I am so excited about the New Year. I'm starting a new assignment at work, which involves an immediate week-long trip out of the country (woo!), and I have all this energy to get things done, both craft-wise and around the house. I'm not going to make any resolutions, because I already have dozens of lists of things I want to do (what can I say, I'm a list girl), but I do hope this energy lasts. Do you like to make resolutions, or isn't it for you either?

After sharing the slippers from Peter's grandma, I was thinking about my grandma, and how she had a huge influence on my craftiness. I would go to her house and work on those yarn-plastic things, what are they called? Where you weave the yarn through the plastic grid to make tissue holders and coasters? Anyway, later she introduced me to cross stitch, which I still love, and it was always very special to work on those things together. So you can imagine my excitement when a large package came in the mail from her!



Isn't he gorgeous? He is completely handmade, and absolutely beautiful. My grandma's health isn't the best right now, and this Santa took her a very long time to make. She told my sister there were times she almost gave up. I am so glad she was able to finish!



She handmade the little teddy bear he's holding, too. And my grandfather even made a contribution, lending his woodworking skills to the little birdhouse.



This is one of those gifts that will be forever treasured!

Labels: family

That's anniversary-birthday-Christmas, in case you were wondering. We had to combine all three in order to justify my new baby:



The Pentax K10D!! It is so awesome. I have only had a few days to play with it and I am already completely in love. Here are just a few of my favorite pics from the last couple days...









I promise not to turn this into a photo blog, but I had to share my exciting news!!

Labels: photography

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I managed to finish everything I had on my list that mattered, and successfully prepared my first turkey, which was quite tasty. I must say, it is more fun to plop down at my mother-in-law's table after preparing one measly side dish than it is to put together a whole Christmas Eve meal for nine. I won't take that for granted next year!

I have so much to share over the next few days - things I unwillingly gave away (I am so happy when I love something so much I want to keep it, it's that much better of a gift!) and things I very excitedly received - but I'll start with this jewelry I made for my sister.



It is made simply with sterling chain and chalcedony - she has always said she loves this color, and I'm so happy with the result!

The matching earrings:



Have a wonderful week-between-holidays! I have to rush to finish my mother-in-law's present, but I made good progress yesterday, so I am optimistic. Thank goodness they went out of town and gave me a little cushion to get it finished!

Labels: jewelry

...or, Why I Need a Quilt Wall!

Here is a current work-in-progress spread out for arranging. Luckily, this WIP has made it much farther since this picture, since it is a Christmas present! I am no longer panicking that it will not get finished.

It would be much easier to do this if I had a nice felt quilt wall like Amy's.



Spreading it out on the couch at least helped me envision the finished product. This will have to do until I get my act together and finish my craft room!

Labels: quilting, wip

For the past couple years I've made a set of handmade notecards to send with the goodies I bake for our extended family. I think this year's might be my favorite!



I made them using the same method as my postcards for the swap.




The packages are all their way, put in the mail Monday - the last day the post office garaunteed priority mail by Christmas! Nothing like waiting for the last minute!

Labels: paper craft, sewing

Our Christmas package arrived from Peter's great grandma. This wonderful lady is 97 years old and sharp as anything, and she proved she still has some good finger dexterity, too!


Dishcloths (How can I actually use these??)


Slippers (Peter's are just tied instead of the pom poms, since pom poms aren't manly!)

I love all the crafting I've been doing to prepare for Christmas - sewing, cooking, etc - but it was such a treat to receive something a family member had made for us!

Labels: family

I finished up the bags for my nieces and realized I was getting books for my nephew, too. I couldn't have him feeling left out, so I made up a simple pattern for a lined drawstring bag with his initial. I found some awesome flame fabric, and lined it with soccer ball fabric, which I think he'll love. Voila, boy purse!



I found the neat 3D puzzle at my favorite store - I somehow didn't think he'd like pink hot chocolate!

Labels: bags, sewing

Checking things off my list, is more like it! For a while I thought there was no way I'd get all the things done before Christmas that I wanted to, but it's starting to feel a little more manageable. I still have two really big projects I haven't even started, but I won't panic until I see how much I get done on them this weekend.

For Peter's nieces, my sister-in-law sent me a lot of book ideas, and I love giving books. Of course, I couldn't send books without a little something handmade to go with them!





