Holiday Preparations

Raggedy Andy's jammies are done.

I got out my Featherweight on Saturday and found a pattern here for a one-piece suit for 15" Raggedy Andy.j The only changes I made were to make it out of all one fabric, line the shirt instead of using facing, putting buttons down the front and add the "drawstring" tie. Andy was so tired from fittings he couldn't stand on his own for the photo, so I had to use a doll stand. Good thing he had his jammies on, because he took a nap as soon as the photo shoot was over.

I found small tool bags for the boys' doll clothes, and a tapestry bag (purse) for Hannah's clothes. The bag for Johan's Raggedy Andy didn't have much in it, but he can use it to hold other small toys, along with Raggedy Andy himself.

I got back to working on folding my quilting fabric and finished all but the homespuns, flannels and children's fabrics. The batiks, solids, '30s reproduction fabrics and 19th Century reproduction fabrics each have their own section, with 1/2-yd. and larger pieces folded the depth of the shelves and smaller pieces, like fat quarters and fat eighths, folded all more or less the same size. Strips, squares, triangles and odd pieces still big enough to use are on the top right-hand shelf in baskets and boxes. It should be much easier for me to "shop" for fabrics for a quilt now.

My yarn stash is also tidied up and put away, but it isn't as pretty. The Palette is organized by color, but the rest is just arranged by type of yarn, with a separate section for kits or packages of enough yarn for sweaters. I have all my yarn in plastic zipper bags now, ever since my bad experience with moths. (For a while, they were all inviting their Facebook friends to come and enjoy the best place to eat in all of Utah.) The plastic bags sit in upcycled plastic lettuce green boxes (minus the tops), which keeps them from falling out of the cabinets.

I finished cleaning my fiber studio, the tree is up, and all I have to do before family arrives is make the beds, vacuum and cook. (Oh, and wrap presents. Lots of little presents, because all of the kiddos will be celebrating Hanukkah together as well as Christmas morning with stockings from Santa.)

I can't believe I'll be seeing these sweetie-pies and their cousins in just a few days!

The Park City Singers Holiday Concerts went well. The party last night was fun, too. Just Christmas Eve left to prepare music for.

The next blog post will be after Christmas, so I should have some interesting photos. Until then, I wish you all a blessed holiday season, with peace and time with loved ones.

What's on my needles: Still the “So-not-my-palette Cardigan,” more progress on the second sleeve. I really want to get done with Christmas preparations, so I can relax in front of the fire with my knitting.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away, now that Andy's jammies are done.

What's on my wheel: Still put away for now.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Christmas music, and Still listening to An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor, not very far yet. Finished reading  The Cryptographer by Alice Wallis Eton. It was an interesting story, but I have to mention that is some very descriptive sex, which I always find off-putting. Now reading A Lady in Hiding by Amy Corwin.

What's in my wine glass: The Bota Box Shiraz. Surprisingly good.

What's my tip of the week: If you're training a new puppy after having raised puppies before, and you get advice from "experts," don't let them talk you into changing the wording you've always used for commands. Sometimes you can't wait to remember the new command. It's better if the first thing out of your mouth is the command you want to use. A few years back, dog trainers tried to "simplify" commands to one word each. "Lie down" became "down," so, of course, "down," meaning don't jump on someone, had to change and became "off." I've never had a dog that couldn't tell the difference between "down" and "lie down." I tried to change the commands, but in the excitement of puppy doing something naughty, I couldn't remember the right command. Our dogs have learned "no!" or "ah-ah" for stop whatever they're doing. We use "leave it" for "don't touch that," but they also respond to "not yours," because I had to learn to use that when Sunny and I were visiting clients for pet therapy. As they grow up, dogs will learn others' commands, too, if they are different from yours. They even learn some words if we spell them (e.g. w-a-l-k or t-r-e-a-t) or use another language (jalan-jalan, which is Indonesian for walk). The point is, puppy needs to feel that you're in charge. If he/she doesn't get that message, you're in for trouble.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Folding Up Shop

A good part of the week has been spent pressing and folding fabric.

I have them categorized by '30s repros, 19th-Century repros, solids, kids prints, batiks and everything else by color. Yardage is folded separately from small pieces and fat quarters. I'm using small plastic baskets to keep the smaller pieces organized. I still have a lot to go, but I hope to finish in time to clean up for Christmas visitors without having to stuff fabric away unpressed and unsorted. To make matters worse, I just found more fabric. Wish me luck.

Whenever my back got tired from my "pressing business" I knit a few rounds on the second sleeve of my "So-not-my-palette Cardigan. I'm looking forward to making the front and neck ribbing.

Common Threads was supposed to meet at Georgette's on Thursday, but Karan filled in because of the snow. Georgette brought the refreshments to Karan's house. Karan lives at a lower elevation and has a flat driveway, so it's better for snowy weather. Not everyone has their snow tires on yet, so the substitution was much appreciated.

Karan has finished the center of her appliqué quilt top. I think she still has borders to add, but it's otherwise done.

Karan and Margareth are making potholders to use as gifts.

Margareth is turning out to be an excellent quilter. She seems to be good at everything she takes on.

The pajamas for Hannah and the twin boys arrived. Here's Buddy modeling his moose jammies with the moose slippers. Both boys have the same outfits to sleep in. 

Here are his slippers.

Hannah chose poodle jammies and slippers.

Important note: I did NOT make the pajamas or the slippers. They all came from The Doll Clothes Store, a good source of reasonably priced doll clothes and accessories. Buddy and Dude came from My Sibling Dolls. Hannah is a Götz doll. She came from a shop in Amsterdam (found on eBay) called Two 4 Toys.

We managed to get in a hike and a few walks with the pups before the snow hit. Here's DH with Rocky.

I had Dusty on a long leash for training not to chase bicycles, and there were a lot of them. Evidently he has learned not to chase them if he has the long leash on. Plan B is coming.

The pups have been resting up for the next adventure.

The snow on Thursday wasn't a big deal, but we were able to build a couple of piles of snow on the front deck for the dogs to use as a litter box when the snow is coming off the roof in back making our backyard unsafe for them.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” second sleeve is coming along. 

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for the next project.

What's on my wheel: Still put away for now.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to music for Park City Singers. Davenport House by Marie Silk is in my Kindle app on my iPad. The story is good. The writing is a little stilted and contains some grammar/usage errors. It's getting easier to read, though. Maybe I'm getting used to it.

What's in my wine glass: Trapiche Malbec, 2014 vintage.

What's my tip of the week: You can glue a small magnet on the end of a wooden dowel long enough to reach the floor when you hold it in your hand at a comfortable height. If you drop a pin and can't find it, just graze the floor with your handy magnet tool, and the pin will jump onto the magnet. Or you could just let my DH walk across the area. Pins and needles are attracted to his feet.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.