Projects

It says, "Go slow and enjoy the journey."  The pattern was found at a garage sale in a fabulous box of "junk".  It took a while, but I finally got it done.

I am adding it to my box of glamping gear.  That's right, glamping gear.  The die hard tent camper is working to join the ranks of glampers.  You won't find me in heels, and there will still be dirt under my nails (and on the doles of my feet), but enjoying some of life's finer things even while living outdoors is a fine plan to this gal.  I have begun taking stock of the items in my home that I will be adding to the box, as well as the things I will make too.  Most importantly, I have started a "Glamper" fund to save up for a small "fix-her-up" trailer of my own.

So, added to the list of all the gifts I want to make for everyone this year, is a list of items I want to make for me.

A glampin' we will go, a glampin' we will go, hi ho the dairy-o a glampin' we will go..........

Spring Fever

You know you have spring fever when you hang your sheets out on the line just because it's going to  be a sunny day.

The grass under the clothes line was still covered in frost, but the sunshine was just too tempting.  It took all day, but the sheets, linens, and table cloth did dry.  When I brought them inside as the sun was beginning to drop, I kept my nose pressed into their coolness, inhaling the intoxicating smell that was the promise of spring.

With the lengthening of the daylight, the promise of the turning of the seasons gets stronger.  Each day I look longingly at my garden spot, impatiently waiting to turn the soil to work in the fertilizer and prep the beds for planting.  The garden expansion is planned, waiting for the time to sow.  I can see the changes around me and feel the changes in my bones (it's not all the ache of age).  Even the chickens are getting the fever.

The seeds have been ordered and the starts are being prepped for.  I want to be ready when the last frost happens.  Spring is a month away.  Time is passing.  The wheel is turning.

I have the fever.

Do you?

2014 Christmas Project

During the Christmas season this past month, my family and I decided to undertake the project of making 5 to 10 Christmas ornaments each month, and at the end of the year donate a fully decorated Christmas tree to someone or some family who would not have one otherwise.  Each month we will pick a theme based on the holidays in that month, or time of year, and make the ornaments.

We started with December and made some Christmas ornaments using old wooden spools, silver and gold paint, wire, beads, and scrap-booking paper.  They turned out pretty cool looking.  We left the labels on the spools so that a person would know they actually were spools in a former life and not just something we picked up at the hobby store.

For the month of January we went with the New Year Party theme.  We used all things shiny and glittery with pearls, metals, beads, and crystals.  They will look fabulous hanging around a tree with pretty colored lights twinkling off of them.

As a family, we are getting a great deal of satisfaction making these ornaments, not to mention some great time together talking about other ways we can give to people within our community and the importance of doing so.

After we made 2 sets of ornaments, we decided that they will also need a box to be carried in, so we are in the process of decorating one of those.  As soon as it is done, I will post a picture of it as well.

What do you do to give back to your community?

Projects

Today I completed my daughter's yard apron.  Yesterday I completed mine.  The purpose of the aprons is to have a place to keep your seed packets, tools, pad & paper, clippers, and other items at hand without having to remember where you left the bucket full of everything and without having to set it down while you do another task and hope you remember to go back and retrieve it later.


I found a jumper made of pansy fabric at a yard sale and got the jumper for the fabric.  The striped denim came fro a thrift store.  I took the jumper apart and reused the patch pockets and bodice in my apron.  The placket I used on the top of my notebook pocket.  I used part of the skirt for the bottom ruffle and the ties.  There are a total of 7 pockets, including one for pens/pencils & one for a notebook.  I added a couple of utility loops like you find on painter's pants to hang my hand rake and trowel.  I am looking forward to spring when I can get in the dirt with it and see how well it will work for me.

My daughter's was made from a old fabric sample (burlap) and a tired floral sheet.  I added a couple of pockets, a couple of utility loops, and belt loops for a ribbon tie.  I plan to give it to her for Easter, along with a trip to the local nursery to pick her plants for her planter.

I didn't use a pattern for either one, I just made it up as I went.  Mostly I tore strips and stitched things together.  Did you know denim strips at an angle?  I know now.  It has to do with the weave.

Have you ever made anything without a pattern?

New Year

New Year's day I cleaned out the refrigerator, top to bottom.  I took out two bucket's of compostables, some were science experiments, others were things we don't need to keep around because we will eat them just to keep them from going bad (like cherry pie and cookies).  It was very satisfying.

What did you "clean out" on New Year's Day?

Christmas

Last night my daughter and I completed the last of the cookies and fudge to be loaded into containers and delivered to people and businesses in our community.  Every year we make at least 10 different types of treats to fill the containers we find at our local thrift store (Goodwill this year).  We usually give a tin to my brother and his wife, as well as a tin for my daughter's teacher.  All of the others we give to local businesses that have employees who, through the year, have made our days a little brighter.

Aside from the pleasure of cooking and the pleasure of not having to eat all of it ourselves, we also get a great deal of pleasure from the smiles that come from each one of those tins.  In a society that has become focused on the material giving during the holidays, it is good to give of ourselves too.

What do you do to spread holiday spirit?

Holidays

Ever notice how when the holidays arrive time seems to go right out the window.  It started for me almost a month before Thanksgiving.  There I was, getting everything done and staying organized, mostly, and before I know it, WHAM!, Thanksgiving had arrived and I hadn't blogged in a month!

The worst of it is that I have no idea what happened to the time.  Now, almost a month later, I am still not caught up and don't know if I will be before Christmas gets here.

Oh well.

I suppose my daughter having a few friends for a sleepover the weekend before Thanksgiving, coming down with the flu the day afterward didn't help.  Then we are unable to go to the family gathering as she is still sick, so on the Wednesday I am trying to get all the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal then get is all cooked so we can have at least something that resembles a turkey dinner (it worked out ok at least).  She wasn't truly better until the Sunday after Thanksgiving though.  I was worried.

During Black Friday I stayed home and avoided the crowds as is my custom.  There is just something lacking in Christmas Spirit about the whole shopping frenzy thing to me.  I spent most of the weekend contemplating what Christmas truly meant to me and what message I wanted to give my family, so my daughter and I made a few ornaments out of wooden spools to put on the try and gift to family.  We decided to make ornaments throughout this next year and donate them with a tree to a family that otherwise would not have a tree.

As for gifts, many of them are homemade this year.  Next year I hope to have them all homemade.  New Year's Day I will sit down with my journal and make a list of folks we give gifts to and decide what I want to make for each of them.  Then I will spend the year making them.  I'll have to let you know how that turns out.

Now all I have left is to make the cookies to give away (and keep a few at home), plan Christmas dinner, and finish getting the gifts under the tree.  Keep your fingers crossed.