Christmas and Winter
Thursday, December 25, 2014 at 9:18PM Hello sweet friends, who I haven't seen in so long. This past year has been so full -- too full, really, and certainly too full to keep up with my blog. Which makes me sad because I miss it so, both as a form of record-keeping and a way to connect with friends near and far.
As some of you may know, I moved my family this summer and we have still not recovered from the process. And here it is Christmas already! We've now landed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in a sweet little house on two acres of (mostly) woods.
It is a lovely quiet spot and we are enjoying being out in the country. Here's the little treehouse that we are having built for our boys in the back yard.
We are still getting settled here, a task made more difficult because much of our furniture is residing at our old house which is still on the market. I previously wrote about the construction of my sewing studio, and that area, too, is still being sorted out. Here's what it looks like at present:
The furniture I ordered to help tame this mess has been repeatedly back-ordered but finally arrived last week. I'm hoping to get it assembled after the new year begins and get this place under control. I have been doing some sewing despite the chaos, but some of my furniture hasn't made the move quite yet, so I've been making do.
I was busy this Christmas with lots of projects, most from my kitchen but some from my studio. I made my husband a fleece vest and matching neck gaiter. I also made my boys gaiters. No pictures of those yet. I also completed a project that has been on my wish list for at least 8 years -- a new star for the top of our Christmas tree.
I created this from wool blend felt and used this pattern for the design. The embroidery was done with perle cotton, silk ribbon and silver chop beads. The pearl beads were left over from the beadwork on my wedding dress and the button in the middle was an extra from that same project.
I stitched an extra layer of felt to the inside of the star, leaving the bottom open to be slipped over the top of the tree. I used a blanket stitch and more perle cotton to construct the star.
I did quite a bit of baking/cooking this year. Our church had a Christmas bazaar and I made a number of items for the bake sale table as well as many bags of goodies for gifts to friends and family.
Rosemary Pecans with Cranberries
My neighbor gave me a jar of delicious Olive Tapenade along with the recipe so I had to make my own jars. I'll share this recipe with you at a later time.
I've also been doing quite a bit of hand sewing in the evenings. My studio is over our detached garage so it is a little harder to access. I've been keeping a little bag of hand stitching in the house to work on. I can't share one of the projects because it is still waiting to go out to a friend as a gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise in case she reads this post. But I'll share once the gift has been given.
I have always found the quiet and spare days of winter to be my most productive time in my studio. I love the quality of the light which is so different than other times of the year, and there are fewer distractions. I am already looking forward to turning the calendar to January 2015 and really settling in to get some sewing done. I hope that my life will now allow me to create more and post more. I've really missed those things.
