Saturday, December 29, 2007

Long overdue (and lengthy)


New Year's is fast approaching, and I have been very bad over the past few months at doing any sort of updating to my blog, or my store. With the Christmas holiday just about wrapped up and a nice quiet New Year's Eve just a few days away (not to mention my last few days off from work) , I thought it best to take a few minutes to do some updating. Below are just a few of the things I managed to do before the holiday, the majority being gifts for my family. I think they have all pretty much figured out by now that they are going to get at least one hand made gift. I'm also realizing now that I didn't even take pictures of half of them simply because I was so busy trying to get them done in time.
My mother and I did however manage to get about two dozen pairs of fleece mittens assembly line sewn for the "scarf closet" at R.I.T. It's a closet they have put together in which students who are unaware of just how cold the Rochester winter gets, can go to get a free pair of mittens, gloves, hats or scarves. Fortunately for both mom and I we had a simple pattern, lots of fleece remenants left over from other projects, and plenty of elastic. They went together fast, and we were both happy with our humble contribution. If we had known about the closet in more time we would have been working on putting them together all year, along with making hats. I've been making crocheted hats since Christmas, but those are going into my store tomorrow and are a blog for a different day. Below is the pic of some of the mittens that we did.

This colorful bag below is one of the gifts I put together for my twelve year old niece. I got a head start on all my projects over the summer so it was hard to keep this for her until Christmas. She was sitting beside me opening her gifts Christmas afternoon, and the peal of delight when she opened this present made me feel like the coolest aunt in the world. She wasted no time in filling it will all the goodies she got that day (I'm so glad I reinforced it in all the right places). She loved it so much she said she's going to use it for school on her first day back next week, just so she can show it off. I made a similar one for my sister, but alas, I forgot the photo of that one. I finished it Christmas eve.

I haven't made a photo album in almost a year, and I forgot just how enjoyable they are to do. This one below is for a friend of mine at work who recently got married. She loved it and I was thrilled. I'll have to get back to putting some more of these together. I've all put neglected that portion of my creative soul for much too long.


This shadow box below was my dad's christmas gift. I never know exactly what to do for him. Since my parents divorce the relationship we have has been strained, but i've really been trying. I found this great poem and had to do something with it. This project was absolutely the hardest and turned out in no way shape or form how I intended it to be. It just sort of became. The background is a piece of scrapbook paper with cris-crossing ribbon, a vintage Italian wall plaque and silver star stickers. I hope he likes it. I just gave it to him today. (Sorry for the glare, I just couldn't get a good shot)


Well that's pretty much for tonight. I plan on posting a few more things tomorrow. Primarily just things for my shop update. I plan on doing a craft show at R.I.T. for the faculty and staff in Decemeber next year. As my friends Susan and Donna both know, I waste no time getting started on something like that. I'm putting everything on the store for the year, and in December I'll take it all with me to the show. I bought tons of yarn yesterday and I'm already 7 hats into the plan. They go together very fast when you are in front of the TV. I'll even be working on them over my lunch hours. Ok I better stop here so I guess that's all for now. 'night.


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