what's keeping me busy these days

With Christmas approaching, and it being our year to host the entire family (14 to 20 people, maybe more), I'm starting to think about decorations. Just think, mind you, my house is still quite decoration free, and will remain so until December.

But that doesn't mean I haven't started gathering ideas and stuff.

To be honest, I started this right after last Christmas! When Fabricland clears out the holiday themed fabrics, I stocked up. The green brocade is tablecloth fabric. I measured out my tables and hemmed it to fit. They look perfect -tailored and festive. Then I bought some co-ordinating printed cotton and spent last weekend hemming napkins. You see, I grew up with a Dad that worked in the home fashions industry, and my brother still does, so I have an inbred aversion to paper napkins. It's cloth or nothing! (Drives my MIL crazy...)

I've also started a new wreath. If you follow Mason Dixon Knitting, you probably recognize it. (Go here to see). It's a beautifully simple design (that I am tweaking), and a good cause, so I bought the pattern. The tweaks are simple - I don't have the recommended yarn, and am not fond of chunky yarns anyways, so I dug into my Briggs and Little stash, and found a lovely rich brown, and assorted reds, creams and greens, in assorted weights of B&L.

So, I started one. I added stitches to either side to ensure it would fit around the wreath form, and it's knitting up pretty quickly - it's a simple cable pattern, so I don't need to refer back to the pattern, so I can pick it up and work any time I have a few minutes.
I love the fact that my house will have touches of knitting and sewing scattered about. Especially since most of my husband's family still thinks all the knitting is a little strange... It will be a good thing for them to see how pretty and useful it is.