It's Starting to Look Like Christmas

We've had a relatively dry week. Yesterday we even had real sunshine, as opposed to the glare of sun through a thin layer of clouds. We took the opportunity to drive up to one of the verdant forests of trees in the area to pick out our tree for Christmas this year.

We usually have a Douglas Fir. For a change of pace this year we chose a spruce. Here's our personal lumberjack hauling it out of the forest for us:

Now all we have to do is dig out the Christmas decorations and get busy!

This past week I also made one last foray into the local sewing supply store that is closing. The owner is retiring for health reasons. That business is going to be sorely missed. I brought home a pile of sequins, a couple tubes of beads, half a dozen fat quarters, and some funky yarns. The sequins posed a storage problem.

Up until now I've just kept them, for the most part, in the same drawers I use for storing my beads. More than one of my bead drawers had become hard to open and close however. I made the decision to remove the sequins and see what kind of difference that would make.

It made a world of difference. Suddenly drawers that were all but overflowing now have all kinds of room for new beads! But where to put the sequins?

I had this cute animal crackers tin laying around, waiting to be used.

Not quite big enough. Hmm... what else?

Maybe if I dump these scraps out of this plastic shoebox... Ah, they all fit, with room for more. Perfect!

So far I've resisted the urge to sort them according to color. It might be more stimulating to have them all jumbled together.

Another perk is that this activity has sent me back to my Bead Journal Project ornaments. I was behind by about 5 ornaments when I brought those new sequins home. I'm happy to report that I am now almost up to date. Two ornaments have been embellished and are ready for backing and hanging loops, one is in the process of being embellished. Maybe I've miscounted - I'll have to go look. Near as I can figure though, I should only have December left to create to complete the collection for the year. Woohoo!

I wasn't sure I was going to sign up to participate in the BJP for 2011 because I had fallen so far behind this year. After spending some time catching up with other BJP bloggers I realized it's not the finishing of the individual ornaments that is the main thing. It's what you learn about yourself along the way that is the most valuable. And I've learned a lot. So I signed up again. If any of my readers are even remotely thinking about participating in the BJP for 2011 I would encourage you to do so and to hurry up! and register because registration closes this Wednesday, December 8.