Holiday Preparation

At least one project was finished this week.

This sweater is the Steampunk Blouse, a free pattern by a person on Ravelry named "cataddict." She has a lot of free patterns. This one is here. My details of the yarn I used and how much, etc., are here.

I didn't get anything done on my whole-cloth quilt this week. I ended up needing to sign and send off a bunch of books, something I hadn't anticipated doing much, because I thought people would be ordering from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Baby or from their local bookshops. However, I had 100 books sent to my home, so I would have plenty to give to family or to mail out to people who couldn't get it otherwise. I thought they would leave me one or two at a time. With the sell-out at the big outlets, I'm one of the few places that still has copies. (Amazon says they are restocking as soon as they can, but B&N is just looking out the window and whistling. My thanks to everyone who preordered! I think there's a good chance this will make some money for St. Jude.

I've been participating in the Episcopal Church's #AdventWord activity. Today's word was "Speak." It made me realize that I speak through my characters. I used this photo and explained how I'm an introvert, and what that means to me. 

This week's story found Pippa getting into the medicine cabinet. Mariah explains to her why she needs to be careful with medicines, in "What's Behind the Door?"

We've done some walks, and I've done some phonebanking with Reclaim our Vote, a nonpartisan voting-rights organization, trying to make sure that everyone who wants to register to vote knows how to do it and where to go for information.

Other than Christmas presents for the kiddos, I haven't done much to get ready for the holidays.

What's on my needles: The Steampunk Blouse is done!

What's on my sewing machine: Nothing for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "What's Behind the Door?"

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Dean Koontz' Elsewhere.

What's in my wine glass: Travessia Crossing by JAWS, Vinho Regional Tejo, red wine. We had this before recently. It's very nice, and unique. The cork was a real problem!

What's my tip of the week: It's hard to buy Christmas or Hanukkah presents for adults, isn't it? Sometimes the best present for an adult is a donation to their favorite charity, or you can pick one for them. Some good choices are St. Jude, of course (that's the link to my fundraising page); the Grameen Foundation; any place that feeds the homeless, like St. Anthony's or Family Kitchen; or K.I.N.D. (Kids in Need of Desk in Malawi, which also has a scholarship program for girls. This program operates through UNICEF.) Don't forget to keep a bag of nonperishable food in your car in case you come across someone begging on the street, very common these days. Be sure to include a can opener, if your packet has cans that require one. Clean used socks, are often appreciated, too.

 

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but they were out as of the time I was writing this. Book Baby has plenty, however, and I have a few.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.