Christmas in the Craft Room

While it's going to be a very crochet Christmas this year, the new-to-me project of making my daughter's t-shirt quilt has made me realize I need as few distractions as possible in my line of sight in my craft room.

The shirts were washed, dried and ironed, and then the stabilizer was applied. A lot of careful cutting later, and I have a stack of logos that she's thankfully arranged in the order she'd like... so all I need to do is start sewing. But the yarn spread hither and yon, the grad school articles, books and notes covering almost every surface, and the unvacuumed carpet have been driving me crazy and making it difficult to get into the Christmas mood. 

Coffee, Christmas music streaming on Amazon (I love John Legend's new holiday album), and a few hours of cleaning, straightening and decorating later and the crafty nook is ready, which means *I* will be as soon as my final project for the semester is finished and I can concentrate on the quilt.

I got out the ornaments:

I love older ornaments, "vintage" baubles that glitter and reflect the twinkle lights on a tree.  The styrofoam and papier-mâché Santas are like a pair (one red, one white) that my mother used to hang on our tree every year. I snatch them up every time I encounter them, which isn't often. This is the first year I'm putting a traditional topper on the little silver tree that fills my window.

Sometimes it's the little vignettes that make me smile the most when decorating. This three-tiered stand has held balls of yarn, crochet hooks, yarn needles, magnifying glasses, scissors, pens and printed patterns alongside a stash of SMARTIES candy.  You know, the essentials.  After dusting it and finding my box of bottle brush trees, here's how it turned out (the mini-ornaments are the cutest just as they are- I found them at Target), with some seasonal sweetness for me to sneak during sewing breaks:

I still have some crochet projects in the works, but they're easy-peasy and don't require an entire table of space.  I'll sit here and listen to some movies (I rarely watch them when I'm counting stitches), and enjoy the newly cleaned craft room that now has the right touch of holiday spirit.  It'll certainly help me when I get underway on Dear Daughter's blanket. 

*****

I haven't put up any other holiday decor in the house yet and suspect I won't be in the mood to do so until this semester of grad school is done next week.  My craft room will be a cheerful respite in the meantime, and I'll be able to concentrate on the t-shirt quilt assembly once I start. 

Wish me luck.