One last drawing for 2015

2 things

Thing Number One:

I believe they call this a 'proof of life' photo in the crime shows on TV. The only thing I don't have is a copy of a current newspaper to give the date. Trust me. This picture was taken today. It shows the 2nd sleeve of the Cowichan sweater. I have begun to knit again ....slowly and carefully... on it, so as not to re-injure my arm. I can't tell you how much I admire those west coast ladies who knit these all the time. They must have biceps of iron!! The zipper arrived this morning in the mail, so the only thing that now stands between me and a finished sweater is this sleeve and the collar. Oh, and that little thing called 'finishing'.

Thing Number Two:

Anyone know a good mail order source for this perle cotton? Preferably, a Canadian source, but any info will be welcome. Valdani Perle Cotton Size 12. I bought 2 balls of it at a fibre festival in Kingston this past fall, and I love it. Must have more!! :) Any leads would be gratefully received. Thank you.

One more Christmas cookie post

I had a few leftover cookies all flooded with white icing, so I painted them slap dash with a few Christmas cats, before we chow them down. Quick and fun and ultimately tasty.

Remember the Smiley Sweater?

I've discovered that working on the embroidery and appliqué of the Smiley Sweater is really a kind of meditation. My friend Amanda told me about something called 'distraction therapy', and it hit me that a lot of what I do is just that. If I can lose myself in my work, I don't have the bandwidth to worry about things that I can't do anything about anyway. When I'm working on the Smiley Sweater, I just think about colour and design and composition. My mind stops whirring and spinning. The world gets quiet.

Here he is.  A smiling frog. And if you look closely, you'll see that the patch pocket has been replaced. Can't see it? Good. The pocket is now very, very close to the same colour as the sweater. Still have to give him a toothy smile, and there's some text to add as well. Who needs psychotherapy?

A party!

Heather Pearson invited me to join her virtual Christmas Party! Sounds like fun! Grandma Coco has definite ideas about Christmas, so ours is not the typical Canadian holiday.  Like Scrooge, we keep Christmas in our own way. One big part of Christmas in the Kingdom is cookies, and cookies are for sharing.

Here's a sampling of this year's offerings:

And here are some gift boxes of cookies that my friend Amanda and I made to sell for the Lyndhurst Feral Cat Project. We folded the boxes ourselves out of bristol board, and covered them with cellophane. It turned out to be a good fundraiser.

Since most of my cookies are used for fundraising for the cat group, cats are often the subjects. Here are some cats in ugly Christmas sweaters. My version of gingerbread men.

Too bad I couldn't offer you an actual cookie, because they taste pretty good. These cats were made from a recipe that Crosby's Molasses offered. Molasses Ginger shortbread cookies. You can find that recipe here:  http://www.crosbys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Crosbys-The-Holiday-Book-2015.pdf

You can visit Heather's other guests here: http://www.heatherpearson.com/2015/12/needlework-tuesdays-online-christmas.html and you can join the party by posting on her page, too. Thanks for inviting me, Heather!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Didja miss me?

The past 4 weeks have been a blur of pain and suffering. Woe is me! You get the idea. Enough! Let's get on with the show!

Time to play! Here, for your amusement, are some little Christmas cats in Ugly Christmas Sweaters!!

Not my usual shortbread cookies. No. These are Molasses Ginger Shortbread Cookies. The recipe comes courtesy of Crosby's Molasses. They taste great AND they smell divine AND they're super easy, if you make them in your food processor. Dry ingredients in first. Buzz to cut in the fat. I used shortening. Then, drizzle in the molasses, and buzz again to form a ball. Simple! I couldn't resist making a hole to thread ribbon for hanging.

Now, just in case you receive a gift from Grandma Coco this year, please have a look at this post from a few years ago. It's still rings true.