Posie Gets Cozy

Sweet Season

Last night we had an early dinner at the beautiful and delicious Nostrana, then headed out to see the Portland Revels Christmas show. This year it is an "Irish Mummer's Village Celebration." (Unfortunately, I just checked their web site and the show is entirely sold out this year, so I am sorry I didn't mention it to you [Portlanders] before, in case you have not yet been to one of these.) They are a lot of fun (though long — almost three hours!). The show has a different theme every year. I loved this one, because I love Irish music and I LOVE Irish dancing. Last year it was a Scandinavian winter theme, and really cool, too. It's just always cool to have, like, fifty people and kids all singing at once. And then the audience participates in some songs, too, including (my favorite) a ROUND. Don't you love those? They give me the chills (in a good way). I always get choked up in the middle of it and lose my place, then stop singing and just listen. This weekend is ScanFair (a Scandinavian Christmas festival at Portland State University), as well. I am waking up late this morning, but as soon as I find my Icelandic sweater (somewhere in my closet) I am there.

In this morning's snow village news, THANK YOU to everyone who offered such cool links to tiny abodes! Here are some you might like:

From Jennifer, really adorable printable miniature house and shop ideas, and some more really adorable ones

From Becky, dear sweet lovable and talented Anna's printable houses

From Mrs. T., amazing glitter houses for train sets, and there are a bobillion links to fantastic options, including kits, here

From Abbie, how to make the pretty little Martha Stewart houses

From Mary, a charming kit for a cottage with tree and some finished houses and trees from my beautiful friend Charlotte

From Sara, a pink ready-made house that's quite sweet

From Vivi, instructions for houses from Better Homes & Gardens

And just look at the gorgeousness of this snowflake "curtain" from Lupin, via Ohdeedoh. So simple and inexpensive but truly stunning, especially if you don't have snow outside.

There! Thank you, everyone! That should keep us good and busy this weekend, no?

(Oh yeah: Cup info from photo above: I have a set of two of these thrifted mugs, the bottoms of which say "Lancaster County, c. 1975 Japan, Fred Roberts Co." And the placemat is thrifted, too, and says in the corner "CSTUDITEX." For what it's worth, just 'cause I know someone will ask. :-)

Winter Spin

This sweet little schwibbogen, remember it from last year? Children holding lanterns, trotting toward Christmas. My sister Susie and her boyfriend flew in from South Carolina for Thanksgiving and stayed with us here at Paulson Place all last week, and now we are lucky enough to have Andy's mom coming for almost a whole week again, starting next Thursday. I love it so much when the guest room is in full rotation during the holidays. That was another one of my dreams, come true.

I'm so glad you liked the snow village tutorial! Thank you for the links to other villages, and to make your own houses, etc. I am going to check all of those out today. A couple of people asked about whether it was safe to put lights under fabric. I honestly never really thought about it before. I guess you'll have to use your own judgement about that. My lights are very cool, even after being on for hours, and we don't leave it lit at night or when we're not around. But I'm no expert, so if you worry just leave them out. A few other people also asked about the roses on the fireplace. I described how my mom and I made and attached those here. They are probably a very permanent part of the fireplace now, so be forewarned. I like them, though from across the room they kind of do look, as Andy says, like someone threw blobs of wet toilet paper at the fireplace and then painted over them. [Alicia shrugs: Still cheaper than therapy.] [You know how that goes.]

Heart-Shaped Moon

I put my snow village up. It goes on the mantle above the fireplace. I still can't believe I have a house with a fireplace. That was one of my dreams. I love the village. I've written about it before, once when I wrote about my grandma (many of these houses were hers) in 2005, again when I thought about ice skating in 2007. I always mean to show you how I put it together, even though it's very simple and you can probably guess. But this year I took photos to make it easier to explain.

We keep all the snow village supplies in one box all year, so when I pull them out I know I'll have everything I need. First comes a whole bunch of 4" foam blocks that I had cut many years ago at a foam cutting place (just try Googling "foam" and your city's name to find one near you). They've turned kind of yellow over the years. You could use boxes for this, too, as long as they don't show through the fabric too much. I stack them around at different angles.

Then I take some white lights on a white cord — I think this was 100 mini lights — and start draping them over the blocks here and there. I buy new lights every year since they don't seem to last from one year to the next (and once you get this put together, you will not want to take it down to replace the lights when they burn out halfway through the season). In the past I've used icicle lights and those actually work better because you can snake some out the back to pop into the holes in the houses to light them, but I forgot that this year. Ooopsie.

Then I drape everything in about 2 yards of 44"-wide white linen, folded in half lengthwise. Normally I wouldn't have used such a nice fabric for this — muslin would work just fine — but the first year I set this up, 2 yards of linen was what I had in my stash, so I just refold it and put it in the snow village box and reuse the same fabric every year. The linen is nice because it has such a gorgeous drape to it. Whatever you use, make sure that it is neither too thin (so that you can't see the boxes or foam or cord underneath) nor too thick (so that you can't see the lights shining through). I want it to feel like glowy snowdrifts.

