Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thanksgiving Plans and Holiday Crafts

My church Thanksgiving feast has been canceled... hooray!

Is that terrible of me?

Last week I found myself committed to two Thanksgiving dinners--one full meal at noontime here at Chez W, the other at my church--which meant a LOT of extra work for me. Not that I was complaining, mind you.

Today, however, the leaders of this fete decided that, due to minimal participation, the dinner would be canceled altogether. It was becoming a huge effort with not the turnout we had hoped for. What started as a well-meaning opportunity for group fellowship became more of a chore for the organizers & cooks for only about 8-10 guests, all of whom have other events to attend, anyway.

Now I can breathe a little easier and enjoy hosting my own celebration.



Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying Frugal Upstate's Frugal Thanksgiving Mini-Series this week! Jenn is featuring a daily roundup of cost-effective holiday ideas that are quite clever and full of recipe ideas.

Other than trying to keep up with my immense holiday to-do list--which is shrinking day by day--I've been doing some non-food crafts. Scarves and wraps have been knitted, and I'm now working on a pair of wool felt slippers.

I know this has no business on a food blog, but indulge me for just a moment--I'm so proud! I made the felt from a thrift-store wool sweater. I'm fascinated by this--you hot-water machine wash the sweater and then machine dry to shrink it, thus turning it into felt that won't fray when you cut it. The perfect--and thrifty--craft medium! I made the pattern and obviously my sewing isn't very straight... but they'll keep my tootsies warm this winter. Once I have them embellished you won't see the imperfections will be hardly noticeable.

This, obviously, is my way of pretending that Thanksgiving isn't only a week away and that I should actually be cooking something every day. Aah, let me live in denial just a little while longer, won't you? I'll have plenty of time. (Famous last words, I'm sure.)

5 comments:

Sam said...

I wish we had thanksgiving! Oh well I've got Christmas to look forward to!

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts said...

Such great, soft and warm slippers!! Our homeschool group made felted stuffed animals recently. The kids and even the parents really enjoyed making the felted wool and using this great material.

Amanda said...

Sam--I suppose you could start a trend and celebrate Thanksgiving anyway! A nice excuse to remember to give thanks for all the good things in life.

Joy--Thank you! I'm really enjoying this medium, myself. I have another sweater-vest I plan to felt today for a nice winter handbag. Hooray for recycling! Hooray for felt!

Mary said...

Oh those slippers are so cute!

Amanda said...

Thank you, Mary. I have yet to implement my plan for futher embellishments, but as-is they are SO VERY warm and cozy. I love that they roll right up into my bag so I can take them to friends' homes when I visit.

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