Wrapping it up

Besides not doing Christmas "theme" decorating, the other thing I don't do is wrap gifts elegantly. I think beautifully wrapped gifts are, well, beautiful. I didn't get the gift-wrapping gene. I think my dad has it. He didn't pass it on to me. But when my brother and I were little, I still clearly remember a gift wrapped by him that looked like a little train engine, complete with wheels made from old ribbon spools.

At our house, all gifts have been opened already and I'm pretty sure no one is going to have a warm fuzzy memory of anything wrapped by me. The thing is, I don't actually wrap. I "bag." Put the gift in a bag, cover it with tissue paper and call it done. This year we didn't even buy cute little Christmas bags. We used what we had (bonus points if the tag was still on it from last year and had the correct recipient's name!) It's all about reducing, reusing and recycling, right?

Now Mark has some different ideas about wrapping gifts. I'm here to testify that sometimes opening a gift from him can be a real challenge. For a time it was pretty easy--he used maps or the Sunday comics. Then he graduated to the gift wrapping "big time." I have received a gift that was wrapped in a whole ball of string. Yep, a whole ball. Another time we had just pruned a tree and he took the time to cut a skinny branch carefully into 2" pieces. He cut a piece of wood a little bigger than the gift (which I can't even remember), nailed the little branch pieces all around the bottom piece of wood, stuck the gift inside, and nailed another piece of wood on top. Imagine the gift being held hostage in its little wooden jail--I had to use a crow bar to free it. Then there was the year of the duct tape. What guy wouldn't think THAT was a great wrapping idea? And last year my ipod was wrapped in wire mesh with a lot of wire "ribbon." We had to take time out to find the wire snippers.

Well, he couldn't let this year pass by without continuing the tradition. The gift he wrapped for Charlotte was in a big ball of bubble wrap. Lucky her--he is starting her wrapping adventure with little baby steps. But she and Levi both better be prepared...and have a big variety of gift-opening tools available.

Favorite (Christmas) things, Part 2

The plan was to post one of these favorites each day until Christmas day, which clearly didn't work out. So I'm bunching them all together today, a rainy Christmas Eve with Christmas music playing in the background.

This was our very first Christmas ornament. We received it from a very dear friend even before we were married. She made it out of a cookie cutter and it is very precious to us.

In a prior artsy phase, I was a china painter. I could do a really good forget-me-knot and some pretty passable pansies. But faces? Forget it. We had an absolute china painting genius in our church. I had purchased this really beautiful nativity set with the idea that I would make an heirloom set to be passed on. I started on the camel robes and then looked at all the faces and knew I was in way over my head. Bettie Wilmoth graciously agreed to paint the whole set for me. And it definitely IS an heirloom.


This cute little nativity set was handmade by a local artist and I collected a couple of pieces each year. When I started collecting, we had very little money to spend on decorations. I started with Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus and added to it little by little.

Okay, the lavendar-hued lightbulbs on this chandelier in our dining room are a little disconcerting. Fortunately the lavendar hue goes away from we turn them on. But anyway, each year I hang these really beautiful ornaments from it and it is always the last thing I take down after the holidays.

When I was a little girl and we lived in Oklahoma, where my father was a pastor, a lady in our church made a red felt Christmas stocking for me and my brother. I have always loved it. So when Mark and I got married, I made a similar one for him. And then Aaron, and then Christa, and now each of the grandchildren.

This was a Christmas card we received years ago from our good friend, Dotty, a fold-out card that I just love to put out every year.

This set of angels was made by Mark's mother, Esther. All white, no gold highlights. They are just beautiful in their simplicity and elegance.They have always been very special to me. She passed away this past May. I don't know if the other daughters-in-law were fortunate to receive a set as well, but they hold a very special place in my heart.

So there you have it. My favorites.

And Jill, thanks for these yummy cinnamon rolls. My brother wasn't here to fight me for the middle piece, something he and I always used to do whenever my mother bakes her really great cinnamon rolls. Okay...so we still do fight for it when he is home for Christmas. But he isn't here this Christmas and Mark wasn't home either, so what was I to do? I brazenly went right for the middle piece--always the best!

