A Gift Guide about Me

(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.)

Last week I was downstairs staining doors in our basement. Everyone else was upstairs. My three year old boy, Cole, came bursting downstairs and ran over to me. He said, ‘Mommy! Your birthday present came in the mail. It’s a new cake carrier. It’s in my closet, and you should come see it!’

My husband had requested my Christmas present to be shipped to my parent’s house a couple miles away. Instead of going there, my present came to our house. My husband saw it on the front porch while I was downstairs. He told the boys to keep it a surprise, and they decided to hide it in Cole’s closet.

Within minutes, Cole seemed to forget the ‘don’t tell mommy’ part of the whole situation.

Well. Since we all knew about mommy’s new cake platter, we opened it up and used it for our Thanksgiving cheesecake.

It was my first Christmas present.

Gift guides are showing up everywhere in the online world. Rightly so! Christmas is coming, and buying the right gifts for friends and family is a bit daunting and sometimes quite impossible. New ideas are helpful.

This gift guide is a bit different than the rest.

You all see a lot of fabric and thread and quilts and pillow covers here. You may think I sew and sew and sew and sew all day long. Like most of us, our lives exist of more than one small hobby and one little business.

Here’s a gift guide about me. It’s things I already have. I thought I could paint a better picture of the real Kelli behind all the quilts.

First off: here’s me in a typical day of clothing.

We spend an immense amount of time outside. We tend to not shy away from the elements. If it’s raining, we take out umbrellas. We tend to hike trails and paths that take us to creeks and streams. Rain boots are a must for the time we spend outside. I have some. I highly recommend owning a pair. The boys have these…take note they are taller than some. Taller boots work better for creek walking.

Cloths? We have a local J. Crew Mercantile that stocks almost my entire wardrobe. You will regularly find me in skinny jeans that fit under rain boots, a button up shirt, and this green vest that I’ve worn every day for the last two winters. I avoid the bulk of a winter coat at all costs.

I read. As the days go by and maybe I grow a bit wiser, I have realized that reading is extremely life giving. It opens my eyes. I learn. It seems to slowly change my heart little bit at a time. I’m careful what I read. Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter is at the top of my joy reading stack right now. I have not started it yet! So I can’t offer insight if it’s good or not.

My other most recent joy reads have been The Awakening of Miss Prim and Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. I’ve enjoyed them both.

Along with novels, I’m always reading through The Home Education Series learning about living life through a lens of a dear woman named Charlotte Mason. She has written Home Education, Parents & Children, School Education, Ourselves, and Formation of Character. Her well rounded wise words have brought an immense amount of peace into our home with three young children.

I began reading her books as a result of our decision to school our children at home, but her books were not originally written or necessarily written for the home school family.

I still sew, and I can’t leave all fabric and notions off my gift guide. I used the picture of the hand embroidery thread, though. Sewing has slowed down in more ways than one in my life.

Other good things have squished out my time to sew a bit. But, also, I have recently taken more hand stitching and slow sewing from my comfortable chair. I love having a project on my lap as I sit and chat with my husband in the evenings. This pretty yellow embroidery thread is from a new favorite shop of mine, Field and Cloth.

I’ve learned that broadening my horizons and creative outlet beyond quilting and sewing is quite enjoyable. Water coloring has turned into a new found hobby that I regularly find myself doing with my children.

I started over a year ago, but my technique improved a whole lot after my husband bought me May Mallam’s book for my birthday. It’s a republished book from the early 1900s, I believe. It’s wonderful for someone like me who enjoys old books.

I use this journal (but actually recommend a spiral bound one) and these water colors.

Do you enjoy poetry?

I didn’t. I’m still learning to appreciate this form of writing that I’ve never blinked an eye to in the past.

It is such a broad scope of literature I had never valued. What a shame on my part that my eyes were not opened until recently. If you need a good place to start (and enjoy words of other Christian believers from the past), you may enjoy Refuge of my Weary Soul. This is a compilation of works by poet Anne Steele.

Since purchasing this book for myself, I’ve gifted it twice to friends.

And this. I’ve turned into a journaler. Lots of journals for lots of reasons. This is my ‘common place journal.’ Whenever I run across a snippet of wisdom or encouragement I never want to forget, I write it down here. Maybe you could call it my book of profundities.

This pink one is from a set I bought a while ago from Papersource. It’s one of their Rifle Paper Co journals. If you enjoy a good floral, they’re beautiful.

I absolutely adore this mint one, but the last one I bought I gifted to a friend.

That, my friends, is my gift guide about me. I’m much more than a quilter and sewer. I’m sure you are too.

Do we have anything in common?

Here’s that green vest again that I wear every day. 🙂