Again?

I know what you're thinking. I've seen these pillowcases already. I must have seen these pillowcases. Sweet Jebus tell me this is repeat blog post and not yet more pillowcase sets.

Yeah, this girl's got a serious case of crafting OCD. I figure I've made at least a dozen sets now (I gave two as gifts this Saturday alone!). That is a whole whack of fabric. Hmm ... I wonder how many metres are on a bolt.

Bonus - the fabric is its own lovely wrapping. Tie it with a strip of selvedge and it's a sweet little bundle ready to go to its new home.

Crafty holiday

A few friends and I got together recently to celebrate a belated birthday and Christmas. A crafternoon, as we like to call it. For each I made a present. Yup - more pillowcases, but I just want to share the handmade pillowcase love! The bunting fabric and co-ordinating fabric were scooped up at my favourite fabric shop Greenwood months ago, amazingly for me with a plan and a person in mind. (Literally they had to move all the bolts to free the last bit of bunting fabric covering the table.)

I found the pattern for these scarves in the Moda Bake Shop. Just an FYI: I don't know in what reality they are making these projects and estimating the time it takes, but it's not the same I inhabit. This one is listed as a 30-minute project. Right. But project length aside, they have some great ideas and the tutorials are easy to follow. Not that you really need a pattern for this project, but it gave me the idea for the charm packs I've long had stashed away. They're backed with flannel to make them super soft and cozy.

I saw a neat post about surprise balls, and tucked the idea away in my brain. Basically, you get rolls of crepe paper and wrap layers around small gifts. As the recipient unrolls the paper, the gifts appear. The light went on - roll presents in the scarves! Below are the scarf present rolls as well as the pillowcases rolled and tied with ribbon.

The presents I made paled in comparison to the lovely hat my CFF Tara knit for me. She is one talented and prolific crafter and I'm sure lucky to be a recipient of her work. And here's a take-home lesson: there is such a thing as crafting karma. Pass along a nice pattern and it may come back to you finished!

Pretty sparkly

Mornings, to put it mildly, are not my thing. But I couldn't help be happy on the weekend when I woke up to see a gleaming white wonderland, like something out of a fantasy movie where everything is covered in sparkles. Hoar frost is a rare morning treat so enchanting that I went for a walk with my dog, popped inside for my camera and headed out on another walk. My dog didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't complaining about the extra go around the neighbourhood.

I like this photo best. This poor little evergreen was dead, its needles long faded from green. But with the frost they became a lovely muted copper, moving gently in the breeze like a plant flowing in water.

One last leaf clinging to the branches:

The rustic pine in my backyard:

Thankfully my dog stood still while I perched on a stone wall for this one: