Tradition (You should sing that)

 One tradition that I didn't let this year get in the way of was stitching an ornament for my nieces. 

 

These are Snow Buddy and Candy Claus from Satsuma Street. They stitched up quickly. And they are such fun, happy colors. I bought all the patterns for this set, and I might stitch the deer for myself because it is so mid-Century modern. A blue deer! I tell you what will they think of next?

Stitching these put me in the mood to stitch on perforated paper. I picked up Nunavut Santa (which I have been stitching since 2015?). There was less than an hour to do on the stitches. I have started beading and Mill Hill is trying to kill me by putting 02056 (sable) and 03011 (pebble gray) in the same bag. They also put green and black in the same bag, and I tell you the older I get the less funny this is! Maybe I'll have a finish to show you soon because it is embarrassing that I have been stitching on a 51x68 piece for FIVE years!

SAL Report: Nieces' Ornaments Stitched

I had promised I'd make the "twin" to the Santa ornament from last month sometime this year, and I decided this month was as good a time as any other. This delightful snowman is from Lizzie*Kate's Tiny Tidings XIX, stitched on the called-for fabric with the called-for colors. 

He stitched up much faster than I thought he would. I stitched it while I was listening to Amy Poehler's Yes Please. (I had finished Bryan Stevenson's book, which you should all read. Yes, every one of you! Everyone in the whole world should read it. We need more stonecatchers.) Her book is enjoyable but unless you dedicate yourself to the idea that it is improvisational, it will drive you bonkers. Anyway, that's why he's smiling; he listened to the last three disks. ;)

This post is linked to Heather's Smalls SAL. You can get more information there or if you click the graphic in the sidebar. You can join at any time.

Ghetto-Fabulous Craft Day

We had my niece’s craft day recently. I told her to go on Pinterest and find some projects. We made three. She wanted to learn to make the card I’ve been making nonstop since the beginning of the year. This one. She made a floral card and it came out cute, but I forgot to photograph it. 

We also wrote on t-shirts with glue to do a sort of dye-resist. Those needed to dry for some time, so we didn’t get a chance to dye them. I will be doing that soon, since she will be back to our house this Sunday and I’d like to have it done. I wrote a favorite song lyric (“When my time comes/I won’t be leaving this earth/And what I’ve done for people/will determine my worth.”). Lala wrote the names of the 18 dogs that her family has fostered. It makes an auntie proud. 

Our biggest success, though, was this melted crayon project. I love her rainbow! (I got the leftovers, so made a sort of "melted autumn leaves" thing.) I've seen this one on “Pinterest fail” memes. It was super easy, so I don’t understand how it gets cocked up.

She also made rolls with her uncle (he’s the baker). They made pull-apart rolls, and the three of us ate two while they were coming out of the oven. I think she had three more in the car on the way to Sunday dinner. Anyway, just as the oven timer was going off, she was writing something on the calendar “so we could remember what day we had craft day.” She's something else, that kid. We love her!

Crafting Day

Photo ts featuring her gerbils and dog

Today was our annual crafting day with my niece. She's 12 so I'm not sure how many of these days she'll want to do. I like to think it's not our last, but who knows?

She began the day with baking rolls with the dude. During the rise, we tie-dyed two t-shirts and made two photo shirts. We took a break for lunch and we discussed how we might make a felt bunny case for her phone. We made a pattern and cut it out adding buttons for eyes and nose. While she was adding whiskers, the dude called her down to finish making the rolls.

She returned with diminished energy. (The kneading kills her, and her uncle won't let her skimp.) We did get the rabbit sewn up. The ears have a paperclip between the green outer ear and pink lining. We had hoped this would provide some structural integrity so the ears would stand up. Unfortunately, they are too small and a bit heavy. We consulted the family engineer (my cousin and her mother) who suggested collar stays. She may be brilliant! I hope they can work it out. My niece had a huge black pompom for a bunny tail. In fact, that was her inspiration. She's a creative one, this kid!

On our way back to her house tonight, I asked if she wanted to do this again next year. "I enjoyed our day, deeply," she replied. I told her she had me up until "deeply." But she said we can do it again next year. Any ideas for crafts for a thirteen year old that we can do in a day?

Crafting with Kid

Sunday was our annual crafting day with my niece. This year she wanted to tie-dye shirts, make sorbet, make rolls, and experiment with wax. Three of those fell under the dude's purview: tie-dye, ice cream making, and bread baking. I made candles with Lala. And spent most of the day cleaning up. Remind me next year to make "my" crafts more appealing.

Here's the action shot of the tie-dye. She dyed two shirts and a pair of socks. We could't decide if she was an adult small or a child's large so we bought both and figured either her sister or mine would get the spare shirt. The socks, she loved. We could tell when she opened the side of her mouth and said, "cool." (Oh, she's a preteen. We're lucky she wants to do anything with us!)

I'm sorry there are no shots of the sorbet or the candles. You'll just have to trust. We made ice candles--you probably did this as a kid. You pour melted wax into a mold (frozen juice containers!) filled with ice and the ice resists the wax and makes holes. My ice cubes were huge, so I am hoping they worked out.

See these rolls. Best.Ever. I think we're going to make clover rolls every time we need bread. We brought them to Sunday dinner, and everyone was impressed.

We had to leave the tie-dye to cure for a few hours, so it was down to me to do the final step: I did three loads of laundry yesterday to wash out the excess dye. The socks came out great. She decided to try two techniques on them so they are different. (Yes, she's a big fan of Little Miss Matched.) The pink shirt looks fabulous (it's the one she's working on above) but doesn't photograph well. Unfortunately, the green shirt didn't come out as we had hoped. We tried to make a heart, and she basted in the heart shape, but we left out a step. D'oh. The shirts were also 50-50 instead of 100% cotton, and I'm sure that affected our results. The kit was supposed to dye 8 shirts, and we used all of the dye on these items. I think we'll have to try again. I know someone who'll be up for it!

Day O' Craft

Yesterday, we finally got it all together to give my niece her day of crafting for her birthday (January). If you hearken back to that original post, you will remember that I was using this gift as an opportunity to get he craft room in order. Well, I haven't succeeded. On the positive side, she did say, "This is the cleanest I've ever seen this room."

The dude and Lala started by slicing and brining cucumbers to make pickles. Then they moved on to bread making. During the first rise, we took her to a little dive near our house that she likes for their fried mozzarella sticks. Oh, to be so easily charmed! On the way home, we stopped at A.C. Moore to pick up roving to make the felt acorns.

Breadmaking was declared to be hard work. But when she ate her slice of bread, she even ate the crust. That's something else.

The pickles had onions in them which was a bit off-putting to her. When the dude said something about "the vegetables" she kind of freaked, worried that there'd be even more than cucumbers and onions. But she gave them the thumbs up and that's without the 4-6 week "mellowing" period.

She got a bit bored making felt balls, and frankly so did I.

I showed her how to use some of the roving to do needle-felting, because I am the kind of aunt who lives dangerously by giving a ten year old really sharp needles. She made amazing little pictures. I don't know what either of us are doing with our scenes, but they're pretty cute!

(Pie is one of the horses Yayo rides. Lala made this for her.)

About halfway through our felting session, she asked me, "Can we do this for Christmas next year?" So the day was an unqualified success!

And thanks much to the dude for doing this all on his birthday. (I'll show you his present tomorrow.)

This morning I ate the bread toasted with butter and homemade strawberry jam. Oh, mama. I've got the best husband in the world!

We Lived!

Um...Goals?

At the beginning of May, I had the audacity to record these goals:
May Goals
1. Finish My Needle and Floss
2. Bring the finish-finishing of 2008 up to eight items.
3. Work on some UFOs
4. Start the dude's anniversary present

I must have had a crazy moment of optimism to think I would do any of this! I'd just cut off my finger! Reviewing it does remind me to start the anniversary present. I think I'm going to go with the flow for the rest of the month (duh), but I'll make some goals for July.

My goal for today is to make it through the whole Thomas the Tank Engine brouhaha. The report last night was that she was Really! Excited! That will make it all worthwhile, won't it?

Can I Really Talk about My Niece and Pamela Anderson in the Same Post?

If you ever have to use the word "classy" to describe something, it never is. And I don't care if it is your outfit, Pamela Anderson stripping, a brass objet, a dame; if you use the word classy to describe it, it most certainly lacks it. Trust me: I'm from New England, and I went to women's college.

I stitched a dot on Anna's bird last night before I packed it in at 9:30. (It's okay, the doctor said I couldn't um, you know, what every other married person in America did last night.) But the meds have kicked so I should be able to stay up like a normal person. This is good because I have to finish the blanket. Today is the little one's 7th. Not so little; I still ended up feeding her lunch today--she gets so distracted--when we went to Jones. She had the Thanksgiving Dinner. I had calamari salad. (Just for a full report mom had grilled cheese and tomato soup, and Lala had chicken parm with plain pasta on the side. The dog pretended to eat the bread and some fries, but I saw him eyeballing the turkey.) This time the green glow is from the banquette and shag carpet.

Adventures in Babysitting

I have taken nary a stitch today. My cousin asked us to watch the kids all day today while she and her husband took his siblings and mother to New York to see The Producers for MIL's 85th birthday. The girls had a full day planned for us. Lala had a soccer match and they wanted to see a movie. These are the snapshots that made us smile today:

1. Yay-o holding her arms up in victory and yelling "Yay, Lala" every time Lala touched the ball in soccer. (If you haven't seen an under-7 soccer match, I'd recommend it. It's the cutest thing on two legs!)
2. Lala wondering if aliens said that people didn't exist.
3. Yay-o copying Auntie Sissy using chopsticks at dinner by eating her sesame chicken with toaster tongs.
4. The movie we saw, Flushed Away. Thumbs up all around. We're big fans of the singing slugs.
5. Lala's rendering of the characters in the movie.

I'm sort of glad that I signed up to blog every day this month. Otherwise you'd have never heard about today...

Stitch stitch stitch

I am happy to report that I did very well this weekend stitching my little fingers to the bone on the afghan. I did all I anticipated in Friday's message and more (all but two leaves and one flower). I'm sure this square will be done by Thursday. . . if I decide to fly with it. I'm not sure about this. It's big, the project bag is big. Stitching with the afghan flowing on to my own dirty floor is one thing, but onto the floor of a nasty airplane? And I don't think I'll get that much stitching done when we're at my cousin's for Thanksgiving: she has adorable girls that must be showered with feminist enthusiasm and auntly love. (My aunt and mother are always saying the girls will be models--tall and lovely and photogenic--so I always try to remind them that they can play basketball or volleyball and be doctors or other well-educated types. What can I say? It's my calling.) OTOH, I can envision lots of reasons that I may end up completely bored in airports. I'll see how the packing goes.