Christmas is Almost Here!

Where has the time flown? This month has zipped past faster than any other this year. It’s to be expected since we’re still living in that alternate universe! Hubby is doing incredibly well at the rehab facility and getting stronger each day. He has been a big hit with the staff and several have already mentioned how much they are going to miss him when he leaves there. Right now, he still working on his balance and he is beginning to learn how to walk with a cane. We expect that he will come home in another week.  

Things haven’t been going quite as smoothly for me. After being immersed with so many people the past few weeks and all the “to and fro” activities, I have caught a nasty cold. Yep, somebody flung cold cooties on me! Grrrr… I woke up with the telltale onset of symptoms Monday morning. What lovely timing! {sarcasm} I am using an arsenal of over-the-counter medicines, resting when I can, and trucking along anyway when I can’t. At least my workweek is now over and I have a long weekend to rest up and visit with my sweet baboo.  

With sickness descended upon me, I freely admit that I am less than enthused than ever about taking photos now of this year’s decorations. But here are a few scenes I took in our cozy great room. Garland is strung on the stairway banisters and a few Santas are hanging out on the staircase in back of the loveseat. A Santa needlepoint pillow also gives a little pop of color. In case you are wondering, that is some of our Alaskan Native art collection peeking off to the right of the photo. And a cherished grandfather clock resides on the stairway landing (made by hubby’s uncle, now deceased).  

The commanding feature of our great room is the expanse of built-in bookcases along one wall. I put out a few cheery decorations on either side of the television. Though I have an extensive Santa collection, I decided to display a minimum amount this year. A snowman that I made in 1998 dominates this scene. (A tag on the bottom serves as a reminder!) With an apparent burst of energy, I made about a dozen snowmen that year and gave all but two away. The bookcases hold a small assortment of treasures, books, pictures, and small antiques that we have accumulated over the years. If you look closely, you can spot a corner of an antique cowbell in the background on the right-hand side of this photo.  

A large, wild-eyed Santa is the focal point in this scene. It looks like he is ready to deliver a couple of miniature pull toys to some lucky children. We got this folk art piece from Colonial Williamsburg last year. A hand-carved wooden Santa to the right is holding on to a very plump bear. Each piece has a story of its own. Many of them were acquired during our travels or at craft fairs. Some were gifts. And this particular photo gives you a little taste of the types of treasures that we have in the bookcases, including pottery, carvings, and baskets. 

I hope that the hustle and bustle of activities is winding down for all of my blogging friends so that you may enjoy the joys of the season!

First Sewing Project for 2010

This isn’t my first sewing project ever. But it’s the first one of the year, and the first one in my new studio room! With the record heat wave, the only way to keep cool is to stay inside and dream about cooler weather. So I decided to make some double-sided holiday napkins!

I finally got all of the boxes for this area unpacked a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to my hubby, the storage closet got reassembled last weekend. The room is not organized yet to my satisfaction, and there are no pictures hanging on the walls. (The big reveal of this lovely space will be later on down the road.) But it’s “done” enough for me to jump in and start making some crafting/sewing messes. It’s time to start a few handmade projects after a very long hiatus of moving and living in temporary quarters!

Finding the fabric was the easy part of rounding up the necessary supplies. Finding the other supplies - thread, needles, Bernina feet, rulers, rotary cutter, scissors, and fray check - took at least an hour. See? I told you it wasn’t organized!

Aren’t the napkins pretty? Now that I got these done, I’m ready to start on some more!

Giveaway Thank You - Cottage Days Tote

I want to give a big shout-out and thank you to Vee from A Haven for Vee! She recently had a giveaway on her blog for a gorgeous summertime tote bag. It is HUGE (23” x 14” x 7”) and even has a zippered top! The prize included personalization, so I couldn’t resist having the monogram say “Cottage Days”, LOL. It will be immediately put to good use, helping me move personal items over to the new cottage later on this month.

The giveaway prize was donated by the owners of Keepsakes Etc. and Simply Bags. I greatly appreciate their generosity! These online shops provide a wide selection of quality, personalized gifts. And I can tell you that their service is fast. I got the tote within a few days after I provided my shipping and monogram information. I hope that you check out their web sites and consider them for future purchases. Small businesses are the hardworking engines of our country's economy, so let’s support them whenever we have a chance!

Lavender Harvest & A Surprise

The 2009 lavender harvest has begun! I have made a few lavender wands already and plan to do some more. These are great to tuck into clothing drawers or simply to leave out to help freshen a room. I learned how to make these several years ago by studying instructions on the internet. Of course, one of the best sources to check out is Tipnut.

Yesterday, I cut and bundled up fresh lavender for hanging on my wooden drying rack. I am about halfway done with the harvest and plan to finish up this week.

One of the best things to do with lavender is to create fragrant sachets. Again, Tipnut is a great resource if you need ideas and instructions. The picture above shows you some of the sachets that I have been making. Remember the colorful fabric yo-yos I showcased in my May 9th post? Now you know where those yo-yos are being put to work!

Ready for the surprise part? I am having a quick giveaway for these three lavender sachets! To enter, please leave a comment on this post by Wednesday, June 17. (Entries outside the U.S. will be accepted. However, only entries from bloggers with active web sites will be eligible.) Marty, my rabbit side-kick and blog greeter, will be selecting the lucky winner on Thursday morning. Good luck!

1-Year Anniversary Celebration & Bloggy Giveaway!

