This Little Piggy...

It seems my efforts to take a breather from crafty endeavours have been futile. The wool, the wood, the ideas, the inspiration are all too tempting and irresistible. I've reworked my master plan to allow for a bit of crafty indulgence, as long as I keep up with the meal planning, workout schedule and financial budget! Moderation is my new mantra!

Now that the gift-giving holiday season is behind us, my creative efforts this month will be somewhat selfish in nature. Since I'm planning on spending more time in the kitchen, I thought I'd treat myself to touch of fun and practicality to spice up my culinary adventures. With my weekly CSA basket overflowing with veggies, I figured a new cutting board would serve as motivator to get me slicing and dicing. This whimsical little piggy was cut on my scroll saw from one very wide maple board. My father actually served as the inspiration for this project as I made him an identical piggy for Christmas. Handmade gift ideas are particularly difficult to come up with when it comes to both of my parents. I had a eureka moment over lunch one day during on of my visits to their house. As strange as this sounds, my father often eats his lunch on a cutting board. A can of sardines, a few slices of cheese and some fresh bread are often brought right to the table on a board. I always chalked it up to general male laziness (sorry Dad!) until I came across this breakfast board. Hmmmm, maybe Dad has been onto something all these years!

Of course, my little piggies needed to be sealed and protected. I was so thrilled when I stumbled upon this recipe on Plain and Joyful Living. Not only is this polish great for the cutting boards, but we can use it on all our wooden toys! I purchased a block of beeswax from Cosman Whidden and in no time had several sweet smelling jars of homemade polish. I tucked a tiny jar in with Dad's board so he could keep it well-waxed and protected. We've even used this polish on our kitchen table with great success.

Inspired by this beautiful quilt posted on Soule Mama's blog this week, I came up with another self-indulging project for myself (and Hubby). After rummaging through my fabric stash for awhile, I emerged with enough material to create a new queen sized duvet cover for our bed. Once I started cutting squares and laying them out, I could not believe how quickly the color scheme fell into place. With the exception of the Heather Ross mermaid fabric, the entire quilt, including the flannel backing, was made using re-purposed vintage bed linens I'd thrifted over the past year. The most self-indulging part of the project was the fact I took a day to myself to focus on it. With the wee ones in preschool yesterday, I put the house cleaning and grocery shopping on the back burner while I indulged in some me time. Ok, I also stayed up past midnight last night because I was just "so close" and could not stop myself. I plan to create a cozy wool duvet to sandwich between the cover. I thought a removable, easily washable cover would be the best option. Chi-Chi put this theory to test at 3am this morning when he came to snuggle in and proceeded to empty his bladder on my lovely new quilt!