Chatter, Good Links and More Tea Towels
Hello Colorful Friends!
This week we had the first snowfall of the winter. The hills are blanketed with beautiful white clouds of puffy snow. All week it has been very cold. Winter has arrived in western Massachusetts. That is our Border Collie Kate in the photo above at dusk one evening this week.
This week, I will be trying to finish up some pottery to give as gifts for the holiday. I'm working on a Christmas Stocking for a new little family member. I'm using my "Kristin's Colorful Christmas Stocking Pattern" which is an easy knit and available from my website here or Ravelry here. I am making the one in the middle of the photo below.
Thanks so much to all of you who visited my On-Line Colorful Pottery and Homegoods shop and placed orders for my handmade pottery, tea towels and books. I have been a very busy girl - wrapping, packing and getting the orders our to the post office. I will be accepting orders through Sunday evening the 17th. All orders will leave by Tuesday the 19th. After that, my web shop will be closed until after the first of the year. Here is the address if you are looking for something special for a holiday gift.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ColorfulPottery
I just added a few new tea towels to my inventory in my shop including this brightly colored Sunflower Block Tea towel. I made this design by carving a linoleum block and printing with it. I then scanned the print and brought it into Adobe Illustrator. There I tweaked it and colored it. It is a lot of computer and design work but the possibilities are endless combining handmade art and the computer.
Every year, I make several homemade wreaths to decorate our doors of the farmhouse and barns. This year my sisters, Mom, nieces and I made them the day after Thanksgiving. I love mixing textures of different greens - pine, hemlock, boxwood, holly and more. I tied silk ribbons, pom poms and berries on for added color. The nice thing about wreaths is they don't have to last forever so I'm never very picky about the crafting - I just throw them together quickly and they look great and last as long as they are needed. My favorite green is that chartreuse stringy thing which I do not know the name of. My friend Kay let me prune her shrub. Just my style - texture, fiber and shaggy.
I'm thinking toward what I am going to do on the dark nights of January -- are you? Do you have any making plans after the gift making is over? I've been thinking about making a crocheted hexagon afghan. We will see if the project will actually begin. If you have any pattern suggestions, send them on.
Here are this week's links to things I found interesting -
• Beautiful garlands to decorate your home made out of natural materials that won't break the bank.
• Ideas for decorating and making homemade snowflakes. Let your inner child come out.
• I know how difficult a job it is to be a farmer in today's world. This article in The Guardian was interesting. A follow-up one is here about the response to the article.
• We eat a lot of soup in the winter here at Leyden Glen Farm. I need to try this recipe this winter.
• I love Gingerbread at Christmas. This recipe is my favorite.
• Here is an interview with Magda Sayeg - the "mother of yarn bombing". If you have 5 minutes to spare.
I wish you all a peaceful and restful holiday season with family and friends. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement and support of me, my work, and my family and our farm.
Yours in color and creativity,
Kristin Nicholas
www.kristinnicholas.com
getting-stitched-on-the-farm.blogspot.com/
www.leydenglenlamb.com
A preview of our colorful home and farm including drone footage of the sheep, The Farmer and his dog.