Shepherd's watched...........

.............it's a shame I'm not so watchful when I was scanning over my huge tree for all the new decorations this year. This very cute little cross stitched Shepherd's Bush decoration was stitched by a work colleague and friend of of mine and it is really special to me even though I missed putting it in my previous post, sorry Cheryl! I suspect she found the pattern in one of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas mags she also collects. She missed out on last years magazine but I found one for sale on Ebay later which was a nice surprise for her. Ebay can be a wonderful resource for out of print craft books, patterns and mags, have a look you might be surprised at what you will find.

Family tradition

Every year I give my children a new Christmas tree decoration and I have done so for many years now. My intention is that when/if they leave home they will have a collection of their own decorations with which to start their own trees off. This year they were given the Snowman and the Santa snow dome/bellies. Now a couple of days before Christmas I found an Ebayer selling two Lladro decorations that mark the birth years of Surfer Boy and Darling Daughter and as neither of them have a decoration from the year they were born or 'Babies First Christmas' decos I had to buy them.............didn't I? They arrived yesterday and they are gorgeous, about 4" in size and so much detail, kids think they are very special and that's all that matters. The crystal angel is my newest decoration, my Little Sis sent this over for me, she is so delicate and sparkley. A new star tops our tree also, my mum found this one and dropped it in a couple of days back. I think maybe Dee needs to pass on her snail mail address and she can have my old one that she covets. If you look real carefully you will see me in one of these photos.............a bit of a 'Where's Wally' challenge for my readers. The first person to tell me where I am in a comment on this post I will send a small gift to very soon. I also have 3 Pay It Forward gifts to post off as well now that life is a little quieter.

Glorious colours

Hot weather and a new project begins, a lively quilt for new year classes. A mad collection of Kaffe, stipes, Fresh Air, metallics and striped fabrics. I rewarded myself with a little walk down by the river, only 6 more blocks to prepare then the machine applique starts. It was nice to hibernate inside today, far to hot for me, I would have fried in 5 minutes. I love getting started on new things once the silly season is over, a time to unwind and create.

It's a good life..............

...........and I want to come back as a cat if that is at all possible. Lazing around on a sunny afternoon............that's what I want now. It was all very funny because she fell off the garden edge while showing off and she was so embarrassed she wouldn't even look at me, it was like it was my fault!

Lucky girl am I

I know, you all want to know what was under the tree for me. I was a very lucky girl this year, lots of lovely thoughtful presents, too many to tell you about really but here are the craft ones that I know you are all interested in. First up is a belated birthday present form a stitching friend, it is a wonderful Bisagoma elephant grass basket which was made by women in Ghana and it is so perfect for my knitting. Look inside and you will see a stash of Ashford Tekapo 8ply NZ wool which will make 3 felted bags, this came from Dear Husband who while away working found a wool shop near Cooma called Past Times Country Crafts and even went in and had to ask for help. If you knew my Dear Husband who is very allergic to shopping even if it is for clothes for himself then you will know this was a big effort and I REALLY, REALLY appreciated it. If you look carefully you will see I have even cast on a few stitches to see how it feels. Finally a new mag, the Christmas issue for Just Cross Stitch which has a collection of Christmas ornaments from the current top designers and their favourite festive recipes or memories as well, this came from my stitching friend and it is something we have both collected for the last decade or so, they are wonderful magazines if you can get your hands on one. Now I think I might go and knit a few stitches, or read, I forgot to tell you I also received 2 great novels from Dear Husband as well, almost finished one, he really excelled this year. Hope you all found a ball of wool or something crafty under your tree too.

Christmas is over..............

but the pantry is still overflowing with Christmas food. I think I will have to get back on track with the morning walks or it's going to be awfully embarrassing when I have to get into the swimwear. The weather is finally hotting up and the tourists are here in droves and it finally feels like we are on holidays. Hope you are all over the Christmas work and enjoying yourselves now.

Meet Fang

This is my new helper in the kitchen. 'Fang' is a Venus Fly Trap carnivorous plant that will hopefully do his bit to keep the little house flies out of our kitchen. Actually he is my daughters newest pet, I have had him hiding in my sewing room window for a few weeks and yesterday I remembered him, he should have been wrapped for Christmas a few days back...........what a dill I am. Anyway Darling Daughter loves him and can't wait to see him snap up a fly. I watered him this morning and one of his jaws snapped shut thinking he had trapped lunch only to find it was only a splash of water, very interesting plant for us all to observe.

Lots of sewing did go on

Sorry to be so late posting this but you can't really post Christmas gifts on your blog until they've been given and unwrapped by the recipient particularly if you know they read your blog. So here are some sets of handmade stationery I whipped up with a punch, petty paper and the sewing machine. Next is a Tote-able Towel which is a really simple and good idea for kids who drag there towels all the way to the beach and back. Also made some sleep shorts as requested by my nephews and their dad.

Puff magic

Before with marbles in place ready for felting

Lightly felted and so very light, 25 grams

My Angel Puff Scarf is complete. I am really happy how this turned out using Naturally Mist yarn which is a 1ply lace weight 80% super fine kid mohair and 20% acrylic yarn made in New Zealand and is around $7 rather than $20 odd for Rowan Kidsilk. I knitted with 4mm needles and it turned out quite a bit smaller than the pattern stated, not sure if it was the yarn or me! Anyway I decided to use less puffs of a smaller size than a macadamia nut and not felt it as much as the original so the scarf might end up being a useful size. So this morning I placed 30 vase marbles in a regular pattern on the lower edges of my scarf and secured them with 30 clear snagless hair elastics and felted the scarf in the washing machine with a pair of jeans for agitation, it took about 15 minutes to felt. I think the Lady with the Lamp really likes this heavenly little neck warmer.

