11:30 pm Dec 22

Think I can crank out TWO pairs of jammies before I go to bed tonight? It's crunch time!

what a gift!

My husband has an Aunt who is a quilting extraordinaire, seriously, she makes beautiful quilts. She has a fabric stash and quilting room that would make most quilters drool, cabinets lined with fabric, and color coordinated. Oh to have a room like that!

Well, now I do! She knows that I enjoy quilting and decided my sister-in-law and I would be the recipients of a recent purge! There is nearly 70 pounds of fabric on the table and I had to take a picture because it was so beautiful! I'm itching to start about a thousand projects with it but need to finish up some other projects I'm currently working on first. I know my husband would appreciate that. Besides, having all that fabric, which looks like my own personal fabric store, makes me a little giddy! My sister does not get it, she thinks it's beautiful all right but it's not her thing. Mom on the other hand totally gets it! She's a fellow quilter and appreciates what a wonderful gift this is. It's getting to be that time of year when I start thinking about Christmas giving and am pretty sure there is a major quilting bee in our future. Last year we pulled off three quilts in the fall and the fall before was a huge undertaking for my Grandmother's bed. We made a Christmas quilt, (she LOVES Christmas) it was a ton of work and lots of pieces and a very happy Grandmother. I wonder what is in store this year.... I know one thing, I cannot wait to start!

Thank you so much Aunt Judy, what a blessing you've given me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

53 days??!!

Did I read that right? 53 days until Christmas??!! Yikes! I'd better get cracking. (I put a countdown banner on the bottom of the blog to remind me...) Last year I took the handmade pledge but took it a bit further, I made most of what I gave as gifts and purchased the "ingredients" from local small businesses. I don't have a huge budget for Christmas but it was paid for with cash and I figured that that mal-wart would survive whether or not I spent money there or not. The difference was when I shopped at the smaller stores I was genuinely greeted and thanked for shopping there and they meant it! I worked really hard last year trying to come up with things people would use and enjoy and most of the recipients got hand knit socks, some were made from locally raised alpaca fiber and some were wool, all were a labor of love. This year I'm planning another handmade Christmas; I've written all the things I need to do before Christmas and if I don't sleep a wink between now and Christmas I'll be done by Valentines day! We'll see how it goes and I'll try to post some of the things I make here. One of which is goat's milk soap, seeing as it takes 4 weeks to cure I'm off to do that now. I think I'll start with either peppermint or balsam....

one pair of last years socks... warm and snugly alpaca!