Christmas Corners of My Home

A little peek . . .

at two of my Christmas trees.

Don't eat the candy canes!

Merry Christmas to all.

A Golden Harvest

The bees have done so much work this summer. And now, in autumn, our neighbor returns to harvest the honey.



Some of the frames were almost empty. I think the additional levels of frames were added a bit too soon. Next year we'll wait a bit longer.

Jimmy took some frames for harvesting with a centrifuge. He left several levels for the bees' winter home and food.

And he gave this frame to me to harvest by hand. You can see the caps on top of the honeycomb. I scraped those off very lightly. The honey just glistens! I'm so grateful to the bees and want to give them more flowers in their garden next year.


These jars are from my harvesting efforts.

The honey is light and delicate. So beautiful.

A sweet golden harvest.

In the Autumn Garden

Amber hydrangeas

Little pepper ornaments

The angel with one wing

I Heart Fritillaria

Here and there in the garden are fritillaria. These little checkered lanterns dangle in the shade right next to the hellebores.

Another fritillaria, this one from Turkey, has beams of light along its edge.

This must be the night light for the garden fairies -- a soft green glow cast onto the earth.

I heart fritillaria.

From the garden

Skeletonized magnolia leaf and poppy pod = Garden 2008
Chionodoxa 'Pink Giant' = Garden 2009

Buying spring

OK, it's not funny any more. We had snow again last night and spring seems as far away as ever.




But I get to buy spring -- that is, I buy flowers and plant spring container gardens for a couple of our clients. So here's what I found today: hydrangeas, osteospermum, and stock. I've already purchased pansies, dwarf daffodils, and grape hyacinth. And now my cold back room looks like spring. Cheery!

Project Blue & White

I love the crisp contrast of white and navy blue . . .


. . . and how a soft blue looks like it is emerging from the field of white.



Here is my first blue and white project: a pair of potholders, from a repurposed tablecloth. It seems too easy to do a blue and white sewing project -- but, really, isn't it another way to get in touch with color? Like doing an inspiration board or collage/journal page -- getting involved with color. And it helps hone my sewing skills. (And convinces me I really really need a walking foot before I tackle any larger-scale quilting job.)

More blue and white (I hope) before month's end.

The Blues: A Year of Color

I've signed up for A Year of Color -- a wonderful, year-long exploration of color, full of inspiration, projects, photography. You can learn more about it here.

January's theme colors are blue and white.

First step for me is to set up an inspiration corner. I've gathered some objects together, finding some wonderful shades of blue to set against snowy or pearly white.

I guess it's a sewing or textiles corner. Don't remember where I got these French bobbins.

But I remember well the garage sale where I found this little homespun, homemade doll coat. Two sisters run a sale from their garage twice a year and when I see their sign, a block from the library, I get so excited. I know I'll find some treasures there. Sigh. In the midst of the longest month of winter I really miss my favorite garage sales.

Onward to step two: Next for me will be doing some projects inspired by the blue and white theme. I sewed this batik bag last summer. The blues are so saturated -- just wonderful! Like living in the ocean.

And in this long winter month, it's also good to be inspired by the promise of spring.

Blue + White.

Seriously Cold

Oh, yes it is cold!!

Just the perfect day for sewing, don't you think? Cats snoozing by the woodstove, kettle on, lots of fabric to play with.

We ventured out as far as the library this afternoon, where I picked up this apron book. So many patterns inside . . . but all the ones I love are encircled with bias tape. I'll have to get one of those little bias tape doohickeys so I can make my own. Right now I'm playing with fabrics, as you can tell.

And these fabrics are Jay McCarroll's by Free Spirit -- recent purchase on Fabric Hound. He's the first winner of Project Runway, in case you didn't know. And WHERE, by the way, IS PROJECT RUNWAY?!? Those bozos need to straighten out their differences and get that show back on the air. I need it. Badly. Especially when the weather keeps me inside so much.



Do I sound a wee bit cranky?? A little cabin fever setting in. Oh, the red/white polka dot fabric is Michael Miller. Love polka dots and I'm always looking for red and white. This will suffice for now, but I need one that has a bit smaller polka dots. Love the pretty little purses book, too.

We'll be exiting the cold weather by the weekend, just in time for our son to return from Oklahoma City. He has completed his air traffic controller training at the FAA facility there. Yay! Maybe I can sew him a little tote for his manual or his galoshes or something?!

This cabin fever may be serious.

How are you surviving the cold?

It's cold!

Bracing for below-zero weather . . . and the little birds who come to my walk for little bread crumbs and coarse corn meal might not even show up tomorrow morning.

Most days, recently, have been spent organizing receipts etc. for 2008 tax return -- I think we're encouraged not to be creative in that area, however. So I'm finishing up an ATC for myself tonight; already sent one to each of my two sisters. That will be my 'do something creative' for today.