Marty, my faithful rabbit sidekick, suggested that I have a bloggy giveaway to celebrate the 1-year anniversary for Cottage Days and Journeys. I couldn’t agree more with the little furball! So I put on my thinking cap, got to work, and came up with a couple of handmade prizes for my readers.

Everyone loves to “nest” during the cold winter months. So these winter-theme prizes reflect some of my favorite activities during this peaceful time of year: sewing and reading.

For sewers, I have created a pincushion with bali fabric in a blue and white snowflake motif, and embellished it with dark blue wool felt, perle cotton, and stacked buttons.

For readers, I made a set of three bookmarks using heavy waxed linen thread and a hodgepodge of blue and white beads.

Here’s how to enter:

(1) Leave a comment on this post and tell me which prize you would like to win: pincushion or bookmark set. (Pick only one, please!)
(2) For an additional entry, snag the anniversary photo above and put it on your blog with a link back to this post. Be sure to tell me in your posted comment if you have done this!
(3) Entries outside the U.S. will be accepted. However, only entries from bloggers with active web sites will be eligible.

The last day to enter is Wednesday, January 7. Good luck and thank you for helping me achieve the 1-year milestone!

Handmade Christmas

I had the best intentions to do more handmade gifts this Christmas season. But it just didn’t happen! A girlfriend and I have decided that we will start a "Christmas in July" campaign in 2009. Maybe I’ll have a fighting chance if I start that early!

There were a few things I accomplished this season, including the fabric tree ornaments that I shared earlier here on my blog, for a forum swap, and for some gifts to friends. I also stitched a few Prairie Schooler Santa designs for myself, but these have not yet been assembled into ornaments. That may be a January project!

To supplement the store-bought Christmas cards leftover from last year, I also created some handmade ones to send out to friends. Echoing the tree idea of this year’s little fabric ornaments, here are what the cards looked like.

I didn’t make the slightest dent in my paper supply stash, ha-ha! Nevertheless, it was fun to make a great mess in my studio and do something creative.

I also just completed some pincushions for gifts too. I chose a muted cottage-style fabric in blue/brown tones for the base, and embellished them with old wool felt, little doilies, perle cotton, and stacked buttons. These turned out so sweet looking, don’t you think?

I hope the gift recipients like them (fingers crossed)! Maybe I’ll do another one to give away for my one-year blogging anniversary coming up in a few weeks. I haven’t cleaned up that mess yet, so I might as well keep on going!

Giving Thanks - A Bloggy Giveaway

Since November is a special month to give thanks, I have decided to host a small giveaway for my many blogging readers. I was making a lot of little fabric ornaments this past month for an online swap and also for some local friends. With an assembly line production going, it was easy to make a few extras to share with you!

Look at these cute little fabric ornaments! They are pillow-shaped and the designs are made using a type of quilting technique called paper piecing. I sketched out a tree shape, sectioned off the foliage into four parts, and added a jingle bell topper. One ornament is done with muted, traditional colors, and the second one is made from bright Bali fabrics. If you know how to sew, these are really easy to do. If you are not proficient at sewing but like to work with paper, this type of design could be easily adapted to make adorable, handmade Christmas cards with scrapbook papers.

Would you like to win one to put on your Christmas tree this year? Here’s how to throw your name in the hat:

(1) Leave a comment on this post and tell me which ornament you would like to win: traditional or Bali.
(2) For an additional entry, put a link about this giveaway on your blog and tell me in your posted comment.
(3) If you enter and you have posted at least 3 previous comments in the past month, you will get a bonus entry! This is in special recognition of my faithful blogging friends.
(4) Entries outside the U.S. will be accepted. However, only entries from bloggers with active web sites will be eligible.

This is going to be a quick giveaway contest! The last day to enter is Thursday, November 13. Good luck and thank you for visiting and chatting with me!

All Wrapped Up

I took a class last month to make a wrapped fabric bowl, inspired by the book, “It's a Wrap” by Susan Breier. I worked too slowly to get done in the class, so I had to finish it up at home. It turned out much better than I expected. Now that I have the technique down, I plan to make some more and experiment with different shapes and fabric colors.

The fabrics I chose for this project are shown below. The class was a couple of weeks before Christmas, and I foolishly thought I would finish the bowl before the holiday season was over. Silly me! I never get anything creative done on a tight schedule.

I purposely chose these two fabrics to make the final result visually interesting, yet have the ability to camouflage any lousy stitching. My strategy worked like a charm except for one backfire result. It was difficult to see where I was stitching! So I would occasionally lose my concentration and wander off from the area I was supposed to stitch. Another issue encountered was the tendency of the black fabric to fray at the slightest touch. Consequently, there are wild hairs of unraveling threads embedded throughout the finished bowl, giving it a unique character.

The construction technique uses cotton clothes line as a foundation. You cut the fabric into strips and wrap them around the clothes line. A little glue and a few pins help along the way. And it all comes together into the form by zigzagging the cords together on the sewing machine. I finished off the top with a bias edge.

Here is a close-up to show you how it is stitched together and how the colors and patterns were transformed.

And here is the final product. It looks pretty good from a distance, LOL. To give you a sense of scale, it is 9 inches in diameter and a little over 4 inches tall.

If you want to try this project, you have to be persistent in trying to find the cotton clothes line. I believe that it is a material that may soon be extinct. Don’t even try looking at the big-box hardware stores. They only stock the synthetics. You might find it at an old-fashioned hardware store. I luckily discovered it stocked at an out-of-the way Wal-Mart.