Write, Mama. Write.

They're not all in the basket (phew!)

Oh, right.  So Kayte asked what the other wooden things were in the muffin tin: trees!  I think acorns are spreading across the country since this post, but I held off until Molly shared this incredible idea.  I used Christmas money to buy the acorns and eggs (which have been far more fun than I ever thought possible), and added the trees because I'd seen them here (wow!) and thought they'd round out our play.  It's so fun to have a mini-forest.  The eggs and trees are big enough so we don't have to tuck them away when little visitors come.  This all reminded me that I don't think I ever shared our nuts & bolts & keys & locks & stuff box.

It's a little depleted at the moment as things tend to migrate, but you get the idea.  We have lots more nuts and bolts-type items to round it out so there are parts you can move, put together, take apart, etc.  I made this for our summer trip when we stayed in a different house for a week or so.  It's so portable but also keeps a two-year-old's attention for a long time (at least our little two year old).  We line keys up by size, figure out which parts work with others...  You can also string keys.  I think I got the box at a craft store but I saw one in a hardware-type store recently for less ($3?).  Cases like this are nice as kids grow because they support those desires to collect/sort/categorize.  Our guy stopped putting things in his mouth at the baby stage but even still this is always an activity box we do together or with me watching close by (for safety).

I've had a post halfway written referencing the snow day we had on Monday.  Every day I change the words (from "today," to "yesterday," to "a couple of days ago...").  Pretty soon it's going to start, "Last week..." and I'll think "what's the point?" and delete it.  I'm defeated/depleted and I've decided it's because there's been very little time to do anything by/for myself lately.  Very, very little.  Do you ever run into this?  Especially with young children how do you (or did you) make time to get away and/or have creative outlets?  I have stacks of ideas to sew, to write, to create and I'd truly love to read a bit.  Barring a babysitter (we can't afford that and I'm so not ready for someone I don't know to watch the boy) how does it happen?  Our situation is complicated by the lack of space so I can't just go to another room and close the door (well, I could but it certainly wouldn't be effective).  I know I'm a better mama when I have a little time to "fill up," but I certainly haven't learned how to do that yet (effectively).  From 7 to 7/8ish there's a one hour nap to do freelance work, cleaning, etc.  After 7/8 there are dishes, getting ready for the following day and such, and I'm so tired.  I really don't want to start sewing at 9 or 10 because then I make stupid mistakes.  A big part of me always feels like I should take care of most of the household things because I'm the one here all day and it just makes sense.  Another part of me feels like because I'm here all day I never get away from the work part of it.  I think I need to do a better job of compartmentalizing or something.  I need little spaces for creativity instead of nuts and bolts.

Entertained, in spite of the rain

Muffin tins are fun.

Did you know?

Somehow plenty of time is passing by a little too quickly for my comfort zone.  We're still waiting on stuff with the house offer (many, many question marks).  The rate of new gray hairs to cups of joe is not good (both horribly on the rise, gray winning), to which T responds, "Which would you rather have?  Gray hair or no new house?"  I feel too young for gray hairs and then I look in the mirror and go, "Oh, right.  Not as young now."  Randomly, all weekend long, we had this scenario (give or take a worry):

Me: What if we can't find a house but we have to move out of this one and we're left living under a bridge in a box?
T: We won't.  It'll be fine.

Me: What if the house we get was a drug house with mold that will grow through the new paint and it'll have radon gas and an oil tank buried in the back yard?  And other bad stuff.  What if there's lots of bad stuff?
T: It'll be fine.

Me: What if we buy a house and the next day there's a big earthquake and it falls down (but we're OK)?
T: That would be sad.

So it should come as no big shock that when we woke to snow this morning and I suggested that we check to see if there was a delay (T works at a school) he practically raced out of the house without looking.  Our weekend summary: worry, gray hairs, annoying stress, fairly annoying wife, dishes (that's the photo, if you missed it). 

