Not Reviewing my 2010

Am I the only person that does not like "year in review news"? The news wasn't all that tasty the first time around. At the end of the year, when I have extra cookie pounds on, a messy house, decorations to put away, and a big to-do list of things that got put off over the holidays, I am forced to re-live the news of 2010. It is hard to get excited about a new year when the year you wanted to get excited about last year wasn't all that great. All that aside, I AM excited about the new year, and don't want to waste any energy on reviewing the last. So, what am I excited about? Lots of things, not necessarily in this order: A new venture with some of my patterns, a new studio and a bigger cabin, a trip to Las Vegas for a daughter Cindy's 40th birthday, remodel of son Peter's house, fun with grandchildren and children at the cabin, sewing retreats with sewing friends, and continuing to keep you updated with what I create through this blog. The Red Chair is the perfect spot to visit with you every night. Tonight the fire is turned on - it is NASTY out! Perfectly awful night for New Year's Eve, unless, of course, you have skates on and protective clothing. I have on my red flannel jammies, sipping some orange juice and champagne, watching daughter Barb and husband Carl watch an action movie. My children got me Netflix for a year, so I may just find a chick flick on the computer and relax. It wouldn't be a special day if I didn't give you a wool felt coaster! This one is influenced by the Pottery Barn Noel sign and the post office Love stamp - find a previous post to get the history. Speaking of history and the post office - it has been announced that starting in 2011 stamps will no longer have the denomination on them. All stamps will be forever stamps. Just think about that for a moment. A piece of history is gone! Sad. But, I looked ahead at the stamps for 2011 and there are some pretty cool ones that will be out there! See, another thing to look forward to. Happiest of years to you. Let's stay in touch. Jerilynn

Shiny Fun

These glass tile pendants are fun and easy to make. You just need a sister that is a little obsessed with finding good graphics and you need to know where to order the supplies. I happen to have the sister and the good sources. Annie Howes has wonderful hand made glass tiles, a tutorial, chains, and other supplies you will need. I like printing out images on presentation paper. The weight seems to be good - regular paper is too flimsy. Once you get the stuff, they are ridiculously easy to make. I like wearing multiples on a longer chain around my neck. The tiles above are the Christmassy ones I have - they will soon be put away with the other seasonal gems. I keep the glass tile pendants in a little glass bowl on my dresser. They look like shiny pieces of candy! If you live nearby, give me a call, and we can have a crafting session. Jerilynn

Toasty Toes

Solmate socks are the socks I talked about in a previous blog. The are the ones in the picture with the bright blue toe and the red/orange toe. The socks are mis-matched on purpose...aren't they just the best? As I told you (I think), when I went back to the coffee shop to see what was on sale after Christmas, I was hoping that I would see a "sale" sign on the socks. Nope. What is fun about these socks, aside from the mis-matchy-ness, is that in the kids size, they are packaged in a set of five. What a great idea! None of the socks match, and you get five. Go ahead, washing machine. Eat away. But, my sister did buy me a pair of them, even not on sale. Good deal for me. But wait, Jerisew! This blog is about "creating". Well, look in the picture. The pair of mis-matched socks near the top are hand-knit by yours truly. I didn't match the colors. To be honest, I tried, but couldn't figure out how to do that with the sock yarn I had. So, I decided to just throw caution to the wind and knit. I think they turned out pretty good, and I guess I was just a bit ahead of the Solmate trend. Maybe not. Jerilynn

A Collection of Homemade Potholders

Think of potholders as very small quilts or scarves. You can knit a colorful potholder in an evening using two strands of a cotton dishcloth yarn and the lowly garter stitch. For the one in the picture, I used a red strand and a variegated strand. Cast on as many as you want width-wise and bind off when it looks like you can grab a cookie sheet without burning your hands. The snowman potholder is hand-appliqued. No, I usually don't do such timing consuming stitching, but this was for a model for a class on potholders and it was one of the ones I taught. It is from a great book, 101 Potholders. It has a layer of cotton batting and a layer of Insul-bright. The Insul-bright can turn most any ordinary fabric into a heat/cold insulating product. I like having a chunk of it on hand to make a quick potholder or two. No need to buy those store bought icky ones! The last potholder is made from the back part of an old pair of jeans. But, you already knew that. Anyway, the denim, plus a layer of cotton batting, and a layer of the Isul-bright, makes a very heat resistant potholder. I suppose I could stick my hand in the pocket to get a better grip, but I just usually grab the cookie sheet quickly and place it to cool. Don't you have some yucky potholders that need to be replaced? Start the new year with some cute ones! Jerilynn

Duck! Another Coaster!

Really loving the cross stitch program on the Bernina V6. Super, super easy! Now that Christmas is over, I am starting to think spring. I supposed I should do some Valentine or St. Pat's stuff first, but this little quacker just caught my fancy. The idea came from a dish towel that my sister bought me from the Coffee Grounds. We went there to get a coffee and were hoping their cute Christmas towels were on sale. Hmm, nope, no reductions. So, we had a coffee (our choices weren't the best tasting) and then looked around. I got another pair of cute socks - thanks, Sandy! - and the duck towel. They also had some word pictures, with the letters made out of pictures of things that look like the letter. I am sure you have seen the idea around. Anyway, I am thinking that I might make some kind of word for above the cupboards when I take down the NOEL from Christmas. Not sure what word or words I am going to do...open for ideas, here, folks. Jerilynn

The Start of a New Project

As I have said before, I love woolfelt and I love machine stitches. I am starting some new projects for some pattern ideas and this is one of the squares I did today. I am liking the slightly 0ff-red color of the felt, and I also like the cream thread for the stitching. I am hoping the project will end up looking Scandinavian. All the squares will be different and I have three done so far. It is great fun using the swirly and twirly designs, and also great fun to try to make it be as square as possible and have the stitches look good. It is hard to do, but I am giving myself permission to just have fun with this and not worry about things that are just a bit off. Because this project is built square by square, if I really mess up one of the squares, it is no big deal - I just won't use that one in the final project! Fun way to start the year. Jerilynn

It was a Good Christmas

Round one of three rounds. It was quieter than our usual holiday. Only two of six of our kids could be here, and only the youngest of our six grandkids. My dad and mom and sister were here. We had a nice meal, a few festive drinks, and some rounds of Bananagrams, Up and Down the River, and Texas Hold-em. I even got a nap in today. We have round two starting this Wednesday, and then the final round is the weekend after New Year's. I think I will be ready for some relaxing sewing after all of the celebrating. Benjamin, youngest grandson, kept us entertained and thought this whole Christmas thing was just a hoot! Jerilynn