Then I just start placing the houses and trees. My houses are a combination, collected over many years, of ones that were my grandma's, ones that I've picked up at antique stores and estate sales, and newer reproductions (Martha Stewart sold a few of these as Christmas ornaments several years ago, but I don't think they have them anymore). I've never made any of my own, but lots of people were making them on the blogs a few years ago, so if you know of a good link to those tutorials, please leave a comment here and we can collect them. (Also, I'd love to see other finished villages, too, if you have one!) The trees are called bottle-brush trees, and many of mine are vintage reproductions made by Bethany Lowe, whose items we used to sell in my store several years ago (when I had a store). The green ones were my grandma's and they are very old.

The church is really cool. I found it at the antique expo many years ago. It was kind of expensive, but I really wanted it, and I'm glad I got it. Every good snow village needs a charming little church, watching over everything.

When I get all the houses out there, I start hanging my snowflakes. These are glitered plastic (from any craft store) and straw (from Ikea), and I use fishing line to attach them to a bunch of little white cup hooks that are screwed directly into our ceiling and stay there all year. (You can't even see them unless you are looking for them.)

I like how the snowflakes make shadows on the sky.

I like how the heart-shaped pine-cone moon rises in the evening over the village.

It reminded me of the one we had last night.

Wintry Light

I was out wandering around town yesterday, needing a few things: I picked up my Christmas cards, got some new socks, and found this pretty antler candle holder. I took this photo last night without a tripod. It reminded me of what I wrote on Monday. I think I am going to start shooting more still lifes without the tripod and see what happens. Life on the edge here at Paulson Place.

I'm thinking today with sincere gratitude about all of the men and women who serve and protect our country so selflessly. I would love to hear your ideas for ways to support troops who are overseas and far from home at the holidays.

It looks like a bed, but it's a carrot.

Oh my word, what a couple of weeks it's been. The scene above is my carrot-on-a-stick — each night I hurl myself toward my nightlight and this pile of pillows with total determination and . . . devotion. I would call it devotion. It's possbly more like desperation. There's a fine line.

Andy went back to work today to, as he put it, "get some rest." He thanks you most sincerely for all of your kind comments on his dispatch from the front lines — I giggled all day yesterday as I watched him get up repeatedly to check to see if there were any new comments, and come back to his work table smiling, telling me what somebody'd said. Too! Cute! Agh. Sweet sweet sweet. It was an intense run. Mr. Awesome only got slightly crabby once and I only cried once, so I think, overall, we did really well! I thank you again so very much for your orders. All of the kits are assembled, almost all of them have been shipped, and what hasn't been shipped yet will be shipped tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are utterly sold out, and I am sorry about that. We truly did as many kits as we could, and as soon as I catch my breath I will make both patterns available to download as PDFs, so stay tuned and I'll let you know when those are ready. And if you're in Portland, don't forget that I will be participating in the Come Play Portland event on November 7, where we will be making ornaments together and doing other fun things. And I'm also pleased to be teaching them at Bolt Fabric Boutique in a two-night class, November 9 and 16. More information about that is here. I can't wait to make these with people!

Right now, I can't wait to clean the house and get some groceries and make some dinner and then, of course, burrow under that poufy duvet with my TiVo clicker and my floppy puppers and nowhere to go and nothing to do for a bit. Doesn't it sound great??? Can't wait!

OMG! IGP!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Weensy taters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How should we prepare them????????????????????????????????????????

Fall Things

Thank you so very much for all of the ornament kit orders!!! Your enthusiasm is so precious to me, and to Andy, and to Clover Meadow, who loves nothing more than to lay on the floor with her head on his feet while he winds yarn into bundles or cuts rick-rack. A few feet away, I'm working on the new kit pattern while he assembles (and in answer to a few questions that came in this week, yes, patterns for both kits will be available as downloadable PDFs after we get all of these kits made and shipped in October). Outside, through our big open windows, we hear the rustle and ping of hundreds of acorns falling from the huge oak trees across the street. I think one falls about every minute or so. It's a nice little work environment, I must say.

I sat in the backyard and took some pictures from my Adirondack chair the other evening. The yard is very nasty now, overgrown, weedy, with smashed and rotten plums all over the ground and spider webs — huge, almost-invisible spiderwebs — laced between any two things, usually right across doorways. Yesterday I stepped  quickly out the back door without doing my usual reconnaissance (with my Chinese broom held in front of me, thwapping freely at all potential webby areas), and immediately walked into a big one, saw the big fat-butted spider that had been sitting in it shoot [smartly] off to the side and disappear as I flailed around in a panic and then spent five minutes pawing at my head and spitting web out of my mouth while doing the panic-jig (pick up feet quickly while turning in a circle and smacking yourself repeatedly and making worried-kitten noises). Eventually I was able to pick the half-eaten carpenter-looking ant out of my hair — I saw it and got so freaked out I whipped that thing across the yard as if it were a grenade and pulled a little muscle in my shoulder, then did a whole-body shiver from head to toe. It was quite a performance, I must say. I called it "Autumn in Oregon: Not for Arachnophobes." I'm sorry you missed it.

