Here is a beautiful post from Wish Jar Journal to get you all fired up about your handmade holidays.

Works in progress for holiday fest 2007! I am simultaneously feeling like I've gotten a lot done and like I'll never be able to make it. These trees are really fun and will make a great display. The ones standing up are made from thrifted materials.

I really like these crazy stockings from Free People. They're a little bohemian yeti for me but a great jumping off point for making my own stockings, something I've been meaning to do.


I particularly enjoy the use of pom pom.

This is what the kitchen looked like earlier this afternoon as I waited for my sugar to caramelize to make this tart, a tryout for Thanksgiving.
It was very good but I drastically underestimated the amount of slivered almonds we had in the freezer. I subbed pistachios for most of the almonds and they were alright but the crisper almonds would've been a nicer texture with the soft caramel and cranberries.

I came home to the November Anthropologie catalog with these:




Both versions of an idea I've had on my mind for about a year now: make clothes with quilts. I think either a nice fitted jacket (maybe mandarin collar?) or comfy robe would be great candidates. For the jacket, obviously fit is a major concern, but for both the seam finishing would be crucial for a nice garment. Either a lining or maybe just trim the seam allowances and finish with binding or twill tape? Will have to think about it for next year.

As you can see, I've taken the pledge! This holiday season I am not only trying to make handmade things for other people to give as gifts, I'm also making sure all of the gifts from me are handmade too (well mostly, there are a couple of useful items already planned out that are not handmade, but sshh!). I've done a lot of embroidery so far and a little jam making. I'll also be doing a lot of etsy shopping (as per usual, ahem). The one thing I will not be doing this year is buying random industrially produced crap for those people on my list who are a little difficult to shop for. Also, I think it's pretty universally agreed that good books count as handmade since the author put so much of him or herself into the finished product.

By way of starting back up again here, I will be participating in the dreaded NaBloPoMo. At the same time I will be preparing to participate in these two craft fairs:

IndieSacramento
Charr's show!

To start getting in the mood for handmade holiday purchases, here are a couple of my favorite etsy stores:

Rhymes with Luck - gorgeous jewelry with a vintage feeling, made by a very creative friend of my family.

1AEON - natural fantasy inspired hand silk-screened t-shirts. I started trolling this shop to find gifts for my husband (Mr. Fantasy!) but ended up getting a t-shirt for myself as well. The shirts themselves are beautiful and soft and the designs are incredible, really nice vendor to work with as well if you do a custom order.

Hottoffee - fused glass jewelry. I own 3 or 4 pairs of these earrings and wear them all the time. They are beautifully made and simple but the layers of glass make them so special. Also the dangley earrings are held onto the hook with a little piece of metal in the shape of a heart and one is imprinted with the word "you" and one with "me." How cute is that!

Here's how Simon is enjoying the holidays so far and I think he has the right idea. Tonight I will be making my second batch of eggnog this season.

My second Little Tree, the pink version. Tell me this is not the cutest candy colored christmas tree you've seen lately. Well, maybe not, with all the little trees out there. I actually dyed this fabric a few years ago in a fabric dying phase when I dyed my bedsheets purple. This piece came out pinker. The bottom is green wool felt. I embelished it with a gorgeous piece of handmade art yarn that has a little strand of irridescence spun through that I got via the sampler from Misshawklet. You can't really tell from the picture, all cloudy all the time here, but it is gorgeous stuff! Then I attached a bunch of buttons that seemed christmas-fairyish and that was it. The most ridiculous part is that the whole time I was making this I was fretting that it wouldn't be modern enough for its intended recipient: as though a stuffed tree with yarn and buttons on it could ever be modern. Once I let go of that idea it went much more smoothly. Yay for trees!

My first attempt at a Little Tree. Actually, this is my second attempt: the first attempt looked more like a slanty horn than a straight-up-and-down-tree. Apparently I cannot follow directions because using the beautiful pattern Little Birds provided did not turn out very well for me (well I did tweak it a little for a taller tree which is probably the cause of the problem). For this second attempt I decided to wing it, and made a cone of indeterminate size and attached a circle to the bottom that seemed like it might fit. Much better. Here is a picture with smallish cat so you can get an idea of the size. These are fun and addictive to make, the trickiest part for me is getting the stuffing smooth and not lumpy. Considering my projects lately, 2 quilts and a batch of 10 pillows at once, it was very satisfying to make something in about an hour. This tree is to be a Christmas gift for a work colleague who is having a hard time lately. While I was making it I poured all of my happy thoughts for her into all that stuffing I was trying to cram in without lump so hopefully it will help a little. It looks a bit Dr. Seussish which I think will suit her just fine.

This picture pretty much sums up the excitement of setting up our tree this year for little Snuggles (Wesley Snipes officially). I think he had the best time.

Things that feel good:

petting kitties
a nice hot fire on your back
making quilts
butternut squash soup (yum, we've already had it three times)
flannel sheets with hot water bottle
a long weekend
dreaming about christmas trees
drinking eggnog
considering making your own christmas trees

Halloween at home was a new experience and very delightful. I think I would like to make it an annual tradition. We got a handful of trick-or-treaters but none past 8 p.m. I made a delicious lentil soup (but skipped the pancetta because I didn't have any and it already included bacon) and we watched the first long episode of Firefly that Thad got for his birthday.