Hello - I hope you had a great Thanksgiving... ours was lovely... good company and good food if I say so myself and I do... we had dinner with my son and daughter in law and her parents and we all contributed to the meal. We had turkey and prime rib and tons of sides... mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, stuffing, marinated tomatoes, pasta salad, green bean salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce (the kind that come in a can that foodies turn their nose up at, but it's what I had as a child and I LOVE it) ..oh and there were rolls...needless to say we stuffed ourselves, then sat around and talked for a while and then indulged in a yummy homemade pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting. I came home hours later and sat down in my chair and did absolutely nothing...
and that has been the trend for the last week.... zero motivation.... and if you skimmed this post you'll see that I have very little crafty or decor-y to show for the last week... minimal pictures... sorry...
I had BIG plans to have my new Christmas tree decorated on Friday... instead I piddled the day away watching YouTube videos and trying to get someone at my bank to notarize some documents for me. Didn't get that arranged till late afternoon and didn't want to start putting away stuff if I was going to have to stop in the middle of the mess.
I'm feeling the need to speed up as today is December 1 and Christmas is only 24 days away... plan is to get ALL the Fall decor back into its sterlite bins pronto... then Nick can haul out all the Christmas stuff ... I have Elliott on Tuesday, an eye doctor appointment on Thursday and tickets to go see a performance of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Friday... so a semi busy week. I need to make the most of today and Monday and Wednesday...
The weather has gotten dramatically colder... highs only mid to upper 30's ...lows in the upper teens... and according to the YouTube weather videos I watched this is going to continue for at least the next 2 - 3 weeks... I'm not ready for it ... now I did get my house a bit more ready... last Wednesday I had the windows washed inside and out and the tracks cleaned and Adam who has a window cleaning business and just lives down the street got all but 2 windows shut and locked. The 2 that wouldn't lock are out on the sunroom porch so that's not a horrible situation. I'm calling the company that put them in for me and someone will come out and look at them and if they can't get them to lock they will replace them. Next thing I want to do it get the blinds cleaned. I think I've tracked down the company that did it for me before. They come to your house and take down the blinds and take them out to their truck in your driveway, clean them and put them back up.
And Thursday evening I realized I have an electrical problem that needs attention. When I came home from Thanksgiving dinner my Macy's Day parade inflatables were FLAT... and all my outdoor landscape lighting was DARK... I assume the problem is the electrical box out on the side of the house. The electrical company I've used before is closed till tomorrow so I'll be calling first thing in the morning.
As for the pitiful amount of crafty stuff I have to show here are the Prairie Schooler Santa's I've done... this is from No. 135 Good Saint Nick... 2 complete and a 3rd in the home stretch ...
these were an eBay purchase ... a cream and sugar set that somehow escaped me back when they were new. I got a good price on them which makes me happy!
Oh and I did a bit of knitting... got one sock on this pair done and the second sock about half way done...
and then I played with another pair... it is going to be scrappy... now my vision was for a purple-y scrappy pair and while all of the yarns have some purple in them this isn't looking real purple-y at the moment... but I'm gonna keep going.
I'd also like to get back to this shawl I started last year? maybe the year before? it has a purple-y swath in the middle and there's a repeat of that in sight in what's left of this skein... I got a thing for purple right now ...not sure why but again, I'm gonna keep going with it.
So anyone else feeling rushed right now? I keep seeing pics on IG of people who are all decorated for Christmas and everything looks so pretty ... and I do LOVE Christmas... and I want to get my house all dolled up, but while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak... and lazy... and tired... and not particularly motivated. In my fantasies I have a personal assistant who I could direct to do the decorating and I could sit in my chair and watch... but that ain't gonna happy. I'm telling myself that if I get the stockings hung by December 6 that's enough for next week. Little goals...
Oh last week Time4Stitchin asked about the linen on the little reindeer piece I showed... that one was dyed with Rit dye in the Teal color... the Santas I showed today are painted with Rit Dye in the Evening Blue color. When I dye linen I shove it into small mason jars to get a bit of mottling as I like that look. When I paint linen I start with a dry piece and treat it like a piece of paper. I use a paint brush to apply the dye that I've diluted with water. I try to get it splotchy... light and dark areas... and in both processes you have to be amendable to what happens.... at least I do, as I really can't control the process... gotta go with the flow...I envy people who dye fabric for sale. You have to be more precise than I am, I don't measure anything so I can never get the same color twice ...and I'm okay with that.
I hope that your week is looking happy and productive... that's what I want for me!! I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and fingers crossed next week I'll have a lot more to share...
happy stitching-
carol fun
