Prep, Prep, Prep...

It's the week before Christmas and all through the sewdio...

Suffice to say I have no elves to assist!  Miss Pooks loves to supervise, but she's not a big help otherwise.

 Now that the Master Class is over (for all intents and purposes), I'v turned my attention to Christmas gifts and the next in line of the quilts for refugees, who seem to be arriving faster than we expected.

But it's Christmas...and so...

I've made fudge...

The same recipe every year...for 55 years or more...

And Cranberry Casserole Bread...

A legacy from my mother.  Seems that now, in our family, my sweet sis and I are the only ones who like it...

But I've invited J&E, my next-door  neighbours, here for some one evening next week...with coffee or cocoa or whatever.  Me? I like it best Christmas Morning with eggnog (no rum) or orange juice and coffee, dark and rich...

The chicken's in the freezer awaiting the kids.  I'll make a stuffing and gravy if the bird obliges.  There will, before that, be rolls made (maybe sourdough this year).  My DD is bringing salad or wine or maybe both...and there will be mixed veg and for dessert, pie (likely Bumbleberry -- rhubarb/Saskatoon berry/apple)...and the above-mentioned fudge.

The tree isn't up yet, but the stable is out...and the shepherds...

And so it begins

For me, this is the most important part of Christmas...because it is what it's all about, Charlie Brown...

And being who I am, I cannot get around that, no matter how much The Culture would have me do so...

And so I continue to work on Christmas gifts for those who mean the most to me...

The Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts are finished...

Fabric bought in Portland, OR in May..
Map of Tokyo, Japan!  

And for the same #1 son:

Marty's Finger-less mittens (WIP)

Meanwhile...still in progress (or to come!) -- the mittens you see above, and another project That Cannot Be Mentioned (because my DD reads this blog), and a neck-warmer to match the mittens (not even cast on yet...)

And gifts of comfort for those I haven't met (yet)...that is, more Syrian refugees...with Granny Square blocks courtesy of local donations at The Shop by volunteers for Blankets for Canada.  All I've had to do is join them together...which, for this "I don't crochet" knitter has been a challenge indeed!  ;-)

A 20-square lap quilt, 1/2 done
Each square is 8" x 8"
I have another 40 squares to join
after these are finished

"Simply Scraps" - 4 of 8 rows finished*

Bonnie Hunter mentioned today that she has a Quilt Cam starting in about 1/2 hour from now...so I will be back in the sewdio, assembling the other half...

*P.S.: Lest you think this work doesn't have anything to do with my artwork...

• First...look at the colour play...a wonderful experience; and 
• Second...the piecing...my skill in this area improves with every block created, with every row stitched together, and with every series of rows combines into a whole piece.  

Just sayin'!  :-)

"Simply Scraps" - prep for 2nd half

And an up-date on The Tree-Wrap Experiment...now just past 5 months out...This was taken Sunday, late afternoon -- Dec. 13, 2015:

Wrapped Trees - December 13, 2015 (5 months, 3 days out)

Aren't they beautiful?  I can't get enough of these trees!  Needless to say, when I have to begin to work on a mono-print technique for my next 15 x 15 piece...

Trees will figure prominently!

Linking up now to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network.  Get yourself a cuppa and join me, won't you?

Till next time...blessings!

The Tree-wrap Experiment

When I first wrapped "my" trees, it had been hot, hot, hot and dry, dry, dry for weeks.  But...a week later: deluge!  We had a full day of almost torrential rain and high wind.

Next day I went out to check.  Did my ties hold?  What did they look like now?

Post-deluge, July 18-2015

The good news: they were (and are) all still in place!  And...some of them have begun to pick up stains from the underlying bark:

Interestingly, the sheet remnant didn't show anything then...

Neither did a strip of synthetic sheer fabric...

But as of yesterday, the morning after the hail storm the night before...

Hail stone - July 21, 2015

I checked again.  All four trees are still wrapped firmly, and now all of the wraps are being impacted by the elements.

Stay tuned...!  (Linking now to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network...and going off to work at The Shop.  Lacombe Days sales begin today!)

It's Too Darned Hot

...to write much, so I'm going to post these...evidence of activity despite the heat.

I've been hankering to do this for some time now...taking a page from Lesley Turner, yesterday morning, early, I wrapped four trees: three aspen and one Manitoba maple (I think).  They are on the edges of a vacant lot a few blocks over, owned by Maria and Dave, from whom I procured permission:

Aspen #1 - piece of cotton bedsheet

Aspen #2 - a strip of a synthetic --
recycled from a defunct bedskirt

Aspen #3 - another synthetic (I think)

Manitoba Maple - unbleached muslin (I think)

I say "I think" because I didn't record which fabric went where.  Will now have to go and do that, of course!  All were tied with plain cotton kitchen-drawer string, and each one is dated:

They're not very visible from the roads that intersect nearby (the woods border a corner lot).

Later in the day I checked on them, and again this morning.  I'll have to let that go now, check less often.  Leave them to the Elements and to Spirit...for however long it takes...

Linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and signing off.  It's Too Darned Hot!

Sing it, Ella!