Adventure #5-- Put a Bird on It

Women in my family make things. My sister has the Christmas tree skirt my great grandmother made. I'm resting my feet on a footstool that my grandmother needlepointed. My mother was in a crafts-of-the-month club in the 70s/early 80s (who knew those existed?), and growing up, our house was filled with wooden boxes she painted or decoupaged,  our Christmas tree with ornament she sewed. She can re-cane chairs, sew doll clothes, needle-point, and cross stitch, and do all kinds of other crafty things.

I'm not really artsy or craftsy. I don't have the patience or the desire to be, for the most part. Yet year after year, as I previously mentioned, I get involved in overblown Christmas crafts projects. (I also like to needlepoint. But that's different. It's the color-by-numbers of crafts.)

Well, this year is probably going to be no different. I have an overblown project that I won't post about until after Christmas, since I don't want to ruin the surprise.

However. I decided to make something for myself, and for posterity (ha!)....

The super cute felt bird ornament kit I ordered from amazon for 10 bucks. 

What the finished product is supposed to resemble.

Birdie Numero Uno in real life!

I decided to start with the red bird. It looked easiest to complete. Two wings and an ear muff arrangement. A beak. I haven't really sewn anything since I had a random burst of craftiness in the 8th grade or so. I had to relearn some stitches, and had to FINALLY teach myself how to do that damned French knot. It's actually not that difficult once you get the hang of it.

"My, what nice French knots you have, my dear!"
"If you love the wings, you should check out the earmuff!"

So, I have finished red bird. It took a while. 45 minutes? An experienced sewer/crafter could probably get an ornament like this done in 15-20 minutes. This same company has a ton of other similar skill level ornament kits that I might order. We'll see if I'm still gung-ho after I finish the other birds. It is highly unlikely, but I'm enjoying this project while it lasts. Maybe I'll save the other kits for other years.

Adventure #4-- Domesticity

As y'all know, I'm on a break from studying for the CPA exam. I am waiting for the score on my last section. Whether or not I passed it, I at least have a few weeks off to get stuff done around the house before I start my new job in January.

Not all my adventures are flashy. Today, for instance, was just a day of doing chores at home.  Today I did two big things: I polished silver and I made a chicken pot pie.

Middle= polished. Other two= tarnished. 

I have my grandmother's tea set. It lives on a tray in my kitchen. I polish it a couple times a year. I always notice it getting tarnished, but it's not a big flashing obvious level of tarnish unless you compare it with a polished piece. I always polish the set during Christmas vacation, so the act of polishing it makes me feel like Christmas is imminent. When my sister and I were kids, we used to polish our mother's silver for extra money to spend on our american girl dolls. Good times. I love polishing silver. It's instant gratification in a world where instant gratification is so rare.

My other job for the day was to make a pot pie.

What a pretty under-layer you have, my dear.

NOM NOM NOM NOM

I'm getting better at making the pretty edge on pie crusts. 

Since I've finished these two tasks, and celebrated them by eating a slice of chicken pie the size of my head, I've mainly been sitting in bed, playing on the internet, and snuggling with the kitties. Peep is politely sleeping on my freezing cold feet. He's good for that.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the week. I know I need to keep myself busy, or I'll get all weird and nervous. No one wants that.

Back in the day, before I went back to school or started studying for the CPA exam, I used to do slightly ridiculous Christmas projects to give out as presents. In college, I made decoupage boxes one year, 13 dozen peanut butter cookies another year (this was 10 years ago and only recently have I been able to eat peanut butter cookies without becoming nauseated), slippers with sequin monograms another year, etc. One year I made peppermint bark for 30 people. Some of my projects have been complete failures too-- the overly-soft bon bon debacle of 2010 comes to mind.

I think I've come up with a plan for what I'm going to do this year if, in fact, I do anything. I'm feeling a trip to Michael's. We'll see what happens, and I'll keep you posted.