Merry Christmas!

I'm still dividing myself between panic, distraction activities,  

and actually trying to get everything done.  

End of the outgoing mail last week.

to B.E.

 to Mila

 to Max (with pun on back, as

he always gets a pun)

Suzi

 Ricky and Teresa

 to Iliana

I made good use of the Christmas Seals Connie sent me! 

Every Christmas season, I start crafting late and fail to finish (or even start) some items.  My anxiety mounts, making things even more difficult.

Preparation.  Annie at Annie's Musings had a personal challenge this past year to  work on something each week throughout the year--she didn't limit herself to gifts, but made cards, tags, or decorations--anything Christmas.   I'm going to try to set me up a schedule of some sort to do this and make something for the holidays every week or so, or even once a month, so I won't be starting late next year.  I'm going to try anyway.  :\  

Wrapping. Although I couldn't use the furoshiki wrapping method for everything, I made an effort even if the fabric pieces were not square or large enough.  I found a bunch of pompoms I made in my stash and used them, then I found some embroidered brooches and wristbands that were from past-year-makings, finished them up, and pinned or tucked them into the girls' gifts.

So...if they don't want their "wrappings," I'll gladly take them back and use them again, and I found a use for things I'd made in the past.  

Tree.  The buttonhooks came out again this year.  Now that the cats don't seem as fascinated by the tree, Fee got them out and hung some on the tree.  

Self-gifting. * This year, I'm giving myself a gift:  a correspondence with Sherlock Holmes.  I'm fond of Sherlock and love all the book pastiches like The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, Donald Thomas' Sherlock books, Laurie King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes novels, Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (yes, that Kareem Abdul-Jabaar!), the Stoker & Holmes YA books by Colleen Gleason, Emma Jane Holloway's steampunk Holmesian YA mysteries, and those are just some of my favorites. 

When I found  Dear Homes, which delivers a letter with clues to a mystery that comes by snail mail, I couldn't resist.  I'll receive the first letter in January. :)  I'm claiming I'm checking it out to see if I want to give this gift to another Holmes fan, but you know how I am about mail--I want this!

Do you ever give yourself a gift?  



Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  

Miscellaneous Assortment of Topics :)

Dementia is something that almost all of us have some personal experience.  This video is about Bournmouth University's trial using Tai Chi with dementia sufferers and their carers.  Preliminary results find fewer falls among patients who participated.  An added benefit is that both patients and carers enjoyed the process.  I still love Tai Chi, although I rarely practice any more, but given this impetus, I may return to a daily practice.  Well, I'll think about it anyway.



Stitching.    25 Million Stitches  --The first thing I stitched on the second panel was the quote, then I began filling in the background.  As I did so, it occurred to me that although mainly running stitches, the background was beginning to look like a sampler.    

 This reminded me of the TAST project in 2012 in which I made prayer flags using the stitches announced each week.  

The idea of the challenge is to work as many of the proposed stitches as you can. Each stitch is announced on Tuesday mornings – hence the name! As I announce the stitches, I list them below. With every announcement, there is a link to one of my stitch tutorials in my Stitch Dictionary that way, if you’re unsure of the stitch, you can find out how to do it.  Source:  TAST at Pintangle

I looked back at my  prayer flags, which were little samplers of sorts using various stitches from TAST each week.  The two stitches were fly stitch and buttonhole--and variations of the two stitches.  I used other stitches as well, but those were the first two for the first two weeks of TAST 2012.

Now have some more ideas for filling in the background of the second panel using variations of stitches from TAST 2012.

Mail.   

 Incoming 

A handmade card from Iliana, one of Marc's fantastic Christmas photos, 

letter and card with those whimsical stamps from Annie.  

I love the Christmas postcards with pics of kids that grow up a little more each year--

so funny to compare the pics of kids from year to year! 

Outgoing

More will be going out today.

Worm Farm.  I crushed up egg shells until they were nearly all powder and added them to the bin.  :) 

There are several reasons to put eggshells in your worm bin. Eggshells provide calcium, which reduces acidity in the bin. This prevents high acid conditions that can harm your worms. Also, crushed eggshells provide grit to aid the worms’ digestion. And, it is believed that eggshells help worms in the reproductive process.  Source:  Uncle Jim's Worm Farm 

Reading. 
I finished The Splendid and the Vile:  A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Eric Larson.  I will review it on my book blog soon, but it is a compelling account that kept me engrossed throughout!

Hands.  Steve McCurry's photographs are always touching, but his The Silent Language of Hands post seems particularly apt at expressions of love and caring, both in the photographs and the quotes.  

Back of the closet.  I made this Christmas gift for my mother over 15 years ago and after she died, I brought it home with me.  The pics aren't very clear, but it is a patchwork of fabrics with appliques cut from other fabrics.  It was a gift that I loved making and today is the first time I've worn it--a warm hug of memories.

Night Visitor.  My friend Rocky was back again.  A little shy, but extremely curious, he comes within a few feet of me and watches cautious, but not terribly afraid.  I followed him on his journey, then sat down and he came up and regarded me seriously.

I know these little bandits can be destructive, 
but he is really charming and cuter than the
much shyer possum who sometimes visits.

Fabric wrapped birthday gift.  I stamped a cat on muslin because the gift

was for Bryce Eleanor, young cat lady turning twelve.

Our cats are not so much of a problem now,

but this does appear to be a solution to the

cat/Christmas tree events.