God Jul!

Here is my modern, Scandinavian centerpiece of the season. I didn't feel like putting up my Christmas village this year because I only have 4 buildings and 3 of them are bakeries. I have seen similar electric candelabras and they are very pretty but also very spendy. This is from IKEA and cost me $6! I just love it! These Moravian type stars were made from paper strips I found in Denmark. I've made these before from ribbon and paper, but these are fussy! For those 3 that are finished, I have 3 that I ripped halfway through the folding process! I hope everyone had a good day today! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Weekend Update...

I had a nice weekend snowed in with my parents! We stayed warm near the kitchen making lefse and drinking hot cider. I love my parents' deck for cooling things off in a hurry!
Melissa and I went to the big going out of business sale at a local quilt shop. Everything was 20% off and they were actually selling all the shelving and decorations and displays, etc. I nabbed 2 of these asparagus crates for $5 each and I just love them! They also sell roving by the yard for needle felting projects but I use it for spinning and chose a few yards of several colors and a lot of ivory for dyeing. Melissa picked up a pieced and quilted runner/wall hanging for $5!

We also made another batch of photo ornaments for Christmas gifts. These get better every time we work on them! And now we're really getting low on lids! It's a good thing we had pasta with sauce from a jar...

These are the lace scarves I knit for my girlfriend gifts this year. My favorites are the beige and grey ones. That is Rowan tapestry yarn made from merino wool and soybean fiber! They are so soft and shiny and I bought several skeins of it. These scarves are only 18" or so long and you pull one lace panel through the "keyhole" and wear it like an ascot. I just love this pattern I found on Earthfaire. I have to say I am a fan of theirs now because they have bead knitting supplies and patterns as well as gifts and things for knitters! :)

before and after!

Melissa and I had a long overdue Crafty Fun Night! After cancelling or getting busy at the last minute I don't know how many times, we each finally got some pictures printed and got together. We ordered delivery from Hunan, loaded up the dvd player with Christmas specials, and pounded in eye hooks while we waited. After supper, we sat at that table for hours bent squinting over our work. It was actually quite hard to decide what to do with each of them because we really had lots and lots of materials to play around with.

I am so pleased with the way they all turned out! And it is always so fun to see Melissa so excited! I felt so bad she had to leave them here at the end of the night so they could dry. She is probably dying to just go and look at them because while typing this, I've probably gotten up about 4 times already to go look! They are just stunning. Melissa agrees with me that even though the resin is transparent, it adds so much of something that you can't quite explain. You have to see them to understand. I hope they are dry by tomorrow night so I can bring hers to her at work! We both agreed that we will be making these not only yearly, but year round because they are so awesome! Now what to string them with?

Erika Knight Bootees...

I hit the big sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics the other day and picked up a copy of Simply Knitting and got a free 2009 Pattern Calendar with it! It is a British and rather expensive but lovely magazine so I grab it whenever I see it--once even at a tuck shop in Denmark! I immediately set to work on these bootees from the calender pattern with some leftover Rowan Tapestry and had just enough. I had these buttons from the antique store and the color changes really cooperated with me as far as halfway matching! These will go to my friend and co-worker Rachel who is due in February with a baby boy!

And these will be the centerpiece of tomorrow's crafty fun night... More on that later!