The Christmas Book Basket

Whether you're ready for it or not, Christmas is less than a month away. That means it's okay for me to start writing posts about it, right?

The folks around Regina have been on a Christmas kick for weeks! We saw the first Christmas lights coming on ages ago. At first it seemed ridiculously early for such things until you realize the wisdom behind it: no one wants to be out hanging Christmas lights in the bitter cold so the smart ones get it done before the snow flies! Genius!

With all the lights around town and Christmas craft sales we've been going to lately, it's impossible not to get into the spirit of the season. The tree isn't up yet and there's still a moratorium on Christmas tunes (until December 1), but we have already dug out all our Christmas books and put together a Christmas book basket.

Abner is a big fan of books so it's no surprise that she's all over this basket idea. She loved digging through her bookcase looking for all the Christmas books she could find and shoving them in the basket. My mom has been giving her a new Christmas book each year since birth and we've gotten several others as gifts so we actually have quite a stash! [Note to self: get bigger basket for next year.]

We also hit up a local used book store the other day to add to our collection. I love the vintage look and feel of these new-to-us books.

The Christmas book basket is a new tradition for us, but one that I'm sure we'll bring back for many years to come. What are some of your favourite holiday traditions?

Free printable: Advent activity cards

You'll recall, last year I whipped up a last-minute advent calendar for Abner. She absolutely loved it and I've been looking forward to using it again this year!

With the start of advent just around the corner, I've been racking my brain trying to come up with ideas for activities to put in the bags this year. It seems to me that it would be nice to have a set of printed cards I could bring out year after year instead of brainstorming new ideas each year. [Does that make me sound lazy, or what?!]

To help my fellow last-minute mamas and papas out there, I've done up an advent activity printable that includes 30 activity cards and six blank cards.

Just print out the two-page PDF (be sure to print single-sided!) and cut out the 24 cards that work best for your family. I opted to print ours on a light-weight cardstock so that the cards will last for more than one season. You can use the blanks to write in your own special ideas too! I'll probably slip a few treats and stickers in with the activities too.

•  Print the advent activity cards

 Enjoy!

UPDATE: I've changed the hosting service for the PDF file to Google Docs. Sorry to anyone who was annoyed at having to sign up for that other service! I wouldn't have uploaded it there if I'd known about that.

You can now find me at...

Groovy Mama in Regina's fabulous Cathedral neighbourhood!

Image shamelessly borrowed from the Groovy Mama Facebook page.

Owner Leslie Charlton runs just about the cutest store ever providing stylish, cute and practical products for mamas, mamas-to-be and their babes. She also happens to be a big supporter of locally-made and handmade items (which works out just great for me!) Here is just a sampling of a few of the Milkybeer items now in the store:

Abner modelling her own reversible baby dress back in the day.

Totes for the toddler set.

Patchwork sleep sacks to keep baby cozy at night.

Yup, being in a brick and mortar store is a pretty big deal to me, but it's not the only place you'll find Milkybeer these days. I've also started up a Milkybeer Handmade Facebook page. So, if you feel so inclined, go ahead and pop over there to show me a little love. I'll be announcing special promotions and giveaways there from time to time, so I promise it will be worth your while to "like" the page.

And, of course, by now you've probably already noticed the new Etsy shop in the sidebar over there on the right near the top of the page. The Milkybeer Handmade shop is open and ready for business. I've got a few things in there already and am adding more all the time. In case anyone is thinking of Christmas shopping, the last day to place an order and receive it in time for the holiday is December 11 (within Canada at regular parcel rates) - just around the corner!

Chip off the old block

Had to laugh (and beam with pride) when I ventured into Abner's room the other day to find her playing 'craft sale'. She was selling blankets "just like mommy!" Love her merchandising skills - look at the expert rolling job she did all by herself! By the way, she wanted $50 for the orange blanket but the pink was only $10.

Quilts aplenty...

...if 'aplenty' equals 5, that is.

I don't think I managed to share the finished results for most of these quilts yet, so here you be. Five beautiful, hand-stitched baby quilts for your viewing pleasure.

