Greetings from Finally Cooler Colorado!!
The weather people here tell us that this August was the HOTTEST on record!! Over 20 days with temps over 90!! And yet, we didn't see 100. Not once. Not in August, and not all summer long. Can't figure that one out. All I know is that August was stinkin' hot.
We escaped to the cabin at the end of the heat, over Labor Day weekend. Thought we'd find nice cool temps up there, and we sure did. Saturday night, the low got down to 32!! Okay, I wanted cooler, but not cold!! Not yet.
This week has been cooler, today it isn't even going to get up to 60. Drizzly and gray and I'm wearing jeans for the first time in 3+ months. And a sweater! And, just a little bit, it's starting to feel like, yeah, we may just see Christmas in about 3 1/2 months!!
Since my last post, there has been more cross-stitching, of course!! And the process has begun to turn the cross-stitches into finished products. First up, "ornaments," or small wall-hangings. I picked up a handful of small embroidery hoops at the local Hobby Lobby and chose some of the cross-stitches to work with. Okay, most were chosen by the fact that they would fit in the hoop size!!
There are a couple of others that are larger, and therefore I got bigger hoops for them (duh, I know!!). I like them a lot because they're three-dimensional, with the buttons on them. Love the colors! I don't know why, but I find these two patterns really relaxing to stitch. So, I'll probably make a few more. Need to get more red buttons. (Note: Go thru Mom's buttons on upcoming visit.)
I know I've mentioned my addiction to Pinterest.com. I've found some great ideas on that site. I started off looking for Christmas ideas. I've found that and so much more!! Here's a shot of one that I just made, a button Christmas tree. Fun, easy, and you know that means I'll do more. I picked up a cone-shaped Styrofoam form at Hobby Lobby. I had plenty of pins and buttons, so, voila!!
I'm looking forward to doing a few more of these, perhaps one or two in traditional Christmas colors. Once I get more supplies, I'm sure I'll have more to show.
Last, but not least, I've also been working on Christmas gifts. Because I'm unemployed, many of my gifts will be of the handmade variety this year. I've made a few cross-stitch designs that aren't Christmas decorations, but will be gifts. I've added jingle bells to knitted Christmas bell ornaments. I've started knitting a few scarves, and have an idea for a hat that I'm going to try.
I've also started doing some stuff with the many glass bottles I've been saving and one of my neighbors has been saving for me. I can cut glass with our dremel, so I'm cutting bottles in order to make hurricanes and holders for candles. Still have a lot of sanding to do on those. I've also got ideas for making more candle holders out of mason jars. And other jars will hold some of the homemade lotions and potions I'll be experimenting with. Should be a fun autumn!
And yay, cool weather means BAKING!! I can't wait.
Sorry if this is a long post. It's been a few weeks, plus, I leave on Sunday night for a 2+ week trip back east to see my parents and many friends. I will be taking stuff to continue working on, so there will be Christmas creating, but I'm not sure if or how many posts I may get done. I'll try to do at least one. :)
Thanks for reading. BTW, I've already starting formulating my next long-term project for once Christmas is done!!
Jayne
The dog days of summer continue. Whew, it's hot. Every day. Well, we've had a few below 90, but only a few. We escaped to the mountains a couple of times to cool off. At the family cabin it tends to be about 20 degrees cooler during the summer. Great sleeping and some really impressive storms. Last time we were there, the deck got pounded and covered with pea-sized hail. Meanwhile, to the west we could see the beautiful sunset and to the east was a rainbow. Colorado weather. Go figure.
The weather has meant a lot of not moving much, and not getting to spend much time upstairs in the craft loft. So, more cross-stitching!
Yeah, working on more than one at once -- breaking one of my rules!! But it keeps me from getting bored, that's for sure.
I finally got some jingle bells, so I can finish all the knitted bells that are filling my yarn basket and get them hung on one of my trees upstairs. I also have some light repair to do on one of the trees. Only one of the strands of lights is lighting right now. Probably a dead bulb somewhere. Fortunately, I have a few more strands lying around to replace if I have to.
And I've started playing with colored pencils. Saw a great exercise on the internet, so, of course, I had to try it. I've done it with both Christmas and non-Christmas colors. It's fun, and very Dr. Seuss-like. While I've been doing these, my husband has taken to calling me "Mrs. Seuss." Here's the Christmas-looking one.
Kind of weird, I think, but fun and a great exercise in terms of colors and shading.
Last, but not least, some other coloring that might make another appearance on some wrapping paper. I know that I could do it with stamps, but I really like the effect of having it hand-drawn and colored.
I was excited to go to Hobby Lobby this week and find that the Christmas craft stuff has arrived!! All different shapes and sizes of glass ornaments to be decorated. All different colors, too. Garlands and wreaths and everything!! I restrained and only bought a couple of things, but I take this as a sign that cooler weather will come and soon I'll be baking and lamenting that there just isn't enough time before Christmas to get everything done.
