Feeling Crafty...

What's with the late Thanksgiving Day this year? I should be up at the tree farm getting my pine boughs and wreaths and getting ready for Christmas.  But because this year's turkey day falls so late in the month, my internal holiday prep clock is all out of whack.  I want to start preparing for Christmas, but we haven't even thawed the turkey for Thanksgiving.

Here's the dilemma: My house is rather Southwest/Mediterranean in style - it can't make up it's mind if it wants to be decorated for the Cowgirl or the Tuscan wino in me.  Both personalities apply when it comes to my decorating style ( I think they call that eclectic).  Either way, the only time that I get to decorate with red (my favorite color) is at Christmas, so I impatiently wait for the Thanksgiving weekend so I can drag out all my red stuff.

Because we are having guests in from the East coast for a short visit before Thanksgiving, I guess that I will NOT start the Christmas decorating until next weekend. But in order to satisfy my holiday craving, I decided I could at least do a few crafty things for Christmas - and besides, don't pumpkins and poinsettias look pretty together???

Crafty Project No.1: A Wreath.  My great grandmother was evidently better at playing the piano than I am.  She had all kinds of sheet music, some of it dating back to WWI and WWII. My mother gave me a stack of her sheet music, much of which was deteriorating - we call that "vintage". I decided to make a paper cone wreath out of the pages that seemed less exciting - like the finger exercises books!

I cut the ragged edges from each page and rolled them into cones, affixing them with a hot glue gun.  When I had enough cones made I glued them onto a round piece of foam board.  I then made a second layer of cones that were slightly smaller and glued them on top of my first layer.

I used some black satin ribbon to make a hanger for the finished wreath and hung it in my living room near my grand piano. Note that I did succumb to my red Christmas fetish and brought out my red pillows for the love seat.

Crafty Project No. 2: A pillow to go with the wreath.  I had a small piece of fabric with musical notes on it. I decided I could add a poinsettia applique (in RED!!) on top of the music fabric. The finished pillow would coordinate with the new music wreath in to my little corner.

To make the poinsettia applique, I cut petal shapes out of a red and metallic tablecloth. I used a green print to add a couple of leaves for my flower. I appliqued each petal and the leaves onto the music background using a blanket stitch on my Viking.

Too cute...and it just set off the wreath on the wall behind.

Crafty Project No.3: A Table runner.  So back to Thanksgiving! My friend Micki wanted a Thanksgiving table runner for her very massive dining room table, and being the girl I am, I told her we could make one that would fit, knowing full well that the "we" is really just me.

She chose a gorgeous tapestry fabric and it had been sitting in my fabric closet for at least a month and a half.  Since Thanksgiving is next week, I thought perhaps she might like to actually have it for her dinner table.

Making a table runner involves simply cutting the fabric to the length you need and hemming it. Micki purchased half the length needed to fit her table.  I cut it lengthwise in half and matched the two pieces with a seam in the very center of the runner.  I serged the edges of the runner, turned them under and top stitched the hems.  (oh, and yes, I did miter the corners, but only because it was for her and not just for me! LOL!)

Looked great on my pool table...but I gave it to her this week!

I did have Dave drag all my plastic bins of Christmas decorations down from the attic...but they will wait patiently until next weekend...after Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day

Laurel

I think that I shall never see...

...A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,  

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

by Joyce Kilmer

When I get old, I'm going to be a tree hugger.  I can already feel the draw. One morning while I was walking down the street in our neighborhood, I happened upon an elderly woman who had her arms wrapped around the trunk of a huge heritage oak on the roadside. I snickered to myself at the time, thinking the poor soul had lost her marbles.  As I approached her, she caught a glance of me, and quickly released the tree and walked off, not saying a word. A week later, the giant oak was brutally dismembered and chopped to the ground to make way for a power line.  I had to admit, it was tragic.

The hacienda is surrounded by giant redwoods. Though most of them are in my neighbors' adjoining yards, I nevertheless get to enjoy their great beauty. They make me smile and I am humbly reminded of their noble purpose here on our tiny piece of the universe. The air on this crisp November morning is magnificent, and I am thankful.

