put somebody else in front of it. Nice save.

Having said that, I'm always pleasantly surprised at how very much you can find to do inside when a stormy, long weekend lands in your lap. Things like, cleaning up and organizing a book shelf and a desk in your bedroom...

You're just going to have to trust me on this one; big improvement!

Or, you could spend some time practicing an art...

 

In pajamas you put on Friday night...and never took off!

Or meeting a new friend...

Or watching (two-thirds of) a favorite trilogy...

And then faithfully recreating the battle at Helm's Deep...

How about a hair cut for your puppy?

It was such a lovely, blustery, Winnie-the-Pooh kind of weekend, which cleared up just enough for a before-dinner stroll over at my mom's house on Sunday night.  The rest of the weekend was perfectly spent with my favorite boys.

Now all I need is a sunny, warm, spring-like weekend so I can attack the yards and get out on the lake with our new canoe. I know that's coming, but if we get another stormy weekend...or two...before that, I won't be too sad!

Handmade Christmas ~ In the Mail Part Two

I sent my cousin and his family a box in the mail for Christmas.  For Aunt Betty, I sent a pillow that I had made using an applique block from the flower series I was working on.

 I had said I wasn't sure about this blue one, and she mentioned it was her favorite one.  Perhaps she was just being polite; that'll learn her!  haha!

The pillow form comes out (the back of the pillow overlaps) and it was kind of a breeze to put it together.  The applique seems well done, which was a pleasant surprise, considering I made it!

I also sent two (semi-)matching candlesticks I had painted.  You know, what can I say?  They look like they should match, but one has more flowers than the other.  Whatever, I figured they can ignore the imbalance, or simply keep them in separate rooms, so as not to offend.  What a great gift!  oh dear.

 I found this dish towel too, when Cori and I went to Bizarre Bazaar a few weeks ago, so that went into the box, of course!

And we put in a letter from Tommy to his favorite "Uncle Moose", some pictures of the boys, and finally, there was this:

Also made from the applique blocks, using all three from the red series, I made them this 'table runner'.  I had decided a long time ago to make this for them, because Kelly had written in her blog about wanting to paint their dining room "eating room red", or something like that.  They have an amazing historical house mansion, and she was researching traditional paint colors, and so she mentioned it in passing and god I hope she meant it or this is going to be awkward.  haha


This table runner was very nearly the death of me, and there were three different times that it nearly didn't end up in the box.


The first time, was when I had sewed it together.  Using no pattern, and apparently no skill or sense, either, I managed to fashion a table-runner-esque object around the original three blocks.  Here's a picture of me, using my mad measuring skillz, to try and figure out what I needed to do:

Erik actually came up with the idea about how to do the red border and blank blocks.  I was pleasantly surprised that he was willing to play that game with me, and I think it was a mistake on his part, because it's a game I never grow tired of.

By the time I got it to here, I thought it was going to be great!  Then I layered it and pinned it, sewing the edges and turning it, and I was so bad at doing this that I actually considered cutting out the white blocks with the applique on them and starting over.

The second time it almost didn't make it into box, was when it was finally put together, and I realized there were some smudges on the fabric.  It was just dirty in spots, but who could complain?  That little square has been kicked around and lugged to football and baseball games for, like, two years or something.  What?  I'm slow.  I was REALLY afraid to put it in the washer, though, because for all I know, it wouldn't even survive one washing.  I mean, isn't it better for it to disintegrate on somebody else's watch?  Common sense prevailed (eventually) (barely) and it went into the washer and came out sparkling clean.  Yay!

The third time it almost didn't go into the box, was when I took it out of the dryer and saw the good news that my applique skills have come a long ways since I first started the flower block project!  Wow, am I getting good at it!  The bad news was that these red ones were among my first blocks... aaaannndddd....it showed.  :-/  In my defense, circles are hard!  Well, then, that's that!  I thought to myself.  I definitely can't send this out now!

