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I am joining in with Julie today to show you the winter view through my window this morning...
...from the kitchen we have a sprinkle of snow and a beautiful glowing star....
....the sitting room view is a winter wonderland.....
...while the other windows are full of the soft woollen snowflakes that Sam made last week. I wonder if all our views today are of the white variety?
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The Advent fairy (that would be me!) finally managed to stay awake later than her children and this years calendar is now ready, just in time for December 1st.
This year I have used a little set of drawers that was freed up by the set I bought at a car boot sale. I imagined that they would look exciting bursting with small packages and the finished 'calendar' is everything I wanted it to be.
I have filled the drawers and packages with a selection of small gifts and chocolate and have used tags printed with the boys initials and a date so they can have something each, every day.
I was very pleased to discover the little decorative crackers last week. I was looking for something to wrap some of the smaller gifts in and had been searching for tiny boxes. The big problem was that all the packaging I found would have ended up costing more than the gift inside....these little crackers were 79p for twelve and I think they look beautiful piled around the drawers.
I was going to write something here about how the boys reacted and how warm it makes me feel but then I looked back at last years post and realised it said everything about how I and they are feeling now. What a lovely gift it is to be able to look back and recognise the rhythm and flow of the year. I think I just received the best Advent present of all, the peace of mind that comes from seeing that I am at the same place now as I was at this time last year and the hindsight that makes the anticipation of the next few weeks an even bigger joy.
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I have two new paper-cuts to show you today, both of which have been created by special request. (I apologise up front for the slightly eerie blue light, it was the best I could do in a day where the sun barely showed it's face before giving up and going back to bed!) On separate occasions as Christmas has approached both my boys have come to me with a wish to own a paper-cut of their own. Sam wanted something with trees and nature and Jack asked for a castle with turrets, something like the buildings he had seen in this gift. I loved the fact that they asked for these gifts and was determined to make them something special, that they could treasure. Inspired by their requirements and the pet names we have for them I have made Sam this.....
...and Jack this one....
These were the last two gifts I had on my list that I would have been upset not to complete in time for Christmas, everything else from here is a bonus rather than a necessity and I think I have found a pattern for me that might have to get started soon! The next job is to complete a special Advent calendar in time for it to begin next week.....I promise to reveal all once it is out of the secret bunker (my workroom) and on display. Have a great Thanksgiving all of you who celebrate it! I am going to spend my weekend catching up with all the jobs I should have been doing that because of the present making have been sadly neglected - oops!
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It's that funny time of year again, where I seem to spend every spare second knitting, sewing or cutting but this space has been absent of any evidence of creative activity for weeks. There has been the creation of this years Christmas challenge for the Guild, but that has to stay secret for a few more weeks. My making for the December Snail Mail Swap is well underway (I am quite pleased with this one Valarie!) but you will have to wait until packages are exchanged and opened to see what has gone in there. Just to prove that I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs here are some brief glimpses of the few things I think I can get away with showing you....
These little PJ's are for my nephews - for the one who adores Dinosaurs I have appliqued a 'long neck' on to the top and the other has his initial on his tummy!
I have also made PJ's for each of my boys (it is a special request from them every year!) The fabric I used is a lovely soft brushed cotton and I was lucky enough to get it on offer back in the summer for £1 a metre. I don't use a pattern to make these, I just draw around a pair they already wear and add a bit for growth and hems. It seems to work out ok each year, although often I do manage to get in a bit of a pickle as to what bits need sewing where and invariably have to unpick at least one row of stitching before I get in the flow. Frustratingly, this year I unpicked a bit and then realised it was correct all along and just had to sew it back again!
I cheat with the tops and just buy lovely soft long sleeved cotton vests and this year I have personalised them with a 'tag' of matching fabric and a Christmas ribbon.
My parents are being included in the family of funny hats and I have made a special gnome hat for each of them....
with a flower for my Mum.....
and a pocket for a Mars bar for my Dad.
If you clicked through to the hat link - you may have seen the wrist-warmers I knitted the boys using my hand-spun last year? This year I have used a lovely ball of Noro that I couldn't resist buying when I visited this LYS recently (I have something exciting happening there in January but that is a story for another day!)
I love how they have turned out , with the different stripes of colour (and what gorgeous colour it is!) and I hope they will get as much use as last years pairs have had....both boys say how great they are for keeping them warm while still allowing them to do all the things that little boys need to do...like build camp fires, whittle, sticks, make mud potions, build fortresses.......
I hope that has been enough to convince you that I have not been idle and that I do still love to make things. I am off now to get stuck into two very special paper-cuts which I hope to have finished and photographed to show you on Thursday - see you then!
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Today a mosaic of beautiful treasures from Tunisia. Emma had offered to get me a collection of goodies from her holiday, as my package in the Snail Mail Swap and I jumped at the opportunity to receive a reminder of the sunshine in the depths of winter. Her finds included the most stunning little painted bowl full of glitter and sparkle, some gorgeous skeins of yarn to play with and some green tea for me to enjoy. On top of this she also sent me a collection of the most wonderful handmade items and left me astounded by her generosity! Thank you Em, your package really did brighten my day....I hope these images of it add a bit of magic to yours!
