November 27

Josh and the kids left town for Thanksgiving, and I got a LOT of sewing etc done, most of which I can't display here. Once Christmas is out of the way I will return to more frequent blogging, I hope. I might even start drawing again. That would be good.

About four weeks ago I gave my family the url for the Christmas Boutique (a fickr site where I posted photos of all the gifts I had made throughout the year), and asked them to select what they wanted. Some folks asked for variations on the color schemes shown, and a few asked for things I hadn't thought to make. This has kept me busy for the past month, but at last I have all the overseas gifts ready to wrap and mail tomorrow (the deadline for arrival in Australia before Christmas, I'm told).

One brother and his kids requested hacky sacks in specific colors, which entailed dying yarn. Always fun!

The O.S. cards have already been mailed; the US ones are going out on Monday.

So now I just have the US family's gifts to complete. I plan to make some baby shoes, a baby wrap, a nursing cover-up, a knitted beret, a quilt, and some fingerless gloves. Better get to it!!!

November 16

Christmas present-ing is proceeding apace. One of our traditions is that I give everyone in the immediate family (including myself) new pyjamas, which we open, and wear, on Christmas Eve. This year I'm making them all. Lauren picked the fabric for hers some time ago on a trip to the downtown fabric district. I was trying to keep her occupied while I browsed at my own pace. I was a little surprized by her selection -- these are not colours or icons (anchors? for a tween girl?) she normally wears. But apparently "Juicy" is a brand she thinks important, and so she gravitated to the wording on this fabric. It's too tiny for you to see, but it's there.

I also completed, filled out, addressed, and stamped fifty handmade Christmas cards this weekend. I have to confess to feeling pretty pleased with myself.

November 9

I'm still alive. A combination of a fit of the blahs, and time spent making gifts that I don't want certain blog readers to see, has kept me from posting. Then we got new carpet last week, which involved removing everything from my studio and putting it all back again. It's MUCH nicer now! I purged fairly deeply, and rearranged, and it's all now clean and airy and spacious-feeling. I took down the ugly vertical blinds over the side window and this morning whipped up a stash-busting set of curtains.Ah yes. Much better.

In other news, the Teen Boy now has a real job.
Yep, he's a Chuck-E-Cheese crew member. Hey, we all have to start somewhere!