But then I remembered this blanket:

 My mom made and gave me this blanket, and I LOVE IT.  I really, really, do.  And you know, my mom is not the most patient, detail-oriented person I've ever met.  These octogons had to be pieced together, and where I have spent weeks meticulously weaving in tails my mother simply tied the knots so tightly it was like she was mad at them, then snipped the yarn tails to a low nub, and moved on to the next one.  The combined effect is to have little pieces of yarn sticking straight up from various points on the blanket (my OCD was happy to discover that one side was less like this than the other, so now it's a directional blanket, for my sanity) AND I've had to resew the octogons in several spots, just because the little knots don't always hold.  I was able to pick up a few pieces of the actual yarn she used when making the blanket, so it still looks great.

Did I mention how much I love it?  Because the truth is, my affection for this blanket (and the person who made it for me) is no less diminished by these (slight) logistical issues. 

I thought about all these things while I used the blunt edge of a flat, wooden toothpick to push the tiny edges back under, in the (many) various spots that they should have been tacked down with my needle and thread, and when I ironed the whole thing, I was this close to saying, yeah, this might just work.

When Erik held it up from across the room though, I thought all those mistakes just went away and it actually looked nice, from where I was standing.  That sealed it.  Into the box it went.  I should have thrown in some toothpicks, as I'm sure it will need a washing at some point, but I leave it up to Moose and Kelly, who are very competent and will, I'm sure, attack this situation with the vim and vigor it requires.  Including, but certainly not limited to, tucking it away, ready to pull out and decorate the table, should we ever come visiting.  There must be some statute of limitations on how long somebody needs to give up valuable cupboard space for such an occasion, but I want to publicly say, here and now, that I will never ask them how the table runner is working out for them.  It's considered part of the gift, at this point.  Just do what you need to do.  ;)

To summarize:  I will send you a box of half-ass gifts because even though I'm not very good at something, it looked great when I pictured it in my head.  Is it my fault that the execution doesn't come to the heights of my vision?  I say no.  Merry Christmas, Moose, Kelly, and Aunt Betty!!!!  :)

Handmade Christmas ~ In the Mail Part One

 The Stitch Family ~ oh how I love them! ~ are so perfectly perfect.  They are, collectively, the funniest family on the planet.  They are also sweet, sassy, intelligent, generous, and friendly.  It's a mind-blowing combination!  Because of all their hippie-goodness, I was pretty sure the gnomes were a must have...It looks to me like this picture is missing one or two.  Well, no matter, because I need to make more for the boys because these are for Brit.  Never underestimate the need for gnomes felt by every adult woman I've come by in the last few weeks.  :)

I wrote about making this rag rug before, too, and it was always going to be for The Stitches.  I think it's so wonderfully thick and yummy!  On a post I wrote last year about how to make these rugs, a commenter recently left a note that her mom made a crocheted rug out of thrifted wool clothing that took years to make, and eventually covered the entire living room floor.  The kids still have it, having inherited it after their parents passed away, and it weighs more than 300 pounds!  I mean really!  More than 300 pounds.  It's so joyfully absurd, I just LOVE that story!  This rug is not big enough to cover a room (instead, it's about 2.5 x 3.5 feet or so), but it really made me think that if I ever did make one big enough for a room, The Stitches would most assuredly be the recipients. 

Every once in a while, Brit or I will email each other with blogs we like to read; she told me about Soulemama's blog, which I quite like.  Poor sweet Amanda Soule, who seems like a lovely person, also seems to be the recipient of an inordinate number of angst-ridden posts re:  every mother's inability to be her.  Oh, folly!  :)  I have so many hobbies, but this constant comparison is not one of them...even on the one hand, that I can enjoy a voyeuristic peek into somebody's life through their blog, I don't seem to experience the other hand of that, of wishing for what they have or do or believe.  It's not that I'm so full of esteem for myself, nor am I so full of disdain for others; I think it's a gene, inherited from my mom, that if you're busy (enough of the time), and happy (enough of the time), and choose to still feel busy and happy (the rest of the time), then it's okay to be cool with that and not worry about anything, or anyone else, while you're at it.   I will point out that my mom probably takes this to a mind-numbing, socially-embarrassing extreme, but she's rad so we ignore that.

The point of all that, I suppose, is to say that Brit is sort of my "Soulemama"!  I've always thought of Brit's blog as a love letter to her children, and in the best possible way, I'm a fan of her perspective and choices and mama-ing, plus she's so creative and talented; it's like a great big lovely-ball-of-wax, and I'm so glad to know her and her husband in both my real and virtual lives.

