"buy nothing new" advent calendar

On Sunday I got the advent calendar ready to go. I love being organized and ahead of the game when it comes to things like this. It's so much more stressful for the mama to pull everything together on the 5th or 6th or even the 15th of December (yes, I have done that before!). Last year we switched to a type of advent calendar that is less materialistic and hopefully more fun and magical. Instead of getting a treat or gift, each day the boys will take down a wrapped item to be placed in the "Christmassy Village." All these items are either from around the house or are Christmassy trinkets I collected last year from my stash and my mother's. I hope it's not disappointing to the boys, but there is nothing new here at all this year. I contemplated making some felt elves (and didn't get around to it) or buying a couple new wooden figures (but opted not to). Hopefully it will still be totally fun for them to unwrap an item and place it in the village.
I did go thrifting for some items to create the village itself. The little ceramic houses are all newly thrifted and most of them have lights that work (I need to find one more light--any ideas?). It's really fun to light the village in the evening.
The barn is my mom's--isn't it pretty? The little tree is also newly thrifted. I love giving these Christmas items a new life in our home.

Am looking forward to starting this Tuesday morning!

work/play/toys

{picture by Dieter}

It's back to work Monday morning, and I'm reflecting back on the vacation. One of the things I was determined to do on this vacation was be an organized "stay at home" super-mama. But it's so hard to balance that--keeping the house picked up, moving through the day with a purpose--with what I really want to do which is sit around in jammies and play blocks with the boys all morning. Hmn. Still trying to work out the perfect balance on that. Here are some pictures from when we did sit around a play blocks and Dieter begged to use my camera. Here's what he came up with:

{corn kernels--by Dieter}

{Rainer placing a block--by Dieter}

And here are a couple that I took of the boys playing. I love that he's wearing his wings and playing with a pink-fringed fairy (made by me, back here).
And my photo of Rainer. What a sweetie.

I just finished ordering Christmas toys for the boys. It was hard to decide because they already have so much and don't need anything. On the other hand, I love for them to have new toys at Christmas--I have very fond memories of getting presents and a fat stocking on Christmas morning. We've tried to balance it by buying fewer things and requesting "no gifts" from relatives.

One idea Ken suggested was a simple boardgame. I chose a retro version of "Chutes and Ladders" because I hate the modern graphics they use on these games nowadays (same with Candyland--yuck!!). I'm pretty picky about what images I want the boys to see and have in their consciousness. The version I chose looks like it's from the 70's--not scary like the modern version. I'd love to hear though what your favorite board games are to play with the little ones? I love a family game night.

thanksgiving wrap up

Good morning! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and good food. It's a lot of work having a big group over to your house! Luckily, Faith totally stepped up to the plate to help me get ready (and yes, the little boys watched some videos while we worked. Every once in awhile that is the perfect solution). Also, fortunately, the food was a group effort, with Faith and I doing some cooking here and my mom doing a lot of cooking over at her house and bringing it over.
I made a little table runner for the day with Dieter's sweet turkey artwork. How I love this little turkey! He drew directly onto the linen with fade-out fabric marker and we collaborated on the color selections. This table runner is based on the one in Handmade Home. I've never embroidered Dieter's artwork before and I loved it so much. There will be many more collaborations in our future, I hope. Dieter is very proud of his contribution.

{thanksgiving table runner}

{hide and seek}

{Dieter with Faith}

{the calm before the storm}

{pumpkin pies--oh how I love the recipe on the back of the can of pumpkin}

We had a huge group! Faith and I worked hard to reverse the living and dining rooms so that everyone could fit more comfortably around the table. Here's who came: Jacob, home from college, the rest of our immediate family, my parents, my brother James and his girlfriend Lori, and Uncle Jimmy for Colorado. How awesome is that?
Faith made the green bean casserole and the cranberries (the funnest task of Thanksgiving, I think). I prepared a small heritage turkey I bought at Farmer's Market, cauliflower with peas, gravy, and my mom brought stuffing, two kinds of potatoes, and rutabega. James and Lori brought wine and different pies. Hooray for potluck.

I hope you are all having a wonderful post-holiday lull. I am thankful for many things today.

a thanksgiving apron

I decided to make an apron for Thanksgiving. I followed the basic instructions in Lotta Jansdotter's book and embellished it in the style of Dottie Angel.
I'm not entirely happy with it, but I will enjoy wearing this on Thanksgiving. I think it will look cute with a skirt. Otherwise, I do love the utilitarian qualities of an apron, so it's all cool. I'll keep this out for anytime use--especially in the fall I suppose.
I love Dieter's remote pictures. I never tire of them!
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

what we've been up to

:: seriously enjoying the bounty of preschool artwork Dieter brought home on Friday
:: finding these little "gifts" made secretly by Dieter and squirreled away in my studio for safe keep until Christmas
:: a teensy bit of mama crafting in stolen moments
:: trying out an Indian Corn activity from this book
:: outings to the park with art supplies and new sketchpads