A little more:

• I had fun exploring new blogs in the Bloggies links.  It confirmed for me that to have a really above and beyond popular blog you must have a dog.  Or a cute kid or two.  But dogs are better for Bloggies.  You have to have consistent posts, and it helps to be sarcastic.  The sarcasm isn't necessary, but people dig the sarcasm.  I'm tucking all of this away in the "observations with zero relevance to my life" file, with the "crafty blogs include feet shots" observation.  Here's mine.      

• I knit two hats and they suck.  The knitting's fine but I can't seam them together right.  I need expert help (Sara?).  We ventured out to make a snowman this morning and I was so beyond relieved when I realized the snowman could wear the new hat with the crappy seam.  My effort was not for naught.

• I have to say, Quilting Month will be very cool.  I have to get the boy's quilt at least fully pieced this month now.  You just can't write and write and write about quilting and then not do it.  I made bags for Bag Month, skirts for Skirt Months and... Hmmm... No kids clothes for Kids' Clothing Month.  I'm going to quilt though.

• In my counter-the-ugly-with-tunes campaign I rediscovered our copy of Free To Be... You And Me. Perhaps, if we're of a similar age and your parents were the chicken-raising, house-renovating, young and liberal types, this album is part of your childhood too?  Seriously it's so fun to listen to it as an adult now.  The current favorite (amongst the adults in the household, of course) is Parents Are People. Reassuring, isn't it?  And funny.  I like the "nobody likes to clean," "mommies can be anything they want to be," in your face pro-mama stuff.

I think we're all caught up. 

I cracked up with the My Aunt June post the other day when she wrote:  "Did you know I have a small thermos collection? You do now. Did you ask? No. That's the point of blogs."   This weekend update is the point, I suppose.

Yesterday

Lots of art.

Reading, reading.  More stories.  More!

Giving up a little on the waiting game.

A bad cold.

A nap.

Baking together, eating together (scones are nice).

A long walk up a hill, twice, in the cold.

(Valentine ideas over here, just in case you missed them.)

I discovered the joy of new pillows

The joy I feel about these pillows is totally disproportionate to the amount of effort it takes to whip up one of these babies.  The couch looks better, things are brighter, there's a bit of NEW in the air which has been stagnant with Oh-please-oh-please-
oh-please-Universe-let-us-get-OUT-of-here mumblings.  We put an offer on another house last week and still haven't heard because the fellow's bank now gets to decide everything.  Someone in California is making big decisions about our future, or maybe the issue is that they are NOT making big decisions about our future because we're waiting.  Still.  Waiting.  And I know that things happen for a reason and what will be will be and the right thing will come and we're lucky to be looking when other people have banks in charge of their homes.  Moving to our next step will happen and it will happen this year.  But this house (which someone else wants too) has a big yard and a laundry room and room for my machine to sit out while I closed the door to the rest of the world and... I've had far too long to move in, build a future and live a life in that home in my mind.  I want these pillows to be for our new house. 

Anyhow, I fell in love with that lotus print in red and waited too long to grab it.  Then I had the yellow sitting around here for months.  It was draped on the couch forever and we had these thoughts of it being to "wild" for our toned down, simple-simple sensibilities.  In a pillow it's perfect though, we all three agree, with some hand-dyed, super-soft cotton on the back from SMS (it's gone, but she does have everything else you could possibly dream up to love).  I have the cotton in many shades and I'm hoarding it like an invading army will come and ransack the house, looking for hand-dyed, super-soft cotton.  Like I'll have to use it to barter and feed the family or something.  If I don't use it, we can't enjoy it so I used the littlest bit.  The off-white fabric is this beautiful matelasse-like woven fabric.  I have a thing for the matelasse look.  White on white creating the texture.  Simple but not.

Lately the boy looks at me at totally random moments, grins and says, "Hi, Mama!" in the most sing-songy and adoring way.  It's like he's saying to himself: watch how I can melt her.  Those looks, his grins, the quick surprises in my gut of how deeply he is all that is good and all that we hope for... Those are the moments on moments creating the texture in my life as a mama.  Simple but not. 

