crafty

Should you call me crazy?
It's a reasonable question. Since I have embarked on the crazy do-it-yourself project to end all projects.
I decided to make our Christmas gifts this year.
All of them. (well, talk to me on December 24th)

See, Dyami and I were really imacted by a speaker at the Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference we went to this summer. He's a pastor at a church in Houston that decided as a congregation to spend less and give more for Christmas, and donated the proceeds to dig wells in Liberia. They ended up sponsoring enough wells to give a whole region access to clean drinking water that did not have it before. They're calling the movement they started Advent Conspiracy and I think it's pretty awesome.

I've also been thinking about the gifts I buy, the packaging, the production, the capitalism that goes into all of it. Not that capitalism is the Next Great Satan, but it has its limitations, you know? And I think there are better ways to be a good patriot than to be a great consumer.

So rolling all that into a crafty, do-gooder ball, I'm making things.
And man, I've already started. Because I know it won't happen if I save it to the last minute.

Some observations on the process:
--Don't use an ivory crochet needle to turn out a stuffed cat's tail unless you want one end to be part of the gift.
--Making things out of duct tape in someone else's house is sure to set off alarms in your host's mind. ("Wow, I knew Dyami started his own business, but I didn't realize they were that hard up!"). Plus they will question your taste. As will you.
--Yes, one can feel self-conscious going to the fabric store three times in three days because one does not make a list. One wishes she weren't so noticable with the slightly noisy, slightly rambunctious toddler in tow.
--Ask your seamstress mother for notions before spending money on them. Please!
--There is very little chance you will find decent-looking fabric at the thrift store, but it can happen. It will be cotton canvas, and striped with pale green.