Blustery Day

Well, more like 3 of them in a row now. I finally figured out the door banging I've been hearing all morning. The door to the crawl space. It's now got a stick stuck in the clasp to latch it. I've had the pleasure of catching up on blogs I read and trying to keep the dog from licking to death the ac/heat guy and the garage door opener repair guy. We have heat, just it's 2x yearly check-up. The garage door opener broke. The part would be $190 to replace or just $300 for a new one. As it is 15 years old, I'm going with the new one and adding one of those nifty keypads on the outside. One of the veritable joys of home ownership. I have no fun projects to share, I'm working on something that will be a present and 2 others are done and the same. So, no sharing yet.
Now, I need to walk the dog. Let's hope we both withstand the wind.

Plans

I have lots of plans. Plans to make things for my daughter, my niece to be, a friend's birthday, another niece, and even for myself. First, I have to find my work table top. It is there, you can see a couple of inches peeking out. It actually is cleaned off now. Thanks to a friend visiting and needing to stay in that room. Here's what my immediate plans are for sewing:

Making a short sleeve version in 3 month size for a niece-to-be.

A dress for same niece to come home in, a plain batiste fabric.

This for my daughter for spring/summer. I really love this fabric...part of the Swell by URBAN CHICKS for moda.

And an apron...for someone...from the same fabric line. It may not end up being the same pattern. I may wing it on the design.

That's what I have immediate plans for, meaning to do within the next month or so. I have several other things I'd like to make and a few things in process with the knitting/crocheting. I'll share those another time. The good news is it's cold and rainy out which keeps me in. I might just get to all these projects!

I hope to be better at finishing projects this year and start fewer. I have enough yarn for a year's worth of knitting/crocheting. I hope not to buy much of that this year. I do know myself well enough to say it won't happen at all. You never know what kind of incredible deal you'll find somewhere. I'd also like to work down the fabric stash a bit. The moda fabrics above are from the stash, almost 2 years old now. The others, I bought recently. It's not the kind of fabric I buy to stash. I buy with a particular project in mind, because it isn't cheap and rarely goes on sale. These are, hopefully, going to be heirloom garments.

Then there are all the house/yard projects that have long been on a to do list. Sometimes we dream about moving, but really, we wouldn't escape a to do list. We have good schools, close to shopping, decent commute for the husband, our church is close, and we have good neighbors and great friends here. There is much to be thankful for. And that is the biggest plan of all: Remember to be thankful for what we have been blessed with and do the best we can with what we are given.

December 2009

I'm always behind blogging about things. I thought I'd get to a decorating post about Christmas. nope. About Christmas itself. nope. Here's some of what we did in December:



We made lots of sugar cookies and decorated them over the break. You can see a bit of the oj carton manger that was made at another girl's craft day.

Christmas Eve in their new jammie pants made by me. (my gift to them)

Craig and I at his Junior cotillion parent dance night. Such a neat time. Probably the last time I see him dancing. ever.

School winter party craft. She's wearing the Christmas dress I made last year, knowing it was big and would fit at least throught this year too. It's a modified Children's Corner Lucy pattern. It has a pleated skirt bottom and giant rick rack ribbon trim.

We had a Cocoa, Cookies, and Craft party the week before Christmas. The girls decorated cookies, made reindeer felt wreaths(turned out awful because they would not glue together), and decorated cardstock mittens from PaperSource.




The girls handiwork. The tiles are trying(vainly) to make the felt wreaths glue to themselves.

So there it is. December in a nutshell. Cold, lots of rain, plenty of time spent with family, and lots and lots of sweets eaten. All ready for 2010.