Still
waiting.

He's got mail

Valentines for us, though we've already played with them because you can't wait weeks for fun like this.  I saw the little mailboxes in the Target $1 section and thought they'd be fun.  We're just on the cusp of mailing drawings to each other, I think, so I thought this would be fun for us to get excited about the whole "mail" idea.  There's Peltex/Timtex in between and I was going to use ric-rac for the stamps but then decided it would be too tedious.  I had this "print on fabric" stuff I'd wanted to try but next time I'd just use fabric markers and I think they'd look cooler and less "adult." 

The stamp images are from Michelle's French stamps.  We've known all of the letters for awhile now, and the boy can read his name so I think the teacher part of me thought this would help him start to identify other names (family members).  The stamps and names attach with iron-on Velcro so you can decide who gets mail.  I think it's working!  The process of learning to read and to appreciate exchange (of knowledge, love, art, words, ideas) through text is so utterly amazing.

Oh, and I meant to add that I did a little "spring" bookmark cleaning and updated the Create, Eat & Play categories on the sidebar (and some of the deeper links within that Create & Play categories).  I don't know if anyone ever goes there (I've forbidden myself from ever looking at any sort of visitor data so never have a clue) but there are some really good links and it totally appeals to my inner librarian.

Here are the current playlists

Thanks for relating to my winter blahs.  Sometimes I feel like I should have figured out how to do all of this really, really well by now because the boy's been around in one way or another for about three years. 

What's that I hear?  Laughter from every parent on the earth?  Someone saying, while clutching belly and holding onto furniture for support?: "She thinks she should have parenting all figured out because she's done it for two+ years?!  Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa..."

Here are the playlists I made from stuff we already had around the house and my old school CDs (meaning they really are from school)...

Folky stuff (heavy on Elizabeth Mitchell because I love her voice):
Head And Shoulders, Jump Jim Joe               
This Little Light Of Mine, Elizabeth Mitchell          
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Peter, Paul & Mary   
Froggie Went a Courtin', Folk Playground 
The Crawdad Song, Best Of The Land of Nod Store Music, Volume 2               
Little Sally Walker, Jump Jim Joe               
Down in the Valley, Elizabeth Mitchell   
If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song), Peter, Paul & Mary   
Peace Like a River, Elizabeth Mitchell   
Skip To My Lou, Jump Jim Joe            
This Old Man, Folk Playground   
Bushel And A Peck, Dan Zanes & Friends
Michael Row The Boat Ashore, Sing Along With Putumayo         
You Are My Sunshine, Elizabeth Mitchell & Daniel Littleton   
This Train, Ella Jenkins            
Shoo-Fly, Elizabeth Mitchell             
I'll Fly Away, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack
Keep On The Sunny Side, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack            
Teach Your Children, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young   
Don't Fence Me In, Mary McCaslin 
Shoo Fly, Jump Jim Joe          

Just fun (heavy on The Beatles 'cause well, you know):
Dance, Dance, Dance, Steve Miller Band   
Teach Your Children, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young   
Keep On The Sunny Side, The Whites            
On the Sunny Side of the Street, Willie Nelson   
Don't Fence Me In, Mary McCaslin   
Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles   
Where I Go, Natalie Merchant   
Pink Moon, Nick Drake   
One Of These Things First, Nick Drake   
Three Little Birds, Bob Marley & The Wailers   
All You Need Is Love, The Beatles   
With A Little Help From My Friends, The Beatles   
See You on the Moon, Great Lake Swimmers   
We Walk, R.E.M.   
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, The Beatles   
I Am The Walrus, The Beatles            
Ease Your Feet In The Sea, Belle & Sebastian   
Sleepwalkin', Modest Mouse   
Rainbow Connection, Mary Had a Little Amp   
You've Got A Friend, James Taylor   
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Peter, Paul & Mary   
Across The Universe, The Beatles   
Let It Be, The Beatles   
I'm Amazing, Keb' Mo'   
You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Stevie Wonder   
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Marvin Gaye
Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole   

 

What happened there?

