Christmas and Winter

Hello sweet friends, who I haven't seen in so long.  This past year has been so full -- too full, really, and certainly too full to keep up with my blog.  Which makes me sad because I miss it so, both as a form of record-keeping and a way to connect with friends near and far.

As some of you may know, I moved my family this summer and we have still not recovered from the process.  And here it is Christmas already!  We've now landed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in a sweet little house on two acres of (mostly) woods.

It is a lovely quiet spot and we are enjoying being out in the country.  Here's the little treehouse that we are having built for our boys in the back yard.

We are still getting settled here, a task made more difficult because much of our furniture is residing at our old house which is still on the market.  I previously wrote about the construction of my sewing studio, and that area, too, is still being sorted out.  Here's what it looks like at present:

The furniture I ordered to help tame this mess has been repeatedly back-ordered but finally arrived last week.  I'm hoping to get it assembled after the new year begins and get this place under control.  I have been doing some sewing despite the chaos, but some of my furniture hasn't made the move quite yet, so I've been making do.

I was busy this Christmas with lots of projects, most from my kitchen but some from my studio.  I made my husband a fleece vest and matching neck gaiter.  I also made my boys gaiters.  No pictures of those yet.  I also completed a project that has been on my wish list for at least 8 years -- a new star for the top of our Christmas tree. 

I created this from wool blend felt and used this pattern for the design.  The embroidery was done with perle cotton, silk ribbon and silver chop beads.  The pearl beads were left over from the beadwork on my wedding dress and the button in the middle was an extra from that same project.

I stitched an extra layer of felt to the inside of the star, leaving the bottom open to be slipped over the top of the tree.  I used a blanket stitch and more perle cotton to construct the star.

I did quite a bit of baking/cooking this year.  Our church had a Christmas bazaar and I made a number of items for the bake sale table as well as many bags of goodies for gifts to friends and family.

Eggnog Bread

Cookies for Santa

Rosemary Pecans with Cranberries

Salted Caramel Chex Mix

My neighbor gave me a jar of delicious Olive Tapenade along with the recipe so I had to make my own jars.  I'll share this recipe with you at a later time.

I've also been doing quite a bit of hand sewing in the evenings.  My studio is over our detached garage so it is a little harder to access.  I've been keeping a little bag of hand stitching in the house to work on.  I can't share one of the projects because it is still waiting to go out to a friend as a gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise in case she reads this post.  But I'll share once the gift has been given.

I have always found the quiet and spare days of winter to be my most productive time in my studio.  I love the quality of the light which is so different than other times of the year, and there are fewer distractions.  I am already looking forward to turning the calendar to January 2015 and really settling in to get some sewing done.  I hope that my life will now allow me to create more and post more.  I've really missed those things.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season.

Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas: Medicine Cup Kissing Ball

I can't decide which side of the divide this post will fall, retro cool or super square.  Regardless, I decided to recreate a favorite Christmas decoration from my childhood, the medicine cup kissing ball.  I'll be curious to see how many of my readers remember these.  The one my mother unwrapped from tissue paper every December and hung in our front hallway had Christmas-green glitter and plastic mistletoe.  I've changed a few things on mine to update an old classic just a bit.

One of the reasons I love reading craft blog DIY posts is that someone else has gone through all of the trial and error for me.  This project had quite a bit of both trial and error.  I hope you will take advantage of my experience if you decide to make one of these for yourself.  You aren't likely to find any help elsewhere.  A thorough internet search turned up essentially nothing on the subject of medicine cup kissing balls with the exception of one or two posts asking if anyone remembered them.  As I have noted before, when I run across a topic that seems to be missing from the interwebs I like to cover it, since I know I am not the only person out there looking for information.

You can find the instructions over in my Tutorial section or by clicking here.  I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.  I would love to hear if any of you remember these icons or perhaps still own one.  I hope you are busy making your own memories this holiday season.

A New Year

I don't think I've ever taken such a long break from blogging.  Christmas time came and went at my house and, though I completed lots of projects, I hadn't the time to get them posted here.  At least one will have to wait until next year, but I've got the tutorial mostly written so I'll be able to get off to an early start.  Christmas with a four- and six-year-old in the house was pretty exciting and busy.  Here is our Christmas card from this year.

It only took about 300 tries to get one shot with all four of us looking at the camera (sort of).

I was busy in my kitchen this year, making some little goodies for friends.  I tried a recipe from Food and Wine magazine for homemade Mulling Spices.  I tried them out myself over the New Year's weekend and they have a much more complex flavor than any I have ever purchased.  I dried the orange slices in my oven

mixed them with other spices

and then packaged them in paper tea bags tied with kitchen twine.

I packaged them up in glassine bags with a tag printed with instructions for use.

I also made Chai Latte lollipops, based on the recipe from Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook.  I modified their recipe to suit my own needs by using chai latte mix stirred into a basic sugar lollipop.

I packaged up the lollipops and mulling spices in white bags with some little paper flowers I made which I think conjur up a poinsettia.

Here's how I did these.  I cut three layers from red kraft paper (have I mentioned how much I love kraft paper?) using a die to cut the two larger ones and paper punch to cut the smallest.  I then gave each layer a little dimension by creasing the petals.  Then it was assembly line time.

I glued the three layers together with white glue

then glued three gold beads in the center using Jewel It glue.

The last step was to glue a mini clothespin on the back of each one.  I made about two dozen of these, all told, and used them to adorn all sorts of packages.

Last year I posted that I wanted to sew more garments in 2012 and also spend a little time each day doing some hand stitching.  And, while I don't think I accomplished that every day, I did do an awful lot of hand work last year.  I think I could still sew more garments, but the ones I have been making have been very time consuming.  Combining those two goals, I completed my Alabama Chanin blue dress and have been trying to find the time (and warm weather) to take some pictures.  I promise those very soon.  My blog is now three years old and I hope to add lots of interesting projects to the pages this year.  I hope you'll check back often.

Merry Christmas!