Saluting Major Dad

I did make a fun card a couple weeks ago for my brother-in-law who has just finished a Master's Degree in Military Science with the Marine Corps.
This photo is not great due to the fact that I took it in the back of a moving car, but you get the general idea.
I made an envelope out of an old NC road map to go with the card. I love map envelopes! I like to call him Major Dad...he takes the nickname in good fun since his rank is actually Major and he is surrounded with a house full of women. We purchased a Starbucks gift card to go with it. Can't go wrong with a coffee related gift. Somehow it just so much easier to justify spending ridiculous amounts of money on coffee breaks when you pay with gift cards. My husband and I are so excited for him and this educational accomplishment. Go Major Dad!!!

Sunshine State of Mind

This past weekend my little bird traveled with me to Florida to visit family and a dear friend from college days. The weather was sunny and hot, no surprise there. The company was great and the food was absolutely delicious. We shared some great conversation, wine, and authentic Italian food at Cafe Vico in Ft. Lauderdale. I ordered the chicken ravioli with a cherry red wine sauce. Doesn't this look wonderful?

We took a short road trip to South Beach and had Sunday brunch at a great diner called The Big Pink. I had a great big cup of coffee (heaven) and waffles with banana and strawberry. Am I making you hungry yet? I also had my first Cuban coffee...with milk.

While I was waiting at airports and visiting I also did some crafting...I
finished up this simple rolled brim hat with some of the Spud and Chloe yarn I bought in Black Mountain. Looks adorable...she tried it on for me and didn't want to take it off. Silly girl...winter hats are not needed in the sunshine state.



My grandmother is now 87 (87!) and I got a chance to introduce my daughter to her while in Ft. Lauderdale. My daughter was a happy traveler and had a great time visiting my Nana. Nana's dog was a different story. We are still working on the dog love. We do not have any dogs so she is not sure what to do with them.
It is always just wonderful to visit with true friends. It really seems like no time has passed at all every time we get together. Our lives continue to evolve and change in good ways (husbands, kids, vacation adventures) and bad ways (work, stress, more work), but our friendship remains. I am blessed with her friendship and look forward to what the next three years will bring us both!

Wise advice for those of us with too many creative projects and not enough time...

We traveled down to NC recently to visit with family members who have a beautiful home in a golf course community. Of course, I could care less about the lush green golf courses. I did love seeing and admiring the cross-stitch samplers framed all around their house. Envision beautifully intricate designs- not the cross-stitch basic samplers every little crafter does in elementary school.

It is always wonderful to sit and chit chat about creative ventures. My aunt knits, cross-stitches, and quilts. I told her how I have a tendency to start projects and never quite finish them. My husband and my mom's attic would have shouted an "amen" after my crafting overload confession moment.

A woman she knew who completed a quilt a week (I can't even imagine that level of productivity) told her to "never go to sleep without putting her hands on her projects." My aunt then told the story of a quilt that had been lingering unfinished at her house and after getting that advice she did work a little on it each day until it was done. Finding large chunks of crafting time is definitely an ongoing challenge. I have been thinking about this piece of advice and am going to give it a whirl. First up: knitted squares that are still waiting to be stitched together into a blanket for my daughter...

Oh, on a side note: we also went for a nice walk on the beach while down there. Children playing at the beach= total joy.

Silver Mermaids--another work in progress

The city of Norfolk has beautifully decorated mermaid statues all around the city. I made silver mermaid charms for all my bridesmaids in the spring of 2008. I wanted to make something special and unique for bridesmaid gifts. It was an ambitious project that was finished at the last minute. My sweet husband accompanied me to jewelry class sessions to help me finish the project. I was so crunched for time that I didn't finish one for myself. I started making one just for me, but I need to finish the back so I can actually wear it....another project to tackle in 2011. I have to make it back to my jewelry class to work on this project since I don't have a full jewelry making operation...a full workshop requires two things: space and money...lots of it. I have been MIA since becoming pregnant. Pregnant feet and standing for long periods of time in jewelry class did not mesh. If you were a bridesmaid in my wedding and are reading this...email me a photo of you wearing your mermaid necklace so I can add it to this post. I much prefer to view jewelry pieces on actual people. What kind of gifts have you given or gotten for participating in weddings?

Update: thanks Robin and Carrie for sending these photos! I love how they turned out!

Easter Crafting Gone Horribly Wrong

So excited to celebrate the joys of Easter. I am also excited to take my sweet baby to her first Easter egg hunt this coming week. Every Easter season I am haunted by a craft project from my youth. The Evil Bunny. I think I was in 4th grade (not positive because I have a horrible memory) and I made a paper mache bunny. I painted it with lovely pastel stripes, added ears, and then for some reason...gave the bunny a weird face with cat like whiskers. This bunny appears every year at my mom's house...she refuses to let me throw away this horrid creation. This afternoon it somehow made it to my home. Oh the moment of horror when I spotted that bunny amid silver framed photos of my girl. Do you have any bad crafting projects from childhood that refuse to go quietly into the crafting night? Held onto by mom, dad, sister, brother? Please tell me I am not alone.

Small price, big luxury knitting projects

If your crafting/creative explorations have a tendency to branch out in all directions like mine do, you know that you have spent a small fortune on supplies and tools. My creative stash reminds me of the Sex in the City Episode when the main character Carrie Bradshaw calculates just how much money she has spent on her designer Jimmy Choo shoes...she had not realized that she spent 40,000 dollars on her shoe collection, also the value of her needed apartment down payment. I have no idea just how much money I have spent over the years exploring my creative interests and I am not so sure I want to know. At any rate, I recently stumbled across a great little knitting book called Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders: 101 Small Indulgences by Judith Durant.  The book has great scarves, hats, and baby projects that only require one skein of yarn. Luxury yarn is definitely not cheap, but worth the splurge for the right project. Too bad my daughter is now giant-sized (18-24mo. projects will take more than one skein...). I am trying to decide which project to add to my project list...I love scarves, but she also includes a couple of great patterns for hand warmers. My hands are always cold at work. Choices, choices. Oh checkcard?? You are needed in the yarn department.

 

giving handmade and handmade gift tags

Since 2011 is my year to GSD...I hope to have many handmade gifts prepared for the holiday season. One of the hardest parts of the handmade gifting for me is the actual giving. The making is the easy part...the giving is tough. I always worry that
a)the person will hate it
b)the person will think i am cheap
c)the person will have no idea how much time, work, and money went into the project.

I saw a commercial last year that had a guy saying...nobody really wants handmade gifts for the holidays. I also read articles online and watched a news segment about comments made by Mo Rocha about handmade sweaters. He was called out by knitters nationwide for a casual complaint he made on a NPR radio show (I think it was Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me) about handmade sweaters being itchy. Cheap yarn is itchy. Good yarn is so soft and lovely.  I think advertisers and people with bad memories of gifts made from cheap supplies tarnish the handmade gifting and further exacerbate my worrying cycle. See a,b,c above. Repeat.

I am always looking for new gift ideas so I can give my gifts without worry of all of the above. I recently read a great little book called Gifted: Lovely Little Things to Knit and Crochet. It has great projects and bonus: a recipe for homemade hot chocolate mix. I think I might just have to gift that to myself. Hot chocolate, chai tea, and coffee make the winter season so much more bearable. I also discovered this great website for a product line called Knitterella. The gift tags are just adorably sassy. I am going to order some of these to go with my gifts this season.