That was weird.  I was doing this "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" thing because goodness knows there wasn't any handmade coolness to show.  I felt like that Peanuts character with a heavy cloud of dirt poofing up around me, only the mess was just being tired and crabby and frustrated.  For whatever reason there's been no sleep around here lately and I do mean NO sleep.  That just makes everything hard, don't you think?  I keep up with these circular patterns, beating myself up in an argumentative spiral when really I'm just tired.  If we had a little sleep, or even if I had a little time when the boy wasn't awake, I could ground myself a bit.  This weekend I asked for a bit of help and that's gone a long way.  It's been dark and rainy too, so I'm making a concerted effort to keep things clipping along with:

~ pilates class two nights a week (ouch)
~ more friends & family over in the past two weeks than in the prior three months combined
~ lights on
~ cozy fires & candles (see above)
~ getting outside with the boy every day, rain or no
~ new songs thanks to some great suggestions

Anyhow, I'm here.  Sometimes mothering just kicks my ass.  It's not easy to harmonize goal directed inclinations with all of the little accomplishments that start all over once they're completed (hello, dishes, laundry, eating imaginary dinners cooked by the world's finest two year old chef).  Simultaneously I consciously, and always, realize what a blessed life I lead to be here with my love, while my other love brings in the dough to let me be here.  We have what we need and we are together. 

So lucky, so happy, so exhausted, so mind-numbingly tired of some of the routine, so blessed.  That's me.

The sun came out

It's been raining for at least two weeks.  Two months?  Today the sun came out to play and we did too.  It was (a little break from) winter in the Pacific Northwest.

5+ yards of each for a thrifty couple of bucks

The one on the right has "1977" on the selvage. 
I have ideas.  I have fabric.  I have no time.

Nature consumes what we overlook

Nature consumes what we overlook
in the day to day rhythms of our life.

Holiday hearts and such

I forgot to mention these ornaments.  We made them for grandparents for the holidays, but they'd be sweet little gifts for Valentine's Day too.  The boy colored like crazy with fabric crayons (cheap, at your local fabric store) and then I transferred his drawings to some scrap fabric (if the lines are really faint you might want to go over them to darken a bit).  I have loads of fabric crayons from first grade quilt making days.  You could incorporate this great idea (or do it with your machine) with older kids.  I embroidered the boy's name and the year on red felt for the back, stitched all around at the end with the machine (I was running out of time... Handwork would have looked nicer) and he was so, so proud to give them away.  I kept one, of course, for us!

My sister and I have a huge collection of ornaments we made in childhood and I'd love for us to carry on with a yearly tradition (the first year with the boy I was still trying to figure out how to shower again so there was no ornament...). 

Last year we made these hand prints out of basic Sculpey.  I had wanted one of those baby hand print kits forever, and always stopped myself from buying one.  They seemed too super-expensive at that stage of our one income, new baby life (still do, come to think of it).  Anyhow, I used a 50% off coupon at a craft store for Sculpey in a crazy, "let's see if it'll work" $2 shot in the dark and it's totally great.  We had plenty in the box for lots of "ornaments" and still have some left over.  They bake hard in the oven.  They'd be nice for Valentines too, for the loved ones of our little ones.

Now we really are clapping because it snowed

The slow cooker lid rattles quietly as our stew dinner cooks.  Massive tubular mailers from Daddy's work (into the wee hours) sit tidy in the corner of the living room, knocked down from their morning house and waiting for afternoon ramps.  The pine tree outside our kitchen window rains drips as the temperature rises.  Mittens, shoes and coats dry in the entry.  Coffee's on. 

I love nap time.

