Here, there and everywhere

Things have been pretty crazy around here since I last posted.  Getting ready for the holidays seems to steal all my free time for things like blogging, but I don’t really mind….

 

I had to work for a few days in December but once that was done, I chained myself to the stove and churned out a *ton* of baking.  This year I made 4 loaves of buttermilk bread, 4 loaves of multigrain bread, 4 cranberry-orange loaves, 4 banana-berry loaves, 3 batches of peppermint fudge, 3 batches of chocolate-orange fudge, 3 batches of butterscotch fudge, 2 batches of cookies ‘n creme fudge, 4 batches of Pecan Tassies and two batches of raspberry-almond squares…..I walked into the kitchen on Dec. 17th and left on the 24th.  Then just to add to the fun, I made 4 dozen buttermilk parsley rolls for Boxing Day (I made those on Christmas Day).  I love to bake, but I think I’m done for a bit.

 

I think Santa saw just how much I was baking though and he took pity on me this year so that next year it’ll be easier.  Look what he brought me:

 

 

The Kitchenaid mixer I’ve been lusting over for years!  It’s the Artisan too.  (If you look down to my post from Nov. 20th, you’ll notice that this is the exact mixer I was wishing for!  Santa reads blogs!  ).  I admit to going back into the kitchen yesterday – I made bread using my new machine.  I’m not sure how I lived without it before now.  I think I’ll make a traditional gingerbread today with it.  Yum!

 

Santa had some fun with me too – he brought me something else that I’ll play with once in a while:

 

And inside it:

 

  

A DS Lite.  Now I need to buy some games for it.  I always have fun playing with my kids DS’, so I guess Santa thought it was time I had my own.  I like the green.  It’s very fresh.

 

I did manage to squeeze in some stitching in the last while too.  I finally got around to finishing Live Fully from Dragon Dreams (thanks to the purchase of the extra GAST Blue Jay I needed):

 

Live Fully Sampler

By Dragon Dreams

Class from 2010 CreativFestival

Stitched on 28-count Toasted Almond

with provided fibres ( GAST, DMC, Mill Hill Beads)

And I cranked out another ornament.  I didn’t expect to squeeze in one before the end of the year, but it was an easy freebie that I found on-line.  I’m going to call it my December ornament-of-the-month as I haven’t had time to dig into my kitted stash of ornies.  I’ll dig into that pile starting in January….

 

 

Merry Christmas

By Log Cabin Needlework’s

Stitched on 28-count Cashel (colour unknown)

With Vikki Clayton Dragon Heart, DMC 319, RG PB02 and red beads from Gecko Beads

 

I didn’t follow the colour key at all for this piece, except for using DMC 319.  I’m really happy with how this piece turned out.  It looks better IRL.  The  skies are overcast and a bit dreary here today, so I’m working with what light I can get.

 

I keep hearing/reading about the Crazy January Challenge – basically the goal is to start one new project every day for the first 15 days of January.  And then finish those 15 projects before the end of the year.  It’s an interesting thought, but I’m not going to participate.  I think what I’ll do instead is haul out 15 of my WIPs (I’m sure there are 15 of them around here if I just dig enough – between class pieces and stuff I’ve had sitting in a pile…) and aim to work on those this year instead.  I’ve also got my  personal ornament-of-the-month club and I just joined a needlepoint ornament-of-the-month club as well over at Nuts about Needlepoint.  The price is excellent value for the money too (add $1 per ornament for Canadian shipping).  (And if you sign up before Dec. 31st, you get a bonus pattern at the end of the year!) . 

 

I think that’s enough for one year.  I’ve still got one model to finish as well.  My other model that I’ve been working on *forever* is finished except for one small part where I’ve run out of fibres (I only noticed I forgotten to stitch this one little part as I was going through making the chart corrections!)…  So, once the fibres arrive I can polish it off and get back to the other model.  I think 2011 will be a busy year if I can do it all.  Then again, I’ve got a pile of time on my hands now that I’ve been pushed out of one of the things I was involved with last year so maybe all that stitching will happen.  Time will tell, I guess.

 

Since this likely will be my last post of 2010, I wanted to take a moment to say Thank You to everyone who reads this blog and has posted comments.  I really appreciate all the kind words and complements.  I do read tons of blogs, but I’m a dreadful commenter.  That needs to be another goal to work on next year!

 

I wish you and yours a Happy New Year and may 2011 be filled with people, places and things you love!

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A Finishing Weekend

I’m not quite sure how we managed it, but we wrangled an entire weekend at home this past weekend.  Usually this time of year it just doesn’t happen and DH and I were both a bit shocked to look at the calendar and see it devoid of things to do.

 

Not wanting to waste a golden opportunity, I spent the weekend doing a pile of things – working on our Christmas cards (not quite finished, but they’re well underway!), planning some of the holiday baking that I’ll be doing and finishing a whole pile of ornaments….

 

I figured out how to get my laptop to play DVDs on it (it’s from the dark ages of time and the DVD player works with a little nudging) and I loaded up Season 1 of the Tudors (that truly appears to only be loosely based on historical fact but is entertaining anyway!) and spent a good number of hours at my finishing table.  I managed to take 10 ornaments and one scissor fob from bits of fabric into these things:

 

 

and one scissor fob (front and back):

 

 

Many of the ornaments will be off to other homes shortly, and some are going to live with me for a change.  I had a highly enjoyable weekend playing with my sewing machine, cording drill, fabrics and fibres.  And it’s nice to see so many items no longer languishing in a corner – a good number of them have been sewn and stuffed for ages – I just needed to get the cording made and attached.  Sometimes I can procrastinate to the point that it’s just dumb….

 

Now I need to get ready for DS#2’s birthday on Thursday and then I’ll be able to put up all the Christmas decorations.  It’s finally snowing here today (our first bit of snow that has actually stuck to the ground) and it’s made me come over all Christmas-y!

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