out of the studio: smithfield, va

The end of the year flys by so fast. It doesn't help that my "real" job at a publishing company always ramps up publishing at the end of the year to push all of its spring travel magazines out the door, causing an ever present sense of stress and panic around the office the entire month of December. Then of course its the holidays. Halloween turns into Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving rolls into Christmas with hardly a moment for a well deserved pause in between. Despite the hecticness, I absolutely love this time of the year and since I didn't celebrate holidays as a child watching my daughter marvel in the delights of such traditions is so amazing to me. Christmas is the peak of these moments. So last weekend we picked out a real tree(the first real tree I have ever had) and then headed to Smithfield, Va, just a hop and skip away from Portsmouth, to my favorite little shop, Wharf Hill, to see if they had any Christmas decorations. To my delight the shop was brimming with Christmas accoutrements. Trees chock-full of trimmings in various themes some were rustic with birds and canoes while others were flocked white with mushrooms and acorns. I fell in love with so many items, I couldnt decide what to purchase so we allowed Madeline, our daughter, to pick out a couple to take home for the tree. She chose an adorable owl made of pine cones and a little nest with three blue robins eggs. Wharf Hill is such a gem of a shop, I think it will definitely be a Christmas tradition to visit every year (along with several visits during the rest of the year).

Along with store bought trimmings, I am hoping that Madeline and I can come up with a few homemade ornaments this years as well. Maddie helped me gather some pine cones from the yard and I am going to try to add a bit of color to them and hang them on the tree. I have also seen all types of ornaments made from food items such as oranges, pomagranates and popcorn. Perhaps we will experiment with those. Or perhaps a few crocheted ones. Who knows, there is so much I want to do, I just hope we dont run out of time.  I feel that for next year I need to start planning January 1!

 I finished the poncho/wrap that I was working on for my daughter. I think it turned out quite nice. I used this lion brand seashell poncho pattern but added a few rows to make it a bit longer. I also added a couple of pom poms. I am a bit pom pom crazy right now, they are so easy and quick to make. The poncho itself was really quick to work up and fun. Perhaps I will make a few for my etsy shop.