Merry Making

Or, "Where I've Been and What I've Been Doing".



Pull up a chair and join our apparent custom. For the third year in a row, we've left the big Thanksgiving table up in the living room and set up "Craft Central". I think it's a reaction to the sad fact that just prior to Thanksgiving there is very little crafting going on at our house. Cooking and cleaning do not go hand in hand with crafting and creating, and I bet you can guess what I'd rather be doing.



So now we craft all day, every day. Neighborhood kids stream in the front door, grab a pair of scissors and get busy.



We cut and color.



We embroider



and applique.



We stuff



and we string.

If we ever finish anything, we will gift.

We don't have too many traditions, but of the few we have, this just might be my favorite. So bring your own project, or pick up one of ours, and join the merry making.

The Seven Year Old Boy

He's quite an interesting character. Quite different from the six year old boy. A little more mature, a little more sure of himself. When offered stickers at the doctor's office last week, he simply said, "No thank you. I don't need any."

We've been playing a lot of Hide and Seek. Every time he finds me or I find him, he hugs me tight, as if he missed me dearly during our brief separation.

We've also been playing a lot of Apples to Apples, and every time he is the judge, he picks his father's card, no matter what. The seven year old boy is fiercely loyal.

He called me from the roof yesterday. On his own cell phone. Yep, the boy has his own cell phone. In fact, he's the only person in our house with a cell phone. He bought the phone with his own money, then earned an extra $20 to add air time.

"Hi mom! I'm on the roof." Words that make a mother's heart quicken, grab the camera, and run outside. Except the seven year old boy disappears when the camera is present.

That is why the mother of the seven year old boy must take pictures while the boy is asleep.



Ah, how I love to watch him sleep.

Dressing the Mantle

Since it's too soon to dress the turkey (especially since I haven't bought one yet), I decided to dress the mantle over the weekend. When my initial plan to decorate with manzanita branches and twinkly lights didn't turn out the way I envisioned, I panicked just a little. My husband suggested leaving it blank, but I knew I could figure out something.

I'm not into holiday decorations, but I like to bring a little something seasonal indoors. The pumpkins and gourds adorning the mantle for the last month and a half were looking worse for the wear, so they joined the oak leaves in the compost pile. I wanted to replace them with something natural and neutral, easy and free, and using materials we had available.



Armed with burlap, scissors, a needle and thread, I made a burlap leaf garland to drape over the mantle mirror.

I simply folded the burlap in half, and cut out symmetrical leaf shapes, approximately 4 inches long and 3 inches wide.



Then I alternated the leaves and tacked them in place with a running stitch - short stitches in front, longer stitches in back. I just kept adding leaves one at a time and tacking them in several places.



I worked one side of the garland at a time, working from the middle out, then reversed the direction of the leaves for the opposite side of the garland. The finished garland measures about 8 feet.



Then I enlisted the help of the woodcutter to make some easy and free tea light holders. We rummaged through our wood pile for different diameter rounds and George cut them at various heights, then drilled holes in the top of each round to hold a tea light.



Voila! The mantle is dressed. And now I'm going to keep cleaning.

Lisa Leonard Designs

When I first saw this necklace on Lisa's site, Lisa Leonard Designs, I knew it was for me. After all, I am the woodcutter's wife. And though George and I have never carved our initials in a tree, we have spent many days bonding over the chainsaw, wood splitter, and wood pile.

I've seen Lisa's beautiful necklaces on many different blogs, but to see her designs in person is even better. The quality and craftsmanship of her jewelry is outstanding. Solidly constructed of sterling silver, I'm confident that my necklace will survive my lifestyle and my children.

Thanks to Lisa Leonard, George and I now have our initials forever immortalized. If you haven't already visited Lisa's site, go now. You're bound to find an inspired piece of finely crafted jewelry that is just right for you or someone you love.

Lisa has generously extended a 10% discount to readers of A Foothill Home Companion. Simply enter this code at checkout: 'findbeauty'. You will certainly find beauty in Lisa's creations.

I Should Have Known I Was In Trouble

when I walked in the front door of the library over the weekend and the librarian said, "Are you Molly Dunham?"

"Yes," I said, wondering how in the world I got so famous. Or if my name had been red flagged in the library's computer for overdue fines.

"I just put a book on the hold shelf for you. It looks like a really interesting book," she said.



And so it is. I am consumed by the concept of reverse applique. I've been loving my thread, cutting up t-shirts, and digging into my stash of felted wool the last few days. I really, really, really want to go buy some new t-shirts to make myself a swing skirt. My husband reminded me countless times over the weekend that I have a Thanksgiving feast to prepare for, but all I can think about is wearing a new skirt a week from Thursday, and how lovely it will swing while I bustle around the kitchen. Then I get really crazy and think maybe, just maybe, I can make a sweater to go with my new skirt.

There are baseboards to clean, ceilings to paint, menus to plan, groceries to buy, furniture to re-arrange, linens to clean and press, pumpkin tureens to find in the top of the closet, but all of that can wait. At least for a few more days. I'm busy stitching.

Who's going to notice the food stains on the kitchen ceiling anyway? (I'm still curious as to how they got there.)

Friday the 13th

Rose Hill hat pattern from Erin.
Yarn from Leslie.
Modeled by Avery

On the needles Tuesday,
off the needles Wednesday.
Photographed Thursday,
mailed Friday.

A surprise for someone who loves surprises and has made many hats for others.

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It's hard for me to believe, but this little blog was born three years ago today. Three years and more than 400 posts ago, I was a very different person. I was frustrated by the public school system, the influence of media on my children, my lack of creative time. As a family, we were not living the life I wanted us to live.

We've made a lot of changes in the last three years. We have shed many frustrations and time wasters, and of course added others along the way; but I can say with conviction that, in many ways, we are living the life I had hoped we would live. I credit many of these positive changes to recording the events of our life in this space, and reading the accounts of other families throughout the blogosphere pursuing similar lifestyles.

So thank you, dear readers, for accompanying me on this journey. When you visit this place, you are part of something very good in my life.

Boy Meets Rim

Boy brings rim home.

There are times when I allow my children to do things simply because I can't think of a reason why they shouldn't. I didn't like to hear "no" when I was a child, especially when it seemed there was no good reason to say no. I dislike it just as much now that I'm an adult when I hear parents say "no" just because. I wonder, why not? What would be the harm of saying yes, or better yet, saying nothing at all?

So when Aidan found various car parts down by the railroad tracks the other day and decided to roll a rim home, I thought, "Why not?", and I said nothing. To be quite honest, I was curious if he'd have the determination and stamina to bring it all the way home.

He did. And now we have a rim in the dining room. I'm just glad he didn't decide to bring the crankshaft home.