Get Real(istic)

This can't possibly be true. It's really only nine days until Christmas? I certainly planned on being like Santa's elves and working steadily all year long on my gifts for Christmas, but here it is, December 16th, and the last-minute rush is on. Handmade. That's what I'm doing this year. And is there anyone else out there who likes the word handmade so much better than homemade? The lights on the tree, the music playing softly, some hot chocolate with a candy cane in it. Ahhh...

But I think I better take my Santa hat off the sewing machine and get to work.

The postcard's in the mail

How to make a fabric postcard:

1. Have fabulous grandchildren. Lacking this, have other great family members or friends who would appreciate something custom-made by you...just for them. Choose carefully. Not everybody fits into this category, and you'd hate to have someone receive one of these little works of art in the mail, read the message, and then toss it in the recycle bin. Send those people an email instead.

2. Choose some fun fabric. With my granddaughter, Charlotte, I tried to pick something appropriate for the month in which it was sent. You know, snowflakes for January, hearts for February. With my grandson, Levi, I decided sports was the ticket. And for his December postcard, really, who could resist little fish wearing Santa Hats and reindeer antlers?

3. Choose some plain fabric for the back, or message, side. I used muslin, but any light solid fabric would work.

4. Get some stiff interfacing with fusible web on both sides, such as fast2fuse, the thinner version, which is about 1/8 inch thick and can be fused using a steam iron.

And yes, I DO realize that photographing white interfacing on a white background probably wasn't the best choice...

5. Cut each of the above 4 inches by 6 inches.

6. On the solid plain fabric, your message will be on the left side and address on the right side. I read somewhere that the post office likes the two sides to be separated with a line and also likes the word "postcard" at the top. You'd think they would be able to tell the difference between postcards, letters, and packages...but maybe not.

7. Compose and write your message using a fine-tip permanent marker, such as a Pigma pen. Heat set for a few seconds with an iron. Note: For Charlotte and Levi, I had decided to send them one postcard each month for their first year. Each month, I wrote four lines that could only loosely be considered a poem, and only because it DOES contain a couple of rhyming words. In the interest of self-disclosure but at the risk of personal embarrassment, here is Levi's current card, ready to hit the mail today. And yes, I have already apologized to their parents for my lack of poetic skills.

8. Fuse to the interfacing. If you are careful, you can make a little postcard "sandwich" and fuse about thirty seconds on one side, then turn it over and fuse on the other side.

9. Set your machine for satin stitch, a really close zigzag stitch. I like to go completely around the postcard twice because it nicely covers up the raw edges.

10. Add a stamp. I use a stamp for first-class mail, not a postcard stamp, because these weigh a little more and I want to make sure there is enough postage. And I also add a drop of Elmer's glue to make sure it's nice and secure.

11. Get yourself down to the post office and ask them to please hand cancel your little piece of art. They will be impressed with your postcard. But I can't help wondering if they are rolling their eyes if they read my poem as I'm walking out the door...

12. If you are making your postcard in December, get a holiday-themed postmark. There are lots of them and it's kind of hard to pick. Of course, there's always the North Pole, either Alaska or New York, and I knew there was a Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, but who knew there were five others? You can check out the list of possibilities here, along with the mailing instructions. Charlotte lived in Oregon for her first Christmas, so I sent her postcard to Christmas Valley, Oregon. Now that Charlotte and Levi live a mile from us, it was a bit harder to decide. Levi's Grandpa is from Minnesota. So won't it be cool to get a postcard from Frost, Minnesota?

Sometimes it's the little things

Every day I keep telling myself that I will start my holiday blog posts about some of my favorite Christmas decorations. However, with Christmas less than two weeks away, when we're all thinking about what to give and what we hope to receive, I am reminded that sometimes it can be just the little things in life that make us happy.

My working life as a medical transcriber involves spending countless hours with my computer keyboard. So the other day Office Max was running a special: buy two toner cartridges and get a wireless keyboard and mouse for free. You know how it goes--sometimes you have to spend money to save money. I figured that some year-end writeoffs might be in order so why not stock up on toner cartridges?

I rushed right on over to Office Max, picked up those toner cartridges (yikes, $97 apiece??) and came home with a box containing my new keyboard and mouse.

I am now wireless, and considering all the other things I have plugged in here in my office (can you say two overloaded power strips...), that is a blessing. And the bonus is a keyboard without lint or dust in those hard-to-reach places.

