greenclogs

2012 - starting by finishing (and Christmas recap)

Well, hi. I guess I effectively took December off. It was good - Lindsay was here for over 2 weeks, and we had a lovely time. There was lots of family time, talking, visiting, sight seeing, and Christmasing. 

Lindsay totally hit it out of the park on the Christmas gifting. Check out what she gave me. 

It doesn't get much better than that. Her boyfriend was also here for part of the trip, which we all enjoyed. Especially Kit. She and Brian were pretty tight by the time he left. Also, having a child who can go to the liquor store for you is pretty sweet. 

Okay, onward to 2012. I took a look back at my January 1 2011 post  to see how I did this year. I think I hit about 50%. My resolutions did not take into account the epic move from Scottsdale to Portland and all of the upheaval/stress/chaos that ensued. Nor was I realistic about what I was going to get done with a toddler. So, there's going to be some carryover from last year. I learned to crochet and have nearly finished an afghan. I did make 4 quilts. I finished most things I started, or I am close to doing so. The photography business is slowly taking root. Still on the list are throwing pots, screenprinting, weaving and project365 (366 this year). I'm also making good progress most days on that pesky computer time (see lack of blog posts). 

I'm taking a different approach this year. I've chosen 3 words to live by. 

1. Reach 

2. Simplify

3. Finish

I'll talk about the other two later, but continuing to improve at that pesky finishing thing is super important to me this year. If I have too many undone things, I get lost. I have fewer undone things than last year, but still too many. And on that note, I started the new year by finishing something. 

Start (and finish) small, I say. Santa put a lovely skein of Shelter in my stocking which was the perfect hat to knit for my brother. I cast on yesterday and finished today. The pattern is Fortnight without the short rows. As soon as I wove in the ends, the little one said "it's my hat!", crammed it on her head, and ran off. I guess she needs one too. The hat is now washed and blocking - we'll give it a proper treatment soon. Short version is that I enjoyed both the yarn and the pattern. I'd recommend them. 

Happy new year, friends. I'm glad you're still plugging along with me into 2012. I plan for it to be a pretty stellar year. Full of finishing. 

handmade holidays. or not.

It's a quick Sunday night post with no pictures because, well, I didn't take any. 

For the last few years I've been a pretty big stickler on making Christmas gifts. Many things have been made over the years - pillows and bags, sweater vests, hats, quilts, potholders, napkins, dolls and stuffed animals. It has largely been a lot of fun. I'm glad that I make nearly all of my gifts - both for Christmas and for birthdays, but I don't think I'm doing so much of it this year. And I'm feeling a bit guilty about it, which is very silly. 

I'm still going to buy handmade this year at Crafty Wonderland, from creative friends with small businesses, and if not handmade then from local independent shops. I think this year I'll give my family the gift of my sanity. I'll spend a bit more, but not much, given the cost of supplies and my time. Frankly, this year, I think I can do more good by spending money locally and with small business people who are struggling to make ends meet in this economic climate. I know they can't compete with Black Friday sales and deep discounts by huge retailers. I'd rather put my money into the pockets of that I know and talk to and see as I go about my days. I feel good about being able to do that.

I still have a few handmade gifts that have been in the works for a while, but I think I can do that without becoming a crazy person who sews until 2AM every night. I can relax and enjoy making those things. I can have time to make new stockings that all match and Christmas Tree Pants for my trees. We'll bake cookies. We'll hang out by the fire and read stories while drinking hot chocolate. I'll sneak in some crochet and knitting on quiet evenings. It'll all work out and all get done. 

I feel like a big load has been lifted this year. I need a break (especially with that very busy 60 minute napping toddler). How about you? How are you tackling Christmas gifts this year. What do you have planned?

p.s. I would like to state for the record that I planned ahead for stuffing the Advent calendar this year for the first time ever. Maybe there's hope for me yet.  

Thanksgiving 2011

I missed posting yesterday - I guess I'll have to get in an extra post over the weekend. Today was a pretty wonderful day. We cooked dinner for my grandma and Elmer, my aunt and uncle, and Jeff's parents. My dad came by for lunch before they headed elsewhere for dinner. Jeff's parents brought crab, shrimp, and oysters with them from their beach place so we had crab cocktail and fried oysters with a beautiful mushroom bisque soup for lunch. I'm especially grateful for those extra four crab sitting in my fridge right now. 

We had a few snafus in the process of cooking dinner. We're pretty used to having two ovens at Thanksgiving and this year we don't so there was a lot of juggling dishes with our smallish oven. Nothing would fit in there with the turkey, which was a challenge. It all worked out in the end, and the food was all hot and very delicious. My aunt brought old school green bean casserole, which totally brought back memories of childhood Thanksgivings and Christmas dinners with the green bean casserole and the candied yams with marshmallows and Swedish meatballs. 

