This sciatic injury has taken away some things I like to do…like pilates, like horse riding, like walks down my gravel road. A month later, the pain is not keeping me up at night but I still have some nerve damage in my leg and foot, so I am finding less active things to do. And yes, I’ve gained five pounds!
We were blessed to be invited to Thanksgiving supper this year. A lovely couple with two children gave us the invite and after I responded, “you do realize there are nine of us…?” we were smilingly and graciously encouraged to come. And all I have to bring is the delicious sour cream jello dish (that I got from Susan’s Branch Autumn book) and my mother’s baklava. I am looking forward to meeting new friends, enjoying some hospitality, and yes…watching football before the game becomes ridiculously unlike what it was and almost still is (don’t get me started).
Soooo…instead of planning Thanksgiving, I’ve skipped ahead to planning and decorating for Christmas. It’s ok. I used to not cut down our tree until Christmas Eve….so it’s not too early, right?
I’ve been wanting to do something with these pretty pink and red scraps for a while. So I piled them onto the table and just enjoyed looking at them, thinking of what to do. Don’t you ever do that? Just *look* at your supplies and find beauty in them?
After drawing a sketch of a candy cane on a piece of cardboard, I used it to trace onto the back of a piece of fabric laid onto another, good sides facing one another. Then I stitched over the chalk lines, leaving an opening at the bottom for stuffing.
I just loved (and love!) working on my featherweight. It’s an amazing little machine. Someday I’m going to get my Singer treadle going, too.
After I sewed onto the lines, I used pinking sheers to cut about a quarter itch outside of the lines. Then I carefully turned the canes right side out, using a blunt wooden knitting needle to help me poke the ends out. I gave them all a quick press to set the stitches.
Then I spent many evenings listening to Little Britches with my children while my 9 year old daughter helped me stuff the canes and sew up the openings. The audio book was excellent but there was one cowboy near the end who liked to softly swear. And yes, it bugged Little Britches, too. But that’s life; we all live around people who say/think/believe/do things that we personally feel are nuts. We all need to learn how to live amongst them….and they need to learn to live around us 🙂
Here they are finished, in a basket I made a few years ago. Don’t they look pretty?!
I have a little list of handcrafts I want to try this Christmas season, and yes, some of the ideas were from Pinterest! If you follow my boards, you can see what I find. Many years ago I had lonnnnng lists of links to share; Pinterest has sure made sharing easy.
Do you have your own little (or long!) list of ideas to try your hand at? I guess one of the blessings in being forced to sit (or lie) down is the opportunity to tackle some of those things that bring me a little joy.
Blessings,
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