Have you ever seen a fabric and thought “Wow that is perfect for X project, I’ll get it!” and then you pay for it and get it home and can’t effing remember what project you had in mind? Yeah, that’s exactly what I did– twice now. I have two different sets of coordinating Christmas fabrics in 1 yard, 1/2 yard and 1&1/2 yard lengths– and now I don’t know what I intended to make. But it must be good enough to make at least two– I have no clue.

I’ll probably remember, on Christmas Eve. I think the holiday stress from last year is finally catching up with me.

Whatever the project is, I know it requires quilt batting, because when I picked out the first set of fabrics, I also made a point of getting low loft poly quilt batting, which is weird because I actually have cotton quilt batting. I seem to have lost my mind, if you see it would you kindly return it to me? I miss it.

The pixies also found a nice online source for loaf molds for soap making and faster than you can clap your hands and say “I believe in fairies” they were ready to order. (I’m liking the pixies because blaming them for everything means I don’t have to take personal responsibility– pixies are awesome.) I’ll post when my order comes in, but I believe they use USPS priority mail, the prices are great; my only real complaint is that Spiritcrafts isn’t very well advertised, so I haven’t found it till now. If I’d found them sooner I would have molds and cutters already– instead I’ve been using a plastic bin for my cold pour mold (which, granted does work, but doesn’t make my soap very pretty.)

So right now I’m working on: a batch of castile soap (which is taking an agonizingly long time to saponify, typical for non-pomace olive oil), Lexi’s dress, trying to remember the mysterious forgotten intended holiday project, and reading “the Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson.

I haven’t done much that’s been yarn related, which is probably somewhat responsible for the non-blogging that has been going around here lately. Although I am starting to get my craft on again, I’m just not terribly yarny at the moment.

Or seasonably appropriate. I try to stay on top of the handmade gift making prior to the holidays, which means starting about yesterday in order to make sure that everyone that wants a handmade goody gets one.

Today my crafty goodness is centering around Christmas trees. My great-grandmother Cora used to make the most fantastic fabric centerpiece trees out of holiday calico prints. I think my mom might still have one packed away somewhere, I haven’t seen it since I was a kid. My version is scaled down (4 inches tall instead of 20 inches), all straight lines (Grandma Cora’s had zig zagging curls so that you could actually hang treats on the “branches”) and I added a little trunk.

I was only planning on making two more of these if this one turned out (I wasn’t sure it would but I think it’s kind of cute now that I’ve finished it.) I’m now sorely tempted to make a tiny saccharine sweet textile forest. I’m thinking the next one should have some strategic rickrack.

On the chance that this might turn out I took pictures of the construction process. So here are the instructions:

1) Cut six triangles of fabric. Make three pairs with fronts inside. Stitch around using only 1/8th inch allowance (if you’re going to sew with a machine give yourself 1/4 inch allowance) leave bottom open.

2)Trim corners and turn, finger pressing seams.

3)Line up triangles and stitch with a running stitch straight down the middle, turning in allowances over the bottom.

4)Stuff with filling (I used poly-fil) Stitch the bottoms closed (I used a hidden stitch, but a whip stitch will work.

5)Glue brown felt onto something round, I used the plastic lid from a spray bottle, but a little one inch pvc pipe or a wooden thread spool would also work.

6)Glue trunk to tree.