Rudolph Day - January 25...

My plan for Rudolph Day this month is to go through the house and make sure that all decorations are packed and put away neatly and organized for next year.  I'll edit in a photo after I'm done, which may not be today as I kind of have a lot on my plate today.

I loved incorporating Rudolph Day into my monthly calendar each month last year, and look forward to doing so again this year.  I have to admit that I still didn't have a perfectly organized Christmas...what with the car accident in mid November...I was in a bit of a Scrooge-y mood and didn't feel like a full-blown Christmas.

Last year I didn't initiate Rudolph Day until June.  This year I am starting in January and hoping that I make even better progress than in 2016.  Following is my recap list of what did get done, and what didn't...and what better headings than naughty and nice?  :)


Naughty:

• The Christmas tree had minimal decorations. (Rudy was interested in the tree, and I was a little afraid of him pulling off ornaments and eating the hooks...okay...and I was lazy.  Bah-humbug!)
• I did not hang the snowflakes in the window.
• I didn't decorate the mantel.
• I didn't wrap gifts till right before gifting.  (Again blaming Rudy, since I couldn't put anything under tree; but truthfully, I put this off every year.)

Nice:

• Thanks to September's Rudolph Day last year, I had a good start on our annual letter written and stored in a Word document.  All it needed were final edits and printing.  I didn't mail them until after Christmas, since the cards were more of New Year cards.
• I had holiday stamps ready to mail the letters.
• I wrote a personal note at the bottom of each letter.
• It was a very frugal Christmas, since I had purchased Amazon gift cards with credit card reward points early (good thing since I was without a car to do shopping!) and had enough to gift to each adult and teen.
• I did erect my book Christmas tree on the dining room table again this year.
• I got out my antique sled and set it up with some small pine trees atop it.
• I made a couple of Christmas gifts from supplies on hand.

October's delayed Rudolph Day...

Well, this was delayed longer than intended.  I've been indulging in reading more than I maybe should, and haven't managed to get a lot else done.

My Rudolph activity for October was to get some sewing done for Christmas, and here is my start.  This is a quilting-at-the-library group project.  We each sewed four strips of a holiday jelly roll together, cut the joined strips with a Dresden Plate template, we each took twenty of the cut strips, then joined those into Checkered Dresden blocks.  Instead of joining the blocks into a quilt, we each are keeping a block to make what we wish out of.  Some are making pillow covers; some (me included) are making table toppers.

I will add borders, and machine quilt and bind.  

The Checkered Dresden tutorial said to use a machined blanket stitch to attach the 'plate' to the backing.  My old machine doesn't have a wide variety of stitching to chose from, and I didn't want to zigzag, so I just did a top stitch as close to the edge as possible.  I'm okay with it.  It looks neat, and it was quick.

I have another sewing project that I need to start tonight, but it's a gift, and I'm not sure I should show it yet.

October 25th, Rudolph Day...

My birthday was yesterday and there has been a lot of entertainment opportunities (it's nice to be loved), so my Rudolph Day post will be postponed for a couple of days.

September 25th, Rudolph Day...

There has been much more than one day of Christmas prep this month.  Lots of time has been spent in the 'Christmas closet' rearranging as I have been working on an article on holiday organization and taking photographs.  Also since Kasey and I are having a garage sale next weekend, I wanted to weed through the decorations and see if anything could be sold or donated.  I am so happy to have everything nicely categorized, packed, and put away.  I don't dread the decoration explosion when it's time to open the storage boxes this year.

My Rudolph Day plan for this month was to begin working on our Christmas letter.  Since I found myself wide awake at midnight...technically the 25th...I got a good start on the letter, and will just need to update it some as it gets closer to time to mail it.  I don't think I got cards or letters mailed last year, so it feels kind of good to get this head start on it for this year.

August 25, Rudolph Day...

Oh my goodness, the days are flying by now.  I am getting almost nothing done these days, as Rudy (the puppy, not the reindeer!) is keeping us hopping.  I had to think of a small job I could complete for this month's Rudolph Day.