Good morning, sunshine...

Laurel. Feeling the quiet.

It's Not Vermont, but....

at least it's here. Fall!!! Yep, I'm a Fall junkie and I have been waiting for weeks to see some color here in California. I'm sure that all the brilliant leaves are long gone at Becky's house in Quechee and probably most of them at Diane's place in the Blue Ridge mountains, but we have to wait forever for the richness of Fall to hit the Golden State.

But when it finally hits, we do have some pretty colors, even in my little neck of woods in the Valley. I took a little drive around the neighbor hood after church.

Did I mention Fall is my favorite time of the year....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laurel.  Good day to sit by the fire, huh???

Sharing today with Sunday Best, Sunday Snapshot and Simple Things.

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 American-Italian epic Spaghetti western film starring Clint Eastwood. I'm not a fan of spaghetti westerns, but I have to admit that the plots often parallel some of life's greatest triumphs and tragedies.  Good triumphs over evil...payback is hell...etc. In fact, should Sergio Leone decide to make a "spaghetti drama" today, I would have just the material depicting slices of life in today's world. October (and it's not even over yet!) is a testament to my own personal Good, Bad and Ugly.

The Bad...my friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Good? Well, if there is one, I'm not sure.  But I made her a cute Chemo hat.

More Bad...I backed into parked car with the hubby's truck. The Good? I Have Insurance.


More Good... watched the wee ones make sugar cookies.  Nothing bad about that!

The Bad...went to a craft fair.  It's been a long time since I have been to one, and I was saddened to see more of the same cheesy stuff you always see. Where's the innovation???  The Good?  I found this "stein" to take to a fun Oktoberfest party down the street!!

"Red Solo Cup"

More Good...went on a Sunday picnic in the wine country with friends.  Now that's always good!!

The REALLY good? Take along fresh apple pie!

The Ugly? No words are needed. I left my purse in the front seat. My Bad. Soccer Moms beware...they sit in wait in the school parking lot...watching your hustle and the distraction and chaos of getting your kid to the field...

The good in this? I have insurance. And I have a good bank who watches my accounts. Laurel 6...Thieves 0. The bad? Replacing all the cards, Gigi Hill wallet gone, no driver's license and two hours at DMV...

I am pretty glad that October is almost behind me.  It's been a roller coaster.  But in the end, I can say that even though the Bad and The Ugly were tough, there is still much to be thankful for...like photographing my granddaughter for her senior portrait, taking our good friends out to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, having fun with my knitting friends, reading a great book, enjoying a "Refuel" daily devotional series, watching "Upstairs, Downstairs" on PBS, getting my flu shot, celebrating another friend's 70th birthday, spending the day in Berkeley shopping at Stone Mountain and Daughter for fabric and many other blessings.

Life is a daily drama, but it's meant to be lived each day.  So I will not focus on the (*%*#@^*&^, but concentrate on enjoying today. After all...it's finally Fall, it's raining and I have firewood.



Laurel. Breathe...

 

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Ready for Fall?

I don't really care if it's going to be 96 degrees today, it's technically Fall and I'm going with it. To me, Fall begins in September when school USED TO start. When you live in the country, you walked to the end of the gravel driveway and waited for the school bus.  The mornings were crisp and smelled like dry grass and tar weed, over baked from the scorching summer sun. Some days, there was a mist hanging in the air against the hillside.  The spring garden by the fence was now home for sprawling weeds, overripe melons and tough skinned tomatoes. Morning oatmeal rebelled in your stomach as you waited.

Fall doesn't seem to last very long around here, probably because our autumns in the valley are more like Indian summers. The sun sets earlier but it stays warm. Before you know it, Thanksgiving dinner is just a memory and it's time to decorate for Christmas. But right now, it's already October and the annual houseboat trip is over, signalling the official beginning of  my Fall.

"Let's decorate", I say to myself. 

What can I do with this room? We have guests coming in a month and I hate it.  Bor-ing!

Okay, let's drag out the mulling spices for the stove...

