Handmade Wooden Jewelery

Well...that was a bit of a break I had no idea I would be taking.  ;-)  Funny how time gets away on you and before you realize it, it is almost the end of the first month of the new year. Yikes.  We've been busy with decluttering and doing some packing and also with fun stuff like the boys learning to downhill ski and S and I re-learning to ski (after many, many years not skiing - almost 30 year for me!).  I'm thrilled we have another activity to enjoy as a family.

I did mean to show you all the wooden delights my talented boys (the big one too!) gifted me with this Christmas - and since it's a month past I guess I better get on with it.

W made this beautiful spoon out of walnut wood for me.  It feels just right in my hand and I am determined to use it even though it feels too "good" to use in many ways.  I know he wants me to put it to proper use instead of saving it so I will - just not with tomato-y things (or blueberries, grapes, elderberries or anything else that might stain it).

E made these gorgeous wooden holders for our cloth napkins (also out of walnut).  They're beautiful and...I just happened to find some lovely linen napkins at the thrift store that look just right with them (although they also make even our everyday cloth napkins look good - shown below) .

He also made me this handy pen holder for my desktop - he knows I LOVE things made from wood.  It holds 3 pens (or pencils) and helps to keep me organized (a habit I am working to develop even more this year).

And S made me all sorts of good things - another beautiful board (that I can't bear to cut on so I call it a cheese board instead of a bread board) and a knife to go with it.

And...five wooden (not golden) rings.  I had been looking through a book on handmade things earlier in the month and had shown him some wooden rings that I thought were beautiful so you can imagine my delight when I found that my talented husband had made some for me!  This is one of my favourites.

And then I think he got on a roll with jewelery making and decided I needed some bangles to go with my rings

and also some necklaces.  He also made my mom some beautiful earrings that I don't have a picture of but I can tell you that all the females in our family were delighted with him.  I do so love handmade gifts!

Felted Sweater Hat and Needle Felted Sweater

Well, apparently I was having such a relaxing holiday that I managed to forget all about posting these two gifts - my favourite handmade things from this Christmas.  E had told me that he would like to get a hat with earflaps (what I consider an Elmer Fudd hat) and so I was delighted to find a pattern for one in this fun book (Warm Fuzzies by Betz White).   This made up quickly and easily on the 23rd from thrifted sweaters, already felted, I had on hand.  I was quite happy with how it turned out and I am thrilled with how much he loves it.  He has worn it constantly (even inside the house) since.

I also really like this gift - as a mama to two boys I am thrilled when I can make something for the little girls I know.  I was very pleased with how this one turned out too.  I started it quite awhile ago but somehow got sidetracked with other gifts so it was a good feeling to get it finished.

The bumble bee is a 3 D needle felted bee that I stitched on (the same kind I make for wreaths and hair barrettes). 

The ladybug is needle-felted right onto the little pocket.

And...I couldn't very well leave the back of the sweater plain, could I?  No, I didn't think so either, so I did a little dragon fly.  Fun.

Last Minute....

We're enjoying spending yesterday and today finishing  up a few odds and ends.  Yesterday we made our gingerbread people for decorating.  Last year we decided to borrow this tradition from friends - each year they decorate gingerbread people for each person spending the holidays with them - then we decorated them ahead of time (the boys couldn't wait) but this year we will decorate them once all our company is here tomorrow.

The boys finished their woodwork gift projects and I finished a few last minute things -a knitted hat out of Buffalo wool.

And these fun hair elastics - they're made from self cover buttons that I found at the thrift store and bits of fabric from my scrap bag.

This one is my favourite because it is made from some fabric that was in my mom's stash of fabrics from when I was little.  I definitely want to make more of these.

Today all we need to do is wrap, make shortbread and prepare some beds for company coming today and tomorrow.  I might need to dig through my scrap bags to find more fabric for wrapping as I seem to have used most of my cloth bags already and will either need to make a few more or, if I run out of time...

wrap more in furoshiki like this (now I wish I'd bought more square scarves last time I was thrifting).

