Handmade Hairbands

Yesterday I decided I wanted to get gifts finished for my SIL.  I had a few things tucked away already but wanted something else.  I decided to make her a hairband.  I found this fabric in my scrap bag. (I think it was from a top my mom was making in the 60s or 70s)

I cut out a 4 inch by 18 inch piece to fold in half and sew.

I found a piece of elastic and cut it to 5 inches.

Then used it to join the two ends (the corners were folded into the middle after this picture to make a nice finished edge). And that was it, so simple and quick.

Then I decided that she needed another.  So back to the scrap bag...

And I made a wider silk one. Lovely.

Now I think I need one for myself.

My Favourite "Christmas" Toffee

Every year when I was little my mom and I made this toffee.  We did a lot of baking but this was one of my favourites (as well as the gingerbread village and nanaimo  bars).  I haven't made it for a few years and my boys don't remember it.  This year in thinking about which traditions are the most important to each of us I decided I wanted to start making this again each year.

It is a very simple recipe with only four ingredients.(The original recipe calls for corn syrup but I don't use corn syrup so I subbed honey.) I had two eager helpers. 

Yes, one of them was an elf.

We stirred (and stirred and stirred until softball stage).  This must be cooked at a lowish temperature otherwise it will burn.

When it is cooled you cut it into small squares.  We used to wrap each square in pieces of cellophane and would then include some in gift baskets.  I suggest making a batch JUST for your own family. ;-)

We tested if (just for you) to make sure it was just as good with  the honey substitute.  Wasn't that thoughtful of us?  It is every bit as delicious as I remember.

Here is the recipe.  Once you taste it perhaps it will become an addition to your family traditions?

Soft Taffy
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
5 tbsp honey (originally corn syrup)

Put all ingredients in a thick pan.  Stir constantly (seriously!) at lowish temperature until it reaches softball stage on a candy thermometer.  Pour into buttered 9x13 pan.  Let cool and slice into small squares.  Store in fridge or freezer.

Sunsets, Crafting and Giant Chocolate Bars

The boys and I have been spending at least a little time each day working on some crafts.  E saw a little mouse in this book and decided that he Must Make One Right Now.  So he did.  And then he made another, and another, and another.  A whole mischief of mice.  They're darling.  So sweet.

I tried out a felted candy cane for the tree.

We had to dig out some of our old lights because we didn't have enough LED lights to fill our huge tree.

Each evening we take time to stop and enjoy the sunset.

And, we decided we couldn't resist getting a giant chocolate bar each for two family members.  Each time I see one of these I am tickled.  They are just so ridiculously huge.  The Green & Black's bar pictured below is actually a 100 gram family sized bar.  It just looks teeny compared to the other one.  These are so yummy.

The Tree!!

This weekend we went up the road a few miles to find our tree.  We had decided to get quite a tall one since this year we have tall ceilings.  The boys were very excited.  We tromped through the woods, we tromped up the hills, we tromped along trails.

Some of us made snow angels (or perhaps snow rascals?).

The boys got up to our old tricks of shaking snow off trees onto those below.

We checked out many (many!) trees.

 And then, just when we were about to go back to our first "potential" tree we had spotted, S spotted "the one".  We had been looking for a Douglas Fir and he found a beautiful one.

They cut.  We carried.  We spent some time trying to figure out just how we were going to get this tree into the house.  We spent some more time trying to get it to stand up straight without falling over (it was waaaaay too big for our tree stand -which is MIA anyway).  So...after spending hours yesterday trying to get this tree up here are our hard-learned tips.

Don't - Spend hours holding it up while trying to screw "legs" onto the bottom to stabilize it.  You will have sore arms and everyone will be grouchy each time the tree moves slightly.

Don't - Designate more than one person to give directions for straightening the tree -  more grouchiness!

Don't - Get such a big tree. (Oh, I'm just kidding about that one)

DO - Put a brace up high on the second level and brace the trunk of the tree right to a wall!!  Then all will be well and those "legs" you screwed on to brace the tree will all of a sudden work like a charm.