Keep cool!!
-Jayne
I am so embarrassed. And sorry. It's been about 3 weeks since my last post. No excuse for that. Although, I do have several reasons. Unfortunately, none of them has anything to do with getting any kind of employment, so really, there is no good reason to not be able to find the time for a quick post along the way.
And I don't even have any super exciting news to share about some terribly new and exciting craft or project! It's been a lot of the "same-old, same-old" around here. Lots of cross-stitching, a little knitting, and one special Christmas project experience.
As to the first: cross-stitching. I guess this borderline obsession with it comes from not having done it for a while. It is somewhat all-encompassing right now!! I've done of ton of it, although now that I'm working on some more involved stuff, it moves a bit slowly. Before my next post, I'll go through everything that I've completed and be sure to post any photos that haven't already been posted. I continue to slowly work my way through the wonderful book of patterns that my friend Lady Caroline gave me. So much fun.
Not a lot of knitting, but some work on bells and pieces of the knitted chain that I've been working on.
There was one special project that, unfortunately, I don't have any photos of. I totally forgot to take any. I was in Minnetonka, MN for almost a week, visiting my sister and her family. My niece, Emelia, is almost 4. I brought several crafts for us to do together. One was to make button pictures. Since it was super hot, and even more humid, we decided to do something to cool us down. Using only white buttons, we pretended they were snow and made some "cool" Christmas pictures. One of a snowman and snow woman. And another of their snow castle. Fun and cute. And I think we both felt a bit cooler when we were done. :)
I have been doing more research, mostly in www.pinterest.com, finding lots of projects to do. I've found a few for when it's cooler and closer to Christmas, and I start my baking. I'm excited to try them.
For now, back to what I was doing. Waiting for my craft loft to cool off enough (maybe by September) to spend more time up there.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention -- I got another small artificial tree with lights on it and some old-fashioned Christmas lights at a garage sale. Going to decorate the tree. Going to make some glittery ornaments out of the lights.
Keep cool, my friends. It's the dog days of summer out there!!
-Jayne
So, I was wrong. I admit it. But the beauty of this project and blog is that it's MINE, so really I'm never wrong. I just readjust!!!
I really thought that I'd move away from the cross-stitching at the end of June. But I didn't. It started because I hadn't finished my last cross-stitch project by the end of the month. Took me a few more days to get it done, because it was the holiday weekend and I could only do a little each day. But here it is. I ended up having to use two, just slightly different, shades of green, so this one will become something for our house. The book has it as a pillow, I think that would be nice. I have started another one (yes, I think I'm addicted!!), but here's the first one.
Then, I started thinking about other ways that I could incorporate embroidery into the Christmas project. I decided to try embroidering directly onto cardfronts. These are the first few efforts. Just getting the hang of it.
Related to this, I had another idea. I'm going to try stamping on the cardfront, then embroidering part of the design - maybe the outline, or maybe letters if there are any words, or one of the objects. I'm not quite sure yet how it will go, but I'm going to give it a shot. If it works, there will be photos in my next post.
Yeah, the thread addiction is going to continue for a while!!
Meanwhile, I'm getting lots of new ideas. If you haven't checked www.pinterest.com, do it - lots of great ideas and it's really fun to save them! It's another of my latest addictions!!!
-Jayne
Wow, can't believe that the end of June is upon me. That means that the end of "yarn & thread month" is just about here. I have to say, I could have just called it "thread month," as I did not much knitting at all!!! I am/was totally obsessed with cross-stitch.
Since my last post, I took on a couple of slightly more involved cross-stitch projects, ones that I couldn't complete in a day. The first took a while because it's got kind of a busy pattern. Plus, I had to remember a lot of stuff that I'd kind of forgotten over the years. I made a couple of mistakes, but don't think you can really see them.
I'm working on another one, one that isn't as involved a pattern as that quilted-looking Christmas tree, but it's taking a while. Plus - can you believe it - I'm running low on green thread!!! What??!! Can't be without green thread on Christmas projects. I'll have to take what I've got and see if I can match it. I bet I can. Or come super close. So hopefully you won't see where I switch out on the project!!!
I love this one. It's a great Christmas tree themed take on the sampler. I think it will be cute when I finish it. The pattern shows it as the front of a pillow. Don't know if I'll do that, or if I'll frame it, or what. At some point I'll have to figure out some of that with the larger cross-stitches I've made this month!!
I'm not sure I'll have a specific theme for July. I'll continue to knit and to cross-stitch, perhaps make a few cards out of some of the cross-stitches. I've found a new site called "Pinterest" that allows you to pin things all together, like a bulletin board, instead of having to make each website a favorite just because of one project or recipe or photo. I love it!! And I've found a lot of great ideas for Christmas projects. So, I'll probably take on one or two of those.
