We took down our Christmas tree and decorations yesterday, leaving the house in need of a cleaning. What did I do? Hole up in the kitchen and sew, of course. I decided that it would be awful if I didn't have a new apron to clean in - so awful the earth might stop spinning and life as we know it would end. So really you should thank me for this, I saved us all from global devestation.

Anyway. D got me this great book for Christmas, One-Yard Wonders. It's perfect for my fabric buying style - I buy fabric that I fall in love with all willy nilly and not for any specific project. Thus, I have a HUGE fabric stash, bested only by my yarn stockpile. If I hadn't saved us all from global devestation with my apron, I'd at least have enough supplies on hand to knit everyone a hat.

Behold, my universe saving apron.

Christmas isn't complete without a bit of overindulging. After a lesson hard learned earlier this month, I left baking till the very last moment. D and I have an unfortunate case of hand-mouth disease when surrounded by tasties. 

So tonight I baked. And baked. And baked.

I culled all of my recipes from the Epicurious iPhone app today - while sitting in the parking lot of a No Frills. All of the cookie recipes that is - the Nuts & Bolts mix pictured is a new favorite of mine that I found on another recipe site. The cookies are Classic Butter Shortbread, Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies & Ambrosia Macaroons.

I am officially ready for Christmas. Have a merry one.

P.S. I hope Santa brings me a gift card for some new pants, because I have a feeling I'm going to need them - perhaps something in an elastic waistband.

Production finished at approximately 2am yesterday evening.

Sad to say I didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped, but that seems to be par for the course this time of year. It's time to reclaim my kitchen table for the festivities and face-filling that this week will bring. It won't be without a sewing machine for long though - I've already got a list as long as my arm of projects for the New Year.

So much to look forward to this year and so much to be thankful for from the year past. Sigh. Warm fuzzies commence - Merry Christmas internets!

Friday was our work potluck party.  I had planned on bringing in a slow-cooker full of meatballs and calling it a day, but plans changed.  At 4 o'clock the day before the party one of my co-workers popped up in my iChat window -- "you're bringing those cupcakes tomorrow right?" -- What? What cupcakes, I've brought a lot of cupcakes to work. -- "you know, THOSE ones, the ones that are ... white ... or something" -- Ten minutes of video chatting and web searching later we narrowed those cupcakes down to these yummies. I first saw them on Martha and they turn out beautifully every time - the recipe can be found here.

Silly me for thinking I'd be not baking something for work at the holidays.

The Cristina workshop is in full production mode, but there's not a lot to post since the vast majority of projects in the works are gifts!

Here's something I just finished up for my mom as a pre-Christmas gift... a monogrammed address stamp for her Christmas cards.  I'm doing one for myself next, because I was quite pleased with how hers turned out. Tuckers Plus in Hamilton (905.522.9251) took a printout of my design and turned it into a lovely rubber stamp. They have the cutest little shop tucked away on John Street near the GO Station and their ordering system is refreshingly low-tech.  My phone number was scrawled on the bottom of my print and that was it!