Crafty gifts from my husband

Dear Shayne,

Bill really hit it out of the park this year with his Christmas gifts to me -- lots of Esty goodness!

First up is this amazing zippered bag made from a vintage Canadian mailbag by seller Yahee's Place. It's sooo cool:


He also bought me these gorgeous earrings from jersey608.


Shayne, I love these so much I have worn them nearly every day since I got them. Bill did an amazing job of picking these out.

Aaaand... squeee! Bill bought me one of the CA-YUTE bunnies that I posted about back in August by seller Zygopsyche.

(Note: photo from Zygopsyche's listing.)

Since Biscuit is evil and eats stuffed animals, this little cutie lives in my closet, where I am greeted every morning by her smiling bunny face. Yay!

How about you? Did Santa bring you any crafty goodness this year?

love,
kelly

New Crafty Books

Dear Shayne,

In addition to the crafty gifts I gave this past Christmas, I also received a bunch (Yay!) First up: the books.



For the past two years, my Craft Group at work has had a Secret Santa exchange -- it's really fun and crafty-themed, so it's gotta be good, right? My awesome Santa bought me Appliqué Your Way by Kayte Terry. I've had my eye on this book for awhile, so this is very exciting -- super inspirational, spiral bound so it lays flat, and an envelope for patterns. Love that!

My friend Katie (Hi, Katie!) gave me the latest Debbie Stoller Stitch n' Bitch book, Superstar Knitting. There's a pattern in there for mittens with squirrels on them! Yes, please!

And, for when I need a break from crafting and I want to hold my sides from laughter, my friend Jan (Hi, Jan!) gave me Amy Sedaris's latest masterpiece, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Have you seen this book? That woman is a comedic genius. Jan keeps saying she wants to see some crafts out of it, but I'm not sure if I can stomach any of 'em. But it is really funny -- check out some of the projects at Amy Sedaris's site. (I also have her first book, I Like You, and it's fantastic!)

Whew! Plenty to keep me occupied in 2011, eh?

love,
kelly

Twin Quilts

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned in November, I made quilts for our niece and nephew for Christmas this year. Here is Jack's quilt:


and here is Emily's:


On each of the quilts, I used some fabric from shirts that belonged to their grandpa. On Jack's quilt, it's this blue plaid:


On Emily's, it's a plain yellow oxford -- the lighter yellow in this corner block:


The quilts were a big hit and both kids immediately started cuddling with them. Look at this cutie-pie Jack playing hide-n-seek:


Additionally, their older brother CJ went and got the quilt I made for him before he was born and we had a Super-awww moment:


Cute kids and quilts! Merry Adorable Christmas!

love,
kelly

Scarf for Katie

Dear Shayne,

Since knitting it a time-consuming craft, I try to limit my knitted gifts for Christmas. This year, I only made one: a scarf for Katie. (Hi, Katie!) Miraculously, I began in October, so there wasn't too much of a last-minute scramble.



It's the Color Change Scarf from The Purl Bee. For some reason, I was mesmerized by it the instant I saw it. So I chose colors that were near and dear to Katie (a green girl, that one) and whipped it up.

The pattern is easy, but lace can be a pain -- if you make a mistake, there's no going back. So there are a few errors, but I am pleased with it for the most part. Katie wore it on Thursday and it looks great on her, so yay!

Meanwhile, I have a lot of this yarn leftover, so I am going to have to figure out a large project that calls for lace weight yarn. Or make several more of these scarves. Or, well... give the yarn away. We'll see.

love,
kelly

Happy New Year! (AKA: Let's Start the Holiday Re-cap!)

Dear Shayne,

As always, December was a crazy busy month for crafters like us and not much got posted around these parts. Hope there are still some folks checking in, but if not, well... we always have each other. :)

How were your holidays? My Christmas was satisfyingly crafty, both in giving and receiving. (Yay!) Per usual, the first few posts of the year will be all about the Christmas Craftin' Goodness.

Up first: We made lime-cello! I mentioned this undertaking to you back in October and I am so pleased to report that the lime-cello was a complete and utter success! It tasted delicious and was well received by many folks on our checkin-it-twice list.


(I had a lot of fun making those labels, too...)

Have you tried yours yet? It's verrrry potent, so be sure you don't have plans for later in the night when you drink yours, but it is really tasty. I love it on its own, but last week, we tried it in some Sprite. Mmmm!

A friend of ours has a recipe for it that also involves tequila, but that sounds like Black Out Juice to me. Oof!

love,
kelly

Winner

Dear Aimee,

You won! Send your address to me at pandora75@gmail.com and I'll send you the Miss Woolly's kit.

Love,
Shayne