The Twleve Days of Craftmass Insanity

Hey hey hey!

Happy New year everyone! Hope 2013 has been kind to you so far!

On New Years Day I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’m in the member spotlight over on the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild blog this month!

And if you’re still hankering for some more interview goodness, I was also recently interviewed over on FaveQuilts.com

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So as promised, here is a quick look back into the crazed handmade happenings which dominated my December. Even though it pains me to even think about writing a Christmas tune in the first week of January, here is my rendition of the “Twelve Days of Christmas Sewing Insanity”, or better known as :

 

On the first day of Craftmass my big brother said to me, “Can my four kids and I come on Boxing Day and stay for a week?”

On the second day of Craftmass I said to my hubby, “Can you clean the guest room? And the kids room too? Oh and their bathroom?….And can you caulk the upstairs tub? And finish painting the landing?  And replace the curtain rod, but don’t hang those back up, try these instead so I can change my mind again, and can you take the garbage out please? Oh and by the way, Jay and his kids are coming for a week won’t that be fun?

On the third day of Craftmass I found an awesome deal, a new in open box Janome Horizon  7700 QCP for less than 1/2 the retail price!! So of course I had to buy it and drive three hours the next morning to pick it up and bring my new baby home.

and yes I made a quick little placemat just for me, just because..

On the fourth day of Craftmass, I sewed a string of lights, designed by my friends Penny and Kerry of Sew Ichigo.

I also used Monica’s Happy Zombie Winterkist Charm Pack fabrics, aren’t they perfect?

Click over to the Sew Ichigo site to find the pattern template for the string of lights! Penny should have it up shortly 🙂

On the fifth day of Craftmass, I designed a gnome ornament. And started sewing 20 – I must be out of my mind – cute little gnomes.

My first try was totally weird and goofy. Lots of pattern tweaking followed.

On the sixth day of Craftmass, my hubby said to me. Can you make a quilt for my sister please? That’ll take you like a day right? Oh and don’t forget about Christmas part Deux where we host dinner for my side of the family on the same day your brother and his family are expected to arrive. Maybe we should make a shopping list…

On the seventh day of Craftmass, I bought ALL of the groceries at the store and they had to close down, cause I need to host 2 big Christmas dinners, and feed 10 people for a week.

On the eighth day of Craftmass, my little brother said to me. We can’t make it to xmas dinner since our baby’s due any day and your house is too far, but if you hosted at Dad’s then we can make it. Ok I said, let’s plan for dinner at Dad’s. And then after calling everyone to confirm the change, I realized that he does NOT have a dishwasher!! Then I recruited child labour to make a baby quilt.

On the ninth day of Craftmass, I said to my family. I’ll be upstairs sewing for the next 18 hours,  I don’t care what you eat, just please don’t starve, and maybe throw a sandwich at me, and maybe take a shower, and put that laundry away, and maybe vacuum the stairs, oh and hubby, please can you pick up the roast, and the turkey today? And NO you can’t drink all the egg nog, god help you if I need to go grocery shopping again!

On the tenth day of Craftmass, I received some fun packages. two quilts back from Quiltmaker,

and the Spoonflower tea towel panels I designed, featuring my great great grandmother’s handwritten German Cheesecake recipe.

Then I decided that I had nothing to give the men, so I sewed up some lined flannel scarves,

helped finish the baby quilt, sewed up the tea towels, made the kids wrap some stuff, and sewed a bunch more gnomes.

And my hubby prepped all the food. and even made a ratatouille. Then  Liam had a birthday party at the swimming pool, and so I took him and my quilt, and binded by the sidelines showing the other ladies all the nice hunky men.

On the eleventh day of Craftmass, I packed up all the food, half of my kitchen utensils, pans and serving dishes, both of my children,  all of the gifts, and remembered all the food in the fridge in the garage, and even remembered the pies and apple juice in the back freezer, but forgot the onions, then drove an hour to my Dad’s, put the Turkey in the oven, and had a wonderful Christmas with my family.

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and yes that boy on the left is the same blond girl with the bob, doing the embroidery in the earlier shot. He suddenly decided it was time for a haircut.

On the twelfth day of Craftmass, I didn’t get dressed. Santa had come,

he liked the chocolate milk,

And brought me awesome goodies from Poppyprint

and we hung out, and then my little brother called, they want to come all the way out anyway even though she’s over due, and so they came, and he built me two shelves for my kitchen, and she insisted on helping me clean for tomorrows onslaught of guests, but she’s 9.5 months pregnant, how can I let her? Ok what about some easy dusting and vacuuming? So Xmas day I cleaned, and prepped for the next days dinner, and went to bed early cause all hell’s going to break loose for…

On the thirteenth day of Craftmass, YES I NEED AN EXTRA DAY TO GET THROUGH THIS SONG, I didn’t lose my mind like I thought I would. Let me simply say that a huge prime rib roast was slow cooked, all day in the oven,

thirteen people came to dinner, and we had a great week with all 6 kids! The oldest is missing from this shot.

Hmm… doesn’t Christmas 2013 in Hawaii have a nice ring to it?