Holiday Shopping

I admit, Black Friday and Christmas shopping is usually wasted on me. I try never to step foot outside the house during the madness after Thanksgiving, and I thrift or make most of my gifts for Christmas. This year I needed to boost my spirits after the bad news, so I decided to do a little shopping from indy sellers during December for someone who rarely gets gifts: me.

These silver beads from LadyBirdBeadsCo are both new and vintage, and go nicely with the silver and garnet frog brooch I thrifted. I'll be using these as stitch embellishments next month for the first of my calendar project tote bags.

These three mystery fat quarter bundles came from FlatWaterMuse. I (obviously) don't need the fabric, but I needed the mystery.

Love all three sets. Now I'll just have fun with them.

14carrot, my favorite Etsy seller, really came to my rescue with a handmade pearl bracelet, three adorable quilt tags and two bags of charms and jewelry findings that I can use for the 2026 calendar project. If you want to find a gift to make your recipients smile, Karen's creations are perfect.

While out finishing up our gift shopping for the family, which I now have to ship all over the planet instead of put under the tree, I bought myself a bag of my #1 favorite snack. Yes, they're bad for me, and yes, they're not on my diet. From my POV they're medicinal, as nothing soothes Christmas pain like Keogh's Truffle and Irish Butter potato chips (available at World Market.)

When we got home I added a few more rows to the granny stitch rectangle throw. It's starting to look really cool, too.

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Journal Find

This is a page from my 2010 poetry journal. My handwriting isn't the best, so I'll transcribe it: If my heart survives to tell all the secrets kept inside it will be an abalone shell in which the beauty did reside. But I think I will always be lost to the tides that rage in me . . . humbling and polishing . . . I don't write many self-portrait poems, but this one isn't too embarrassing. A bit overly dramatic, but the girl I was eleven years ago went through some tough times. I'm in a much more peaceful place today.

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Another World

Since I'm watching more Japanese dramas these days I'm able to find more hidden gems, like the drama Silent . This is a subtle, emotional romance series, and authentically portrays what it's like to deal with a major disability while trying to get on with life and fall in love. Here's the story: in high school Sou Sakura (Meguro Ren) and Tsumugi Aoba (Haruna Kawaguchi) are a young couple. They have the same quirky sense of humor, love music, and really enjoy being with each other. The fact that they're the most attractive couple in school is obvious, but the innocent and fun nature of their relationship is what makes it so perfect. They just like talking with each other. Then, quite suddenly, Sou dumps Tsumugi (by text, no less, making him a giant ass) and vanishes. Years later Tsumugi is now in a relationship with another guy, with whom she's happy, and is looking for a place where they can live together. By accident she runs into Sou, and discovers ...

Rayen

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