Did you know Dollar Stores are positively EVIL places? They are full of cheap stuff ... which is good 'cuz everyone likes a bargain ... but is bad 'cuz all that cheap stuff does naughty things to everyone's spontaneous purchasing desires. Well, maybe everyone but me. I came away with one package of paper baking cups because I needed them. I kept thinking about all those poor foreign factory workers being paid pennies or less to make all that cheap stuff. It was interesting to note the source of a couple of birthday gifts I received this year though.
The Dollar Store did NOT do anything to improve my festive spirit. I did do my Christmas decorating this evening ... but I had ALREADY planned to do so. Honest!
Before I share my Christmas decorating evening with y'all, I want to update you on my new / old coffee table. The project started like this ...
... painting 4 inch squares / diamonds on its surface. I painted three coats on each square / diamond. Once they were completely dry, I added one final THIN coat over all resulting in ...
... very subtle wood-grained squares / diamonds between the solid red squares / diamonds. Here's the overall picture ...
... painting 4 inch squares / diamonds on its surface. I painted three coats on each square / diamond. Once they were completely dry, I added one final THIN coat over all resulting in ...... very subtle wood-grained squares / diamonds between the solid red squares / diamonds. Here's the overall picture ...... what do you think? 'Scuse the messy knitting basket on the right. And the crayon cup on the floor at the left arm of the sofa (where Little Madam C. left it). Okay, so a red coffee table isn't everyone's cup of tea. Remember that I live in a rented apartment with hohum eggshell white walls and poop brown carpets that I cannot change!
Speaking of tea ... and I digress for a moment ... I'm in LOVE! I found that most fabulous ...
... Tea Chai Spice Mix in our local SaveOn (@ Spruceland in case you're in PG ... the Parkwood SaveOn doesn't carry it). Some years ago, I took a Punjabi language course at UBC and was introduced to "authentic" Tea Chai. Since then, I've tried dozens of different recipes and spice mixes and none of them measured up to that delightful first tasting. THIS spice mix does! It's packaged in Surrey BC and is exactly the right blend of spices and heat and not sweet. You use about 4 teaspoons of spice mix to a mug of boiled water along with a regular black tea bag. I add a dollop of cream because I like it creamy. And I stir it with a cinnamon stick just because.
On to my Christmas decorating preparations this evening. First, I slipped into something comfy to wear ...
... flannel jammies with snow people and snowflakes on them (don't laugh at my crooked toes please). Then a little mood music ...
... Okay, the choices were pretty limited here as this is the ONLY Christmas CD I own. Then a little gingerbread scented oil ...
... to put visions of sugar plums or and yummy festive baking smells in my head (without the calories). Of course, I also had a little something festive to wet my whistle ...
... no, that is NOT a huge glass, it's a very tiny bottle! Oh, and finally, something sweet ... just because ...
... WAIT A MINUTE! I SEE EMPTY SPACES! WHO'S BEEN SAMPLING THE FERRERO ROCHER AHEAD OF ME?!?!?!?!?
With the appropriate preparations in place, I was ready to proceed. Plum Blossom (the ceramic cat) climbed up onto the castle top of my loom for a good view of the proceedings ...
I didn't take pictures of the actual decorating, but here's the results:
No, not the red milking stool. No, not the spindly-legged red moose ... Maeve the Moose lives there year-round. And not the Good Fortune Buddha on the milking stool. Here, I'll show you a little closer ...
... do you see it now? No? I'll move in REALLY close with my camera ... just a minute ... here it is ...
... my Christmas decoration!
Phew! I'm plum tuckered out after all that decorating! I think I'll treat myself to another wee glass of Bailey's and call it an evening. Deck the Halls, y'all!
The first symptoms appeared while I was working on my tipsy coffee cups quilting project ... I couldn't decide how I wanted to back or bind it. I couldn't decide if the coffee cups wanted to grow up to be a wall hanging, or a coffee table runner, or ... so here it is pretending to be a sewing machine cover. However, I was REALLY in the mood for sewing ...
... so I started another set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Oh, I should have known better! But I made a pair for Little Madam C's birthday last September, and they were kinda fun to do. Sort of ... relaxing and rewarding. However, once I got them to THIS stage, I couldn't decide what kind of clothes would go with their orange and white striped legs/stockings. While I was digging around in my fabric bins, I came across THESE fabric remnants ...
... which probably would have facilitated a colourful Raggedy wardrobe, but when I laid them all together on my ironing board, they made me think of THIS quilting project in a quilting magazine that just HAPPENED to leap into my grocery cart last week. (That's another symptom of this annual fever ... leaping craft magazines.) While all these thoughts of sewing and quilting floated through my fevered head, I realized I was really in the mood for some knitting. I'm SICK, I tell you! So I started a new pair of socks ...
... but THIS wasn't quite what I was really in the mood for. Pink and purple SEEMED like a good idea for a brief moment, but not ... well ... just NOT. So I started a wool gansey ...
... and now I've decided I'm not really in the mood for knitting after all. Particularly not knitting with natural wool. It's so ... colourless. Or something. Or not something. I'm SICK! I really am! I SHOULD BE finishing Gryphon, who has been in production for exactly 2 years now (Happy unbirthday, Gryphon dear) ...
... but my mind kept wondering to OTHER forms of cross stitch, namely long arm cross ...
... which is more medieval than Gryphon and what we recognize as counted cross stitch in today's world. Actually, this particular pattern is from 1534 Italy. I could enter it in an SCA Arts and Sciences something or other ... IF I got it finished in time. Which is unlikely cuz ...
... that DMC thread was 
... that lovely new guitar my buddy gave me last year for Valentine's is gathering dust instead of getting practised with every day ...
... and right beside it, my inkle loom is gathering dust with the second half of some woven trim for my medieval wool cape less than 1/4 finished. I'M SICK, I TELL YOU! VERY VERY SICK! But, I have the power to overcome this hellish February fever. I do. I really really do! This year will be different! So yesterday, I gathered my burning thoughts together and ...
... "Hear No Evil" and ...
... "Speak No Evil", so I HAD TO rough out two more paintings. I'm SO sick! Now I've got three partially finished paintings staring at me! Oh my head! Oh the fever! OH THE PAIN! But today is another day, and I have the power to overcome this annual affliction. I do. I'm POSITIVE I do. I just have to apply myself to make 2009 the year I finally beat the February Fever. So ...
... I'll get back to y'all ...