Holly Berry Button Necklace

Win this necklace!

Happy Giveaway Day! If you're new here, welcome to Field Wonderful, a blog full of lovely snippets from my life. I hope you'll pour yourself a drink and visit for a while.

As part of Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day, I'm giving away the Holly Berry Button Necklace. It's made from a variety of vintage red buttons that remind me of the brilliant color of winter berries. I especially love this necklace paired with vintage lace because it looks like berries gleaming in the snow.

This necklace is perfect for gabbing the night away at festive get-togethers, staying snug and stylish at home, or brightening up your daily errands.

Would you like to make the Holly Berry Button Necklace yours?

Just leave a comment on this post and be sure to leave your name and email address! This contest is open to anyone who wants to enter (I'll ship internationally). The giveaway closes at 10 PM (EST) on Sunday, December 6, 2009. I'll put all of the names in a drawing and pick one at random. Good luck to you!

Be sure to check out Sew, Mama, Sew for a listing of all the other bloggers participating in Giveaway Day!

Sewing Dreams

I have big plans to get reacquainted with my sewing machine over winter break. There are lots of projects on my to-make list, including some Christmas presents that I'm just giddy to make.

Yesterday on my errand-run, I popped into a thrift store and came across such a lucky find. Remnants and ribbons all packaged up together and being sold for a song. I pawed through them to make sure there were things I could use, and just fell in love with the ribbons above. They're gorgeous and soft and will look so pretty adorning some sewing projects.

One of the remnants is a large piece of dark brown fabric with white embroidered designs. I love the embroidery and can't wait to sew something with it.

There were lots more fabrics and lace trims in the package, so I'm going to have fun playing around with everything.

* What are you making these days? *

Color on a Gray November Day

This morning I braved the cold to run some errands (or rather, walk some errands). I took my camera along looking for spots of color on this chilly gray day. Here are my findings:

Thanksgiving leftovers

A single rosebud growing tall

Blossoms and decay

I hope you're staying warm and finding little bits of beauty in your life!

Get Excited for Giveaway Day: Dec. 2nd

Mark your calendars for this Wednesday, December 2, 2009. I'll be participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day. Stop by my blog that day for a chance to win a cool prize and be sure to check out Sew Mama Sew for a listing of all the other bloggers participating. It's a great chance for you to win some lovely handmade items for yourself or to give as gifts. Plus, you'll get to check out loads of interesting blogs.
I'm so excited! Hope you are, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pecan Tassies (recipe here)

The pecan tassies are ready to go and the corn pudding is in the oven. We've got lots of family to see this weekend and lots of good food to eat, so K and I are both pretty excited. I even heard him whistling around the house this morning.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and get to spend time with people you love!

Holing up in the Kitchen

Gingerbread cookies (recipe here)

I spent yesterday evening in the kitchen, staying toasty warm and enjoying the pungent smells of spices. The place was clean for once because I spent the afternoon tidying and washing dishes. So of course all I could think of was messing it up again. I think I love a clean kitchen just for the opportunity to create chaos again.

Buttermilk biscuits on the way to the freezer

I may have picked out the very messiest recipes to make--the ones that require multiple bowls, lots of flour, and dipping my hands right into dough. I baked up 3 dozen gingerbread cookies, which made the house smell amazing. I also made a quadruple batch of buttermilk biscuits for freezing. I love having homemade biscuits in the freezer for an easy, warm winter breakfast.

Brie cheese, all for me

In other wonderful food news, my mom gave me one of my Christmas presents early! She had surgery last week and while she's recovering well, she's not allowed to be out and about for many weeks. She did some of her shopping early and since this present is perishable, I get to have it now. I asked for brie cheese--it's a splurge and K doesn't like it, so we never really buy it.

I fell in love with brie when I was living in Amsterdam. I used to stop in the grocery and buy a big wedge of brie and some bread. Then I'd bike down along the Amstel River until I was out of the city, surrounded by farms and the occasional windmill. There was a church in the middle of all of this low-lying, canal-strewn farmland. It had a high steeple and a bench in front facing the river. I'd sit there watching the river traffic and eat my picnic lunch. I know I couldn't have been too far outside of Amsterdam, but I felt like I was in a world away from everything. I loved that quiet place between the river and the church, surrounded by lilacs and strangers.

(Thanks ever so much for the present, Mom!)

Cleaning out the Garden

Sorrel. bunches of it

On Sunday I cleaned out the garden, harvested what I could and generally tidied it up. Our little patch of vegetables and herbs had grown quite feral. I didn't tend it as much as I would have liked once school started, but it was fun to see what plants will do when left to their own devices. The tomato plants sent off long vines--I kid you not, we had tomatoes growing 20 feet from where we originally planted them. I think we might have the most fertile soil ever (I know from digging around that our yard is rich in coal, marbles, and broken off heads from religious icons).

I am completely stunned that we are still getting vegetables and herbs from the garden in late November. I appreciate them all the more because we're no longer surrounded by summer abundance.

Here's a look at the last harvest of the season, with a little guessing game at the end.

Jalapenos

Tomato, jalapenos, and green peppers

Lemon balm (for delicious tea)

Can you guess what this one is? 

It has such an interesting silhouette! 


* * * 
Updated: It's okra! I pulled it apart to pluck out the seeds and this is what I was left with.