With temps in the upper 90's this week, Christmas thoughts are helping to keep me cool!! I'm fondly remembering some of the colder days from back in December and January!!
Jayne
It's a beautiful Monday morning in my part of the world. Rainy, dreary, kind of cool. Nature's way of reminding us that Spring still has a couple of days left before giving way to the official start of Summer. It's a great day to be inside, to be cross-stitching, reading and baking. I hope to accomplish all three today. At least I don't have to water the lawn and all the gardens!!
Up until yesterday, I spent all my time since last posting doing cross-stitch, based on the same design, a Santa Claus. Well, really, except for one (as you'll see), just Santa's head. Surrounded with a variety of holiday greetings. Loved it because they were quick and easy to do. I won't post all the photos, just a few so you get the idea.
I also did one using the entire Santa Claus. Same basic concept though.
After a lot of Santa, it was time to move on to something else!! My dear friend, Lady Caroline, sent me a book that she had. Thank you Lady Caroline!!! It's a book of Christmas cross-stitch designs. They're all fairly small and simple, so they'll make great card-fronts, ornaments, etc. I picked one to start with, based on a patchwork quilt pattern. There are four designs in this style, so you know I'll end up making all of them.
I still haven't figured out what I'll do with all of the cross-stitch that I've completed. Some of them are just right for card-fronts, but others are too big. Those might make good ornaments, but I've got work out how I would mount and back them to make them look best. I'm also toying with the idea of some kind of wall-hanging that would incorporate several of the completed cross-stitches, maybe in somewhat of a "quilt" motif. I'll have to think on this for a while.
I also need to start thinking about what comes next. I designated June has "yarn & thread" month, doing some knitting and lots of cross-stitch. I'm sure I'll continue to do both of those, but don't see where I can keep doing them all the time. Perhaps some wreaths for July? Maybe work on a couple of Advent calendars and Advent wreaths. Hmm. Still too soon to start serious baking. Really, I'm not too worried!! I have lots I still want to do.
Happy week to all!!
Jayne
Yikes, we're under 200 days till Christmas!! Everyone better get going on their shopping!!
Really, I can't believe that it's under 200. When I started at Day 300, it seemed so long to visualize being 100 days into the project. That mark has just slipped by me, hardly even noticed until I was getting ready to catch up here today. It's probably because I set a theme for the month of June, and haven't been as concerned with documenting each day as long as I've done something related to Christmas.
It's been all about the yarn and thread the past couple of weeks. Some knitting, but mostly cross-stitching and everything that goes with it. I've created a few designs on my own, and searched the internet for others. Trying to keep it pretty simple and kind of small. The original plan is to use most of the cross-stitching for card-fronts, although I've also been thinking about doing a wall-hanging or two as well. Right now I'm simply enjoying doing cross-stitch again after years of not doing it at all. That means I'm a bit slow, but doing at least some every day.
I posted several photos last time, and a lot of what I've done since then is duplicate so that I can make more than one card out of a specific design or use a design in more than one wall-hanging. But here are a few that haven't been posted yet.
Another thing I did one day last week, a particularly hot day in Denver, was to ask on Facebook for help in cooling off. I asked my friends to post the name of their favorite Christmas song/carol on my wall. I heard from several friends. And it was kind of a cool-off. It also gave me the idea that perhaps I would cross-stitch some of these favorite titles and then use them as the card-front for the specific friend who posted it as his/her favorite. Wonder if they'll even remember by the time Christmas cards are sent and received??
In two interviews last week, one for a job and one for a volunteer opportunity, I was asked to speak about what I've done while I haven't been working in an outside the home job and between temp assignments. I was happy to answer that far from being a "lady of leisure," I was using this opportunity to recapture past interests and to try new things, to not waste the gift of time that I've been given. Sure, while I wish that I had a paying job so that I could contribute more concretely to my home/relationship/family, really I have been given a gift of time. I'm doing everything I can to enjoy the gift in really creative, productive ways. I may never get anything like this again, so I've got to make the most of it. :)
-Jayne
Welcome to June!! I have declared June to be textile or yarn/thread month in the world of the 300 Days Till Christmas Project!! (Besides, it's just too early to start baking cookies!!)
I am so completely into cross-stitching right now, and some of what I'm designing and stitching can't be completed in just a day or two, and I have so many I want to do ... well, that's what I'm going to focus on for the month of June. I'll continue to do some knitting as well, to keep with the theme. Any card-making that I do will be using the cross-stitches that I finish.
Last week I posted the first three I completed. Here are the ones I've done since then.
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed cross-stitch!! I can't believe how long it's been since I've done it. I'm so excited to be doing it again. Some of these will become cardfronts -- I can't wait to see how they look.
