Sixteen

I don't normally post on Wednesdays (usually I'm cramming lesson plans for my afternoon history class at co-op) but since I have been MIA in the last five days, I thought I'd pop in.

In true CoffeeGal style, I got bit by a crafting bug last week and have had tunnel vision of epic proportions. Any free time has found me at my sewing machine.

In my last post I wrote about Log Cabin Squares for quilting. Well, that's what I've been doing: I made twenty Log Cabin quilt blocks....

Some of you may remember chuppah I made a couple years ago for a friend.

For eight months I put my heart-and-soul into that project, embroidering every monogram by hand. Quilting old family fabric into a quilt-of-sorts. A tapestry for a young couple to marry under.

I tried to explain how this project felt in this post, but here is a small glimpse of the work involved.

This project was challenging and brought great personal satisfaction, but when it was completed it wasn't mine. I handed it (and everything about it) over to its rightful owner.

One night last week I was talking to The Mister and showing him the sample quilt blocks I had sewn, and he said emphatically, "I love quilts!"

When my husband speaks emphatically, I listen. He tends to be a pretty even-keeled guy, reserving passionate verbiage for things he truly feels passionate.

And it got me thinking....

I often make things for the kids, or myself, or for friends. I almost always make things for those who ask me to, and every once in awhile someone will actually pay me.

Very rarely do I create things for my man.

And he deserves something.  Especially since one-month from today we will have been married 16 years.

As I have been sewing, I've been thinking about that chuppah, what it meant in the days of hard work, and the lessons I learned both during and after the project was complete. It made me want to make something like it to celebrate our marriage; The joy. The hard work. The crazy and the calm. I want to make something that shows the depths of beauty that comes from a relationship that isn't always easy, but is so worth the effort.

This is the beginnings of the quilting project I am calling Sixteen. It is to be a gift to The Mister. My hope is to hand-embroider some of my favorite things about our life together (thus far) and give it to him when we go away (to a log cabin in the NC mountains) sometime next month.

My plan is to use only fabric and thread I already own. And we won't be boxing this baby up - we'll sleep under it. Hopefully for many more years....

Ahh! Monday!

It was a very thankful day.

The table was set. The company was awesome. The food, well, you know it was good.

I would tell you that I worked my fingers to the bone cooking up a storm on Thanksgiving...but the truth is I had a lot of help. I LOVE making Thanksgiving dinner, but having another cooker (as the kids like to say) was awesome.

My friend Becky and her sweet family came and spent the day with us.

After our delicious dinner the kids earned their dessert by pushing the baby around in a box.

Seriously, you've never seen three children, spanning more than a decade in age, have such a good time together playing with a box.

Yes, thanksgiving was good...and over all too soon.

I spent the rest of the weekend in my pajamas, either on the couch or in my office under piles of fabric and yarn.

I was lucky that Becky did my Black Friday shopping for me...she scored two pairs of $5 pajama's on sale at Old Navy for me. I may never wear real clothes again....

I managed to crank out nearly all the handmade gifts I wanted to make for my family and friends. I can only show you a few of them because the recipients read this blog...but I'll let you take a sneak peek at a few gifts:

I made another poncho just like the one I made for myself two weeks ago out of a new (to me) brand of yarn. It's called I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby, and I do... love that yarn. For an acrylic its so soft and luscious I could eat it. But since Thanksgiving is over I'm trying to cut back a little.

I also whipped out a couple of scarves:

The Taffy Pull....

and The Ruffly*...

Taffy and Ruffly... the names just make me happy. If you're interested, I found these patterns online and they are very beginner-friendly. You can click on the names above to go directly to the link...go on...I know you wanna try.

Then I finished up a little cloche hat and am currently working on a poncho for my niece Mia.

I have only a couple more gifts to make...

When I'm done, I may start blogging more...

(*) - when linking up to the scarf I realized its not called Ruffly but Curly-Swirly...I like Ruffly better so I'm not changing it. ;)

I'd love to know what you're making for Christmas this year...

Happy Monday!

WIP vs PIP

What I really want to post on this drizzly Wednesday morning are the Works in Progress (WIP) I've got going on in my office:

Things like this sweet Cozy Cottage. 

I could sit and daydream about the sweet old couple that lives there. I can envision The Mr. of the cottage getting the wood burning fire places stoked so the The Mrs. could sit by the hearth, sipping hot coffee and feeling, well, cozy in her little house in the woods.

But the Cozy Cottage hasn't been so much a WIP as a PIP, or Procrastination in Progress.

I also started another little ornament, because when I start PIP's I commit with my whole-heart.

These are all WIP's..

And these are the PIP's:

Door Number One-

Door Number Two - 

I started this summer with very few goals.

I wanted to craft and sew.

I wanted to cook and bake.

I wanted to have fun at the pool.

And I wanted to clean out the pantry (although I was pretty sure this goal was lofty.)

But now it must be done (with fervor I cannot find), and it must be done today.

To make a very long story short, I kept a lot of non-perishable food (Cereal, dry pasta, spaghetti, granola, and canned goods) in the garage on a shelf. 

The mice left lovely thank you gifts for the buffet they have enjoyed.

So I must organize, clean and rearrange so all food (including canned foods) are in the house, and all cleaning products and general junk (in the laundry room) get put on the garage shelves, making more "pantry" inside.

Which is going to be a lot of work and unfortunately, the end product won't have pretty hand-embroidered flowers, lovely bead work, or happy thoughts of living in the woods.

But, we won't have rodents... 

...and I already live in a little house in the woods.

So, all is well that ends well.

What are your WIP's or PIP's today?

Capricious Crafter

Hey y'all...

Did you know that when I started my adult life in the southernmost part of the United States, I swore I would never say y'all?

It didn't last long, and now I am a proud, card-carrying member, of the Y'all speakers.

Sometimes I even go for the glory with an all y'all, but those are special, and must not be used too often.

But that's not what I came here to say...

What I really wanted to say, y'all, was that I am going to take a bloggers break for the rest of this week.

I'm workin' mighty-hard, (ok, the y'all's have got me typin' with a Texas twang) this week on a few projects.

The first is trying to figure out how to make a slightly larger, sweet four-year-old, version of the crochet hat I shared with you on Friday. I made one yesterday and it turned out too big.

The Girl appreciated my learning curve as she ran out for drama camp this morning...in her new flowered crochet cloche. So today I have been working on down sizing a bit.

The other project I've got going is Christmas stuff...yes, Christmas.

For several years I have made gifts for my nieces and nephews. As they get older and more sophisticated, its getting a little bit more challenging in some ways, and easier in others. But I am almost certain I have narrowed down the gifts for my nieces.  Here is a sneak peek at the might-be-the-christmas-gifts-for-nieces-work-in-progress...

Right now the flowers are just pinned on and I'm trying to decide if i want to add a few more rows to the trim... decisions, decisions.

I think I would do each hat in the girls fave color and do a mix of flowers.

Not sure what I'm doing for the nephews yet, but I am certain I am going to make this for The Boy because he has been asking me to let him have a mohawk for about a year.  I'm going to love laughing on Christmas morning when I tell him he can finally have his mohawk.

I will admit to you that I am a bit obsessed focused on these projects at the moment. And I have a tendency to forget all other things when in this mode....eating? cleaning? working out? what are those things?

I'm in the crochet zone.


Ah, the life of a capricious crafter.

Have a great week, y'all.