And...we still have plenty of time for walks and sledding in the fresh, new snow we received yesterday.  Not to mention plenty of time for hot tea and cookies too.

Wishing you joy, fun and love, as well as quiet time for tea and cookies.

Solstice and the gifts of darkness

We celebrated yesterday with our Solstice traditions. I LOVE these simple traditions - they bring me a sense of rhythm...remind me of the seasonal cycle that we are blessed with. This year I've really settled into this darker season and have found much to enjoy about it. I've enjoyed the S L O W ness that it has ushered in, actually, I've welcomed it quite readily - probably for the first time I can recall...I think I really needed it this year.

(daily walks in the woods (and seeing the antics of our silly dog) have helped immensely with my enjoyment of this season)

As a gardener I can see the importance of the winter season for plants- a time of going inward with little outward appearance of growth, a sort of gathering in of reserves to build energy for the springtime to come - and I consider this a valuable season for myself in the same way.  After all, who couldn't use a little bit of extra rest and quiet time and the darkness lends itself so well to that.  So, since I've been enjoying the darker days instead of counting them down, it almost came as a surprise that it was already Solstice but we managed to organize ourselves to celebrate just the same. 

Our traditions are very simple (and flexible) - we have homemade pizza for dinner (round to symbolize the sun) and SUNdaes (because they're delicious and having SUN in their names means it makes perfect sense).  We also have a fire (outside in the past but inside this time) into which we take turns throwing slips of paper where we've written things we want to "get rid of" - habits, behaviours, items or whatever is no longer serving us in our lives.  Then we gleefully watch them burn and say an intention to replace the burned thing.  Very fun!

Last night E also wanted to do our gratitude candles and so we did...even though this is usually our Thanksgiving tradition.  For this we sit at our table and, as we go around the table, we take turns saying something we are thankful for and then light a tealight candle off our centre candle.  I love this tradition too and we all always feel very grateful for the abundance in our lives after doing this.

I hope you had a wonderful Solstice too.

In the Kitchen

We've been busy in the kitchen making all kinds of treats.  We made some old favourites like Thimble Cookies

(shown here waiting to be filled with blackberry jam or raspberry currant jelly)

and some newer favourites like Brown Sugar Button cookies.

I made a double batch of these seedy crackers to give as gifts with homemade cheeseballs (although, of course, we will be sure to keep some to enjoy ourselves).

Filled with yummy ingredients and baked into loaves, then sliced and baked again...

they're a delicious, seedy, crispy treat.

And we didn't forget our bird friends.  E made these to put out on the solstice tree tomorrow. We put them out on the patio to keep cold and the Gray Jays have already been helping themselves to them.

We'll poke a length of yarn through and go outside tomorrow afternoon to hang them on the solstice tree as edible ornaments for the birds.

More Felted Sweater Slippers

I wanted to make a pair of slippers that were just a bit more masculine than the ones with the crochet trim. ;-)  I found a pattern that I liked here (and, surprisingly, I was able to print it out at the size I wanted without any computer help from my son).

The top pieces are sewn together and then I cut the bottoms out of a dark blue felted sweater for contrast.  This is what the finished slippers were supposed to look like but all three of my boys thought that they didn't quite look finished.

In the end I decided to use some of the ribbing from the blue sweater as a band around the ankle and we also decided that for this pair we liked them better with the seams on the inside rather than outside.

And I like knowing that most everyone in my family will have cozy toes each winter.  Wool makes such a huge difference in helping to keep warm.  I can't imagine living here at this time of year without wool slippers...and socks, and sweaters, and hats...

Felted Sweater Slippers

One of the favourite gifts that I have been making for family members the last few years are Fibre Trends felted slipper clogs.  This year, since I'm enjoying chopping up felted sweaters so much, I decided to try making some slippers from the sweaters.  I found this pattern and knew it was a must try so yesterday I made a pair.

The instructions on that link are very clear and I was able to easily put together these slippers even though crocheting isn't my strong point.

I like them so much that I think I'll need to make a pair for myself in January.