So here is a picture of my old keyboard (feel free to download this fascinating picture to your own photo album). Do you notice something missing? This keyboard is only a year old and some of the letters are actually worn off the keys. My keyboard and I might need a vacation from each other...



And here is my new keyboard, sans wires. And my cute "jolly" mug? Yep, that's how I'm feeling today.

Gobble, gobble...

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Fresno's Fabulous Fall Foliage

I think Fresno gets a bad rap when it comes to weather. Sure, it's hot, but, hello, have you been to Phoenix or Palm Springs?? I lived in Phoenix for six years. It did not make me happy. So we we get a couple weeks of unbearably hot weather in summer, and a couple weeks of foggy drippy weather in winter (my favorite kind of days...., which probably explains why I'm in love with Seattle and Portland). But other than that, we spend a lot of time enjoying beautiful and balmy weather. Okay....maybe 81 degrees at the end of November is a LITTLE unreasonable and there is that little thing about crummy air quality. Nevertheless...

The other thing I'm always amazed at in Fresno is that no matter what time of the year, most businesses, office complexes, even gas stations, are beautifully landscaped. That's something you don't see in the Midwest.

So I know you're thinking, "and your point is....?"

My point is that last year Mark and I finally got to go see the fall colors on the East Coast. Having never been further east than Chicago, I couldn't wait to see the fall colors. At least seeing fall colors is what we were anticipating as we went from New York City to Montreal. Here is what we actually saw:

Green.

More green.

Hey, wait, is this actually the slighest tinge of fall color??

So today I went for a walk around my neighborhood here in Fresno, and this is what I saw:

This is what I'm talking about. *sigh* Now if only the temperature would cooperate a little...

Time for a Cough--ee Break

I'll be honest. The only reason for this post is that I so amused myself when I came up with "cough-ee break."

So I have had a cold all week. Not that bad actually, as colds go. A little congestion during the day. However, every time I get a cold, and I mean EVERY time, I always a develop a cough that usually shows up just at night. A few colds back, I started having trouble with cough syrup. Made me feel really yucky and didn't help the cough all that much anyway. With this cold, I have been waking up at about 1:15 with a cough. Tickle in throat, clear throat from yucky phlegm, cough, cough, tickle...well, you get the picture. Oh, and take a cough drop...and worry about aspirating it during a bout of coughing, and needing the Heimlich maneuver....

Last night, I again woke up at 1:15, thinking to myself, ha, time for my middle-of-the-night "cough--ee break."

Still, I can't help wondering if that bottle of Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat beer that I guzzled right before bedtime had anything to do with thinking that "cough-ee break" was so, well, funn-ee.

One More Sock Monkey Jumpin' on the Bed

Sock monkeys always bring a smile to my face. Those big red lips crack me up.

They have actually been around for quite awhile, since about 1932 when the Nelson Knitting Company of Rockford, Illinois, added the red heel to their socks.

Anyway, a couple of years ago I made a quilt with sock monkey fabric (although apparently I only thought it was cute enough to take a picture of one corner...)

But this is the cutest little sock monkey I've ever seen, and he can jump on my bed anytime he feels like it!

Hey....it's Vertical Day!

Years ago, our niece, Becky, dubbed 11:11, either a.m. or p.m., a "vertical minute." Get it? Everytime I would look at the clock and it was 11:11, I always thought of Becky. So then November 11 rolled around, and it became Vertical Day. In the midst of concentrating on other things today, I forgot what day it is! Until the phone rang a few minutes ago, that is....

Now the cool thing about Vertical Day is that Becky and I try to share a vertical minute. She lives in the Chicago area, two-hour time difference. So when it is 11:11 a.m. here, it is 1:11 p.m. there. We try to call on the exact minute and share our vertical minute on Vertical Day. I know, probably kinda dorky. But it's still fun. And no matter where I am, day or night, if I look at my watch and it is 11:11, I always think of Becky and say a little prayer of thanks that she is in my life.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Enough about truck break-ins and out-of-sync time. Back to the reason for writing in the first place: COLOR.

I got a brochure from here yesterday. The first thing I noticed was the addition of more absolutely stunning photographs. Mark and I are huge fans of photography. That is mostly what we have on the walls in our home. From Scanlan, we have this one, called "pail yellow," taken in Ireland:

and this one, called "three pear," taken in Italy.

