AfricanKelli

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Christmas card making

More Portuguese sweet bread baking (although this time I ditched the raisins and instead added lemon zest. It was fantastic! I made the muffins for a potluck this afternoon and as a dry-run for Thanksgiving.)

A bit of sewing too. Market bags and new fabric (bunkeys!) for a Christmas project.

What I didn’t manage to photograph was the 7-mile run Saturday morning that left me lame most of the weekend. It was the brutal reminder I needed to: get off the treadmill and back outside for longer runs, clean up my diet and get out of my exercise rut. I’ve got my workout clothes ready for a 5-miler tomorrow and hope to start increasing my mileage to 20-25 a week. When I’m running that much I find my mind is more focused, I’m more emotionally even and I am much happier with the way my jeans fit. With turkey day around the corner, my new found enthusiasm for my Nikes is perfectly timed.

Hope your weekend was also fabulous, but that it moved considerably slower than mine.

~K

My friends Meghann and Scott were in town this weekend to celebrate their son Roscoe’s first birthday. Any excuse I can get to spend with Meg’s family — the Brennans — I take. They are such a fun, down to earth group and there is always a cornucopia of food and booze.

Roscoe, in all of his cookie monster cake excitement, was also spoiled with gifts. Meg put together a beautiful collection of photos from the last year that she put to music on a DVD. It was a party-stopper. The rest of us brought silly things, like a Wee Wonderfuls fleece bunny:

This celebration was doubly special because Meg’s younger sister Katie is expecting her first babe with her hubby Henry. Their little girl — Eloise — will be here mid-March. The entire Irish clan has their green fingers crossed for a St. Patty’s day birth. Of course, being the pseudo-African in the room, I brought a little ethnic flare to celebrate the kid — a fleece and Mozambican capulana taggie blanket.

I know these blankets are worthwhile because the last one I gave away went to Katie, whose mother sent me the following photo as proof:

If I ever needed a spokesmodel, I think I just found the perfect babe.

~K

I went more than a month without sewing and in the last four days have completed half a dozen projects. It is apparently feast or famine in my sewing world and this week I am dining at the creative buffet. I have to keep reminding myself to go to stop and go to bed; I’ve been in the zone. Here’s to hoping this continues through the weekend; I’m busting through my holiday to-make list, including the very last Finny & Donk Sewing Adventures project from Simple Gifts to Stitch.

This table runner came from sitting in church for months and staring at the communion table. I started thinking how I could represent everything I love about this church in a simple project. The result is a mini quilt that includes all the colors of the rainbow, with fabrics from several countries, happily stitched together and stamped with our church’s motto — A Place for All People. I gave it to my minister this morning and he was happy, which in turn made me feel like it was all worthwhile.

While the scraps were out and the iron was plugged in, I sewed a quilt square for a community quilting project I’m participating in too. If you know my family, you are probably shaking your head. Nope, I don’t have Prince blasting on the radio and I’m not wearing a braided headband (long story), but yes, I am slowly morphing into my mother.

Happy weekend to all!
~Kelli

P.S. The site is being worked on this weekend. Hope to be back early next week.

I love handmade tags for gifts. I think they often work much better than a card and use considerably less resources. I usually stamp sticky tags for the holidays but this year I thought I’d go with a parcel tag instead.

I used this tag as my example — which I made during one of my many scrapbook getaways at the Brennan house — to cut out 50 or so tags for upcoming gifts. The entire project took about 30 minutes and cost $2. Granted, they still need to be stamped and embellished, but they are a great canvas for that neighborhood bread project and the stack of presents needing to be wrapped. The alternative was a $40 box of tags from Staples. I’m a crafty frugalista.

~K

P.S. The winners of the neighbor-bread tag contest are:
Lori: ‚ÄúBread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.‚Äù — Nikolai Berdyaev &
Teresa “Prairie Girl”: “Bread – that this house may never know hunger. Salt – that life may always have flavor. Wine – that joy and prosperity may reign forever.”
Your tags are going in the mail this week! Thank you for all of your great suggestions.

I have been pretty diligent about not purchasing more art supplies for the last 6 months. I’ve created knitting projects from scrap, made journals with left over pieces of paper, and sewn myself silly with my stashed supply. However, the holidays bring a new list of projects that required a bit of splurging. Plus, I heard the economy could use us to all spend a bit. Patriotically, I obliged.

I spent an afternoon with Charlene {Kinchie}, and she introduced me to two new paper stores nearby. I was lucky to have escaped for less than $30.

How great is this cigar box? It is from Nicaragua {swoon!} and it is reused. I’m going to add some sass and create a correspondence kit as one of many handmade holiday gifts.

Soft yellow fleece and new ribbon for tag baby blankies. If I were a considerably more talented and patient seamstress, I’d consider a project like this. How amazing is that Frida quilt and the process? Caray.

What are you working on?

~Kelli