The biggest issue we had was that in the middle of the day we had to drop everything and empty out our basement freezer because it decided to stop working. We crammed our kitchen freezer to the brim and then ran a bunch of meat over to the next door neighbor's house since she had plenty of room in her freezer. I guess I'll be braving the crowds tomorrow to buy a new one. I'm grateful that we were home and needed something from the freezer so we figured out that we had a problem sooner rather than later. That would have been a seriously expensive amount of food to replace. But, it all worked out and we kept on cooking.

We've had quite a year since last Thanksgiving and we have much to be grateful for. I was so happy to be able to host my grandma for dinner and gather together with people from both my family and from Jeff's. I'm grateful for all of the extra food in my refrigerator and for the ability to send some of it home with her. 

I hope your day was peaceful and that you spent it with people you love. Thank you for being here. 

Red Riding Hood

She was my lone trick-or-treater this year. The boy is too old and the toddler is too young (and flatly refuses to put on a costume). She was Red Riding Hood, with her red wool cape, a red basket, and a skip in her step. That wool cape will be worn all winter long and then will be passed down to her sister someday, and probably to future (far in the future) nieces and children of her own. It's that kind of cape. She didn't go far - she's not an intrepid trick-or-treater - so she got just enough candy to keep her happy this week and not so much that we fight about it. Perfect. 

Our neighborhood is one of those neighborhoods - the ones that are filled with cars from everywhere else in the city. It was like Carnival out there. We had 400 pieces of candy and handed them all out in just over an hour. Next year, it's raisins or stickers for everyone who has a -teen in their age. Because really. They should have better things to do than not dress up and knock on my doorbell. I'm glad to have no leftovers, because I certainly don't need to be eating it myself. 

I'm tentatively committing to my 3rd (4th?) annual November challenge of blogging every day. We'll see how I do. Happy November!

more signs of spring

The town egg hunt was today on the first truly glorious spring day. We've lucked into a really wonderful neighborhood that's full of families and kids and a real sense of community. What a beautiful start to spring. 

merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours a lovely day, whether you celebrate or just enjoy the day off. Thank you for being here and being part of my life - the friends I've made here are one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. 

And speaking of gifts, I'm going to spend the rest of the day finishing mine. See you next week!

 

plenty of time

Last week, Blair posted the Wreath of Avoidance. Avoidance is my best friend sometimes - especially when it comes to looming Christmas deadlines. Then Jade posted her version and I was sunk. I also have a silver tree (that isn't quite up because we haven't figured out how to protect it from a certain tiny person around here). And I have yarn. Lots of yarn. A quick trip to the craft store for a styrofoam wreath and some glitter, and we were off to the races. What? Christmas presents? Pfft. There's plenty of time. 

First, we gathered supplies. I was originally going to do white. Or light blue. Then I remembered that I gave away those yarn balls in the Great Craft Room Purge 2010. Oops. A quick survey of the available supply revealed some lovely grey merino found for cheap that had more yardage than the project required. Grey it would be. A really soft heathery almost glowing grey - the muted version of our tree. 

Then we glittered. 

My glitter technique needs some work. As a general rule, I am glitter averse and it shows in my lack of skills. However, that Martha Stewart glitter is dreamy. I may even use glitter on my Christmas New Year cards since I now have a Martha rainbow of glitter. 

Other beads were wrapped in yarn. That was easier. Felt and wool were cut. The glue gun was dusted off. It was a wreath. And we love it.

A little wonky, but we like it. The colors aren't very "Christmas" but they are a match for my silver tree with the red and aqua vintage glass balls, so it's very Jackson Christmas. Now I'm inspired to finish redoing the stockings because they don't go at all. 

What's that? Christmas gifts? pfft. There's plenty of time. 

scrappy Sunday sewing

I snuck away for a while this afternoon and pulled out the scrap bins for some Christmas sewing. I tend to forget how much fun it is to sew from the scrap bins - I find all kinds of fun treasures in there from fabrics that are otherwise all used up. We can't talk about what these are for, of course. They're a Christmas surprise!

Next up (and halfway done as of now) is the sweet Semi-Fantastic Mr. Fox for little Kit. I was kind of a cheater, because I bought the kit instead of just the pattern and I'm so glad I did. It was great to just dive in and sew without gathering supplies, making fabric decisions, etc. I'm sure there are more of them in our future that will involve all of that, but using the kit is perfect for a quick Christmas project. I have enough overly ambitious projects on my plate. 

Time for some Harry Potter marathon, baby snuggling, and knitting. I hope your Sunday was as good as mine.

Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Norwegian Mobster, the Darkness fairy and the cute pizza monster. 

Our evening was filled with the neighborhood pizza party, spooky pumpkins, running out of candy (where did all those kids come from?), trading the goodies, and happiness all round. Happy Halloween friends!

merry Christmas

Wishing you all peace and joy today and every day. Thank you for being here and sharing this small space with us.