:: wearing scarves (and feeling grateful that it is just cool enough in the afternoon to wear a lightweight jacket--hooray!)
:: making these healthy cookies again (which I've decided I love)
:: making homemade finger paints in Fall colors
:: playing with said finger paints exactly 17 minutes before losing interest
:: brotherly hugs
:: enjoying this cornucopia made for me by Ken with items entirely from our yard.
:: trying to be mindful of this message

And vacation is only beginning! Hope you are having a wonderful late November whereever you are.

a little break

Just popping in to say I'm going to be on a little blog break for the next week or so. I have so many ideas for crafting and sewing right now . . . not sure if I'll get anything actually done, but I want to focus my efforts at least. And next week I have the whole week off and want to really make it a great week with my little boys, so I'm planning that too. Getting inspiration from this book and this book. I usually don't have the whole Thanksgiving week off, but through a combination of furlough days and our usual Thanksgiving break this year I do and I so want to make the most of it! See you next week . . .

meatless supper #8

This is the last week of Enviromom's meatless supper club. I decided to make the Cauliflower-Cheese Pie with Grated Potato Crust from the Moosewood Cookbook as my last recipe of the project. This is sort of quiche like, but less eggy and more vegetably, especially since the crust is grated potatoes instead of a regular crust. With all the cheese and veggies in it, there is nothing not to like about this dish, except for the long prep time. Being an under-reader of recipes as I am, I neglected to notice that the crust bakes for a full 40 minutes, then once the filling is added, back into the oven it goes for another 35-40 minutes! So dinner was later than expected, and as you can see from the photo, I lost the light once again. Oh well!!! I think everyone liked this, at least a little. I thought it was excellent. I'll definitely make this again. I've noticed that with these more time consuming recipes, things really do go better after the first time or two making it. Next time I'll start early!

Check Enviromom on Friday for more meatless meal ideas. This is the last week, but I know I'll be checking the archives in the future--lots of good links over there.

bonus studio morning

Wednesday I had an extra free studio morning-- it was delightful. We all had the day off and Ken took the boys for a couple hours so I could finish a project I was working on. Thank you, Ken!
I was very much wanting to take down our birthday garland from October and put up something more Novembery. It was one of those projects I had so much in my head and I really needed to do and complete it. I decided to follow the guidelines in Handmade Home for the One-Word Banner.
I worked on it in three mini-sessions. The first night I just selected fabrics. I love this part of a sewing project. It is such a fun challenge for me to select colors and patterns to go together.

The second night I cut the pieces.
Then on Wednesday I was able to put it all together.
Voila! I am so happy with my Novembery banner and hopefully it will remind us all to give thanks during this most special month.

meatless supper #7

This week I decided to make a recipe from Apples for Jam for Enviromom's meatless supper club. I love this cookbook and find the recipes and the writing so inspiring (not to mention the gorgeous photography). In addition to the recipes, Tessa Kiros, the author, also offers lots of vignettes on childhood memories and on mothering her own children. It's a delight! Her other book, Falling Cloudberries, is on my wishlist.
The book is not vegetarian, but there are plenty of meatless selections--just how I like it. I chose "Spaghettini with egg and toasted parsley breadcrumbs." It was tasty and quick. Everyone liked this. Pasta is always a hit, isn't it?
You can find the recipe here. Sorry for the bad food pics recently. With the shorter days I'm finding it impossible to photograph the food before I lose the light. Rest assured, it tasted better than it looks!

Remember to check Enviromom every Friday for more meatless meals.

christmas preparations

So, amidst thinking about and staying present in Fall, I'm also trying to do just a bit of Christmas "work" so I won't have to in December. I'm planning a very relaxed, joyful, fun, family oriented Solstice and Christmas this year, which, for me at least, does not include rushing around at the last minute getting packages ready. It is so much more joyful for me to do it now, at a relaxed pace, then to rush when time is very limited. So to that end, I've been tying up jam jars and wrapping up the first few presents.
I covered the first few jars (one with fabric, one with paper) but found I like the presentation of the sticker with just some twine around the lid, secured with a button. I like the cleaner look of it.
Now if only I can keep this up!

corners of my home: organizing scraps in the studio

Thanks for the "corners of my home" love everybody. Here's a corner that is coming along slowly but steadily--it's an area for holding my scraps and sorting them into colors. I am finally getting on top of my scrap mess with the help of these bags. My plan is to cut my scraps into usable pieces as I work on projects and sort them by color according to the log cabin square on the front of each bag. Hopefully I'll never have a such a big pile of unsorted unusable scraps again.
On top of this little peg rack are some inspiring postcards of the moment. I like to change them around by the seasons. Maybe these are not exactly fallish, I don't know, but I do like the color scheme of yellows and aquas.
I'm loving the yellow bag best of all. I have two more in the works: black and pink. On Sunday I made the yellow bag and cleaned the front half of my studio. It feels great. What about you? Done a chore or organized something that makes you feel great recently?