Everything is Illuminated

Something about the quality of light during these short days fills me with wonder and pleasure! I also feel my mother and grandmother's love and excitement for this time of year, and I feel really connected to many layers of love!
The combination of senses and memory leaves me close to tears, tears of joy and gratitude, and I want to spend all my time with Annie and Bill. I want to hold hands, listen, be really close, sing, go for walks, and make everything special. Celebratory!

Ahhhhh!

Annie, Bill and I loved our Thanksgiving in L.A. and we missed cooking our first turkey in our new home, so we had Thanksgiving II last weekend. We did all of our favorite dishes, set the table and had a mini-feast. While Papa was in the last hour of roasting, Annie and I went to the beach to do a little crabbing before the sunset, and I snapped a few shots. I think they capture some of the qualities I'm loving right now.

Holiday WIP

Thank you so much for the warm and encouraging comments you've been leaving lately about the things I've been making and sharing here! I love to hand-make things for people in my life, and I feel energized and enthusiastic knowing you enjoy seeing them! All my life, especially growing up, LaLa Pat, my Aunt, has made beautiful clothes, toys, jewelry and functional art for me, showing me that anything can be made if you just set your mind to it. My Mom and Dad also made me gifts and those are the ones I remember and cherish the most. I in turn, have made gifts most of my life, and really, buying a gift almost always pales in comparesant to making one.

I believe I have already stated my 2008 holiday mantra here, but for those who missed it, it is officially my Use-What-You-Have-Christmas. My plan, and I've stuck to it so far, is to use only what I already have to make holiday gifts with this year. I'm doing this for two reasons; One, I really could create for an entire year with what I already have in my studio closet, in the sewing room and treasured materials I've tucked away here and there. And two, we just bought a this house and we're flat broke. And I guess there's a third. I hate plastic and junk and I don't think kids or grown-up's need it. And O.K., four. Billys folks love to buy Annie a ton of stuff for her at Christmas and it leaves me off the hook. O.K. I'll stop now, I promise.

So far I've made Annie a few things, with a a set of 18"x18" pillow shams still in the works. Pictured here you will see 10 Owl Ornaments, 8 Fox Ornaments, 8 Teacup Ornaments (with hot chocolate and whipped cream inspired by Posy Gets Cozy), 10 Watercolor Bookmarks, 6 Neck "Cozies" and two sets of Cloth Napkins featuring embroidered leaves, berries and acorns. Not pictured is the huge tureen of home distilled Vanilla Extract that we won't harvest until mid-December.

Catalog CopyCat or Use-What-You've-Got Christmas

Annie got to the mailbox before me and found a MiniBoden catologue. She paged through and showed me a few tee shirts she wants to order. (Ak! $28 each!) The timing was perfect because Cory had given me a bag of great hand-me-downs (with some hardly used Gap tee shirts) and LaLa sent a box of terrific fabrics-everything I need to do a perfect copycat. I still have to add wiskers and finishing touches, and I think Annie will LOVE them.