Christmas Crafting

If you're anything like me this time of year becomes a blur of Christmas crafting around all the seasonal events.   Last Saturday, the family was invited to a casual Christmas get together.  We were all asked to bring a finger food so I of course got busy baking.  Well, baking and candymaking.

I put together a tin of some of my favorite sweets to share.

These are Oreo truffles, peanut butter chocolate chip balls, and a copycat recipe of Christie Cookies famous oatmeal raisin cookies.

YUM!!!!!

But of course I couldn't just leave it at that.  I just had to have a hostess gift too.  So did I run out to W---- in order to pick up a random gift.  Of course not!   That's not what a over ambitious crafter does for a gift, now is it?

Instead I dug into my stash of cotton yarn and knit a couple of my new favorite quick knits.  

The dishcloth is vortex.   It looks so intricate.  When I finished and showed it to a friend, her response was, "It looks like a knitted quilt!!!!!"  I couldn't agree more.

The scrubbies are tribbles.   Such an easy knit and instant gratification too.  I'm working on more of these for gifts throughout the Christmas season.

I also included a loaf of my cranberry nut bread and a jar of cranberry relish.

I took all these homemade treasures and placed them in a basket that I had picked up at the dollar store.

I was pleased with the results.

Now after this time of procrastination by blogging I must return to my regularly scheduled Christmas crafting bonanza.

But before I leave I feel the need to give you a glimpse at my oldest daughter's reaction to a Christmas gift from a friend.

Have a very Merry Christmas!  And remember to take time to enjoy the little things this Christmas season!

Focus, focus, focus

This time of year easily becomes chaos for my life.   It is research paper time, which for a graduate student usually means it is focus on grades time.   It is the end of fall sports (and thankfully this year no winter sports).   It is the beginning of the holiday season both at church and with family.   For a crafter that also means it is crunch time on finishing all those gifts that I intended to start back in January.  To add to that my oldest has a birthday this Friday.  My middle child has a birthday 2 weeks after Christmas.   So.......

I have decided that the only way to work through this is to focus on one thing at a time.   I can't ignore any of these areas but I need to give full attention to each thing when I am working on it.

So far this morning, I have completed a project for my seminar class and contacted a few people concerning the church-wide Thanksgiving meal.

On the craft front I have chosen to focus this week on knitting.   My oldest asked for a sweater last year.  He chose the pattern, the yarn,and we bought all the supplies.   I even knitted about 50 % of it.   Monday he asked me if he could at least get it by his birthday.   Wow!  Now that one hit home.  So I am working towards completion.  I am working on the Wonderful Wallaby.   He chose a blue Red Heart yarn.   Now I'm a bit of a yarn snob so working with Red Heart SuperSaver is probably why this project is taking so long.   But keep tuned.   I have the body and 1.5 sleeved finished.   All that remains is .5 sleeve, the placket, and the hood.   I think I can, I think I can.

Oh did I say his birthday is Friday?

Going a little wonky....

A few months ago I decided to attempt some quilting.  I searched the web for easy tutorials and found quite a few that appealed to me.   None caught my eye quite as much as these wonky log cabin squares from tallgrass prairie studios.   They were very appealing.  Her tutorial is easy to follow and wonderfully illustrated.

So....I began to piece together a few blocks with some fabric I happened to have lying around.

I really liked the look, but I put them aside and went on to other projects.

Then a few weeks ago I was in my local quilt store and found a panel that just caught my eye.   So....how to justify the purchase.  Oh yeah!  I just happened to have some quilt blocks at home that needed to be used.

This is the result:

I love the frog panels incorporated into the wonky log cabins.   Now to quilt and bind this adorable top and place in the gift closet for future use.

What I did last weekend

Last Saturday, the Little League went pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Our football players all wore pink socks and decorated their helmets with pink duct tape. But for the cheerleaders we were undecided as to how to go pink.  

So I had the bright idea of.......RIBBON!

Yes I know hairbows aren't exactly a unique idea when it comes to cheerleading but I had to the urge to create.   Since I was pushed for time I used this tutorial.  The directions were very easy to follow.   I highly recommend this tutorial if you're looking for a quick Pony O project.

They were a hit!   

Hello!!!!!!

I have attempted blogs before but always feel overwhelmed by the amount of information which to share.  My family doesn't want to read about all my crafting adventures.   Others don't want to read about all of my children's latest activities.  So....what to do!

I know what!  Start another blog dedicated to my crafting.  This has become quite clear to me in the past few weeks.  Through fundraising for my oldest daughter's Little League I have instantly become immersed in the world of DIY once again.

This is what my house is beginning to look like.....

Yes I have been using ribbon lately.  (Disclaimer:  I do not need a ribbon intervention.  The above photo is not really of my house but a stock photo that I have used.)

Join me as I journey through this maze of rediscovering that there are many people who do not understand creative efforts but are willing to purchase from those of us who do.