I am in the middle of a two room renovation. Books, yarn, craft supplies, baskets and so much more are piled everywhere. The laundry pile is growing exponentially while waiting to be done. Company is arriving from Holland in two days and will need one of the torn-apart rooms to sleep in. The whole house must be cleaned and food bought and prepared. So... it seemed like a good time to try and make a mini Christmas stocking! I saw these on
Le monde de Sucrette. and loved them. This stocking was squeezed in during coffee breaks and while helping the kids with homework. It was good practice for me with working in rounds. I'm not satisfied with my seams, but I think the next stocking will show improvement. I'm hoping to squeeze in 4 more before Sinterklaas day so each of my children and my niece and nephew from Holland can get one filled with small treats.
Now its time to start moving books...
We are renovating our basement. It used to be a beautifully finished playroom for the children - a full wall of bookcases filled with all the books we loved to read, a play kitchen and table for imaginative tea parties and games of "restaurant", the baby dolls and their cradles and high chairs, the wooden lincoln logs and train set that we loved to arrange and rearrange over and over, the toy tool bench for creating wondrous things and so much more. Many, many wonderful hours were spent in the playroom.
Then the room flooded due to a big rain storm. The carpeting was ruined and some of the bookcases were damaged along the bottom. The carpet was replaced. Time passed. Another flood and the second carpet was ruined and more damage to the bookcases. Now the children are older. The old toys are put away. The basement is being redone as part office and (larger) part creative space for all to share. The walls have been painted a cheery greenish blue (or blueish green I guess). A new, hopefully flood-proof floor has been installed by my hubby. The most damaged bookcase has been discarded and the other two cleaned. We have decided to move the wall of bookcases in the den to the basement and move the two remaining basement bookcases to the den.
So today I need to sort out all of these books - gardening, cooking, art, crafts, beloved childrens' books that we cannot bear to put away, travel and on and on. This is how I left the spaces last night. I hope I will have tremendous progress to show you later in the day.
No stocking breaks today! But I do have to go AC Moore (the local art/craft/yarn store) to pick up art supplies for my daughter's art class tomorrow. Carol....did you hear that... we need to go to AC Moore...on a husband-sanctioned trip...
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| The basement before the first of 4 shelving units is filled and organized. Yikes! |
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| Other end of shelving unit. That's my grandmother's table which I will eventually (when its cleared) use as a work surface. |
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| The back wall of the den as I left it last night. This is where I start today. |
Well I have added a few more rows onto Daniel's blanket. This is usually my take-along project to do when watching F-Troop with Dad. He likes to watch the same episode over and over. That's OK. It's time together. 
Something New
Carol came over today for our weekly creativity fest. She was a little bleary-eyed from her trip to the eye doctor and I had to leave for an hour for parent-teacher conferences at the middle school (it was so good to see my former colleagues!) so we didn't actually get a lot of creating done. We are still trying to figure out this world of blogging (what exactly is the difference between following a blog and becoming a member?), so we spent some time on that. Also, Carol brought along two big bags of 8 inch squares that our friends at church have been making. She started (a year and a half ago?) a crochet group at church. Carol is a great teacher and has taught many women and some of our girls to crochet. I was always too busy or exhausted juggling my family and teaching job to get to any of these meetings. Then last December I stopped working (that's a story for another post) and one of the benefits was that I could now go on Tuesday nights! The group has evolved into more than just crochet - some crochet, some knit, some do beautiful needlework, some make jewelry, another draws and paints, and one little girl came and brought her shrinky dinks to make jewelry with! We enjoy creating and sharing our lives together. Aside from our own projects and gifts, we are going to assemble blankets to donate. That is where the 8 inch squares come in. These are just a few of the many - all different styles, colors and patterns. In January we will begin the task of designing and sewing together the blankets.
