Missing Pieces

 The biggest thing missing in this new year has been my ability to focus. I literally could not remember anything, could not decide on anything, nor could I accomplish anything. I had big plans to start this year with a bang but when I woke up on January 1st I had forgotten where I put them.
Empty as this bowl was my mind.

Yikes!!!
I can't believe I just wrote that....ugh.
The kids were having a Star Wars marathon downstairs and it appears
Yoda took advantage of my mental vacancy and moved in.
The force is definitely not with me.

Luckily, my camera is full of images and since a picture is worth a thousand words I'll let them help me put some of the pieces together.
 

We did indeed head up to my parents house for Christmas.

Earlier this year my mom joined the doll club I belong to so she received one of the garlands I made for party favors at our holiday lunch earlier in December. I don't know about you but I think it looks much better hanging up on her mantle than it did on my picture. Remind me to ask for a fireplace from Santa next year because goodness knows I'll probably forget before it comes time to write a North Pole letter again.

 



By the afternoon of the 25th all secrets had been revealed. Here's the trivet/potholder I gave the little sneak peek of. It really was so much fun to make up. Project credit goes to Ayumi Takahashi and her amazing book Patchwork Please but the inspiration to actually put the book to use goes to  this post from "Hen House." Truly amazing work!

 

I gave it to my mom.....

 



.....along with one of the little bird ornaments I was making up and an old copy

of The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin.

 



She in turn gave me this book!

 



It was written by one R. H. Horne and details the yearlong adventures of a jointed wooden doll named Maria Poppet. Something of a British version of Hitty I'd guess you might say which is more than enough to guarantee an afternoon of delightful reading.

 



In my head I made it my book of the month for December but since my head was not communicating with my actions it failed to make it's reveal until now. I was at a loss coming up with a doll but I did manage to "borrow" this one from dear daughter's American Girl stash. Obviously it's not British. Neither is it handmade. It is wooden, however, and.....

 



.....has the sweetest little red shoes painted on her feet!

 



We were home again in time to host my dad's New Year's Eve birthday meal.

 



It was indeed a Polish feast. Dear Hubby made the Paprika Chicken from the old recipe book I found. This shot of it in the early stages of preparation seems to be the only photo I took....best not to get in hubby's way when he's cooking!

 



I made up all my dad's favorite sides including cucumber salad and noodles with cottage cheese.

 



The centerpiece of it all turned out to be the Bigos, an old fashioned hunting stew with pork, sausage, sauerkraut, and mushrooms as the main ingredients. Honestly I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as the kids were concerned. After it was all said and done they told me the food was "just plain scary!" My dad on the other hand loved it.

 



A few of our gifted items turned out to be a bit "scary" for them as well and required a day of returns at none other than my favorite place...the mall. I did find this little pin during our outing which got me thinking about getting back to work on some crafty projects. Tiny stitches taken in stolen moments are a great source of joy for me and I wanted to get a needle back in my hands.

 



And so....not too many days after our mall adventure I skipped out for and afternoon of fabric shopping on my own. I came home with this bag of goodies and a plan.

 



It started out as good a plan as any. I'd have my theme for the year be that of the "Empty Bowl." I vaguely remembered reading somewhere about Zen monks carrying empty begging bowls in the practice of releasing control over worldly concerns and simply accepting what was given to them each day. I could practice a similar idea only have my empty bowl host the crafting supplies that came my way. I could take one picture of the supplies gathered in the bowl at the beginning of each month and then another picture of the bowl filled with the finished pieces I'd made up from the contents at the end of the month.

 

It could be fun.

It could be interesting.   

Or.....

 

it could be that I was totally abusing the concept of the empty bowl.

My focus very quickly went from accepting what came my way to planning fabric shopping sprees with projects already in mind. Kind of controlling and materialistic don't you think?

I also became a bit obsessed with bowls.

 

In addition to my now not so "empty bowl" I started an English paper piecing bowl and...

 



....a granny square crochet bowl!

I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks, only no matter how much I kept tasting from the bowls none of them were "just right." I imagine I'd have gone on making an entire collection of crafty bowls but I just so happened to stumble upon a post by Austin Kleon titled "Something Small, Every Day."

 



I have a tendency to want to fill BIG chunks of time (weeks, months, even years) with lots of LITTLE projects. Such endeavors tend to become overwhelming and list ridden. In Kleon's post, however, he recommends you forget about tracking time beyond the day you are in and by doing so BIG projects can be accomplished in LITTLE bits of time.

