~Playing~

Wishing you a peaceful New Year.

(Someone put an ice pack on top of our new Peace Ice Cube tray and they got stuck together.)
A little peak at the lovely Rockport Harbor on a gray wintery day. Snow: Please come here now.

Lots of inside, windowsill shots because it has been cold and unappealing outside lately.

We had a small visitor who likes to snuggle with Mr. Crafty. I am learning my new camera, still feeling a little tentative. But playing and learning is good---and I have time to do it! We have also been falling down the Youtube hole, and we discovered Bobbie and Tony singing Tell Me Why. Cutest. Couple. Ever!

More sewing! Can you believe my luck? A whole stretch of days spent at home, sewing more little clutches for more friends. Can you guess who the one with the birdie head and the laundry line fabric interior is for? (ME!)

~Holiday 2: Did it~

Take note of the army guy, at lower right that has been vanquished just in time from a sneak attack on the manger. Way to go, Ox! Baby Jesus has survived!

Twinkling Juggler, Robot PJs, AND roller skates?! Seriously. For realz.

Beautiful tables set, loving family, and just the right kind of company with a lower case "c." The kind of company that brings their own instruments and makes music! Beatles sing alongs should be part of every Christmas henceforth.

We had a crazy gift swap and I ended up with a DVD from Goodwill: Yoga Booty Ballet Abs! Booty Ballet---can you believe it?! Also on the floor were a hula skirt, felt jester hat, truffles, a Chia Obama (not ours), a 1990 Jack Russell Terrier Calendar, a collection of used cookbooks and odd kitchen implements, a yogurt-maker, and much more silliness. I am sure we will see some of it again next year!

But the best is that I am a blogger with a new camera. A real deal digital SLR camera of my dreams! Thanks to my husband for organizing some family support towards this amazing gift. And for choosing a camera over an iPad because he wanted to support me as an artist, not just a consumer of technology. I am batting my eyelashes now and my heart goes pitter pat.

~Holiday 1: Preparing~

~favorite handmade ornaments~

all the Eichenlaub news fit to print

Christmas Eve hike up Beech Hill with friends and kids and Santa's Little Helper, in the frigid wind and gorgeous afternoon light. The wind was bitter and our cheeks were shiny and pink with cold on the way down. But our hearts were light and warm from good companionship!

It's important that everyone get their daily required dose of baked goods this time of year. Fat Means Flavor is Jake's idea for a way to advertise butter.

beautiful pie crust in process by my mother-in-law

Still Making Things, little clutches from a pattern by KeykaLou. Cute Cute Cute! And I came up with a few pattern shortcuts after I made a few. :) The making part took a little while to return, but it's back now, as I begin to feel less like a Mama with a brand new baby and more like a person again. A person who can see her friends! And stay up past 7 pm most nights! Who can, once again, bake for her family!

This person, below, just turned 13, even though this picture makes him look like he's going off to college! What a big (bigger than me!), handsome, clever, and intuitive fellow.

The 3 Fs

Friends, Family, Food. The most important and the best. (And reading.)

This year I didn't have to host a big Thanksgiving and I didn't have to travel far either. Yay and hooray! We had a white Thanksgiving and our first snowplow!

good cheer!

In other news, let me tell you how thrilled I am that our 3rd grader had his first homework: to make foccacia.

He copied the recipe at school and brought it home, read it himself, gathered the ingredients, kneaded the dough, with only the occasional check-in with me.

He was delighted and so proud, literally skipping through the house as he waited for it to rise. With no standardized testing interfering with instructional time, a teacher who requires children to greet adults respectfully (and stand when an adult enters the classroom), knitting and handwork, and homework like this, I am grateful every day for the education my boys are getting. Oh and there's still time for academics, and I do mean all of them, not just language arts and math!

~Gnomes~Textures~HandWork

I'd like to eat this plant.

I saw it at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which was stunning even in November. They have a reflexology labyrinth made of stones that you are invited to take your shoes off and experience (M&S: we are going there together next summer when you visit!!!!) and a beautiful children's garden. Not to mention a stunning art show by dear Toki!

I finished Jared Flood's Cobblestone pullover, which you may have seen bits of along the way here. It is my new favorite weekend cozy thing to wear, knit from SeaColors by Nanney Kennedy. I like the side detailing in garter stitch.

Friends: I miss you.

Here I was spending time in this new gorgeous kitchen around dinner time with my dear friend B.,: two mamas and a 5 year old and a 1.5 year old, trying to navigate a beautifully photographed recipe for a garlic/goat cheese tart. Two adults felt like the bare minimum: baby holding, recipe reading, snack giving, chopping, etc.

This pot rack was made by my crafty, hip friend, B.---and she made the light fixtures too! With the red colander! Love. It. Helpfully, the kitchen includes a little workspace for small helpers: this creation turned out to be a Vegetarian Compost Tartlet made from scraps of dough and veggies.

My own Tomten (brought back from Sweden) has been awaiting this mushroom for about 30 years. It is perfectly sized for him. And how could I resist a craft kit of little Amanita Gnomes to go with?

Sylvan, mad crafter himself, has been busy writing instructions on how to make a Pine Cone Balm (Bomb) with earnest and fabulous invented spelling:

And some kind of circle weaving, good for making bracelets and anklets.

The craft is returning. Eichenlaub Annual is on my mind. Family photo calendars too.

hands, etc.

The new life feels crowded and often unbalanced. But there is still room for the occasional moment for a girl and the camera.

I still love hands, little and big. I still like a good apple fresh-picked from the tree. I still love the golden light of fall the best.

Hayrides and apple-picking. Hikes. Hanging the occasional load of laundry. Cooking yummy food on the weekends together.

I appreciate my good, dear, and patient family and miss them.

This is how I feel sometimes, turned upside down and clinging on: