"20 Pages of Nostalgia"

Putting up the Christmas Tree during the Thanksgiving Weekend has been a tradition at our house, since The Mister and I were married. Previously, Ms A and I might get it put up that weekend, or the next, but the Mister is always anxious to put up the tree. He loves everything about Christmas!

Since we were having guests the week of Thanksgiving, we put up the tree before the holiday, this year.

As I have mentioned, I have begun thinking a bit 'down the road' and have been going through some of the boxes of 'stuff' that accompanied us to the desert. On Sunday, I decided to go through a box that I had come across in the storage shed, while I was getting out the Christmas things. It was a box of craft magazines that Ms A had collected at various estate sales over the years.

Look what I pulled out!

McCall's Needlework and Crafts from '69-'70.

With 20 pages of 'Nostalgia'.

Martha at Q is for Quilter was nostalgic about this project a few weeks ago! (The Victorian house, not the dog...) You can see her original 1970's version here.

This is the 'un-creased' photo from the inside pages. (You can find the instructions here.)

The 'Nostalgia' mentioned on the cover referred to a section of projects taken from earlier McCall's publications, from the '20's through the '50's.

I have book-marked a few pages - some pin cushions, quilt patterns and some crewel designs that I think might translate well to embroidery.

One down and 20 or 30 more magazines to go!

Bloggery Love!

Last week, Kate, at High Altitude Gardening honored Dearest Sister and I with a Blog award!

I know that many of you have received blog awards for various aspects of blogging or crafting, or designing and so forth. You may be jaded and used to the honor. But not me! I am thrilled! Thanks, Kate!

Dearest Sister gardens in high altitudes - the high desert, as opposed to the low desert, where I am... She found Kate's blog long before I even 'knew' about blogs. Last summer when babies were being born right and left, in our family, DS and I were in Salt Lake City to meet the newest and we met up with Kate and another blog friend, Wunx.

We had a delightful 3 hour breakfast, talking non-stop! They are both really fun and funny women and we really enjoyed the meet-up!

Since Kate honored the pair of us, DS and I decided that we would pass along the award love, jointly, as well! The award 'rules' say that we should pass it along to 15 other blogs that we have recently discovered, but we usually make up our own rules, so these are the blogs and bloggers that we would like to honor: (in no particular order...)

Miss V at Our Growing Family - because we want to encourage neophyte bloggers with content that is precious to us.

Tish at Big Well Girl - 'cause we go waaaay back to singing together in church in the '60's!

Martha at Q is for Quilter - Martha's projects are the ones I would do, if I had 20 years of quilting experience! Honestly, I think she and I have the same taste in just about everything fiber related!

Allie at Allie-oops Sweet Happy Life - Allie's posts and projects are inspiring, creative and beautiful!

Lynne at “New” Jersey Girl - She has wonderful photography and photography subjects! Dogs and Kitties and Bears, oh my!

Liz at Lizzzknits - a knitter extraordinaire!

ChaCha at Noodleroux - Turns out she lives in the old stomping grounds (that we are anxious to stomp again, in a few years!)

Mary at Snit’nKnit - a knitter blogger from The. Big. City!

C & V at Stick Horse Cowgirls - Friend/Sisters who blog together and are in the middle of mid-life adventure!

If you would like to 'play along', grab the award and nominate 15 (!) of your recent blog discoveries (or however many you want). Please don't feel compelled to participate. We just wanted pass along the love and to say that we consider you all some of the best!

And, thanks again, Kate!

(I am posting this on DS's 'scheduled' day, because if I wait until tomorrow, it would be old news! )

Taking Care of Old Friends (& New!)

The smalls and their mom have been here for a few day's visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. L always travels with her best friend:

This is 'Meowy'.

Meowy has been her companion for seven and a half of her eight years. He started out as a 'Boyd's Bear' kitty - I don't know his original name, but it was probably something elegant. These days, he only answers to Meowy.

Meowy needed some TLC when he got here. His feet were in shocking condition! His bead stuffing was showing through and was only contained by a thin layer of plastic... something.

And, his chest was almost worn through as well.

L and I went to the stash and picked a couple of fabrics for repair.

We used blue chenille for the feet and wool felt for the chest.

Of course, when there are two smalls, both must feel the love equally, so I was pressed to add 'something to something' for H.

We came up with a McDonald's beanie baby wolf and added a car to his belly. H drew the car pattern. Thankfully, a simple one!

I think tomorrow, we may need to stitch up a jacket and pants for Meowy. I think he needs a bit of protection from the daily wear and tear, if he is to survive the elementary years.

