Gifties & give-away(s)

The countdown continues! How are you doing 'getting ready' for the holidays?

The gal friends & I have a holiday 'brunch' & present exchange over at Martha's on Saturday - I'm bringing the lovely gluten free scones, & found this latkas (potato pancake) recipe over @ Suzi's - I may make a couple for myself before I head over, (or take along my mini processor n the 'fixings') as one gal is bringing a potato dish & using 'regular' flour - boo!!

I made a 'sample' batch this PM, using sorgham flour, a potato, 1/2 onion & clove of garlic from my CSA, & a free range egg - delicious!!

I finished my gifties for our exchange; sweet half round napkins that you can fold into a 'Christmas tree' shape! I found the holiday angels & skating girls in the discount area of a local fabric store. These are two sided, I used 1/2 a 'fat quarter' for the reverse. I'll take along the Nisse I made last year, with his bag stuffed full of the (wrapped) napkins.

I made one for myself that includes a little pocket for the wooden chopsticks, spoon & knife which I carry in my purse (for times other folks might use plastic utensils.) It rolls up & tucks away quite neatly.

Check out the give away over at Two Thousand things - a $50- gift certificat from Bamboosa - wow, what a neat company!! Organic bamboo, & US made products! Check them out - & enter the give away! I have several bamboo shirts that I LOVE! These look especially nice.
& there's a note to go check out the other blog - Tigerlily's Book - & there's a wonderful give-away there as well, for non-toxic nail polish!! So check out Piggy Paint 'natural as mud' - I WANT SOME!!

I invited my almost 5 yr old grand daughter over for awhile this evening - it's always fun to have her visit & get to be an 'only child' for a few hours. She typed a bit (is picking out her name!) & had a foot bath (with epsom salts) before heading home.
On the weekend as we walked through the back yard, she told me that I was "probably lonley, since you're not married to that guy - I forget his name - any more, & you live all alone!"
Wow!
She'd just seen 'Papa Michael' - 'that guy I was married to' - earlier that day! But he has a teen son with health problems, & he works out of town, so isn't very 'involved' as a grandparent!
Still . . . . out of the mouths of babes!!

Tomorrow it's time for my Bodaceous Babes to meet for tea - this time at 'Tea's Me' in Sleighbells - a wonderful year round Christmas shop! I invited my friend Donna, & she's coming to check out the group. I called the owner a few weeks ago to discuss gluten free choices - she suggested the Curry Chicken salad (Fowl Greens), I'll have that, minus the scone, with a pot of the White Christmas tea. (Mutan White Tea, Vanilla, Almond and Cardamon). It's interesting to see how different places approach gluten free. At favorite local restaurant, the host said 'we'll bring a bowl of fruit!' to replace the bread . . . no problem, not an issue.
At another (VERY well known 'nice') restaurant the waiter said 'the soup only has a tiny bit of wheat in it - it won't hurt you!' thanks but no thanks! I had a chicken 'pannini' without the bread - came very nicely presented, with extra meat & cranberry sauce. No minestroni soup, sigh.

I am still working on legwarmers & the fingerless gloves. I've been reading knitting novels (Chicks with Sticks & a murder mystery series, beginning with 'Knit one, kill two') & knitting - fun combo - except . . . all those descriptions of the lovely yarns in the fictional yarn shops entice me to stop in 'next door' (the yarn shop is 1/4 block from my office!) & pick up a yummy skein of this or that. Sigh . . . today it was some lovely red silk! & NOT on sale -

Nisse with Gifts

Snow, snow, more SNOW!! It's now a foot or so deep (most snow in about 50 years!) with a thin layer of ice over!
Schools closed Monday, so the kids are off till the beginning of January . . . I did one of the harp gigs this week, two others were cancelled or postponed. Some massage, & a lot of just being home enjoying the view.

My 'Moms Group' got together Sat AM for our brunch/holiday gift exchange - snow was about 6" deep, & above freezing. The goodies ranged from home made pretties, baked treats & chocolate to a table runner picked up in a Paris market!

I brought 'Nisse' with a string of presents - coins with images of women & wire wrapped beads, & had a few 'requests' for the Nisse! He will be pressed into service delivering presents to my grandchildren (I may need to make a second for my son's home.

The other adventure of the week was replacing my modem, & figuring out how to get the new one up & running!
My former hubby & son offered distant tech support, & today I figured out the last bit necessary to get up & running again! My computer is a Linux, so needed to visit my daughter's for the right program to compete the re installation. Most of the time I'm happy with this system, less worry about viruses & lots of free updates; but it doesn't run (or have) some of the mainstream programs, . . .

Nisse Kalender & blessing star

It began to SNOW today!! About 2 -3 inches this PM - fortunately it was light until after my harp gig! The dogs love it - my Chihuahua, Gracie Mae, did her dogie dash back & forth, kicking up the snow - until she got cold! My daughter's husky mix can stay out longer, especially if there are balls (yes, inc. snowballs!) involved!!

Yesterday I began sewing a Nisse/tomten like Alette's for advent & he's mostly done ;) Still need to make him some boots - he has nice warm red socks & a hat.
I made a few little gift bags the other day, & my granddaughters quickly appropriated a couple, & had me make a bigger one for a (toy) hamster's sleeping bag! I got a few more done today, I'll use the little bags for some of the earrings & pendants I picked up at our holiday craft market yesterday - & maybe take Nisse along to deliver them? (Will probably have to make a Nisse for my son's house as well)

A friend of my daughter's is moving into an assisted living, & brought in some fabric for the gals in their office to choose from - there were a couple of sets of printed ornaments to sew & stuff, prob. from the 70s, as we had made some then! Saturday my daughter & I taught her girls how to sew them - even the 4 year old got half way around hers before she lost interest! & they were intrigued with the Nisse.

I also began making some new 'car stars' for my kids - they are little travel blessing dolls, usually felt, with a cotton batting face & french knot curls. They hang from a rear view mirror or knob, & give travel assistance. I've made them for my daughter & son's cars since they began driving. I tend to make something out of just about anything; & once Josh said "I bet she could make something out of dryer lint! Let's see, . . .
Both the Nisse & the Car star are stuffed with dryer lint (it's also a good fiber for paper making, or so I've heard :) I enjoyed seeing similar little beings featured in this Australian present exchange. Sounds like a delightful exchange, & I look forward to seeing the rest of the gifts, too!!
I've made happy faces on dolls for years, & often small faces like these 'dotties' - my son has a wee felt nativity group I made, adapted from a pattern in the French 'Mon Tricot,' which are no longer in print - I need to ask my mother in law where these are - she rarely gets rid of books or craft mags!

Ooo, & Friday, Leah's lovely 2009 calender arrived (I'd just ordered it WED!) can hardly wait to begin using it, tho I adore my 2008 Hafiz calender!!