Two trips to Goodwill so far...did I mention that I'm reinventing myself this Fall...

Less stuff, less clutter.

I finally went through my Victoria Magazine collection and purged the duplicates.

Wish I could find a home for these...

Wonder if Terry at

 

wants them????

 

Anyone??? Some date into the 1990's...

 

At least, Colette is ready for Fall.  I finished her poncho...a luscious Manos wool from Uruguay.  Gonna look great with jeans...if it ever starts to really act like Fall.

 

 

I noticed that my chrysanthemums are ready to burst...

 

 

And I have firewood on the side yard for the "non-particulate days"...

 

 

I'm ready...Fall where are you????

 

 

Laurel.  How 'bout you???

30 years on the water...

How many things have you done for 30 years straight? Not counting bathing, eating dinners, and habitual worrying, there are not too many activities that I have done on a regular basis every year since 1983.  House boating is one of them.

Every Fall a small group of friends congregate on the lake for a few days of relaxation and fun. We have made home movies, fished, skied, dressed up in costumes, broken bones, choked, fallen out of bunks, drank too much, ate too much, floated, cruised, hit golfballs, shot BB guns at cans, spotted deer and bear, made giant bonfires, lost our moorings, got sunburns, run aground, lost our generators, played cribbage and other games, overflowed our sewage tanks, broken a window here and there, and many other exciting adventures. We've lost a few husbands along the way, had a divorce or two, celebrated a few marriages, lost family members, lost and gained jobs, celebrated births and weddings...you know, all those life events that happen over a span of 30 years. We have laughed at ourselves, witnessed an occasional spat, had some lively discussions on the two no-nos - religion and politics.  But mostly, we just got along.

Most of the wild stuff happened in our early years, when we were daring, energetic and probably stupid.  These days, we are a little calmer, we read more, we talk, we float in the water, we fish...An occasional "party" might spontaneously break out, but for the most part, we are just getting older.  We take a little more care negotiating the stairs under the influence, we count our pills in the morning even though we hate talking about our ills, and we chat about our retirements, our trips, and how wonderful our grandchildren are...

In all those years, we have had bad weather only once or twice and this year promises to be awesome again. For me, it's a chance to enjoy the best of what God has to offer...

Stunning sunsets on the water...

 

 

Being with my baby...

Enjoying great meals....

 



 

Waking up to crisp mornings...

Maybe catching a fish or two...

 



 

And of course...KNITTING!!!!!

The houseboat trip is where I started to knit. They all made fun of me, mainly because I NEVER finished anything...not one sweater...ever.  But these days I do actually make garments, so I will probably take several projects aboard and work on them all.  I can't imagine a houseboat trip without some needles in my hand and a glass of wine by my side.

Laurel. Gone fishing.

Too busy to write??

In case you're thinking I've lost my writing mojo, you would be partially right.  While I haven't been inspired to blog for the last few weeks, the "rest of the story" is that I've been busy. And it's Fall, and all I really want to do is walk in the country, smell the dead leaves and earth, go to the pumpkin patch...

But I'm busy. My brain is consumed these days by dressmaking...

I am making the mother of the groom's ensemble...I had to bring back the fine art of basting for this fabric: the sheerest silk organza...butter soft...slippery as *(!&^#%!

Rolled hems by hand...another lost art.

I must admit that the task has been daunting...but you know I am a Project Runway fanatic, and when I watch those would be designers with their sloppy sewing skills (the Russian guy says "I AM NOT A SEAMSTRESS...I AM A DESIGNER!!) I just keep repeating to myself as the fabric slides around on my machine "I AM Project Runway!"

And I have been my usual Fall "social" self...more lunches and dinners...spent an entire day with girlfriends celebrating her birthday. We started with brunch in the country...

And then there's boating, of course...there's nothing like an evening on the lake, putting around with "Mini Kota", the electric trolling motor...so quiet...so peaceful

And watching this giant weed grow in my garden...WHAT IS THIS THING????

And wishing I was back here on a vacation...

Alas, alas. Someday.

 

 Laurel. I can be all things to all people...Yea, right.

 

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