Digging Out

Today I made my first inroads into the deadline induced mound of chaos that is my studio. Clearing a path to think creatively and with something of an organized mind is an absolute necessity for me. Oh - that and the fact that I can't walk two feet or reach any of my supplies for the piles on the floor. I've been racing to meet one deadline after another and things just (literally) piled up.

After clearing one corner I took a break to sew up some Christmas Bags. Every year I buy a yard or two of a Christmas fabric on clearance and make a few gift-wrap bags of different sizes. Sometimes I get fancy and include drawstrings and linings. This year I just whipped a few rectangles together with serged edges and tied it with a ribbon. I've always disliked gift-wrap. Not really. Actually - I think a beautifully wrapped gift is too beautiful. All that time and expense on something that will be ripped apart and thrown away. These bags are kept year to year or given away. Believe it or not they end up being much cheaper, even initially, than wrapping paper. If I wanted to they could be as elaborate and beautiful as any paper wrapped gift.

And this for Catherine in New Zealand. The view out my studio window. Blue skies, colorful autumn leaves, green pines. Here in NC there are trees grow like weeds everywhere that you don't mow or pave. Most lawns stay green year round. I love it here weather-wise. Mostly. Talk to me again in August about humidity. I think I'm definitely a cold weather girl. I love my woolen sweaters and socks.

Quilting Arts Gifts

Fun stuff again! I just received advance copies of Quilting Arts GIFTS, a fun issue full of quick and easy projects that are perfect for Christmas. It should be on the stands by the end on September.

It's been years since I've had time to make hand-made gifts for people so I don't usually pay attention to projects like this. If I were to do something from this issue however, it would most definitely by Lois Jarvis' Travel Scarf. You'll have to look it up. Here's a sneak peak at my project.

As sort of an "aside" I thought I'd share my Christmas gift philosophy. We have lots of kids in our family. We live in an affluent area of the United States. We love Christmas. I do, however, try my level best to raise my children without that sense of entitlement that seems so prevalent among children today. I think they get tired of my telling them that we are put on the earth to make it a better place, not to be entertained.

The kids get one gift from "Santa" and a small something in their stockings. They love to make or buy gifts for each other. We don't put presents under our tree until Christmas Eve. After they go to bed each child is allowed to sneak up, pull out the gifts for the family that they have hidden, and put on the elf hat and arrange it under the tree. Then we put the rest of the gifts there. 

We give family portraits to our parents every year and among my siblings we have traded names in the past. Lately we have written down our different memories of a common experience instead of buying things. Eventually we will have a family history book that will be a treasure for generations.

We try each year to choose a service project, such as sponsoring another family, and go all out spending a day shopping and wrapping and when possible, anonymously delivering gifts for them. The kids know Christmas is not their birthday - it is Christs'. 

Twas the week before Christmas

And I've been ready for the big day for quite a while. That is mostly because we only buy one gift per child plus a few small things in the stockings including some sort of "making" thing they can keep occupied with that day. After all... it's not our birthday! I'm thinking that even though we've already done our family service projects we'll try to find another one for that day.

I read "Unplugging The Christmas Machine" a number of years ago and it gave me permission to do what I wanted to do for Christmas... which was spend time with family, friends, and music. I cut out everything else. No baking. Decorating only if I want to and have time. Minimal gifts, service projects. We send out Valentines cards instead of Christmas cards. Now we have a fun time during December.

So... the Christmas decorations are only half up and when we had guests over this was the most convenient place to throw the tubs.

Also notice bags and boxes everywhere. I got a wonderful box of scraps from the floor of the most amazing artist Carter Smith. I haven't had time to go through it. I'm also behind on my deadline for three quilts that need to be done soon for a group exhibit. And on a class I'm writing up for Quilt University. Granted they were deadlines that I moved up on myself to give myself more time for an even bigger "project" after the first of the year. Ah well. It's good to slow down for a bit.