Christmas Crazies

For some reason, Christmas seems to be whooshing at me faster than usual this year.  It's probably due to the fact that normally I do some decking of the halls the day after Thanksgiving.  This year I didn't, so anything I want to do to get ready for the Big Day is happening in much less time.  And I'm going to spend the week-end before Christmas with Baby Girl (because the new Sherlock Holmes movie is coming out and we need to do some serious drooling over Robert Downey, Jr and Jude Law because we are, indeed, fangirls of those two actors in those two roles) so I'm losing a whole week-end to go gallivanting.

And all this means that I haven't had more than a minute or two to stitch.

Most of the projects on my list are large and complex because I have fallen into the 17th century and don't want to climb out.  These are not projects that are particularly easy to pick up and put down between batches of cookies or bouts of intense cleaning. As a result, I haven't been stitching.

We all know that needlework is one of the best forms of stress relief there is.  And we all know that the holidays can be stressful if you let them. And we all know that even if the holidays aren't particularly stressful, life is.

(When he was about 4 or 5, the Big Kid very seriously looked at me during a time of stress and strain and asked, "Don't you need to point your needle at something?")

Anyway, last night I flopped into the wing chair and put my feet on the ottoman and looked at Martha Edlin.  She looked back. We stared at each other for a minute, then looked away.

And my eye fell on a little make-it-take-it kit that I picked up in the boutique at Christmas in Williamsburg last year.  And it was small and not complicated to stitch.  So I picked it up and stitched it.

It will become the front of a pinkeep. And it felt REALLY good to stitch again.

Hmmmmmm. . .

Every year I tend to pick up a number of small kits at the boutique.  I like sewing accessories and cute little things and they tend to have a selection of them. So I add them to the stash for times when I need something small for a trip or to carry around in my pocketbook for waiting rooms.

There is a basket full of smalls to assemble.  There are a number of large samplers who crave attention.  There are things to do that need to be done.

But the Christmas Crazies will do you in every time.  So I have decided to celebrate the season by pulling out a bunch of these little kits and stitching on them from now until Christmas Eve.  Then I will see how many of them I can finish-finish between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.  And then I will come to my senses and go back to the 17th century and Serious Stitching.