It never dawned on me before now, but I think I can officially call myself a quilt designer (as opposed to just a quilter). I have never purchased or even followed a published quilt pattern. Aside from seeing some in books, I don't even know what one would look like. Each of these quilt designs sprang from my very own little grey cells (that's a Poirot reference in case you missed it).

Whenever I start a new quilt project, the first step is always to sit down with a few sheets of graph paper, a pencil, ruler and, most importantly, an eraser to plot a few things out. This step is invaluable for figuring out exactly what's going to be involved in creating a particular design - better to realize a design is going to be a nightmare at the paper stage rather than once the rotary cutter has done its thing. In theory, this should also help me determine exactly how much fabric will be needed. Yet even so, I seem to find myself back at the quilt shop mid-project with surprising frequency.

This quilt is part of a new project series I'm starting. The fabrics were part of a fat quarter of the month club I joined recently at a local quilt shop. Each month I pick up a new package of six fabrics and use them to create a brand new, one-of-a-kind baby quilt. This is October's quilt (the first in the series). I have the fabrics for November, but haven't designed the quilt yet. What I like is the challenge of working with fabrics I wouldn't normally choose. Let's just say, I'm much less fond of November's fabrics as I was with October's.

I think this next one is my favourite. It busted through a bunch of my scraps (which is always a bonus) and uses a beautiful Kona solid in grey as the main fabric. Word on the street is that one of the local quilt shops will be getting a shipment of solids very soon! This is a vast improvement over a few months ago (have I really lived here long enough to say that?!!?) when they looked at me funny when I asked where they kept their Kona solids. They'd never heard of them, let alone were they carrying them in their shop! I've been forced to do a few quilts without true solids now and though they are beautiful, they're just not as appealing to me.

I will eventually get around to putting these in the shop, so message me [heymilkybeer at gmail dot com] if you want to call dibs on any of them!

One-word Wednesday: Read

At the risk of perpetuating a stereotype...

it's cold here in Regina!

Okay, okay...I know we're in for much worse in the months to come. But, after such a lovely summer and early fall, this cold is a little hard to take! To everyone's delight though, the first snowfall was a bit later than usual: Nov 6. Now that I have a proper winter coat (similar to this one) and the winter tires are on the car, I must confess that I'm actually enjoying the snow. We just need a block heater and we'll be all set for the real cold!

Abner was thrilled to put on her snowsuit (snagged with mitts and a toque for $10 at a garage sale in mid-August. Best. Purchase. Ever.) and help The Dear Sweet Husband shovel the driveway that first day.

Now, here we are less than a week later and Abner is already asking when the snow will be gone. Poor thing. This is going to be a LONG winter.

One-word Wednesday: Sick

True Knit...Truly awesome

Thank you to everyone who stopped by True Knit 3: The Craftermath today! You all helped make my first craft sale experience a most memorable and enjoyable affair!

I was so hopeful beforehand that this event would be a positive experience for me, and I wasn't disappointed. From event organizers Cassie and Cookie who welcomed me straight away as I walked in early this morning, to the lovely ladies in the booth next to me who chatted with me during the lulls, and all the friendly folk who stopped by to shop, browse or pay a compliment, everyone had such kind things to say about my booth and my products. Yay! Here's how the setup looked for the day...

Everything you see here (except for one quilt) was created since Labour Day.

Those bunnies were manhandled by half of Regina today.

I told people to ask and, boy, did they ever!

Cards were a hot item...had people laughing too!

The new Milkybeer banner made from an old wool blanket and vintage sheet.

Hand-stamped hang tags.

I wish I'd had more of a chance to get out and see what other vendors were selling, but it's hard to man a booth on your own. What I could see looked awesome! I do know that I wasn't the only newbie there. Looks like the crafty community in Regina is starting to boom these days (just like the town itself).

My view to the right...

across the aisle...

and to my left.

When we started this whole prairie adventure thing, I set myself a series of personal goals. One was to sell my handmade items at a craft show. Goal number 1...check! Another was to open an Etsy shop. I've done this one too, however, it's empty at the moment so don't go looking for it just yet, please! The third is to sell my products in a store. After today, I think I can safely say I am one big step closer to making that happen too.

Now I am going to put up my feet and rest a while and sip some tea. G'night.