Happy Boxing Day

One of my favorite days, though since I work retail, I don't get to go visiting anymore. I did go to Merrifield Gardens and get Christmas stuff at 40-50% off, and come back to set it up. I think I have a migraine starting, though it could just be the weather affecting my sinuses, hard to tell at this point. Yuck. Off to work in an hour though, so it had better settle down quick. Cheers all, I hope you had as merry a Christmas as I did! All my children home, what a blessing! (Okay, I did turn the tree!)

Merry Christmas!

May the miracle of the birth of the Messiah touch your life in a profound way.

Second Post of the Day!

In other news, I have put the creche to rest, except for putting out the Holy family. I will pick it back up after the new year begins, but for now, have other things on whinch to concentrate. Pictures show the last tweaks. I have painted the bases of several of the figures. Much less jarring to look at on a dark substrate, I deem. I left the ones on a lighter ground. I will paint some of them too, later.

I built a shop for the potter, and made a camel saddle and more food and "stuff", and lit various structures. I changed the angle of the hill in front of the stable too. This has been alot of fun, though I am a rank beginner in the art of Nativity building. Still, everybody gotta start someplace!

Lunar Magic

Well, Blogger has its own ideas about the order to put things in, but isn't this amazing? My friend Jean Krevor in NY took these and since my pitiful little camera wouldn't have captured nearly the magic that she did, graciously allowed me to post them here. What a sight it was. If you didn't see the eclipse, you missed an entrancing sight!

Awesome, too, to think that the last time this same combination of events took place, Galileo was alive.... though he could not have seen it, since by then he had gone blind.

A Little More

Food! I made food! Soup and cheese and bread (baked and unbaked) and olives and apples and one lonely turnip. Was supposed to be an onion, but looks more like a turnip! This is too fun.... I can't stop!

Some more done

I really enjoy the making of things, but sometimes it seems I take the hard way rather than the easy way. I still have alot to do, and the photos really show up the flaws, but progress is being made. The well really needs a coat of paint, and I still have to make bedrolls for the camel drivers and more food for the Kings and the workroom for the potter.... maybe I will finish by next year, not this year! The coast of everything has gone up, what a surprise. I will be getting sticks from the woods next week.... three tiny two inch bits were $3.99! Can you believe it? Who would pay that? Well, maybe someone who lives in a concrete jungle. Not I. My creche won't be as professional as others I have seen, but I am having fun doing it anyway.

So cold!

No snow, but so very cold.

The Beginning

I have begun to get my creche set up.... just the bare bones so far, but it is a start. I haven't felt very festive, and the last 4 months were pretty ragged, but things are getting better, so here's a start. I have plans to build a workshop for the potter this year, and a nice display for the kings. I have two tents, I need a third, and a set up with a well/oasis and campsite. There is more to a camp than tents, after all. I have plans for next weekend, so the building will need to be done this week, at least for the workshop. I will keep the carpet seller under the bridge... I rather like that. I want to combine the potter with another workshop... I am thinking maybe an apothacary. I saw a nice figure of a boy selling herbs this weekend. I got an olive press last year at half price since the mechanics didn't work.... but I don't mind. Still is fine. So I need an olive shop too.... maybe that will be a good combo. Then the herbseller next year.....

Happy Thanksgiving Day

St Crispin's Day

Happy St Crispin's Day! Would that we thought like this today! Shakespeare was indeed a master of words, was he not?

First Craft Show Ever....

Well it was an interesting time for a first craft show! I certainly learned alot, but there are alot of questions too. Like, where were all the people? The exhibitors around me were all asking the same questions, and wondering if they would be back next year. Weather was good for the public, though very windy. We had to hang onto tents sometimes, especially the jewelry exhibit next to me. Perhaps it was the gargantuan rummage sale down the road at the hospital in Leesburg, we just don't know. Last week's show a few miles away was down about 5 % and the one 3 weeks ago same distance away was up about the same, this one down more than 100% for the exhibitors I spoke to, all of whom had been there many years. Well, I made costs plus some, so I am okay, but it was alot of work and a long day for no profit. Sigh, well, next month is another show, and it is supposed to be really terrific. A real doorbanger.

The two blondes are my friend Lynette and her granddaughter Rachel who came along to help and sell her beautiful embroideries. Rachel made lovely bracelets too! At least I had a great time hanging with Lynette all day, she is a dear friend and talented enough for two! And when my things blew over in the wind, it wasn't the disaster the dozens of tiny earrings were next to me! Like I said, I sure learned alot! But I sure hate posed pictures!

The Day Before.....

Today is a little chaotic..... I have my list of things to do, and it is certainly doable, but I still feel somewhat disarticulated. Disassociated. Maybe even disassembled. I will come together I am sure, but it is disquieting nonetheless.

Almost Ready

The big day is almost here.... Saturday is my first ever craft show, in Aldie Virginia. Come on out, should be great weather and a fun time! A friend of mine, Lynette, is selling some of her fabulous primitive embroidered quilted wallhangings, and I will have the stuffies I have been working on and some brooches too. Aldie Day simply must dawn bright and clear!

Kelsa Kitty

The latest in the sweater animals..... they get better as they go. But then they should, or at least I should get better as I go. I had someone ask me why I made the faces cockeyed, one eye larger, and a little off center. Symmetry is so boring! Don't you think so?

Meghan Is Engaged!

Robert took Meg to the Washington Memorial, arranged to have someone snap a photo, and then dropped to one knee and opened a little black box... Meg's expression kinda says it all! Very classy, Robert, well done indeed. Gil and I have been turning blue holding our breaths on this one... we knew it was going to happen, just not exactly when. It will be a long engagement, I think, has been a long courtship. That's okay, life is good. One day at a time, eh?