At that point, he will probably be put on a shelf or tucked in a drawer. Still loved, I imagine, but no longer needed to be close at hand...

Thanksgiving 'Non-traditions'

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving traditions with loved ones all around!

We do a pretty traditional t-day, turkey and all the trimmings, with whatever family that is in town. Sometimes that is more than a dozen, sometimes closer to a half dozen, but always enjoyed.

Dearest Sister used to be the traditional hostess. We only lived a few hours apart and employment obligations did not allow her family to travel on the holidays. So we traveled to her. She related a story here, of a 'tradition' that arose in that place and time that cracked us all up, every time we did it!

When she left that place, she left two of her girls behind. One to start college and the other to finish her senior year of high school. So the first year of her Colorado residency, two of her girls joined Ms A and me for the holiday!

I asked them what they wanted to have for Thanksgiving and Miss V said, "I'm sure! What else would we have but turkey?" and I, always one to take the challenge said, "We don't have to! We can have crab legs if we want to!" And so crab legs it was!

It was a lovely evening, so after our seafood supper, we went to see the drama of the Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony.

This photo shows the plaza from across Brush Creek. The blue light in the background is the 'light steeple' from the Community Christina Church. The church building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed the 'steeple' before the technology was developed for the light. The lights were added in 1994, 52 years after the building was dedicated. (The Luxor Casino in Las Vegas uses the same light technology...)

When Thanksgiving comes with cold weather, the crowd at the lighting ceremony might be 50 or 60 thousand. When the weather is mild, (above 40 degrees), it can be 80 to 100 thousand, and when it is warm (above 60), there are people as far as you can see in every direction.

So, it is necessary to get there early!

Which we did - about two hours early. We parked up Main street and walked several blocks and took up our space near the stage at a light pole. We had a good time talking and laughing and the time passed pretty amiably.

Then the 'ceremony' began. There was a little singing, a little 'pumping up' of the crowd by a radio personality and then the countdown began! Ten, nine, eight...well, you all know how a countdown goes... three, two, one! The switch was flipped and millions of lights came on at once!

I immediately said, "Okay, we are out of here, come on!" And we headed to the car.

They followed me, a bit confused. Did we just wait over two hours to see something for less than 10 seconds? Yes, we did, because the key to enjoying the plaza lights is to not get tied up in traffic! And also, because I knew that our parking space up the hill would give us a better view! It's all part of the 'strategy' - be in the midst of the excitement, then head up the hill for a panorama!

The next day, we did Black Friday shopping. And I posed as their mother so V could get a new piercing in her ear. (I had forgotten that part until V reminded me this summer!)

We all had a great time, and having them with us, made an easier transition of not having 'everyone' together.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Jan

The Farm Journal Christmas Book

This past weekend, while I was out and about, I stopped in at a thrift store, just to poke around, you know. Like all shopping establishments, they were gearing up for Black Friday and had a whole shelf of Christmas books. I picked up a few interesting ones, a couple will be xmas gifts to some small girls in the family.

This one turned out to be a treasure trove of fun ideas and vintage goodness!

The copyright date is 1970, but the content is from The Farm Journal from 1948 through 1968! It is interesting to see the differences in the older photos. I think that between '48 and '68, there were some major technology improvements in magazine color printing. Still, the older ones are very fun to look at.

Some of the projects are very agricultural, making a Christmas tree stand from an old plow disc, for instance...

...and this tumble weed centerpiece!

Some years back, I heard a radio program about a woman and her daughter, from Wyoming, I believe, who had started a mail order business, selling tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds were apparently very intriguing to folks who do not see them regularly...

This is one of the older projects in the book. The topiary is made from... egg cartons!

I thought this project might be something that I would try. I have picked up several fat quarters of holiday fabric and of course, all the holiday prints will be on clearance in a few weeks. I am thinking this might be the perfect project to practice applique. The detailed instructions in the back of the book suggest not worrying about making the circles perfectly round, as "they are more interesting if they are not perfect"! Sounds like just the thing!

This page of projects illustrates the transition into the '70's. Crazy 'mod' colors and motifs! The purple candle holder is papier mache over paper plates and bowls with a 'Coffemate jar' and a canning lid thrown into the mix. The turquoise 'vase' in the upper left is a barbecue sauce bottle. If you look closely, you can see the plastic forks that make the design around the base.

Lots of fun ideas! I don't really need additional holiday decor at this stage of life, but there are some edible projects and things that might be fun to do with the smalls. Or maybe I will perfect my papier mache technique and make candle holders for everyone next Christmas!

(I think Dearest Sis has been knitting all year towards holiday gifts. She and I are not alike in that way... I may have to shop at AtomicSisters, this year!)