We're hunkering down a bit today, not unlike our parsley.

Footwear, frustration and little somethings beyond

You are wonderful!  Thank you so much for your great suggestions.  The original title of this post was something like "Horrid Crafty Vortex, Footwear Edition," so that gives you an idea of the vibes around here.  We're going through a growth spurt, frustration fountain, tantrum explosion... Couple change/ disequilibrium words with words that evoke eruption and you have our descriptive phrase of the moment.  So I'm just mentally drained and then, throw in a spot of limitless dreaming, and we have a little post-holiday stew of AAAHHHH!  (I'm, We're, It's) Really sorta unpleasant at times. 

I needed a shot of something better and my hopes weren't crazy big, just a little something to look forward to beyond our daily AAAHHHH.  Boy, did you ever deliver!  You all are crazy knowledgeable with the kid music, I'm telling you.  And you get it, you know?  No bad synthesizer, preschool kid pop tunes for this crowd.  I'm emailing everyone back ASAP (insert minor change/disequilibrium + eruption phrase as excuse for my delay here) but I thank you in advance for your excellent recommendations.  With the exception of about three discs ALL of those songs/discs mentioned were in at the library so my hold list is out of this world and I have a little something to look forward to!  I'll do a little test listen with those before I purchase.  Picture the boy and I clapping like it just started to snow. 

Also, I've got a game plan for the doll.  I'll fill you in as I go, but the boy and I have an ambitious, three-part plan.  Flour... Well, Mom's disappointed.  It's this great multigrain blend to fall in love with, and I think for now I'll just start working my way through the coop flour offerings.  I do like the King Arthur.

Footwear, the bad: The Mary Janes are so, so wrong but in the light of day I've decided I learned a thing or two in the process.  I just knew how it was supposed go, you know, and it didn't.  I've sat here sad tonight, thinking of how many times I said, "Use your words" with the boy.  That would be, I suppose, like someone saying, "Use your sewing skills."  I do believe it might just make me livid with frustration when said in the midst of trying so hard to get something so right (when I know what it's supposed to look like... Just like when he knows what he wants me to understand). 

In good news on the footwear front: Mom found my old cowboy boots (I distinctly remember putting them on while lying on my back and having one fall and hit me with the tip on the nose) and I found these little black boots below, just like the ones on the farm.  Everybody needs barn, cowboy and ladybug boots, right?  If all else fails we can skip around in boots and dream of summer and cowboys, new dolls and better times.

Also good:
- 800+ FFF comments on the SMS blog this weekend... Very cool.
- One of our big someday dreams, where we live on acreage with a studio and work from home, includes a letterpress.  ReadyMade had a "Make Your Own Letterpress" article (press construction instructions are in the current issue).  I found it last night and darn it if I couldn't sleep until 2 a.m. with excitement.  I know it's not real-real, but it's $100 real as opposed to $5000 real and we can have a letterpress.  Someday dreams don't always have to happen in big chunks.
- Homemade biscotti recipe.  Yum.

Questions (re: dolls, music + flour)

Alright, all you crafty, smart and knowledgeable people (you!).  Can you help?

1. I want to make a doll for the boy.  I'd love to buy a gorgeous, handmade little boy doll but can't, and I don't want one of those little plastic babies that cry when you push their belly, etc.  So I think that leaves me with the option of making one, but there's no way I'm going at it all on my own (especially with the recent crafty vibes around here).  I need guidance.  Is there a great pattern?  I'd (I mean the boy would) fall in love with one just like Colin, of course, and doing the SMS meme posts led me to this cute little guy (now clothed!) who was made with one of these kits.  Do you have any suggestions for me in terms of patterns, resources, etc.?

