Just a few scenes from the last week or so…
Category Archives: crafts
30
me, 30 years ago…
and
me, now…
don’t even ask.
(photo credits go to my friend Becky, who made me put the silly thing on my head and then took a picture of it)
tiara anyone? I’m just asking because you never know when you might need one.
I had a wonderful Saturday, a quiet Sunday and a strange birthday Monday. A “big” birthday, celebrated in little ways. I’m not sure what to say about it really. Thirty feels and awful lot that twenty-nine.
Isn’t this the sweetest little needle book you have ever seen?? And wouldn’t you just want to kiss the makers of it (especially the certain eight year old who remembered I was wanting one?)? Well you can’t, but I did. A lot. There was also a banner that read “Happy Birthday” and 31 home-made candles in 31 home-made clay candle holders. And two books full of their detailed bird illustrations. And a wet felted angel wall hanging, made by Galen (his idea), with a little paternal assistance (all the same, it’s somewhat abstract…). And another wonderful big thing, that probably warrants a post unto itself.
We’re supposed to get another 18″-24″ of the good old white stuff over the next two days. Steve wants to move to Hawaii. Since that doesn’t seem likely to happen, I’ll settle for starting in on the belated birthday gift I’ve been planning for myself. The title of the above picture is yarn, yummy, yarn. Fabulously soft gray yarn. For something big. All for me.
Of course I haven’t exactly, technically, finished my little gift from last year, but still…
it’s my birthday and I can do what I want to, right?
Rainbows for Christmas
Yes, I’m still talking about Christmas, with several more posts to come. That’s just the way it goes around here. If I manage to finish it all before February, I think it will be a blog record.
But rainbows! There were rainbows for the little folks….
One night, after the kids were in bed, Steve and I dyed this long silk from Dharma Trading Co. (you can find them here), using food coloring. I figure it cost us around $6 and 15 minutes worth or work, plus the time it took to steam it. Not bad. I see similar ones around for $40+ at various toy shops.
We gave it to him to along with a set of play clips that I found second hand.
And above is the one and only project that I worked on, during Christmas week, when we were all laid up with or recovering from the stomach flu. This picture is actually of it, on sick, sleeping Màiri, who is on me.
We took a big ball of Lorna’s Laces roving in ‘Rainbow’, divided it in half, separated each half into three strips lengthwise, and together Elijah and I plaited them, then I slowly coiled them and stitched the two long braids together.
Christmas Eve in the morning, when folks were feeling chipper again (for the most part) looked like this. And like that…
As many little feet danced and skipped and jumped to felt the mats, which were for this…
Beautiful little table and chair set, made by Steve, Iain and Elijah for Galen and Màiri Rose.
The chairs where made using plans from an old issue of Living Craft magazine (I got the ideas for the mats from a more recent issue). They weren’t overly thrilled with the plans, but the chairs did come together in the end, and they are cute and quite sturdy.
The table is Clara’s Table from Ana White’s site. Have you this place?!? It’s incredible! Set aside some time to check it out. I guarantee that you totally lose yourself drooling over her plans. Oh, and you might want to make sure your local hardware store is open first, because you are going to want to build something, right away. I’m told that this little table was a breeze to make and yet, I was pleasantly surprised at how solid it feels. Steve whipped up something bigger from her site last weekend. It’s fabulous and took him a total of one afternoon (more on that one later of course!).
The whole thing is made of pine, lightly stained, and finished with our homemade beeswax polish.
This sweet new set has inspired endless rounds of tea parties and birthday parties for every stuffed being in the house.
We did some re-arranging with our living space and now the kitchen set has been liberated from it’s out of the way corner in the actual kitchen (where it was rarely touched) and with it’s current proximity to the table and chairs, there has been a whole lot of play cooking going on (especially cakes) and equal amounts of play entertaining to go with them, with the occasional, actual cake (clearly made with help by little hands) and real (herbal) tea, to balance out all of the block and air fare.
I love the way the new space is working for us. Maybe I should share pictures of that at some point. Perhaps we should get through Christmas first though. In addition to the food play, there has been a whole lot of kiddie crafting going on at this little table and it’s the perfect spot for the two littles to hang out and color and do their “school work” while the big kids do their school work.
And when they run out of room, they take a cue from the older folks, and get to building themselves…
the BIG birthday post
~My birthday babies, on the morning of their birthday~
This post works out to be a scrapbook of sorts, with scenes from both our celebration with my family and images from their actual birthday. January 5th marked their 2nd and 11th birthdays, respectively.
~Iain’s Birthday Table~
~trying on a new hat, made by my sister~
~SURPRISE!~
~the Birthday Table of Wee Màiri Rose~
The 99 cent super bouncy ball from Iain proved wildly popular.
~isn’t it convenient to have so many big brothers to open your gifts for you?~
The rose barrette was made by Elijah and I, from this pattern.
