At the end of every calendar year I have to do a bunch of administrivia for my weaving business. I sort of hate it. I dread it. Until I get started, it’s always a HUGE deal. Once I’m in the process, it’s not so bad. It takes probably a total of about 8 hours, all told. But because it only happens once a year, I don’t seem able to remember that it’s just not all that bad. So I got that done in preparation for my accountant guy.
I also like to work a jigsaw puzzle this time of year. It’s an indoor activity that has a high degree of inherent reward and gratification – what more can you ask? I’ve had this particular puzzle for about a year, so it was time.
In the past I’ve done the puzzle at my kitchen table, but it takes up my entire small table so I can’t even eat at it. So this year I had a different plan. I had a large piece of plywood in my garage that was left over from some project or other. I measured it and it was perfect. Brought it in, put duct tape on the raw/fraying edge, put it on my large ottoman in the living room, and set to work on New Year’s Eve. Here’s how far I got that evening before I went to bed at about 9PM. (Yup, I’m a party animal – but a tad more on this below.)
After not having a cold for a few years thanks to constant masking, I’m now working on my second cold in several months. BAH! This one started with a fever that had me sleeping for about 24 hours straight. After that I don’t feel bad, but there’s lots of sinus involvement, with plenty of post nasal drip and its resultant coughing, and this time some plugged ears, to boot. Not a big deal, but not pleasant, especially when trying to sleep. So that’s my excuse for going to bed so early on NYEve. Mind you, I’m usually in bed by 10PM anyway. HAH!
On New Year’s Day I spent a bunch more time working on the puzzle. Sappy Christmas movies were on the whole time. Seasonal, and yet no attention is needed. By the end of New Year’s Day the puzzle looked like this.
This happens to be a Pomegranate puzzle, 1000 pieces, title Monteverde. I found its design and use of color quite a bit easier than the last puzzle I did – and definitely easier than the one I did in 2000 – which was a good thing…since I hadn’t yet done the above-mentioned administrivia.
I finished the puzzle up on Tuesday.
Now it was time to try out some ideas I had in my mind for my 2024 Christmas cards. I’d gathered a sizeable amount of used & crumpled wrapping paper from Christmas with the family, and planned to use it to make paper for next year’s cards. But then I saw something online that intrigued me and I exchanged texts with a fiber friend. She expanded the idea a bit – embroidering on card stock. Would I, could I, do this on handmade paper? I tried it, and the answer was I could, but it wouldn’t be as clean and easy as doing it on card stock. And it added an unnecessary step that would not add to the finished result. So I did a sample on some card stock I had here, and it was a definite YES!
This is one of several designs I’ll be using. I have the card stock and envelopes ordered, and am excited to start this process when they arrive.
Now I have to run without even proofreading because I’m babysitting tonight. Maybe the next post will be about this year’s handmade Christmas gifts.
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