They might move pretty soon, and I know it's too much to ask for, but I do wish on a star that they might find their way down to my neighborhood.  :)

Handmade Christmas ~ Mom and Baby

My mom and my niece's baby, that would be!  Erik and The Boys got my mom a Rolling Stones Package of the Keith Richards' autobiography Life and the Martin Scorsese film, Shine a Light.  My mom, you should know, thinks the drug-addled and semi-insane Richards is hilarious.  Okay, Ma. 

She is a huge Stones fan...for years, when we were growing up, she had one of those license plate surrounds that said, "Hey you, get offa my cloud".  It was custom made, people.  Custom made.  So, that was a good call.  I picked up a dish towel with a squirrel screen printed on it from an etsy shop.  Stones and squirrels, she loves them both.

Then I also made her this:

It's just a fabric banner, but I really like the jewel-tones.  She asked for one to hang over the french doors that separate her dining room from the living room.  The french doors are from her grandmother's house, and she wanted something that wasn't a flower garland.  Why?  I don't know why.  She got a bug up her butt, and this is the result.

I couldn't get a great picture of it on my bed, so I hung it up in the kitchen.  The white of my grandma's hutch is similar to the white of her grandma's doors, so it's a pretty fair representation!  These garlands are an absolute snap to make.  And, looking at it here, it seems I need one too.  Dammit.

My niece's baby is due in March, and I gave her this crocheted swing coat.  It's so cute!  The pattern is from one of the first pattern books I ever purchased....it must have been 6 or more years ago, now.  It's all patterns for babies and toddlers.  My FAVORITE knit and crochet projects are for babies and toddlers!  Partly because every babe needs a handmade welcome, and partly because the time frame for these wee little projects suit my complete lack of focus and commitment.  ahem. 

Handmade Christmas ~ My Brother's Family

 I already wrote about the rag rug I made my brother for Christmas.  We don't actually exchange adult presents in our family (except we all get or do something for my parents, and them for us) so I technically could have given him the rug at anytime.  I was going to give it to him a few weeks ago, when I finished it, but then my mom was all, "No!  Give it to him for Christmas!" and I was all....okay.  Besides, I had found an online sale on good bath towels and got him and my sister-in-law (not through him, through my other brother) a half-dozen towels each.  So there you go.  Together, they made a very practical present.

Anyway, my brother has two of my favorite girls and I like to make them things.

I made Kaziah this totally adorable corduroy skirt that has running horses embroidered on it.  I could die.  I want this so badly in my size!  It could not have been simpler to make, using the Oliver + S Lazy Days skirt tutorial (or, more to the point, what I remember of it from when I made the skirt before) and with no measurements and no pattern at all, I managed to nail it in both length and width.  High fives, all around.  She also loved the skirt, and wore it on Christmas Day after she opened it.  Love!  I also made her this sweet, slouchy, cap which I knitted.  (The pattern is free, if you sign up at their website.) 

 

 She put that one on right away, too, and as I predicted, it looks awesome on her!    It's exhausting being right all the time.

 Her entire prize package also included her own pointy scissors (which may or may not have been immediately confiscated by her mother) and Emily Martin's new paper doll book. 

 

 For my brother's ex-wife, I crocheted this rasta-inspired hat.  I've made this hat for her in several colors, and she loves them and they look adorable on her.  She had asked me for one in these colors, and I'm glad I finally made it.  When I got to my mom's, Monica was already wearing a gray one I had made for her last year!

  

And for sweet-girl Giannah, who is just as sweet and sassy as my brother was when he was growing up, I made this little gnome village.  This was easily my favorite thing to make this holiday season.  It involved a jigsaw and a drill, for one thing.  Plus, I am totally in love with these gnomes and their gnome-y kids from Wee Folk Art.

