Christmas nostalgia

We have pulled out all the Christmas stuff… so many memories. These broken little angels are from my childhood. My family had a whole group of angels playing instruments. They were part of the creche scene. They haven’t survived very well- they’ve lost arms, wings, haloes, instuments… one has even lost her head, but I can’t bear to part with them.

angels

Unpacking the ornaments is full of memories and artwork of friends. So much stuff that has no other place to go gets put in with the Christmas stuff.

ornaments

this is a perfect example- a project I did many years ago. It was my (rejected) entry into a show called the cone box show… I filled the little box (approx. 3″ x 3″ x 6″) with clay babies. There were more… these are what are left. Sometimes we have tied them onto the tree.

clay babies

Here are some doll ornaments. I made the angel for Eleanor’s first Christmas. The other 2 dolls are from the early 80’s, made by Martha Heller. I was at a friend’s house over the weekend and she had some of Martha Heller’s dolls also- a supergirl and a ballerina.

doll ornaments

The tree is up and decorated. The kids have made treats. Julian’s specialty is chocolate covered pretzels. Eleanor made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

cookies

And then there is all the other stuff going on…the washing machine broke and I am working on felting presents- ahhh- disaster!!! Ben to the rescue! Read about the washing machine repairs and also our fun with mushrooms over on Ben’s blog.

mushrooms

Thanksgiving

thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving- 12 people at the dinner table. The turkey was delicious- it was brined for several days before cooking- Recipe!
Holidays are the only time I seem to take my pottery out anymore- here is one of my serving bowls. It’s funny that many of the ones I own were the seconds- since they had flaws I couldn’t sell them in the galleries.

and now…

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Now that I’ve finished Autumn, I have gone to work on what I feel I ought to do instead of what I want to do- that means make some stuff that is likely to sell during the holiday season. I have to support my bad habits after all! So, I am starting with the bug pins. I want to have a bunch for Open Studios this week-end.

Even though I’ve been really busy the last few days I haven’t been neglecting my blog reading… although I have been neglecting answering my email and it’s piling up… well, anyway, I got a very nice comment from Michelle at Another Knitting Blog. I had a great time checking out her knitting projects. I especially loved these bears! I have always liked knitted toys, though I haven’t done much. I am always looking out for examples and patterns. Below are 2 projects from the past. The dog was something for one of the dolls to hold- didn’t actually work out too well, and the other was a little purse/necklace I made for my daughter when she was almost 4 (1988) and having a bad time at nursery school. It is a floppy princess that holds a Chapstick.

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