December's Projects

December has been absolutely packed full of projects of all kinds.  Small and large, new and old, fun and...otherwise.  One of the first things I finished was the Blankie Project.  Audrey's original blanket was getting so worn out that it was obviously only a matter of time before my continual mendings would no longer be enough to hold it all together.  She's 6 years old, she could stand to set aside the blankie.  But she's my littlest and I couldn't bring myself to make her phase it out.  I'm going with the idea that she'll do it herself when she's ready.  So I ended up making a new one.  Audrey went to shop for the yarn with me, and checked my progress quite often to make sure that the bumps all felt right.  She was thrilled to have it finished, although she doesn't use it much.  It's so fluffy that she's not used to it.  I should probably run it through the washer to get rid of the new, fluffy feeling.  I did end up confiscating the oldest blankie without her knowledge or consent.  Surprisingly, she hasn't mentioned it yet (it has been a couple of weeks) so we'll see how that goes.

Another project had to do with two trees that we inherited when we moved into our house nearly a year ago. They are actually real branches with silk flowers hot glued on. And covered with decades of dust.  I didn't manage to transform both of them (mostly because the perfectionist in me wasn't entirely happy with the results...I think I need to find different pots to put them in.)  We pulled off the flowers, removed the old containers, then I spray painted the branches and chipped off some of the plaster that the branches were set in.  Then into the new pot, a few Christmas lights and ornaments later, and voila!  A new modern addition to our decorations.

We also did some furniture shopping.  The family/friend Christmas party was to be at our house, and we had a rather empty great room.  We ended up finding some great pieces on sale.  I fell in love with the green recliner, and then soon after we found the sofa/chair set, so those had to come home with us too.  The original brown couches that came with our house were slightly regrouped in order to make better seating areas.

All of a sudden our great room feels like a Great Room!  It feels great to have done something to make the house more personal.  It is such a huge place, and there are so many things that we dream of doing to it at some point, that it can often more like a house and less like a home, if that makes any sense.  Homey is a nice way to feel in December.