This McCoy bowl -- a recent 'Treasures' find -- makes me happy. Neat size -- about the size of a cereal bowl -- color is fab -- scroll pattern is the best. N tells me to keep this for myself -- at least for a while. Good advice.

Of potholders and cookbooks

I'm somewhat obsessed with making potholders. Love the arranging of the colors. Love going through the scrap box to find the bits of fabrics -- chickens! And each one I make seems to teach me more about patchwork and about machine quilting (oh, and the importance of ironing as you go -- with the steam off).
Entered into a barter for this little 'Holiday Goodies' book, published by Peter Pauper Press, so I decided to make a couple of potholders. The first one is pieced and the machine quilting outlines each little 'brick' of the patchwork. Satisfying. Nice effect. I like it! Took me lots of time, however -- seems I'm kinda slow at arranging the bits together. So I made the second of this wonderful fall-hued folk art fabric -- much quicker to sew up -- and it matches the cookbook. (My barter buddy kindly sent the book right away, so I can show it here. Next pic shows the reverse of the folk art potholder.)
And isn't this always the way? Found the little ABC of Cookies cookbook, by Peter Pauper Press, at the library sale the very next day. Two makes a collection?

Flannel Quilt Throw and Smocked Gingham Apron UFOs

Do you have unfinished projects? More than a year ago, I saw a wonderful throw pattern by Amy Butler in Country Living magazine, done in her wonderful flannels. I hadn't really sewn much in years, but decided to take this project on. The easy part was purchasing fabrics, I thought. Many months later, I began sewing up the quilted throw, using these flannels from Hancock fabrics. I think that was last November.
I now want and need to finish this project, even though the flannel fabrics/colors seem less than wonderful. I alternate betwen hating the fabrics and liking them just kinda.

But it is getting colder here, and the flannel throw will warm me and the cat when we watch Project Runway (yes, I'm a fan). And it'll give me my first experience in machine-quilting a large piece.

My other UFOs are these four wonderful gingham embroidered aprons, which only need the waistbands and pockets attached. These aprons traveled down an interesting path: first, they were embroidered by a woman who has since passed on. Her daughter contacted the proprietress of one of my favorite shops in order to sell some items -- these items were deemed not of value and were about to be tossed into the trash. The shop lady decided to rescue them and she then stored them for several months in the basement of her shop.

But since they are unfinished, they could not be put in the shop. So the shop owner, who knows I like to sew, gave them to me.

Isn't the work just beautiful? Look at the smocking and the pretty way the rickrack is attached along the edge of the apron.

I guess the moral of the story is to finish what you begin, or your UFOs will become someone else's!

How many unfinished projects do you have?

Pretty Patchwork Potholders

Although I've been sewing since junior high Home Ec class, I haven't done a lot of patchwork. And it seems each patchwork project I try, I bungle a bit -- but learn so much in the process. Saturday was a patchwork potholder day.


I followed the instructions in Pretty Little Potholders, which has patterns for all sorts of potholder fun. My first two log cabin potholders (shown front and back) were pretty successful, except that they became a little wonky when I trimmed the edges after machine-quilting them. Also, I hadn't read the hint about sewing the strips so that one colorway dominates one side and a contrasting colorway dominates the other. So these are Random Wonky Potholders.


Why not do another potholder, deliberately wonky and with some color organization? Voila -- the Autumn Wonky Potholder. I just sewed pieces and rotary-cut the shapes as I went along. Pretty successful, except for the upper right corner, where I made a bad color choice; having run out of rust-colored prints, I used a red one.


Right now I can't imagine sewing an entire quilt of strips. But it would be beautiful. Whose blog did I just see with wonky quilt squares? Loved it. Denyse Schmidt's quilt book has a great wonky striped quilt. Should I put that on the Project list?

My minimalist style

In our office-corner, which we 'redecorated' last winter, I've gone with a very spare style. Instead of four shelves above the drawing table, full of hard-to-reach and therefore seldom used books, I put just one Ikea shelf. The black boxes hold office supplies -- envelopes, stamps, paper.
I try to keep other items to a minimum. It's a perfect place for a posy or, like now, some foxtail grasses. (I must admit -- the velvet violets and little box of vintage stencils somehow migrated here just this week. It's usually just the boxes and one vase.)


I caught a glimpse of the contrast between the office area and the kitchen this morning. The light is so very different, as is the chaos-level. Really, if you saw my computer desk top and drawing table, you'd see some chaos there as well. At least the walls have that minimalist style that I crave. And I like the spareness when I'm 'at work'.

When I'm very very brave I'll show the room of fabrics and paper that is my quasi-studio. Now there's chaos!