 

This I thought might be good for me. I have something BIG I've wanted to try for a while now but  never did because I couldn't justify spending extended periods of time devoted to it. If it were only 30 minutes a day on the other hand, that I could justify. The supplies in this case were minimal and on hand.....the 2014 calendar that came along with my latest issue of Mollie Makes, a bag of wooden mish mash dug out from the bottom of my stash closet, and an old notebook. I'm sure more items will be needed down the road but since I don't need them today I'm doing my best not to think about what they might be.

 



So far I've collected some thoughts and quite a few "x's" on the calendar, one for each day "something small" is attended to. Once I've got something to show for my work I'll do just that,

 but in the meantime....

 



.....I intend to keep my bowl empty as a reminder to let things come to be in their own time and not try to predetermine their outcome or timeline.

 

 

Day Twenty Four - Christmas Eve

The last stitch has been taken, the last cookie baked, and the last gift wrapped which is a very good thing considering time is now up! We are officially on our way to grandmother's house, although in not quite so picturesque fashion as this.

 

Merry Wishes to You All!

 



Day Twenty Three - Baking Cookies

Funny how the "making" and "taking" of the cookies seemed to occur simultaneously...



Day Twenty Two - Wrapping

With only two days left till Christmas it's time to start wrapping things up....literally!



Day Twenty One - Secrets

What a difference a day makes!

 

My "Grinch" took off in the wee morning hours, I'm guessing he was headed back to the mall where he could await some other poor unsuspecting victim. I on the other hand headed up to the nook and stitched away to my heart's content. Here's a teeny peek at some of the handiwork. Wish I could show more as I'm just in love with this project. I'll give you a proper look see after Christmas but until then it has to remain, like most everything else around here, top secret! 

 

 

Day Twenty - Peace

 I'm sure most will agree...these last few days before Christmas are anything but peaceful. I could feel my inner Grinch itching to take over as I toted teen #2 back up to the mall for the fourth time this week. I was  tired of shopping and all that comes with it...the crowds, the lack of parking spaces, and the constant request for my e-mail address every time we purchased something.

 

Returning home provided little relief either...dishes in the sink, presents to be wrapped, and now child #3 needed a Yankee swap gift for tomorrow. There was no escape except perhaps...

 

 ...in the pages of a book. I went directly for Gladys Taber because where better to find some peace than by visiting her Stillmeadow country home. I headed right to December.

 

 I read about the smell of her Christmas tree, the pleasure of hosting a small buffet with friends, and then, her musings on the fact that the holiday had become "too commercial" and that it had lost the simplicity of earlier years.

 

Considering she wrote this in 1953 I'm beginning to wonder when, if ever, the celebration of  Christmas was simple? Perchance it never was...at least where

the females of our species are concerned!

 



Day Nineteen - Counting Down

Seems as if the advent doors are flying open!

Can you believe it's only 5 more days till Christmas?

 



Day Eighteen - Party Favors

 It's almost time for my doll club to meet again and this month we're having a Christmas party complete with luncheon fun, good friends, hot coffee, dessert sweetness, holiday dolls, a gift swap, and party favors! Could be up to twenty in attendance this year so that means each of us might have a windfall of twenty surprises at our place setting....yippee!!!
On the other hand that also means I need to get busy!

 Now making up twenty favor goodies could be a bit stressful in the midst of the all the other holiday preparations going on but I had a secret weapon by the name of Susan Branch. She posted this great tutorial last year for a holiday banner which I thought was just the cutest.
Oh...and ever so easy too!!!
 

I added some red backing and a wee jingle bell but other than that

stuck to her delightful "you can do it" directions.

You should try one too! 

 

All that's left now is to tuck them in some nifty gifty envelopes and I'm good to go...

 



Day Seventeen - Christmas Greetings

 Another six or so inches of snow fell this afternoon. That along with Sunday's score gives us about 14" outside our door. But since we're kind of fans of snow in our house the kiddos and I spent

the afternoon stringing up even more snowflake garlands.

 

 Child #3 then found a nifty selection on Netflix that plays a crackling fire on your tv screen and we just had to try it out. It went perfect with our fake snowflakes.....

 

 .....and created a very cozy atmosphere to snuggle into and write out those Christmas cards.

 

It truly is beginning to feel as if the Christmas season is upon us!

 



Day Sixteen - Being Good

My first gift of the year...

seems this being good business has its perks!




