Monthly Archives: December 2013

Crunch time

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Edit: I had this ready to post on the 19th but forgot to click the “publish” button.  My apologies.

I did not fall off the face of the Earth.  I’m still here.

earth-arrow

I’ve been decorating, cleaning, decluttering, partying, praying, gift-wrapping, knitting and sewing along with the usual working, eating, and sleeping stuff that happens whether I want it to or not.

My brother-in-law is coming to our house today Thursday the 19th so that’s the cleaning, decluttering, and decorating part.  He’s doing the narration for Mr. Aitch’s Cantata on Sunday evening.

Three and two-thirds slippers have been knitted.

Birthday gifts have been wrapped and hand delivered for the twin’s birthday party last Sunday.

Pillow cases, quilt backs, and a drawstring bag have been sewn.   The drawstring bag was a last-minute gift idea, and I mean last-minute gift for their birthday.  I filled it with four squeeze bottles, a package of neon food coloring and instructions for making “snow paint”:  Fill bottle half way with water and add 4-6 drops of coloring to paint the snow.

I made pillow cases that match the quilts…that aren’t finished.

Crunch time list in no particular order:

  1. Finish the quilts.  They are not even sandwiched together yet let alone ready to be quilted.   Do you think I’d still have a job if I took my sewing machine to work on Monday?
  2. Sew pencil/marker cases for four grandchildren.
  3. Make snowman kits (carrot nose, eyes, buttons, felt hat).  And make another drawstring bag for the kits.
  4. Sew a “taggie” ball for my newest grandbaby.
  5. Knit the last third of the second pair of slippers.
  6. Make a cheesecake for Saturday.   Done
  7. Make cheesy potatoes for the party after the Cantata on Sunday.  In the oven now.
  8. Make another cheesecake for Christmas Day.
  9. Wrap all the gifts that are en route.
  10. Wrap all the gifts that will (soon) be completed.

At least my Christmas cards are ready to be mailed.  Mailed Thursday afternoon.

mail2

Felt ornaments

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I made some felt ornaments a few weeks ago and never posted much (if anything) about them.  They are a bit puffy with some fiberfill but not too much, just enough to give them some dimension.

First up is the tree:

Trees

They look a bit blue but are really two shades of green, some coordinating floss and a few buttons.

Second, holly leaves and berries:

Holly

Same two colors of green, coordinating floss and some red pom poms.  I decided to machine stitch the lighter green instead of stem stitch as my stem stitch isn’t very good.  The pom poms were glued on.  You can see the glue but it did dry clear.  I’m thinking I should have secured them with a few stitches.  Time will tell if I need to do that.

Last are my favorite little birds:

birds

I used to paint wooden ones and sell them though they had a bit more detail.  If I still have some left, I can show you my inspiration for the felt version.

The tree is the largest at about 4-5 inches tall.  The best thing is that they are unbreakable.  Perfect for curious little hands.

group-2013

 

Weekend

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I woke up early for a Saturday – 8:00.

Guest bathroom – Fixed the 2-3 year-old water damage on the ceiling.  Still have to paint it.  The bathroom was all clean and shiny until I looked at the trim.  I’ve been meaning to repaint the trim for years but never got around to it.  Until Saturday. Done.

Washed, dried, folded, and put away two loads of laundry.

Made cornbread and soup for lunch.

cornbread

Hung the garland on the front porch with Mr. Aitch.  Finished taking in all the porch and deck furniture.  Rolled up the rug from the front porch.  All put neatly away for the winter.  Mr. Aitch swept the porch.

Cut the fabric for one of the quilt tops.

Jambalaya with chicken (no sausage) for dinner).

Cut more fabric for the second quilt top.

Went to bed.

Sunday morning – church.  It started snowing during Mass and when we left the church, about 2 inches had fallen.

Went to the market.  It was crowded for a Sunday morning when I arrived but quickly cleared out as the snow kept piling up outside.

snowy-drive

Groceries put away.

Pancakes and sausage for lunch.

Roast beef with carrots, celery, and onions in the oven.  It smelled so good.

Pieced one quilt top together.  No photo as it was a dark dreary day.

Added potatoes to the roast beef concoction in the oven.

Watched a part of “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch until dinner was ready.

crossing

Lovely roast beef and vegetables.  And a bottle of wine, of course.

Finished watching “The Crossing” with Mr. Aitch.

Checked email.

Pinterest.

pinterest_logo_red

Did an Internet search for a free knitted pattern for a newsboy cap aka bakers cap, golf cap, ivy cap, English driving cap for a small child.  No luck.  Found crocheted patterns.  Don’t crochet.

cap-2

Turned on the dishwasher and went to bed with a book, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.  Couldn’t stop reading until my eyes got too tired.

The_Book_Thief_by_Markus_Zusak_book_cover

The alarm clock went off at 6:00 this morning.  I turned it off and fell back asleep for 45 more minutes.  That happens more often than I care to admit.

The schools and colleges were closed today due to the snow storm and freezing rain.  I had no trouble getting to work.

And so it goes.

Professional gift wrapper

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When I worked in retail many years ago, one of my duties was to wrap boxes in the store’s approved gift wrap to be displayed on a large board.  Customers would then select the package they liked and the professional gift wrapper would wrap their purchase.

wrap 3During the Christmas season, the store hired a part-time person or two to work just in the gift wrap area in the evenings and weekends.  And I would help out during the day hours.  Sometimes I would also come in on the weekends to work as well.

My daughter was hired two years in a row for the job.  She and I watched the video on the correct way to wrap a gift.  It was quite interesting.  We watched how many pieces of tissue were used to line a shirt box.  How to wrap regular sized boxes.  How to wrap odd sized boxes.  How to fold in the corners nice and straight.  How to make a perfect bow.  No stick-on bows for sure!

wrap 5

The gift wrap service was not free so it had to be worth it.

Yes, we were professional gift wrappers.

The gift wrap area had all the papers on a rack so all you had to do was unroll the paper and pull on the cutting edge to get it separated from the rest of the roll.  There was a shelf under the wrapping surface with the store logo-imprinted tissue paper.  Ribbons were also on a hanging bar with a pair of scissors near by.  A tape dispenser, gift tags, and gift embellishments were also close by.

Shirt boxes, lingerie boxes, large boxes for towels and coats, sweater boxes and tie boxes were stacked on the floor for easy reach.

It was almost perfect.

The only issue was that the wrapping table was too low and my back hurt after wrapping gifts for several hours.

When gift bags became all the rage, people stopped wrapping gifts.  That area in the store where I used to work no longer exists and I’m sure it doesn’t exist in a lot of stores any more.

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But it’s much more fun for a child to rip open a wrapped gift than it is to reach in a gift bag and pull out the gift.

A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story

I love to wrap gifts.  It’s an art.

So do you wrap or bag?