Even though I'll be doing a lot of cross-stitch and knitting for this month, I will still post and add photos of new stuff. The project has taken a turn (to a theme for a month) that I didn't plan on or expect when I started. But I like the idea of following the spirit (of Christmas!!) where it takes me.
Off to design some new Christmas Cross-stitch ... Or Xmas Xstitch!!
Jayne
Another busy week has flown by. The weather here in Denver is mostly weird. Definitely one of the wetter Mays that I remember since moving here. 18 years ago, this summer. Wow! It doesn't really feel like it, probably because I'm always discovering new things about Denver and Colorado, and about myself.
Because I was outside doing yard and garden stuff most of the week (thank you to all my neighbors who have complimented the yard!!), I took it a bit easy on myself this week. Tired arms and shoulders don't always make for major craft projects!! At some point I'll have to post garden photos here so you can see what I do (and love!) when I'm not doing Christmas crafts and looking for a job.
I knitted for a couple of days, continuing to work on the knitted tree chain. They "sell" that project by making it sound so easy and short -- just use your leftover yarn and whip off one of these when you have a moment. Right. If I do it at that rate, I won't have any kind of close to completed chain for a couple of years!! So I plug away on it, now that my fave shows are done for the summer, while I listen to baseball games on mlb.com. It works.
Then, one day, I wrapped some empty oatmeal canisters with Christmas wrapping paper. I'll use those to package Christmas baked goodies for people. I only had two though. Gonna have to start eating way more oatmeal!!
Then, I remembered cross-stitch. I used to love to cross-stitch, and haven't done it in quite a while. Of course, I still have all my stuff -- canvas, thread, hoops, patterns, several unfinished project -- you know how it goes!! I've got a ton of ideas of what I could do with Christmas cross-stitching. So, grabbed the graph paper and created a few simple designs and stitched them up.
Since I'll be away from my craft room for part of the Memorial Day weekend, more cross-stitch and knitting will be happening, since those two are very portable. Since I'm thinking that these will become card-fronts, I'm sure I'll be card-making in the very near future, as soon as I've completed several more.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend. While we all enjoy the three-day weekend, pause a moment to remember why we have it. So many men and women have bravely served and heroically died for our freedom. I may not agree with every war or conflict, but I deeply admire those who serve, and those who serve and have died for the United States. I pray for peace.
-Jayne
It's been a much better week, creatively, than last week was. Feeling back in the groove! Of course, it didn't hurt any that there were a couple of very dreary, rainy days where I was stuck inside. I watched the lawn get greener and the weeds get bigger from my window as I worked on Christmas project.
This week there have been three projects completed.
First up, I had a few mini canvasses lying around. I decided it was time to try something with one of them. I wasn't really in the mood to paint, so I "painted" a tree on with some markers. Added some bling to be the ornaments and the star. Added a cut-out package, and there it is. Just a fun little thing.
Yikes! I can't believe, on the one hand, that it's been 8 days since I last posted!! On the other hand, given my mood and motivation, and the amount of yard/garden work I've been getting done, as well as the rest of crazy stuff that's keeping me hopping, I guess I'm not surprised.
As the weather has made overall improvement outside, I've felt the call to do more and more in the yard. It's hard to resist. I've spent several hours out there some days (big yard, needs lots of work!), and when I come in, well, all I want to do is sit and do nothing. I've also struggled a bit with motivation for this project in terms of what to be doing. It's obviously still too early to do some things, like baking, but other than make more and more cards, I was feeling a bit stalled out about what to do next.
And yet, I didn't just want to stop, so I didn't. I've written a couple of haiku on a couple of days. I've done a fair amount of knitting. I made another button candy chain. I hung some Christmas lights on the loft banister. I made a card with one of the doily wreaths, but I really don't like it, so I won't be using it. Or showing a photo of it. I did something related to Christmas every day, but I didn't love everything I did.
Then today, even after spending almost the entire day planting flowers and mowing the lawn outside and baking lavender pound cake inside, I had a good healthy urge about the Christmas project!! So, I think I'm over the hump. Or maybe it's out of the rut. Not sure, but I was glad to feel it again.
I remembered that I have a tin full of small jigsaw puzzle pieces that have all been spray-painted dark green. Years and years ago, at an Advent workshop, we made wreaths by gluing puzzle pieces together and then decorating them. I still have the one I made, and have put magnets on the back of it so I can put it on the refrigerator at Christmastime.
Tonight I glued together three of the wreaths. So much fun. Really cute. Really easy and relaxing. I seem to remember it was a good one for many ages. Anal adults like me made very impressive little wreaths, but kids could also do it and have fun with it.
Here are some shots of the puzzle-piece wreaths:
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!!
-Jayne
