Gathering in the Peppermints

For the past few days, I've travelled high and low, searching out the elusive peppermint. Today's expeditions took me to Pier 1 and Beverly's. I suspect many of you are familiar with Pier 1. Wonderful things were found there; things that as yet remain in their alarmingly large Pier 1 bag. I hesitate to unveil these wonders to the male eye because . . . well, just because. You know, right?

I DID NOT leave them in the trunk of my car though. In my class this past weekend, I heard a cautionary tale of a quilter who left her fabric purchases in the trunk of her car, only to have her car stolen. And never recovered. The police officer failed to understand the quilter's panic. No telling what the insurance company thought. Be warned.

Anyway, Beverly's. If you live in northern California, you probably know Beverly's. And if you don't? Think Michael's but better and with fabric--quilt shop quality fabric. Kind of a high-ish end craft, fabric, and holiday decorating mecca. Good stuff. (And 50% off on Christmas stuff on Saturday, I think.)

So now I believe I'm done searching for peppermints and shopping for Christmas decorating stuff unless I've forgotten something. My friend Eileen thinks I go on shopping sprees, and she's at least partly right. I don't enjoy shopping much, so when I'm inspired by stuff like peppermints, I tend to do it all at once and get it done--and get all the other things purchased I've been needing for awhile too. So, yeah, I'm done now I think.

My friend Eileen also asked me whether I'm skipping Thanksgiving and going right to Christmas. Funny, but Hubby asked the same thing. No, I'm not. But it's not like I can start cooking the turkey right now. However, I CAN start getting some of the Christmas stuff ready so I can put it up right after Thanksgiving. Like peppermint picks.

"Say what?! Peppermint picks? What the heck's she talking about, Mabel?!"

Okay, I'll show you--but don't tell Martha, okay? She'd probably say she invented them.

First I gathered my peppermints and other pick-making supplies, like purchased already-made picks from Michael's, peppermint decorations, small glass ornaments, sprays of white berries, green floral tape, wire cutters, glue gun, etc. See? All kinds of goodies!

Then I snipped wires and cut things apart (kind of like quilting, when you think about it) and divided everything up; then I put it all together again with tape and glue, tied a bow on it, and it looked something like this:

And then I did that again nine times more and the peppermint picks looked a little like this:

And now I have ten rather awesome looking peppermint picks to decorate my kitchen Christmas tree--when it gets put up after Thanksgiving. And all I have to do is shove them in the branches. Sort of.

Oh, and something else about Beverly's. See the red and white stripe and polka dot fabrics, kind of above and behind the "bouquet" of peppermint picks? I found those pieces at Beverly's. Tomorrow night, if things go according to plan, I'll use them to show you how to make some quick placemats for your holiday table or for gift giving. (And maybe I'll also use some of the other fabrics there to the left.) This is one of the projects I gave my class last Saturday. I hope you can stop back by--see you later!