the most wonderful time of the year

With so much to do today I turned to some festive cheer to get me in a good working mood. The picture isn't pretty ... but boy does it smell wonderful! A simmering pot of water with a few cinnamon sticks, an orange, a lemon, a green apple, star anise and nutmeg. I wanted the house to start smelling like the holidays - last year I promised myself I would not get our Christmas tree too early. About a week before Christmas last year, we had to haul our very dead tree out and replace it with a new one - which was expensive and time consuming and made me feel very very silly. This year I'll settle for the scent of apples and spice until we get our tree. I have my Christmas music playlist going...The Carpenters Christmas Portrait, Makaha Sons Christmas Day in Hawaii Nei, Manheim Steamroller, Jill Sobule and many many more. It's working - I'm getting things done.

Working on some new bibs for the upcoming Bazaar Bizarre. This one has a little window looking in on a silkscreened image along with some felt bamboo stalks. For the back, I used some fabric with iron-on vinyl. Have you used this stuff? It's fantastic! It's like contact paper - you peel off the back and stick it onto your fabric. But the magic begins when you iron it - it melts it onto the fabric turning it into something similar to oil cloth. Very cool indeed. In case you've forgotten, the Bazaar Bizarre is coming up December 16th in Los Angeles. I better get busy!!!

Starting to get organized for the crunch time I know the next few weeks will bring. Fabric is all stacked and ready for me. Picked up some more felt and fun prints during yesterday's After-Thanksgiving sale. Yes, I hit "Black Friday". I'm not one of these folks lined up at Walmart ready to fight for the flat screen that's on sale - in fact I usually tend to stay away from all the department stores once Thanksgiving passes. But this year I had an itch to shop. So I hit Target and the fabric store at 6am. Driving over there (when it was still dark) I felt extremely silly thinking I'd be the only one out shopping at that ungodly hour. (can you tell I've never done this before?) I was shocked, stunned, mortified to find the parking lot packed. I think this little Irish baby inside me gave me the luck I needed - found a primo parking spot. Got the few deals I'd scoped out, finished my Christmas shopping and stocked up on fabric to get me through the season. It was fun. My husband is sure I'm nuts. He'd happily pay full price to avoid that insanity. Me, on the other hand, I think I'm addicted. I'm sure I'll be out there again come next "Black Friday".

Next up are some small pillows - here's a Work In Progress snapshot. Maybe some felt fringe around the edge? Felted beads at the corners? Not sure yet - I just know I want them to be whimsical and fun ... and small and something I can offer at a low price point. I remember a lot of what appeared to be college students (USC across the street) at last years Bazaar Bizarre. Why not have some things they can buy? Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the weekend. It's the holiday season! Can you feel it?!?