To all my family and friends, a very Merry Christmas.
May it be filled with warmth, cheer, and love.
Our First Christmas Tree Adventure
The day was cold and bright.
We followed our guide to our chosen tree in Field 2.
We claim our prize
I take the first cut
Mr. Cleaver takes a couple swipes of the saw.
The tree is free, though not free of ice!
The tree is thawed. A lot of ice is removed.
We decorate.
Ornaments are hung.
We enjoy!
Our first Christmas tree together!
Ice and Inspiration
So last night we had a big ice storm: power lines are down, traffic lights are out and the roads are covered in ice and sleet - so I'm taking one of my four snow days today.
For those of you not from places that get lots of snow and ice, you may wonder how an ice storm differs from a snow storm. Well, the ice storm is generally thought to be more dangerous because everything gets covered and encased in a thick coating of ice. This causes problems for trees and powerlines especially, because the added weight often snaps branches, etc. That said, it's also rather pretty.
Also, I was tagged a little over a week ago by Bitter Betty to list 6 things I'm inspired by right now, so here's goes:
- My newest blog find - sew I do. She makes the cutest clothing for herself, her adorable son, and husband. It makes me glad that I saw some unexpected sewing time available today!
- The song "Charlie Darwin" by the Low Anthem - it was on the latest Paste sampler cd and I keep playing it over and over again.
- Portland's Buy Local movement/business alliance. I'm aiming to make all my Christmas gifts be handmade or locally purchased and since we have so many great shops here, it's not hard to do! Seriously- if you're ever in the area and want some suggestions - just ask!
- The smell of pine - we already have our wreath and we're getting the tree tomorrow - hopefully it's still in one piece!
- Pushing Daisies - this show has lots of pie, adorable clothing, and a P.I. who stress knits - I am so sad this show is canceled, but at least we have TV on DVD.
- Handknitted sweaters and socks- I've been wearing the ones I have and I want to make more and more!
Decking the Halls - Part One.
I think I waited all of five hours after getting home from my California adventure before taking out the Christmas Decorations.
I refuse to do Christmas before Thanksgiving, but once it's Christmas time I am all to eager to jump in!
I've got too much going in way of making Christmas presents to get too crazy with the decorations this year, but when I saw this how-to on Design*Sponge, I had to pull out my cardstock and scissors to do some paper crafting.
I'm quite please with the results!
Sewing Update or The Seven-Year Itchy Wool Dress Part II
So I'm still playing post-Christmas catch-up here, but if I keep my nose to the grindstone, I figure I might get all caught up by the end of January.
That said, here is the sewing-centric companion to last week's knitting update.
Project #1: Christmas Apron
I wasn't one of the many bloggers who made the handmade pledge because I already knew what I wanted to get my husband, and while part of it was handmade by me (record bowls) and part of it handmade by someone else (Wilco silkscreen), the rest was not and it wasn't really an idea I wanted to give up.
Not entirely handmade, but certainly appreciated by the recipient.
That said, I did do some additional hand-made gifting, namely the apron below (on left). The pattern was based on a vintage apron I had (on the right). This was pattern-making at its, uh, well it involved some paper bags, a lot of folding and some high-class technical eye-balling and guesswork.
Apron buddies!
I didn't have enough material or know-how to make bias tape for the edging, so instead I did some decorative zig-zagging. All in all, I think it turned out fairly well.
Lord love the zig-zag stitch.
And what did I get? In an awesome "Gift-of-the Magi"-but-in-a-totally-better-way turn of events, Kasey got me The Apron Book!
That is 100% Pure Excitement there.
Project #2: Plaid Wool Dress
It took seven years to get the dress made, so it's no surprise that it's taken me so long to post about the completion of this project.
I finished the dress about a week and half before Christmas and have worn it several times since then, including for my Breakfast at Tiffany's book club meeting, but every time I wore it I forgot to take a picture. Hopefully I'll remember next time and can post a photo of the dress actually on me, but for now, I leave you with this:
Merry Christmas!
A Merry Christmas to all my friends, family and people in blog-land!
I'll send you off with my two favorite Christmas decorations to say Merry Christmas to both the religious out there (because nothing says "Happy Birthday Jesus" like Joseph Heller and the Phantom Tollbooth):
And the non (because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like Santa skiing on top of our TV)
Happy Holidays!