~Little Sleepy Head and her new lovey bunny “Kaloo”, on her birthday morn~
Màiri Rose walked around all day, aptly singing, “happy burday you-me! happy burday you-me!” (other familial re-writes going down in the books include “You say it’s your birthday…deh-nah-neh-neh-neh-nah-neh-nah…it’s Màiri’s birthday too, yeah!”)
Breakfast included blueberry pancakes with candles. Iain only ended up with 3 candles, but he ate 11 pancakes, so it all worked out.
Another amazing year of watching these to incredible people grow (Iain is happy to report that he only has 2.5″ left to catch me). I really can’t believe how quickly it’s all gone. Here’s to another full year of growing, learning and loving, together!
Pictures of birthday sweaters to come!
our holiday hearth
Last night we hung our stockings. Originally, I had strung our stocking advent calender across the mantel (you can see it a bit in the pictures from my tree post), but I decided that I really wanted the stockings here (I told you, it’s a work in progress), so the advent calendar relocated to a nearby wall.
All of the large stockings are from my Mother-in-law. She sends a new one each time a baby is born. Some of them match, some of them don’t, it’s kind of a mishmash, they are all nice in their own way though. Sometimes she goes a bit overboard, I think Màiri ended up with 4 in different sizes. There are also a couple of doll stockings, that the boys made years ago from felt. I think I’ll add some more hooks. Currently we have shared hooks, one per person, but if I put the doll stockings in between, none of them will be obstructed.
Up on the mantel are these little snowy owls, also from my Winter Season’s Round partner last year. I never did get around to sharing these because we were in the middle of a move, followed by Christmas and birthdays. Aren’t they cute? There is one for each of us.
Above them is a sampler of the Swedish straw ornaments we made earlier this week. I love the owls, tucked between the branches, under the stars.
On a completely unrelated note, a friend tipped me off to the *best* children’s woolens. The company is called Hestia Global. I ordered some a couple of weeks ago and I was just blown away. They are so thick and soft and luxurious, for a pretty incredible price. Everything is still 50% off until the 20th, as in thick, merino/cashmere blend sweaters for like $17 (discount code here). I just ordered another shirt and another pair of pants because, since we got them, neither Màiri nor Galen wants to wear anything else (seriously, Màiri has been known to cry when I try to change her out of her leggings and Galen insists on wearing his ribbed pants all day and then to bed at night).
I do wish they had more colors though. They only offer really bright colors and sometimes natural, which just get’s stained too quickly. Personally, I prefer earth tones or deeper colors, maybe even a pastel here and there, but it’s a minor complaint. Word of warning though, the red is very much a coral red. I was quite surprised by that!
Also 50% off right now are their wooden toys. I was really impressed with their bathtub boats. They were much bigger and sturdier then I expected (especially for only costing $6). We have a couple going into stockings here. They have lots of fun things. The puzzles are really hefty. And the tractor is sweet in person (again only $6). It can be so hard to find good quality, natural clothing and play things that are actually affordable. I was so pleased with this find, I couldn’t resist passing it along!
in our windows…
I’m taking part in the Holiday Home Tour, hosted by Mama Urchin. It just seemed like a fun idea.
We’ve been in a different house for Christmas for each of the last three years, so we don’t really have a set way of doing anything. Every year we’ve had to start fresh, figuring out where the tree should go, where to hang the stockings and so forth. So far (I’m really not done decorating yet, it something that evolves for us over the course of the entire month), I think this is my favorite combination yet.
So, without further ado, welcome to our home!
I have just a little bit to share today, some of the things we use to decorate our windows. The snowflakes above were a gift from my Seasons Round Exchange partner last year. They are laser cut snowflakes, much like the ones we got for our tree, that she sandwiched between kite paper and framed. I think she meant for them to be pieced together as a lantern, which would be very pretty, but I’ve just been propping them up in a window. They really look nice when the sun is streaming in, which unfortunately it’s not in this photo.
Below is the door out to our stone patio, covered in the window stars that the children and I made last year.
And here is what it looks like now that King Winter has started to walk among us…
The way that the tape shows is kind of irritating, has anyone found a type of tape the is less conspicuous for hanging snowflakes and window stars and such?
T-minus 10 days and counting…
Last week someone asked me how the Christmas crafting was coming along. I told them that if I had one child, I’d be all set, but since I have four, I’m screwed. Which is still kind of an accurate statement. I have gift and pajamas, all finished, for exactly one child. But somehow I’m feeling more optimistic about it this week. Having that one stack of things, really and truly done, no buttons to sew or anything, but totally complete, is reassuring somehow. I don’t know if it’s that feeling or that I’ve given myself permission to relax about it a little and not get worked up, but I feel ok with things going however they end up going.
I still plan on finishing up pajamas for everyone, and hopefully a few other things. We’ll see how it all works out.