When I saw them, they just had to go home with me.
In order to be as economical as possible on such a splurge, we purchased the smallest size, 8x10, and then bought white frames and oversized white mats to make them each a more substantial size, and I framed them myself.
Well, that was quite a few years ago and, whew, have their prices gone up. But even so, two more pictures are on my dream list: "pedals & petals," taken in Italy,

but most especially this one, "a wave of color," taken in Ireland.

Would I ever love to live upstairs on this street.
While their pictures used to be primarily in Europe, they have added some stunning pictures from the United States. Having lived in the Midwest, this one really caught my eye:

So if you feel like doing some sightseeing but your pocketbook says "no way," check out the Scanlan's website and do some colorful dreaming. You'll be glad you stopped by.

If you just give things enough TIME....

...they will sort themselves out, as is the case with so many things in life. My two atomic clocks are in sync with each other, as well as with my cell phone, which is in sync with the "official" time clock. Enough whining. Things are ticking along quite nicely.

What is the CORRECT time?

So the time officially changed at 2 a.m. today. We went from daylight savings time to standard time. First of all, why do we keep going back and forth, and who gets to decide which day it starts and ends. And didn't it start earlier and last longer this year?

Okay, enough about the reasons WHY.

We have two atomic clocks in our house. Up to this point they have always shown the identical time. I love clocks. We have a LOT of them. So an atomic clock is very useful to carry around with me to each room when I change the clocks twice each year.

Do you notice a problem here? The two atomic clocks are a minute off. My two cell phones actually say 12:45! (Well, the green one says 1:45 but that is clearly a user programming glitch--fairly easily taken care of.)

So I googled atomic clocks. And you can go here to check out the "correct" time. Really? Okay, if you say so. Turns out, it matched up with the cell phones. Am I spending too much time thinking about time. Probably so. Maybe I should just listen to one of my favorite Chicago songs: "Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care.....?" Besides me, that is...

Happy Halloween: could someone please define "happy" for me?

This is what Mark found when he was ready to leave for work this morning.

SO annoying.

Hmmm. Do you notice how all this broken glass has a really beautiful bluey-green, kind of sea-glass quality to it? I wonder if we could use it in some kind of fused glass project.....

Wait. Hold on. I've veered off the point. We are victims here!

Items left behind: valuable construction tools.

Items taken: small bungee cord, clip-on sunglasses, ear bud for cell phone.

So to those tricksters who performed this little treat, here is my advice: If you were looking to find some valuable things for quick resale, you left those behind so you should probably consider another profession. If you were looking for something cool to add to your Halloween costume tonight, well, uh, I'd love to see what you do with that little bungee cord....

Boo!

I have to admit that Halloween is not my favorite holiday of the year. Don't get me wrong. I really love pumpkins, and you gotta admit, they have a lot of orangey goodness going for them. And then there are these sad pumpkins who started partying a little too soon....

And costumes? Well, Caspar the Ghost doesn't scare the heck out of me and what little princess doesn't make you want to say, "You are tooo cute!", and this year I have a suspicion that I will be particularly fond of monkeys and hot chili peppers (can anyone say "grandchildren"?).

However, to celebrate the holiday that is loved by so many, ATBD got into the "spirit" of things and came up with these items for your decorating pleasure:

Hey, who blew that candle out when I wasn't looking??

BOO!

Profusion of Color

On the fourth Saturday and Sunday of September, a most amazing event is held here. Quilting in the Garden was started eleven years ago by Alex Anderson . Alden Lane Nursery is such a spectacular place that even if you don't like gardening and really have no interest in quilting, you would probably just enjoy being here. There are gigantic oak trees dating back over 300 years, and early on both mornings volunteers come and hang quilts from tree to tree. Everywhere you look, this is what you see:

And I have no doubt this would make someone REALLY happy:

And this would too.

And who wouldn't love these?

Around the Block Designs had a booth again this year. Last year we got rained out, even though that meant people were ready to shop since there were no quilts to seen among the trees. This year we had beautiful weather and met lots of great people.

Check out the action on this video (with appearances by Around the Block Designs toward the beginning and again at the end--obviously professional actors were not used in the making of this video).

So if you are ever in the Bay Area around the end of September and are looking for a jolt of color, check out Quilting in the Garden. You won't be sorry.