We've been elved!

The elves have come and deposited all the prezzies ...

Work Space

Best Pre-Christmas Gift: there will be more work space for me and my crafting, complete with a Daylight Company lamp and tv set.

Before:



In between:

Old Year Resolution: check!

Remember that I had Old Year and New Year Resolutions? Just before Christmas, I managed to check the old year resolution off my list:







Organised into different sections: cooking & baking, travel, art & architecture, biographies, photography and quilting, family publications, poetry and alphabetised novels. Some books had to be relegated to the guest room, there just wasn't enough space.

Knitting - it's the new Punk!

If one of our biggest national Sunday papers is to be believed, knitting is the new punk. Furthermore, it's healthy as is lowers the knitter's blood pressure (obviously, they never screened knitters who drop stitches) ...

Therefore, I'm knitting a Chevron Scarf for my sweet little Paula:

Required Reading

In previous years, this basket held a portion of the girls' gifts, this year I broke it out earlier (because I like baskets in general) and arranged our Christmas library in it.

Total Lack of Focus

and it's not my fault ;-) I need to finish the Christmas mail and gift wrapping, we've baked six sheets of bisquits (with two more kinds to follow), shot the Christmas photo and finalised the German version of the Christmas Letter.

Also, with my husband taking a flat in the town where his new job is because it is too tedious a commute, I will be having more space for my art and craft things. Which causes me to drag my feet until I have my area set up in two weeks' time.

And then there was the small matter of a new books and two skeins of yarn.

Christmas Decorations ...

are what is taking up most of my free time: the wreath, a garland decorated with baubles, little knick knacks here and there as well as the advent calendars filled with chocolates.

Happy Sankt Nikolaus!

How to make a witch's hat

Paula needed a witch's hat for her Sankt Nikolaus party and dance at the local "turnverein". Saint Nicholas is a big deal here in Germany and a good occasion to bump any old Christmas party forward a bit.

She and "her posse" were to perform a dance involving witches cooking up some magical brew. And it was wrongly assumed that everyone had a witch's hat at home. Since we either do animals or princesses for Carnival and I neglected to send my friend to her local carnival store to procure one for me, I had to whip one up myself:









Took me about 90 minutes, didn't fit quite right but she can grow into it. I might add a shiney and wider brim.

Slowly taking the Fear out of Basting

I had just unpacked my can of spray glue, when I came across this nifty One Way to Baste tutorial.

Given that my husband will move to a new location for work and taking a few pieces of furniture from our office / den, I will have more workspace and floor space. And I will trial this method on my MIL quilt first, then on the Friendly Dragon quilt.