These are a lot like the bag I made a few months ago, except I added an inside pocket and magnetic snap closure. I also appliquéd a monogram on each one to make them a little more personal.



I also threw in some fun pink Strawberry Shortcake hot chocolate I found a little while ago. Hopefully this is a gift to make a little girl happy!



Thanks again to tiny happy for the tutorial!

Labels: bags, sewing

I really rely on the weekends to catch up on photos so I have things to post during the week. During the summer I do better, because it stays light so late I have natural light after work. But during the winter, it is so depressing. Dark when I go to work. Dark when I get home. And I hate taking pictures with the flash. Well, my weekend-picture-taking failed me this weekend! It was cold and dark and rainy all weekend.

Luckily, thanks to flickr and the holiday ornament swap group I can show you a picture of the awesome ornament I received late last week... I was lucky enough to get one of these in the mail:



I have received a couple other ornaments, and I can't wait to share them! I really hope this weather clears up for next weekend, otherwise I might go into a funk from lack of sunlight! I would never survive in Seattle...

Labels: swaps

I've now started to receive my ornaments from the ornament swap! One in particular I can't wait to show off, it is really above and beyond.



For my contribution, I really wanted to do something with beads, and this is what I came up with. Beaded snowflakes. I really like them. My husband described them as delicate, and I think that works best as a descriptor. I hope the recipients like them, too - they certainly aren't as elaborate as some of the things I've gotten! I feel so lucky!



I've moved on to other Christmas projects and am making enough progress not to panic that I'll never finish everything... Hopefully I'll have some good light to take pictures this weekend so I'll have post fodder for next week!

Labels: swaps

I made these earrings with vintage glass beads and sterling silver because I needed a pair of red earrings. I really love them, even though they're quite simple. All the silver findings are new, and I'm not sure how old the beads are - "vintage" can mean quite a few different things.

I really love vintage glass beads. But I also love new gems and crystals, and new glass beads. I like the idea of scavenging thrift stores and garage sales for that special find, but more often I settle back to the ease of online shopping. The concept of reusing, and reinventing discarded objects, really appeals to me, but again, I am often an easiest-path person, and it is so much easier to just buy new things that are exactly what I need. I'm going to try to be better about only buying new the supplies that have to be new - earring hooks, etc - and using what I have in my stash or what I find that can be refashioned. Sort of a "use what I have" mindset. We'll see how that goes!

Labels: jewelry

I've already received a few of my postcards from the swap! How exciting!! I am thrilled to have received one of Beki's. I just love it!

I am quite happy with how my postcards came out... I wanted to do something using fabric, but not just quilted cards since I've done those before. The beaded snowflakes that have shown up in earlier posts were sewn onto cardstock, and an address sticker across the back of the card kept all the threads in place.



I was trying to take pictures of these, but I made the mistake of putting them in a sunbeam, so I had some "help" with the photos:



How can you resist that face?

Labels: swaps

Today has already been a crazy day, despite not having much going on... I ran bright and early in the cold weather (hey, 40's for Houston is cold!) with my training group, almost 10 miles. It felt good, even though my last long run was three weeks ago. Then I got home and packaged up my ornaments for the ornament swap, followed by cutting and sewing my postcards for the postcard swap. Just in time!



We'll swing by the post office on our way to soccer - it's already closed, but thanks to the awesome automatic package mailing postage thingy, I'll be able to get everything out today, only one day late!

Labels: swaps

As I sat last night catching up on shows from during our vacation that my Tivo had lovingly saved for us (I told you I was a TV junkie!), I was able to finish up the stitching for a few different Christmas projects. The rows of neatly stitched shapes was very pleasing to my Type-A side. These will eventually become my annual card set I send along with goodies to out-of-town family. It was fun this year coming up with a different idea from what I've done before! Stay tuned for the finished product, hopefully next week.



The beaded snowflakes are for the postcard swap. Yes, that is still a WIP, despite the deadline of Dec. 1. I am pretty sure I will be able to get them finished up and to the post office tomorrow - there is only one step left to finish them. I also have to package up my ornaments for the ornament swap to get them in the mail. Shame on me! Many of those are international, and I will feel quite bad if they're late... Hopefully one day will not ruin me!!

Labels: swaps, wip