The Elves are Here!

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. More laundry, more cookies and more Christmas cards. Although, I did have some great mail today. Back up to last Friday. Matthew's physical therapist was here and brought the cutest elves to show me. Apparently she bought them at a craft fair in November. They are made of wood and their faces and bodies are airbrushed. They have a block of wood attached to the back so they can sit on a shelf or hide in your Christmas tree. Yesterday I called the name and phone number on the back of one of the elves. I asked the woman if she was going to be at any more craft fairs soon. She wasn't. But, she said she would be willing to send me a set of four elves for my shelves, on the honor system, if I would sent her a check immediately. The ink was barely dry on the check and my elves arrived today! Now that's what I call service.

Motivational Monday

Today was pretty much a mixed bag. I decorated the dining room, I baked some cookies, I started my Christmas cards, I did two loads of wash, I went to a jewelry party, and I grocery shopped. I am tired! No quilting today, but I still have high hopes of squeezing in some quality time before the weekend. On another note, my two Christmas cactus' are budding like crazy. Hopefully, they will be in full bloom for Christmas. They are my favorite plant, mostly because flowers are so scarce in the winter months around here. A little bit of color in the dark days of winter.

Building Stress

Christmas Eve is two weeks from tomorrow...and the list is getting longer. You know the one. The one that lists all the things you still have to do before Christmas. Cookies to bake...presents to buy...events to go to...decorating...things to make...the list goes on and on...and the stress begins to build. I swore this year would be different. I started early. What happened? I don't know, but I am going to try and play "catch-up" this week because I sure don't want to have this feeling for the next two weeks until Christmas. I know that everything will eventually work out. Funny how it always does. And then, poof, Christmas is here and then it is gone as fast as it came. Then next year, it will happen all over again....even though I swear it will be different!!

Zigzag Nightmare

Why is it, just when you think you have something figured out, you find out you are way off base. Today I worked on a padfolio (pattern can be found at Fibers & Stitch). You make the main components from fabric covered peltex and them sew the sections of peltex together with a zigzag stitch. I tried the zigzag stitch on my Pfaff and the thread kept jamming up in the bobbin. I figured maybe my Pfaff just didn't like that brand of thread for some reason. On to Plan B. I thought maybe my Bernina would work better. It did, but in the process I learned a few things. First of all, I needed to pin the pockets in place before I tried to zigzag along the edges. Also, nothing ever takes less time than you think it will. In this case, it took a lot more. The good thing is, once you make one, you have pretty much worked out all the bugs so that the process goes a lot smoother the next time around. At least I hope that is the way it is going to work...tomorrow is another day.

Snowglobe Cards

Besides quilting, I have a few other hobbies. One of them being handmade cards. In October I decided to see if I could create a card a month for one year. October was a Halloween card, November was a Thanksgiving card, so of course, December's card is for Christmas. Mind you, I am creating 12 of the same cards. I also got the brainy idea to try a new technique each month. December's card is a snowglobe. This one was a bit tricky. I first had to figure out how many layers I needed to get the effect I wanted to achieve. The bottom layer is the card. Next comes a piece of fun foam with a hole cut in it (for the snowglobe). Now comes the fun part. You sprinkle confetti in the hole. My confetti was mini red reindeer, mini green trees and glittery snow. Then you top the entire piece of fun foam with a piece of clear acetate. Over the top of that goes a piece of decorative paper (same size as the fun foam and also containing a hole). Lastly, you glue the snowglobe base (stamped and cut out of cardstock) on top of the decorative paper. Voila, you have a snowglobe that you can shake the daylights out of! The card turned out great, but seemed a little plain, so I added glitter to portions of the base. I have 3 more to make and then I can hit the post office. Now this was a challenging but fun project!

More Snow

I had a class tonight and snow was expected. So, what's a girl to do but leave early. Traffic was a nightmare. Everything was moving so slowly, which in retrospect, is good. People were being very careful and paying attention to the conditions. The class was great. I learned to make the "Wonder Wallet". I am sure I could have figured this one out on my own, but honestly, taking a class is so much more fun! And, it's always so neat to see other peoples fabric choices and combinations of fabrics. I am sure I will be whipping up a bunch of these wallets. They are almost like candy...addicting!

Easily Distracted

Today I cut out fabrics for a class that I am taking tomorrow. I am going to learn how to assemble a wonder wallet. I am sure I could figure out how to make this on my own, but sometimes it's just nice to get out of the house and be with other women who enjoy the same hobby you do. When I am in my studio it is easy to get distracted. There are so many projects and fabrics and eye candy laying around that it is hard to focus on one thing. I need to get better organized and put everything behind cabinet doors or out of sight so that I can concentrate on one thing at a time. At times, it becomes overwhelming to me. So many projects, will I ever get them all done? But then, part of me thinks maybe I should leave all the "stuff" out in the open. That way I will see just how much accumulation there is and it will stop and make me think before buying any more. I don't know what the answer is...obviously, I am in waaaaay over my head!