I decided to go in search of these crocheted snowflakes.  I've always kept them in a separate box to keep them stored flat.  I would hate to have to re-block them, though I'm sure it could be done.

I made them about 25 years ago.  At the time our living room had a wall of windows, and I would hang a snowflake in each of the upper window panes.  Our formal living room at the time was decorated in pastels, hence the non-traditional pink ribbons.

Today I cut all of the ribbons off.  My plan is to hang them in the big window in our dining room this year by putting a tiny dot of hot glue on the glass and imbed monofilament, attached to the snowflakes, in the dot.  When it's time to take them down, the hot glue will pop right off of the glass.    

I rounded up the perler bead snowflakes Caitlyn and Chloe made with me last year , and will hang those as well.  I'm excited!  They look pretty just laid out on the table like this.  I think they will look awesome in the window.

So now they are all packed together back in the box to keep them flat.  The pink ribbons have been discarded.

One more job to tick off the list.

July 25th, Rudolph Day...

Another month has flown by!  The last couple of weeks have felt really busy, but I couldn't necessarily think of a thing that I have accomplished.  This summer's heat has been dragging me down.  It seems to get harder to endure every year.  Two more months before we start cooling off.  Two more months...

Now for this month's Rudolph Day project.  As you may recall, I am using the 25th of each month from now until Christmas to do something, either craft or chore, to be a little more prepared when the Christmas season arrives.

For this month's project I decided to pull out the cross stitch piece that you may remember from last year.  I worked on it while my mother-in-law was here visiting.  Only two colors, so really simple.

Last year I finished up all the cross stitch and then put it away.  I meant to complete and frame it before last Christmas, but...well...you know... 

This morning I dug it out of hiding.  I washed it, and ironed it.  I left it to dry thoroughly while I rounded up needed supplies and cut backing pieces and padding to fit the frame.  

I added the pearls to the cross stitch, cut off some of the excess linen so it would be easier to apply to the backing board and be less bulky in the frame, and zigzagged the edge so it wouldn't ravel.  Then I gave it another press to make sure there weren't any wrinkles from all the handling.  

I did my best to center the design on the padded backboard, and then carefully taped the fabric to the board before placing it into the frame.  Lastly, I added a piece of white cardboard to fill the frame's inset and give the piece a neater appearance.  Then I taped it in securely so there will (hopefully) be no shifting.  The only tape I had was clear packing tape.  Will it hold?  Not sure.  I may have to redo it sometime in the future.  But I figure the packing tape is still pretty secure on those boxes still left packed since the move six years ago, so...

I took this final photo from an angle to better show the dimension the pearls add.   The lacy snowflake designs and the pearls lend a simple elegance to this piece.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  And I'm really happy that it is complete and will be part of this year's Christmas decorating.

June 25th, Rudolph Day...

June 25th!  We are now at the halfway point between last Christmas and next Christmas.  Amazing.  And while I'm not a real fan of seeing Christmas everywhere so early, I do think that when you make things by hand, you have to get an early start, or things just don't get done.  

Pamela at The Lady of the House Speaking introduced me to the idea of Rudolph Day; that is designating the 25th of each month as 'Rudolph Day' and making ready.  That made sense to me.  I don't have to think about plans and preparations all month every month, but I can think about them on the 25th and take small steps to be ready(er).

So if you hate seeing Christmas pulled out mid-year, avert your eyes.  I am going to try to post one Christmas project on 'Rudolph Day' each month from now to Christmas.

One thing I have been wanting to do for awhile is to paint a canvas as a backdrop for our nativity scene, so this morning at 3:30 a.m. (yes, that's when I usually start on crazy things) I just jumped in.

This is an awful piece done at one of those wine-and-friends painting 'classes.'  They are fun to attend, but don't always render the best results.  I decided to paint over this canvas which heretofore has never seen the light of day.  (Frugal re-use!)

Did it turn out great?  Meh.  Do I want to re-do it?  Pretty much.  Am I going to?  No.  It is done, which is more than it was last Christmas, and done is better than perfect!

And it doesn't look too bad when set behind the stable made by my father in 1981 (which I dug out of the closet for this photo).  I think it will look even better when officially done up at Christmas.