can't sleep

so my grandpa is sick. papa. my papa. if i'm honest with myself he's dying- though he certainly won't admit it- and there's nothing i can do about it. my mom called to tell me how bad it was last tuesday and ever since i haven't been able to sleep. he's lived a long and healthy life but he's suffering so much right now that this is hard. when i'm awake i want to be doing something but i realize nothing is going to fix this; so i cook and clean for nana and bake for my mom and make earrings and blankets. brandon says it's that gift of hospitality in me that can't sit still when there's a need to be met. sooo tonight as i sit here trying not to think about the inevitable i decided to experiment with some yarn and crochet a few flowers. i envision these in the shop one day as pins. or on a pillow? or purse? we'll see. forgive the horrible photo. this is what happens after 3 hours of crocheting while watching high school musical 3. ugh. time for bed.

on a happier note there are new earrings in the shop and i just got this book to help me play with my new sewing machine!

Buy Handmade for Haiti!

Through the amazing women at Craft Hope money is being raised for Haiti. They have set up an etsy shop where all the items for sale are donated and all the proceeds (including shipping costs) go to Doctors Without Borders. I donated a pair of earrings and I'm waiting to see where to ship them because they were sold within a few hours of being posted! It's a fun way to feel like I've done my small part.

The shop itself has done great!! Itopened on January 15th and by yesterday over 1000 items had been sold for over $20,000!!

They are no longer accepting donated items but PLEASE head on over to the shop and buy handmade for Haiti!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

It has been much too long since I've posted- mostly because I've been hard at work being craftee! This is my favorite time of year and I wish I could spend all my time making our house beautiful and creating gifts for everyone I know, but instead I spend my days working as an assistant- a job that has more to do with making coffee and copies than creating beauty. I day dream most of my day away, thinking of what I will create when I get home and spend every available minute reading blogs and gaining inspiration for my upcoming projects. Often I get home and all I want to do is sit on the couch with a glass of wine, snuggle with Brandon and the pup and watch mindless TV, but lately I have actually been productive so let me share with you the latest projects!

In the beginning of October I painted this here pumpkin at Color Me Mine. While I was painting the owner of the studio told me it was eligible to enter their pumpkin contest. I wasn't particularly pleased with the progress so I didn't think I had much chance, but I entered anyway. It took two sessions of painting to make the pumpkin I saw in my head a reality but I left it there hoping for the best.  A few weeks later an email went out asking people to vote for their favorite pumpkin. One child and one adult would win a $50 gift card to Color Me Mine (very useful since things aren't cheap and it's one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon). I thought about sending an email to everyone I knew asking them to vote for me, but I didn't...I voted for myself and then waited. And waited. Finally I got an email with the results and my little pumpkin won! This is the first time I've won anything as far back as I can remember. Hooray! I've already spent the giftcard on some wonderful Christmasy pottery (that won't be done in time for Christmas).

I've taken a bit of a break from jewelry since October and need to replenish the etsy shop after Christmas (because people actually buy things!!) but here's my most recent creation- a necklace that right now is for sale in the shop, but I will be a little sad to sell it. Okay, really I'll be ecstatic if it sells, but I love it and it took forever so I probably won't make one for myself anytime soon! The beads are all semi-precious tiger's eye and I did all the wire wrapping and connections by hand.

The real reason I haven't done much jewelry lately is that I've been working night and day on this crazy cross-stitch. I bought a pattern of Eagle Bluff Lighthouse (in Peninsula State Park in Door County) online thinking that I would make one for my mom and one for me. I didn't realize the pattern was hand drawn in the 80s by a woman who did an oil painting of the lighthouse. She hand did the pattern off of her painting and it's pure madness! She ran out of symbols for all of the different shades of brown so I sit there and go blind trying to distinguish between the % and the same sign with a a dot just on top or just on the bottom. It has taken months but I'm finally starting to see a lighthouse amongst the crazy brown x's. I told my mom I was making her a gift, that it likely wouldn't be done by Christmas and then gave her the option to receive something else on Christmas or to receive the surprise in whatever state it may be in on Christmas morning. She chose to get the surprise on Christmas, so I've been stitching like a maniac to make sure she at least recognizes it. I'm now thinking I may actually finish it by Christmas. Problem is the only thing left is stitching the snow...all white... and then the crazy backstitching which has 14 part directions. So it won't be framed but I think it may actually be done for Christmas.

After Christmas I'll have time to post more and create more, but for right now it's back to Santa's Sweatshop for me! (Making all my Christmas gifts was a crazy silly idea but I love it!)

amazing apples

one of the blogs in my google reader is Twice Remembered and today she had a fantastic post about edible 'potpourri.' I have been simmering apple cider with cinnamon sticks since the first hint of autumn so this was instantly appealing. I happened to have 3 apples sitting in a bowl waiting to be eaten, and 5 hours until my husband would be home, so I went to work. It really is just that easy...slice some apples, add good smelling things like vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, thrown in some brown sugar and butter, cover with water and turn on the heat! I tried to let it simmer as long as possible before burning my tongue to try an apple. pure joy in my mouth. the butter and sugar soak right in as the water evaporates and the spices are infused into the apple. unbelievable. brandon and i shared a bowl of wonderful dessert (or our daily serving of fruit!!) and then i poured the liquid left in the pot into a jar to use on ice cream later. tomorrow i'm going to buy about 20 pounds of apples and we'll have this every day until Thanksgiving!! Come on over, inhale the goodness and taste the wonder!