And now it is up and ready for decorations - our biggest tree ever.  Now we just need to make a whole lot of decorations (these, these,and these for starters) since we normally only decorate a 7 foot tree. ;-)

Handmade Shopping Bags for Gifts

Yesterday I decided it was time to put a hold on the wayward knitting projects and get some gifts done quickly so we could get them in the post.  I decided to make some more of these favourite shopping bags out of some thrifted fabric I had on hand.  I decided to re-work my pattern so that I could fit them (top-to-bottom) on a 44 inch piece of fabric so I spent a few moments drawing out a smaller version of the bag and then I set to work.

This time I decided to sew a little clip into the bag so that it could be attached to a purse.

I used some thrifted bias tape and thrifted thread and it was done in no time. So then...

I made another. 

Now to see how many more I can get done today with some other fabrics.

More Green Decorations

Yesterday was such a beautiful day - cold but sunny.  The boys weren't impressed with this dry snow but I thought it was awfully pretty.  Little crystals standing up all over.

In the afternoon they went out to sled and I started another greenery decoration.  A lovely friend loaned me a wooden window box so I could do one for our deck.  We'll have to search for some rosehips to add to it when we go out looking for a tree this weekend.

While I was working I put my coffee down on a handy spot and when I went to drink it realized that it was very cold - my first iced coffee...iced naturally. ;-)

The other day we were out and just as I went to take this photo the deer turned away.  Camera shy?

Enjoying the What Is...

Sometimes there are days when things don't go the way we would like.  Yesterday was one of those days and I ended up spending my planned X day (which was meant to be a day to get some gifts finished) in bed with a very nasty stomach bug.  Thankfully I'm up and about today and things are looking a little brighter.  Well, except for a few gifts that aren't quite going the way I had pictured them.

I have this tendency to not follow patterns (yes, the same way I am with recipes); sometimes this tendency can lead to really fun and wonderful results, other times...not so much.  I saw this Baktus shawl/scarf on Handmade Homeschool's blog and was sure it would be just the right gift for my SIL.  It seemed simple enough until I decided to try to alter the pattern to look more like the one shown on the blog and I decided to use stockinette stitch (like the Karius scarf) instead of garter.  Mine seems determined to curl inwards so much that it looks more like an overgrown caterpillar than a lovely shawl/scarf.  Methinks I should have stuck with garter stitch.  I've had a few "helpful" suggestions from "the boys" that I should just finish it off and iron it. ;-)  Any one else have any quick fix ideas?  I'd love it if I didn't have to rip it all out.

Last year I started on this bag for my other SIL with the plan to make a Runabout purse.  I decided part way through that a cosmetic bag would be a better gift (thinking that it's better for women to choose their own purse) and tucked the partially knitted bag away.  Last week I got it back out to finish knitting so I could finish knitting it,  felt it, do some needle felting on and then line it as a cosmetic bag.  I just realized that in between those times I obviously borrowed the circ. needles I was using and tucked some other size in to hold the stitches in place.  It took me several inches of knitting to realize that my stitches were much smaller.  Now I can't decide if I should just rip the whole thing out and make a button hole bag instead.  (or perhaps just send a giant chocolate bar and forget knitting for this year?)

Thankfully a few things are turning out the way I had hoped.  I'm pleased with this needle-felted butterfly.  It will likely become a hair barrette, pony tail holder or decoration on a hairband - depending on what the recipient prefers.

And we had another gorgeous walk in the woods on the weekend.  I do so love living in the woods.  We followed rabbit tracks.

and squirrel tracks.

Then we found a log across the creek with more of their tracks on it - their own little bridge across the (hopefully not troubled) water.

And, we collected some more bits for our greenery decorations - rosehips, juniper (with beautiful blue berries), snowberries, oregon grape, kinnickinnic (with red berries), and some lovely sticks with pinecones still attached.

This one isn't quite done.  I still need to add all the colourful berry bits.

This one is waiting for just a few more bits too.

And we also stopped to watch the sun start setting.  I loved the way it looked shining through this, there were droplets of water too because the snow was melting in the sun but I couldn't catch those very well with my camera. Lovely.