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Today's post is a story of three sets of weighing scales, two books and a realisation that came to me while I was baking cookies at 7 am this morning.
This is the first set of kitchen scales I owned. I bought them from a sale when we bought our first home for the grand price of 50p. They embodied everything I wanted to be, they were old and battered but had character and they spoke of a person living a life of rural perfection. I worshiped at their honest decrepitude and prided myself on the thrift and rejection of commercialism that their purchase revealed. They didn't really work. The pan was too small and to be honest a bit too rusty. The dial stuck and would give you any measurement you liked if you joggled it a bit. Nonetheless I wouldn't give up and they lasted a good fifteen years with me muttering under my breath and guessing at quantities.
This is the second set of scales I bought. They are about 5 years old and seemed to offer the perfect solution. A style that fits with the life I live, rustic, rural, a hint of the past. A big wide (not rusty) pan and measurements in both Imperial and metric, a big step forward and a bargain in a local store..... they don't work either. The measurements are too vague and you can easily add an extra ounce or two by mistake. They slip and slide as you fill them and I have to adjust the dial every time I want to use them. I carried on though, after all I am thrifty and care for the environment, I do not throw things away at the drop of a hat and it would be a waste to stop using something so solid after only five years!
Earlier this year I read Karen Maezen Miller's book Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life
As I mentioned in a post last week, this is a time of year when we are encouraged to try and create a perfection to our lives, to achieve everything, to make Christmas magical whilst running the home like a well oiled machine. Everything has to be clean, decorated, home-made, inspirational, relaxed, happy ......the list goes on and on. In Simple Abundance: A Day Book of Comfort and Joy
"Making gifts for those we love can be fun and occasionally economical but only when we've got the time and creative energy to do it properly" (it's on Dec 11 - I have to confess to reading ahead a bit!)
This morning, the wise words of both these women came together and these are the scales I used to make my cookies..
....horrible, industrial, modern, not my style at all but actually incredibly practical and the ones that allowed me to live the life I want to live as part of the life I do live. The life where I love to make cookies for school on special days (Children in Need) but I only have a short time to make them. A life where efficiency and something that works sometimes wins out over beauty and a battle with a rusty bowl.
So I guess at the end of this long and ramble-y post what I am hoping you will see is a step in the right direction, a path I hope to firmly keep my feet on over the next few weeks as I juggle the expectations of others (and even more scarily myself) in the run up to Christmas. What do you think? Are there any scales in your life that might do with a bit of modernisation?
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Is
it
the
scarcity
of
light
at
this
time
of
year
that
makes
nature
try
so
hard
to
impress
with
the
light
it
has?
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When I asked my November Swap partner for a bit more of an insight into what she liked, so I could plan what to make for her. I knew it was going to be a good month when this was the fabulous response!
"I'm 40 with interests as opposite as they could possibly be..
I love to craft and crochet especially,
I play World of Warcraft obsessively
I like dark industrial music like Nine Inch Nails but also love this new folksy stuff like 'Mumford and Sons'.
I love the idea of recycling and up-cycling (not sure what the difference is) as there's far too much waste in the world today.
I try to cook good wholesome healthy food for my family but I'm a bit too partial to crisps and smelly cheese.
I don't like films with happy endings.
I read lots and don't know why I've never read much historical fiction until recently because I've read so much historical non-fiction.
I always take one of my cameras with me where ever I go and have about 30,000 photos on my PC.
I love to travel...I'm sort of hoping that when all my children have left home I can afford to travel to some out of the way locations and have some proper adventures!!
Summer is my favourite season because I hate to be cold, but I love autumn for its glorious colours and winter when the sky is blue and the air is crisp and icy.
I love the way a song can transport you back in time instantly and how certain smells evoke precious memories.
Interesting and different are more important to me than expensive.
I love handmade because its more personal and most of all...
I love surprises!!!"
Knowing she was heading off to Tunisia I planned a paper-cut for my side of the swap...a handmade, hand-cut, surprise to welcome her home....
I am not sure it hits the spot with the nine-inch nails fan but I am hoping that a warm fire and cheery message will appeal to the girl who treasures precious memories and hates the cold!
I had been playing around with some different versions of my valentine garland and I added this one, made using the Attic 24 little picot flower pattern linked together with a simple chain stitch, as a bit of colour to cheer her up in the cold November days. Just in case you haven't been to visit yet please go and check out Em's gorgeous photos of the sun in Tunisia and you will understand why I thought she might need a big welcome to get her to come home!
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Mainly just lots of photos in today's post, showing as promised the colours of Autumn in Haroldswood. I was lucky enough to capture the glow just before winter arrived suddenly here this week and stripped most of the leaves from the trees. The dark grey sky visible in some shots was a wonderful contrast to the vivid yellows and it was almost worth the downpour that followed to enjoy that visual effect....
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Hello, welcome to my blog, a place I like to record things I have made, things I have seen and the things that help me to enjoy my life. I would love to hear from you by email or in the comments and will try to respond unless life gets in the way (and I have to admit that with 2 boys, 4 chickens, a naughty blue wippet and a husband that works all over the world, life does tend to get in the way quite often!) Please do not reproduce images or content from this site without permission, just contact me by clicking above and I usually say yes!
