{advent is brewing}

Tea is arriving, beautiful, from all around the world.

As it goes up onto the advent tea wreath, I'm eagerly awaiting the first cup tomorrow -- I'm thinking we've got to start with a Teapigs tea 'temple', sent from England!

{designed by you}

Over the past few weeks, I've worked with a number of lovely people on custom orders for all sorts of animals. What fun! Though the foxes, bears and deer never get old, it's refreshing to have a big old wolf to sink my teeth into.

It's been so much fun, in fact, that I've got a permanent spot now for anyone wanting to design their own custom piece of art. What will it be next -- armadillos? meerkats? wombats? I can't wait...

P.S. As it's the last week to order before December, all advent calendars in the shop are now 15% off! 

{most of a part of a bit of a quilt}

Roaming the pinboards for inspiration, I stopped short when I saw this piece of patchwork, from haven. 

I've been wanting to use some of the old quilt scraps that Justin's grandma gave me to make a new quilt -- to take some of that beautiful hand-stitching and not just recycle it, but take it back to its old life a little bit. And maybe transfer some of that seventy-year-old magic to my slightly more modern choice of fabrics. Red, white and grey -- the official sponsors of Christmas 2011.

Can you spot the antique?

(No, Justin's ten-year-old shirt doesn't count!) 

Happily, my giant pile of "nice fabric" old clothing is shrinking down to a single box. The lid doesn't quite fit on it yet, but we're getting there.

Also in the mix: a pair of baggy Thai trousers from our honeymoon that never quite looked as hip once we were back in America, mikodesign's lovely russian doll fabric, a great stash of red fabrics from my Mum, a rather more revealing top than I'd ever like to admit to wearing, and a couple of those $1.99 a yard! fabrics I see now and then at Walmart and can't resist, though I don't know what to do with them.

Of course, even after cutting and piecing six king-size rows of strips, the whole thing is looking a little short. Wrap it around yourself on a chilly morning and you'll have some frost-bitten ankles. So, back to the cutting board for now...

{oh happy grey}

Just a little note to say hello. And that we haven't fallen off the face of the globe. It has been painting week here, and we've been busy to-doing, unscrewing, spackling, de-crackling, stirring, concurring, drilling, filling, second-coating, and then doting on Tilly's newly grey room.

No photos of the actual room yet -- Tilly is in bed woofing (hopefully a pre-nap woof) -- and so I'll give you a couple of photos of rooms I'd pinned for inspiration. And yes, patient Pinterest followers, all of the pins simply titled "grey walls" will now stop, I promise. (Well, until we do the kitchen...)

1. Buymodernbaby 2. The Good Report 3. Tarpapercrane

P.S. Thanks to all of you who are joining in with the Advent Tea Swap! It's now closed, but if you'd like to arrange a swap of your own with family and friends, I'd be happy to share a tip or two if you drop me an email. 

{outlook: cloudy}

Where I grew up, it was cloudy 364 days of the year. Grey clouds, black clouds, it's-about-to-rain, oh-wait-it-is-raining clouds. Even on sunny days, there were wispy white clouds, which often produced rain by the afternoon. But Texas is almost cloudless. There are a few days of ominous monsoon thunder clouds, and then the blue sky is wiped clean.

All that to say, I'm a bit cloud crazy at the moment. Whether it's missing the familiar clouds of England, or just feeling the need for soft fluffy things to lounge around with, I'm loving the way something wet and drizzly can become bright and beautiful. 

Cloud rugs, Geometric cloud, Rainbow cloud, Red drops cushion, Wooden clouds, Doily cloud

{the second annual advent tea swap}

Ladies and gentlemen, dust off your teapots -- it's time for the Second Annual Red Red Advent Tea Swap!

As the first swap was such a success, we are really excited to repeat the tradition! Last year, teas arrived from all over the world, including China, Finland, England, and America. We tried unusual flavours, found some new favourites, (as well as discovering that Justin thinks chamomile tastes like "warm urine") and loved sharing the experience with some of you.

Would you like to join in this year? Here's how it works:

What you'll need: 25 bags of tea. (20 to swap, 5 for yourself)

What you'll do: You'll be paired up with four other tea swappers, and send each of those people 5 bags of tea. 20 bags of tea will arrive for you -- paired with the 5 you kept for yourself, you'll have enough for one bag of tea for each day of advent, and a one for Christmas Day.

You can make yourself a tea wreath to display your advent tea, check out my advent tea calendars, or just keep all your teas in a nice pot by the kettle!

How to join in: Send me an email at astrid@redredcompletelyred, before November 13th, including your mailing address, so that we'll know where to send the tea!

(Note: if we have enough local interest, Bryan/College Station folks, we can have a separate swap group without the need for postage)

Looking forward to sharing a nice warm cup of tea with you this winter...

{diy: stamped ornaments}

Beautifully heavy, these lovely ceramic baubles felt much fancier than the $1.99 price tag (and 40% sale) suggested. I came home with three, fully intent on hanging them, pristinely white, on the tree. "It'll be so simple and Scandinavian," I told myself, happily imagining a whitewashed house, ten feet of snow, and a sauna in our (imaginary) basement.

And then along came this pin. Abby, of Aesthetic Outburst, had found the same baubles, and drew on hers. Is there anything that woman can't draw geometric shapes on?

After our anniversary plate painting, though, I'm a little wary of ceramic paints. Our fancy-schmancy Porcelaine pens dribbled, spat, globbed, or did nothing even after twenty minutes of furiously bobbing them up and down. So instead, out came the stamp pad. Two minutes later -- with no arm bobbing and minimal dribble (from the stamps, at least) -- ta da!

This is the point where everyone says, "Who on earth is Matilda?" -- yes, that's Tilly. Spin Tilly's bauble around and you'll see the year she was born printed on the back. (Spin mine around and you'll have no such luck... I'm predicting that there'll be a point in the not-so-distant future that I won't want that information available to the public).

Now, should I run back and get another one (two? three?) to save for imaginary, possible, hypothetical future family members, or is that really just asking for trouble? 

{pinterest challenge: woolly letters}

Starting to think I'm going Pinsane? Maybe. But with 3682 pins, I couldn't stop at recreating just one. I'm hoping I can stop at five -- that seems like it should Pinough for now, right?

I fell in love with these wool-wrapped words, originally posted here. As you might remember, I've gone on about how I love capturing handwriting in stitches and stencils, and now in pipe cleaners. It's true -- the way you shape letters, even with an awkward piece of fuzzy-covered metal, takes on your personality, somehow. That, I love.

The word love, on the other hand, wasn't quite doing it for me. Not that we don't like love, or need to remind ourselves of it -- it just wasn't screaming "make me!" 

We're in the process of giving Tilly's room a bit of a makeover, and, strange as it might sound for a little girl, we're going to use a lot of grey. Grey, white, and, of course, some lovely bright red! With those colours in mind, I had a go at bending Tilly's name out of pipe cleaners, and wrapping it up nice and warm for the rare chilly weather we're enjoying.

Something else Pinished -- four pins down, 3678 to go...

{pinterest challenge: ruffles}

This tutorial -- seen on, you guessed it, Pinterest -- was for a ruffled tote bag to take Trick or Treating. With a different set of colours, though, it was easily adapted for a new season of celebration.

Don't know how to make ruffles? You will after sewing this bag. (Note: you'll probably also have discovered how NOT to do it!) Tilly has been trotting around with ours today, and I love how it looks as if she's wearing a floor-length flamenco dress!

P.S. Looking for a free Christmas present? I'm giving away a new piece from my shop over here -- stop by, leave a comment, and win yourself an original bit of Red Red.