2. The boy and I need some good, new music to listen to together.  I'm not in the "kid music for kids" camp, meaning we listen to all sorts of wonderful music together all day.  We both like the Beatles, classical, we often have our local jazz station on in the background and we throw in a little reggae, etc.  But, I also think there's a place for the classic kid songs like those from Raffi (he really doesn't bother me) and we love Elizabeth Mitchell's albums all the way.  Anyhow... A mix of happy music, you know?  I have an iTunes credit to use up (from long ago) and I'd like some new songs for us to enjoy.  They don't have to be "kid," just nice.  Some of our favorites on our "Happy Kid/Mama/Daddy Music" compilation disc:
Car Car, Elizabeth Mitchell
Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles
Three Little Birds, Elizabeth Mitchell 
Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin   
What Goes On, Elizabeth Mitchell   
How to Be Strong, Rosanne Cash
See You on the Moon, Great Lake Swimmers   
Yellow Submarine, The Beatles   
Rainbow Connection, Dixie Chicks   
What a Wonderful World, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

3. And last, but not least, this request comes from the whole, extended family.  We make lots and lots of bread, and it's good for a variety of reasons.  One of the reasons is Robin Hood brand flour from Canada, and now it's just too grueling to make flour runs across the border (it can take hours to get back into the US now).  We need access to our flour!  Does anyone know how to get Robin Hood brand flour in the US?  It's unlikely, I know, but I thought I'd give it a shot!

Can you tell it's a cape?

It is, with a matching crown.  I saw this crazy, silver stuff for $1 a yard the other week and thought it'd make a fun cape for the boy.  One of our good friends turned two on Christmas Day, recently became a big brother, has a name that starts with the letter "B" and is just an all-around great kid.  The whole cape thing was in my mind so the birthday boy got a cape and a matching crown, for many fun, upcoming years of imaginative play.  I played with the blanket stitch on my machine on a whim and (don't look too closely!) it was so much fun.  That stitch is so tedious for me to do by hand...  It was so totally cool in a craft geek kind-of way to use GOLD quilting thread, bought for a quarter at a flea market.  I cut a rectangle out of the silver, hemmed it on three sides, made a "collar" out of red like you'd use double-folded bias tape and just gathered the silver into the red as I sewed (I started in the middle and went out to each end so it'd be somewhat even).  Here's how I did the velcro (ties worry me with little guys).

And the crown.  I know there are a lot of ways to make crowns.  This is an easy, birthday crafting, fun crown approach (not to be confused with a nature inspired, natural wool approach...), made with love, cheapo felt (again, from the flea market) and not a lot of time. 

I cut out two crown shapes with these approximate dimensions: 6" x 22".  It just fits my little two year old's 97th percentile head, so it's probably good for your average 2-3 year old.  This crown has four peaks...  I always make a paper version or two first, to see what I like when it sits on a head.  Then I trim down the one I want on top (highly sophisticated techniques around here, you know) and sew buttons on with felt circles in between (I've used pinking shears to make the circles before and I really like that... I just forgot this time).  I sew all around to "applique" the top piece to the bottom.  This time I used a blanket stitch.  In the past I've used a zig-zag, which is fun, and I've also sewn two of the same size together, turned them and sort-of topstitched around the whole thing.  I used about 3" of iron-on velcro (one side as shown above, one side on the opposite red felt).  It's easy, happy.  Fun.  You just feel different in a flowing, silver cape and a polka dot button crown.

You'd better write it down

So says T, when I mention each new idea to him.  This is a creative year for us (at least that's we affirm to one another lately).  Here goes, in no particular order:

All white log cabin (color centers a la this)
Rainbow quilt
Mini zig-zag quilt
The boy's blue quilt
Housetops quilt
Eddie cap
The boy's fall jacket (oops)
Stash & Dash fun
Barcelona with the thrifted plaid
Mary Jane baby shoes
Town play mat for the boy
New splat mat design
Chalk cloth mats for birthdays
Birthday banner for two year old birthday
Checkers board
Ornaments for Christmas swap
Box bags
New couch pillows
Recover rocking chair & stool
"Dollhouse" with Peltex/Timtex
Mini quilts
Felted bag
Felted mittens
Barcelona overlay apron
Tie One On little girl polka dot apron
New bag
Yo-yo shower curtain
Bird mobile
Chickens
New stroller cover
New kitchen towels for us
New oven mitts for us