I am getting a late start today. I almost always wake up around 5:30 or 6 a.m. But last night I couldn't sleep so I woke up at 1:50 and didn't get back to sleep until 5:30. Which is about when Andy and Clover woke up and Clover ran across the bed straight for my face with her big, cold nose. I grumbled at them and they bounded away and bounced downstairs and I slept until 9, which is . . . I never do that. The day's half over now already!

From 1:50 to 5:30 a.m., I was reading Julia Child's My Life in France, which I couldn't put down. It's about book writing and book publishing as much as it is about France. She is so cool. What a cool lady. I treated myself to a little shopping spree at Powell's the other day and have a new stack of books on my nightstand. I must put my new book list together. I have lots of craft books to mention, too. So many beautiful books these days.

We have a fun but busy weekend around here. Farmer's market for sure. We'll get to the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest, and later go to a wedding (I haven't been to a wedding in ages.) And then on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., Portland crafty ladies Susan Beal and Diane Gilleland and I will be at the Hollywood Public Library giving a panel discussion on our experiences writing craft books.

This is part of the Writers Talking series, and I think it's going to be really interesting. The three of us had breakfast here yesterday and talked for four hours straight, but I promise we saved some good stuff for you! We'll give you the skinny. For more local author fun, Amy Karol will be at Powell's on Burnside on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. with her new book Bend the Rules with Fabric, and you know she'll have cool stuff to show and tell 'cause that's how she rolls.

Heat Wave

Ah, the heat. They say 107 today. Hottest in fifty years. Portland's not built for it. Firstly, and worstly, the craziest public pool system I've ever seen in my life. At Sellwood Pool, for instance, you can swim from 1:00 to 2:30, then they kick you out and you have to completely exit the pool area with all of your stuff in tow, get back in line (and there are already fifty people standing in line by the time you get out there), pay again, and come back in at 2:40 to swim until 4:10. Wilson Pool lets you stay all day, but I think it's the only outdoor one that lets you do that (don't quote me). But I feel sorry for the kids around here in the summer. They don't know what it's like to ride your bike to the pool, with a towel and a book in your bike basket, and stay from morning until dinnertime with nothing but a frozen Snickers to tide you over.

My neighbor brought over a pitcher of iced tea the other day. I think I'll bring her one back today. My sister-in-law left a box of peppermint tea here a few weeks ago when she was visiting. That sounds perfect for 107 degrees.

8:12 a.m.

Evidence of coffee.

Sometimes I leave it unmade. Sometimes I need to know that it's been made.

My first attempt at fair isle. I think it's pretty good.

New nightie.

Guest room.

Will be in use tomorrow.

Birthday Weekend

On Thursday afternoon, I baked a chocolate cake for Andy.

I baked the same one a couple of years ago. But it's a good one. He wouldn't mind.

We picked up his folks at the airport and then headed out to the ballpark for the evening.

Andy, his dad, and his mom's hair. I love this picture.

Burgers, beer, baseball. And the weather was just perfect.

After the game: over the bridge, then home.

On Friday (his actual birthday), we all headed to the piney woods with a picnic lunch.

Nothing like eating a layer cake in the woods.

We put layers of quilts on the soft bed of pine needles and napped and read for hours while Andy and his dad tossed a football down by the water.

This was my view, when I wasn't watching the lazy river.

Or looking up into the trees above.

That night, we had dinner with my mom at Nostrana. You should go here. Get the appetizer with the melty cheese and the mushrooms. I don't know what it's called. But OMG.

Saturday morning, we headed downtown to the farmer's market.

Don't you love that there are farmers' markets downtown, in the middle of the hustling-bustling city?

I haven't done any market posts yet. To be honest, we've been going to the PSU market every weekend since the end of March, but I just keep forgetting to bring my camera. No dogs this year, either. Less fun for us, but I can understand. No one wants to see toddlers getting clotheslined by dog leashes in the chaos, and I've seen a few. I miss Clover Meadowhoney there, though. (She's so low, her leash just trips ya, right at the shins.)

We got shrimp, creme fraiche, olive bread, chive cream-cheese, potato bread, garlic, onions, and gorgeous lettuce. That place is so awesome.We also went to Powell's and Saturday Market.

Andy's mom told me about a dessert she'd had in Italy that was made of limoncello and frozen whipped cream. So we decided to try making limoncello ice cream.

I used this recipe for vanilla custard ice cream, and just added two tablespoons of limoncello. Probably could've added a little more. But I wasn't sure.

Here's an ad for limoncello.

Kidding. It's our backyard table, ready to serve up some of Andy's grilled shrimp, which I will give you a recipe for this week (along with the book list, and pillow-patch info — I just haven't had the time to put it all together yet).

Andy got a fountain for his birthday which I'm he's really excited about. We he just has to set it up.

Roses, lamb's ear, tomato. Dill.

Limoncello ice cream, in evening light. I think it went well with my lemoncello quilt, you know? Later we watched Under the Tuscan Sun, where they drink limoncello in Portofino. [I didn't know "limoncello" was spelled with an "I" until today. Oops :-).]

It was a wonderful weekend. Boy did I pick the right family to marry into.