I also loved making the accessories; sleeping bags and a bushel of apples and a basket of eggs, and I even put in a Christmas tree with presents underneath.  I crocheted a rug for the bottom floor and had little tables and a flower pot with a rose bush.  *swoon*

I can't tell if Giannah actually liked it...I also gave her a Melissa and Doug wooden pizza party play set, and she loved that, but gave no attention at all to the gnome village or anything in it.  It may be something that she re-discovers in the quiet of her home;  I left lots of room for her to be creative, and to find rocks and wood to use as furniture, so she may end up liking it more when she's made it her own.  Or it may have been a (oh-so-fun-to-make) miss.  Either way, it's so cute!

December Vexes Me

I had no idea I hadn't written here since November 30th.   I suppose it goes without saying that I've been busy!  haha!  The whole world lazes around while I alone have been tasked with work and preparing for the holidays.

My friend Claire has a saying:  "Teaching:  the only profession that simultaneously keeps you young and kills you."  I don't know if it's her original thought (I myself have thought a less well-articulated version of it every 6 minutes since 1996) but it's so perfectly true that I could cry.  No, seriously.  I could cry.  Right now.  Oh, I kid!  Sort of.  I'll get through this week, which will be so much worse than last week, but then next week will improve, and then I have two weeks off.  Just breath.

I took apart the last rag rug I was making and now it looks more like this:

 I can't say it looks better than the last version, but I will point out that it now looks more like I thought it would, in my head, when I first started it.  I'm going to call that a win.

 

A win I desperately need, by the way, as I spent a rainy Sunday this weekend doing quite a bit of sewing.  I am...not a great sewer.  I spend a lot of time staring at things.  I also spend a chunk of time on each project ripping out seams.  It's not that I don't understand "right sides together"; it's that if I don't constantly concentrate when I'm pinning two things together, I won't do it right.  And let's just say I'm not constantly concentrating.   I suppose there's some lesson here about living in the moment and staying mindful, but really, I'm interrupted no less than a dozen times every hour for some boy-wrangling, and I can't say I mind it. 

I can happily report, having said all that, that the three things I sewed this weekend make me so happy!  Now...if they were just done.  Ahem.

Darnit!

I was just going on last night about how making rag rugs is so fun and interesting because it's always a surprise, what one might look like when you're done.  I set down the rug I was working on and went to check on my boys...and what did I see when I came back?

Darnit!  It totally had this Americana tip, which, if you're into that I'm not judging, it's just not the direction I would choose.  I was going more for woodsy than flagsy (you see it, right?), but it's quite striking actually, so I almost considered keeping it and just trying to even it out with some other blues and greens.  But I'd never be able to rest if I left it like this.  So, back to the drawing board!

Cheap and Easy....Cheasy?

I love a bargain.  I bought an embroidered jean skirt at the thrift store 2 weeks ago (and have since worn three times, so it's already paid for itself!) and every time I wear it somebody compliments it.  I should say, "Thank you!" but instead I cheerfully state, "It only cost $5.00 second hand!"  My need to be a savvy shopper, apparently, is worth far more than my dignity.  But, if you care that I bought some clothes at the thrift, you're probably not the kind of person I'd be worrying about impressing anyway, so we'll call it a draw.

All that to say, I bought some wooden candlesticks at Casey's Wood, and they cost all of $2.50 each.  They are solid and cute and six inches tall, but they were also unfinished.  I just bought a couple pairs, since I didn't know what I'd actually do with them (a box full of cheap but unused items moves from 'frugal!' to 'stupid!' in a flash...I'm speaking from experience *cough*) so I didn't want a gross on hand to remind me of my impulse purchase.

 I painted them red (two coats, actually) using some paint pots gifted to me by a teaching friend.  I couldn't even tell you what kind of paint it is!  When both coats dried, I wanted to add some easy embellishments.  I'm nobody's tole painter, but the one trick I know is that if you want to make 'dots', you don't use the brush end...just dip the tip of the handle into the paint, and use that.  It forms perfect, smear free dots, so knock yourself out!  These have a blue center dot surrounded by yellow dots to form a simple folk art-inspired flower.  I made a ring of them around the candlestick.

 I felt it needed more, but my limited talents were already completely stretched.  Necessity being the inspiration of so many crafty ideas, it occurred to me after just a few minutes that I could make a ring of yellow dots around the top detailing.  The urge to keep adding on was strong indeed, but when you are working more on will than skill, it's best to go the 'less is more' path.

From unfinished but charming to "oh man, why didn't I buy more of these now I want about a dozen" in less than 15 minutes (not tallying dry time, of course!).

Daylight

I won't lie.  "Getting" an extra hour on Sunday felt good...in the morning.  By 7:30 at night, when it had been dark for, like, 4 hours already (shut up, it's true) and it felt like midnight I was ready to give back that hour just so I could say, "bed time!" to every person in our family!  It was a rainy, stormy day, which did nothing for the dwindling daylight hours.  Yesterday it was sunny and mild, a perfect Northern California autumn day, but I saw my breath when I stepped outside in the morning so I knew my job was to get home before the sun went down (at 5:30...ahem) and work on getting the rest of the tomatoes in.  Seriously.

 I harvested another huge cardboard box full of green, yellow, and red tomatoes.  That was two more plants worth.  I won't get home before dark today, so I'll try again tomorrow.   It's supposed to be in the 60s all week, so I think I 'll have time.  Of course, I can't put off too long what to do with these once I get them inside, either!  I am convinced that pretending to be a farmer is way more work than actually being a farmer.  Because I actually have, you know, a whole other job I'm doing when I teach.  Which takes away from the amount of time and energy I have for dealing with three (and counting) boxes of tomatoes. 

 As I'm putting summer garden to bed, I'm reminded of our October heat wave....by this lone pepper.  Better bring him in.  I don't think he'll get bigger now.

 The rosemary can move into shelter too (they don't love frost, and you never know when a cold snap will hit) but these are the happiest strawberries ever.  I have to read up how to take care of them for the winter, but they are loving our bay climate and spreading like crazy.

 Inside, with dinner done and cleaned up, I had no other time to do anything except love These Boys, but I did manage to spend just a few minutes setting up a Functional Santa's Workshop.

I think I'm ready for the darkness.  Winter, you're not my favorite, but I still love you.

Been Busy

I am thoroughly committed to finishing some projects for the holidays.  I like to give (and get, if you're wondering! ;) handmade presents.  But I've never successfully pulled off much of a handmade coup at this time of year; mostly because the projects are too ambitious, combined with I start them too late.

This year, through a combination of starting in October and working on some projects I never finished LAST year, I am quite on track for my most successful (and no doubt still sorely lacking) Christmas exchange.

For example, once the materials have been prepared (I wrote about this here), it was a snap to whip up two new rag rugs in just a few evenings.

 It's so hard to photograph these for scale.  I think this could be any size based on the picture!  Is it a placemat?  Or a rug? 
 

Here's the Wii remote for scale purposes.  I don't know.  Does this really help?

 

Forget it.  Here, let me just hop on it.  It's a good size to stand on in front of the stove or the sink, I do think so!  And I like this one.  I make a lot of blue rugs (I don't even prefer the color blue, but the first one I ever made was for my Grandma Mary, and blue is her favorite and only color, and the materials from several blue sheets will last a LONG TIME.  Just saying.)  and this one is probably one of my favorites.  It came out with a very 'graphic' quality which pleases me.  And, also?  Is not my asthetic.  What can I say?  I'm extremely open-minded about such things.

Then i made this one, which is much cuter in person, I declare it so.  I like this one because circles are rad.  haha Not even kidding.  Wee little gnomes and flower fairy aren't doing much for the scale.

 But they sure make me happy!  These are prototypes I made from the Wee Folk Art directions, and they are a huge hit with Scotty.  In fact, I had made the purple and the fairy for testing purposes, and Scotty woke up in the morning and found them and loved them so much that he asked me to "make a whole town" and literally MADE me make another one RIGHT NOW because he needed a Daddy.  He claims the originals were him and Tommy.  Be still my heart.  Yesterday I spent most of the day (and my extra hour!) over at my mom's house.  My grand niece and nephew were there, and between the three of them, our three new friends got a quite a workout!  Good, I have big plans for these little folks, and hopefully lots more to share about that.

Anybody making anything?  I know Michelle is making an argyle cardigan (show off!)...anything else happening?  I love to hear about makin'.  It just makes me happy.  :)

Kind of like this video I shared on Facebook this weekend.  Worth sharing again, I promise.

If you can't play the video, you can find it here.