Meanwhile, the elves are at it again…
Next year I think I’m going to make a chart, showing the direct correlation between the number of days from Christmas and the state of my house. As the number of days left goes down, the mess multiplies. I came down from putting the little ones to bed the other night to find my living room looking like this:
No, it did not look anything like this when I went up stairs. And no, as it turns out, our hamper didn’t explode. This is just what the space around Elijah Rain looks like during a creative frenzy. No dirty laundry, honest. Ok, well, the stuff on the drying rack is laundry, but clean laundry. I’m trying hard to stress the importance of taking it one thing at a time. Completely finish with that one thing or one part of a thing and then calmly put it away and move on to the next thing. I wonder where on earth he could have picked up bad habits like this? *ha-hem* doot-dah-doo….
And on the other side of the room was Iain….
working on his own Christmas present.
That Elijah is a tricky one. We’ve been working together on a gift for Iain, but we don’t get enough time alone to make it a complete secret. We finally gave up and started working on it in front of him. At some point Iain asked to help and Elijah consented, while refusing to tell him what it was or who it was for. It’s pretty funny. I think he’s kind of on to us at this point.
The first day of Advent and a start to our off-the-cuff Hanukkah celebration…
~A couple of pictures from last week~
Clearly, they are ready for December, even if I’m not. I’m getting there though, partially with the help of Advent baby-steps. And also with the promise of some actual, honest-to-goodness, day time, alone time, this weekend, with which to get some crafting done.
Yesterday’s advent treat was the making of cinnamon-apple sauce ornaments. Oh, the house smelled so good! We’ve always done the kind without glue, but maybe they would hold up better with? We ran out of cinnamon and ended up adding in some rice flour, which made them too brittle, but still usable, for this year anyway. I don’t suspect they’ll make it to next year.
We were gifted a set of Christmas dishes a couple of months ago. Today’s task is to switch out our regular dishes for the new festive ones.
On Tuesday a friend asked me what I had planned for Hanukkah. I think my deer-in-the-headlights look was fairly self-explanatory. I completely and totally forgot the holiday entirely. I mean completely. Didn’t even cross my mind. Even though last month I would have told you that I absolutely planned to do something to mark the festival, on account of Elijah learning about Jewish culture this year. So…a simple, and impromptu celebration was planned. We made latkes for lunch and talked about the frying oil putting people in mind of the miracle of the lamp oil. We talked about the menorah, it’s symbolism and features. I asked the two older boys to design a menorah for us out of supplies that we had around the house. This is what they created:
I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season, however you choose to celebrate!
It must be November….
I’ve got a dryer full of red lint and the tea is flowing. It’s the time of year when I don’t even bother putting the ironing board away anymore. It just sits out, eventually turning into a catch-all for various works in progress.
Like I said, it must be November. These are all sure fire signs.
Only as I sat down to type this, I realized that I only have about a half hour left of November; thirty short minutes, at which point it becomes December. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed how ominous that word sounds before. Oh dear.
December it is then. I’d like to say that I’m ready to welcome it with open arms.
But I’m not.
So I won’t.
Think there’s any chance that my family would appreciate gifts of piles of yarn and stacks of fabric? I know I would…
Because at this point, that I could provide.
I think I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that one….
just in case.
Handmade Holiday
I started off this year way ahead of the game. And then we started looking for a house. And then we were packing…and then moving. And the school year started….and…and…and…..well, suddenly I was no longer ahead, but way behind.
When I think of my holiday crafting, I automatically include the winter birthdays in that. I have 3 winter babies and 2 of them share a birthday that falls 11 days after Christmas. If I don’t get their gifts done before the celebrations, before the holiday parties and the visiting family, then I’m unlikely to finish them at all. My ideals are very high. There are many things that I would like to make, but I’m also trying to look at my holiday planning through new eyes. I’m trying to scale back, to decide what’s really important and what’s just going to make me crazy. This is not easy for me. I’ll sit and come up with the simplest of plans and mind will tack on 10 extra things unbidden. There is a lot of “well maybe I’ll have time for…” this, that and the other thing. I’m trying to let those thoughts surface, be recognized and then drift away, while continuing to peg away at one project at a time.
The one, and only, project I have done is, ironically, for the event that is furthest away! Galen’s birthday sweater is all ready to be wrapped up and set away for February. Simplicity prevailed here. In lieu of the extremely fiddly, and complicated fair-isle sweater I had in mind, that would have required an investment in balls of many different colored yarns, I opted to go with a very simple and straightforward sweater, made from yarn I already had. It was the perfect project for a long car trip.
Pattern: Fisherman’s Pullover by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: Peace Fleece Worsted in Glasnost Gold
Ravelry Link: here
Locking yourself in the bathroom doesn’ t make for the best picture taking conditions. I’ll be sure to get better pictures after it’s been gifted. I can’t wait to see it on him!
I’m participating in Tonya’s Handmade Holiday Challenge this year and I’m really excited to see all of my projects, and everyone else’s (!), coming together. I’m sure I will have much more to share in the coming weeks.