There's more...  It keeps coming to me as I try to sleep and such.  I haven't even looked at the fabric yet, to remember!  Big list!  Any bets on completion rates?  I'm thinking this is all a bit much, but then I did a little 2007 mosaic of just my favorites and I think I could totally sew this all up.  Tomorrow.  And then I realize I've had too much coffee, I'm probably at a little energy peak which will dip dangerously... Uh... now.  Yep. 

Holiday gift recap

Since the last of the Christmas (um, New Year's with a Christmas theme?!) cards just made it out the door the last day of 2007, I suppose a late handmade gift recap is in keeping with the take-it-easy approach to our holidays.  Every time I didn't stress about something (i.e. seeing the "best" Santa early) it seemed to work out fine (low-key Santa with no other kiddos in sight, two days before Christmas).  It weirded me out (the "working out just fine" stuff) every time.  I did have tremendous post-Christmas angst about how much we were able to do, Tepid Response Factor, and the like.  But, all in all it was just right.  For us.  My favorite gift we gave was a felted ball for the boy, swirly, heavier than you'd imagine and handcrafted in our little town.  It's such a pleasure to hold and throw. 

The towels above were fun.  Kristin asked how I did them in Flickr so the short of it is:  I cut random lengths of fun fabrics, arrange them in a pleasing way, sew them together and then press the seams open.  I cut a length of this patchwork strip a little wider than the towel and then sew it on the towel with the right sides facing, patchwork upside down and lined up with the bottom of the towel.  I then iron a hem on either side to match the towel and a hem on the top of the patchwork.  Then I press the patchwork up to the towel.  I sew down from the top to attach the patchwork to the right side of the towel, then sew with the same 1/4" along the bottom (redundant because it's already been sewn on but it makes it look nice), continuing on up the left and over the top.  Basically I just sew all around the patchwork, if that makes sense.  They always turn out really straight and nice this way.  These are those same $1 section Target towels I've used before.

They were to go with these napkins and other, related kitchen-y things like cookbooks, homemade chocolate and caramel sauce, fudge, drink mixers, coffee, etc. (different extras for different siblings and their significant others).  I also made a tea cozy to go with a tea pot, which I never thought I'd ever do.  I wrote a little about it on Flickr (and more context: one of the recipients is British, and into a good, hot cup of tea).

We ate our black-eyed peas yesterday.  Lots of them (for good luck).  Here's to finding a house.

Holiday blog goodness round-up

Remind me of all of this 'round about October, OK?  Next year I want to remember:

Reindeer headbands
3D paper snowflakes
Glitter playdough (red & green?-- gifts for friends?)
Linen ornaments
Ginger"board" house, maybe with a gingerbread kit inside (i.e. graham crackers?, gumdrops, candy canes, powdered sugar with an icing recipe, etc.)
Birch bark houses
Gift tag downloads
Mini mitten ornament
Wee house ornaments
Advent ideas
Handmade Holidays tutorials
Tree display
Christmas tree ornament
Red ticking candy canes seen in a magazine at my in-law's
Holiday paper village
Holiday paper lights

Also, as I was worrying about how to make the holidays magical for our boy T quietly explained that childhood brings the magic to Christmas.  Our job is to do the things we love to do (i.e. a Charlie Brown Christmas Album on repeat in the player, family togetherness, thoughtful giving, etc.) and our little guy will do the rest.  I think that was a moment of wisdom that played out through the season.  This gingerbread house was a lovely gift from friends (Thank you so much, C & D!) and we used up candy in the cupboards from Halloween parties when I taught (why was that still around four years later?!) and non-royal icing because I worry about raw eggs.  We had so much fun doing it our own funny, licking, drippy way.