Day Fifteen - Hot Cocoa

 It was a day of cozy.

Cocoa, cream, and candy canes...

 

 ...with a bit of coaster crochet on the side!

 

Day Fourteen - Waiting

 When your little it seems as if you have to wait forever for Christmas Day to arrive.

Not so much when your a grown up.

 

And yet today, I had my fair share of it.

Instead of watching the skies for Santa's sleigh however, I was obsessively checking out the windows for snowflakes. We had been promised twelve inches of snow but it seemed to take forever and a day before the first few pitiful spits of it started coming down. Even then it was very slow going and my patience was wearing thin and what with all my running back and forth to the window I thought I might be at risk of wearing thin myself. It seemed nourishment was in order and so I set out to do some baking of the non-holiday variety and whip up a Lazy Daisy Cake.

 

Now one of the best things about a Lazy Daisy Cake (a.k.a Lightning Cake) is that it is 

extremely quick (like lightning!) to make up. 

This is a very good thing when you are running low on patience.

 

Best thing #2 about Lazy Daisy Cake is that it has the most amazingly easy and delicious topping in the world. Nothing more than butter, cream, and brown sugar...YUM!

 

 And best thing #3 about making up a Lazy Daisy Cake is that it gives me the opportunity to spend time with my favorite cookbook of all time,  The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

Not just any Fanny Farmer Cookbook mind you, it has to be the eleventh edition, have a gold cover, and, if your lucky, messages from the past!

 

My copy used to belong to a woman named Olive (love that name!) who had a friend named Polly (ditto!) I know this because of an envelope I found tucked in the pages containing a brief correspondence between the two and a shared recipe. Oh, and according to the note they also shared some opera glasses...  

 

 Olive appears to have been quite organized as documented in her menu plans.

 

 She loved to edit recipes and.... 

 

 ...leave little notes here and there!

 

 And her very own personalized index, what a great idea!

 

In the 25 minutes it took the cake to bake off I had just enough time for a quick visit with Olive. Combine that with a wipe down of the dishes and by the time I looked out the

window again the snow was flying!

 

Should you be interested in some non-holiday baking of your own....

 

Lightning Cake (Hot Milk Cake)

Small, delicious and easy. Excellent

either frosted or with a special topping

as in the recipe for Lazy Daisy Cake.

 

Set the oven at 375. Butter a square pan

8 by 8 by 2 inches.(Except I use a round cake pan!) 

 

Beat until thick

-2 eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat in a little at a time

-1 cup sugar

Sift together and stir in

-1 cup flour (For gluten free try Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Flour)

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat until butter melts

-1/2 cup milk

-1 tablespoon butter

Stir into the first mixture and beat 1

minute or until smooth. Pour into the

pan.

 

Bake about 25 minutes.

 

Lazy Daisy Cake. Leave the baked cake

in the pan. Mix 3 tablespoons melted butter,

3 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons

cream and 1/2 cup chopped nuts or coconut.

(No nuts or coconut for us!) 

Spread over the cake. Put under the broiler and

cook until the topping is lightly browned.

Watch carefully and turn so the topping browns evenly.

 

 

Day Thirteen - Housework

Yes, housework was the Christmas focus of today.

It was, however,  housework of the most delightful kind.

Perhaps it was those gingerbread stamps I came home with yesterday or maybe it was just my way of avoiding the life sized vacuum and feather duster that actually did need to be put to use, but either way inspiration had struck and it was time to decorate the Christmas dollhouse.

 

 Hands smaller than mine volunteered to help set all in place. There is often great debate as to where all the goodies should be displayed and the whole process often exhausts them. Nothing a good night's sleep won't remedy which is a good thing considering......

 

......the foot of snow we are expected to receive tomorrow will have those very same "smaller than mine" hands hard at work making up their very first batch of snowballs for the year!

 

 



Day Twelve - Special Delivery

 I do believe it was a miracle of Christmas...mid-morning at the post office and no line!

Not only was I able to waltz up to the counter and give the wee birdie a proper send off but I also acquired some of....

 

 THESE!!!

I had so wanted some of the sweet holiday versions of the Priority mail boxes but every time I went they were out of stock. Not sure what I'll use them for yet but they sure are cute and have such

 a happy vintage air about them.

 

I also got the gingerbread house stamps I had my eye one. Just like little dollhouses they are! I'm so excited to put them to use that I think it might be the inspiration I need to actually get those cards written and posted out this year. We shall see...