For those who need to know this is shade 602 which doesn't seem to be a current colour on Naturally's page.

"Too cold for swimming!"

"We're going boating!" Famous last words! Now look what the cat dragged in, two very wet soggy little girlfriends who decided boating was boring and that jumping off the buoy was much more fun even if you are fully clothed. Summer fun, nothing better! Looks like they are scheming their next adventure. These two will have fun in the holidays, 1 week of school to go!

Girlfriends and chocolate just go together

Had a lovely couple of hours this afternoon with two girlfriends sharing a chat and a plateful of chocolate bickies and slice. These two friends are always there, even if we don't meet often we know that we can help each other out whenever help is needed. We thought it was good idea to get together before Christmas overtook us and we really needed time together. We exchanged some little birthday and Christmas gifts which are always so thoughtfully chosen for each other. This week I whipped up another set of Criss Cross Coasters to go with a lovely patterned cake plate and the decor of one friends living area. The journals and cover pen and pencil thingies were given to encourage the girls to doodle about their crafting ideas, recipes or whatever. The idea for making the 'thingies' came from a new blogging friend Vera at freehand sketching who is a fabulous photographer and has a gorgeous grey cat if you take a look at her very relaxing blog.

Whatever you do in life, make time for friends and take the time to enjoy their company and what they can add to your life. My friends give me release from my busy and sometimes humdrum life. Time spent with friends is never wasted time!

Naughty puss strikes again

I folded fresh washing and did some ironing late yesterday and left it on a lounge and went off to bed. Now early this morning, I mean very early, 5.50 am the camera tells me so, Darling Daughter snapped this photo of Annie hiding amongst the piles. Just what I need cat fur all over everyone's clothes............she's really malting with all the humid weather. She has a bed up in Surfer Boys room on his top bunk and another blanket on Darling Daughters bed but no she prefers the smell of fresh washing.............typical isn't it!

Heavenly blue mauve

I love this colour so calming..............and I need some of that NOW!! I started on this little Angel Puff Scarf from Nicki Epstein's book last night, it is also in the current YARN magazine as well. I couldn't source Rowan Kidsilk Haze around here so am trialling a lace weight mohair and if it works out I will tell you what it is. Really looking forward to the felting of this little scarf, just need to find 4 dozen macadamia nuts.

Deck the halls with........

...................new red bags, only kidding, but it is very Christmassy. I made this one a while back out of Naturally Luxury Double Knit - 50% NZ Wool and 50% NZ Mohair (can't find it on Naturally's site, maybe discontinued) so it's a little fuzzier than usual but it felted beautifully. Last night I sat down and finally stitched all the rings in place, that's all I had to do! This one is for me to replace my charcoal grey bag which is never at home because it is a pattern sample at the local shop. Not sure whether a felted bag looks too wintery for summer in Australia but the colour looks good to me.

Freshcut simplicity

I had a few Freshcut by Heather Bailey charm squares hanging around on my cutting table today so they got converted into little Criss Cross Coasters for everyday use by my family for outdoor dining during summer. I have always loved these fabrics and wanted to use them for something that I will see regularly and now I've actually done it! Off to make another set as a gift, they are a simple and pleasant little sew on a dull day and they make a useful gift.

Summer crop

All is looking good in the vege patch, and the bugs think so too!

Cardboard and kitchen string

Look what you can do when you have 10 minutes to spare. I couldn't find a new lampshade to use in the guest area of our house this holiday season so I decided I could roll the old lampshade over some poster cardboard to get the shape I needed. Next I wound some kitchen string onto the bobbin of my sewing machine, loosened the bobbin tension and sewed from the back so the string is couched onto the cardboard, then a bit of glue and I popped the new shade over the old and a I had a quick lamp makeover. This blue matches a large picture frame in the room and looks good with the quilt on the bed also.

Soft and feminine

Knitting a small facecloth is a great way to unwind each evening during the very busy time leading up to Christmas. These will be gifts for some special people who need some pampering. These Little Arrow Cloths are knit with Wendy Pearl - Luxury Cotton Double Knitting yarn which is a mix of cotton and viscose which adds a little shiny thread throughout and I knit them on 3.25mm needles. These are hot off the needles and haven't been blocked or pressed.

Ahh, that's much better

Finally worked out how to photograph my tree ornaments. It's a dull morning, I didn't turn on any lights, I stood back about 1.5m and used my camera flash and then zoomed in on the ornaments and "click" and it seems to be working much better than yesterdays efforts. The little bear is teeny tiny, about 1.5cm or 1/2", he is so cute but I worry about him getting lost in this huge tree. He was made by a stitching friend who also made the large needle roll up at the top of the tree, the other needle roll is very tiny and looks a lot like a medium tampon! My pale pink silk angel is the companion to the othe I showed you yesterday but this is so much clearer. Finally a little hardanger decoration with lovely jinglybells. Another friend has posted about her new tree, Levin's parents gifted the tree to her family and doesn't it look good. Now come on all you bloggers "show us your trees" and anyone and tell me about it in a comment with a link to your blog.

Oh Christmas Tree

Here is our tree, all decked out entirely by the hands of my children for the first time this year and haven't they done a great job despite the little bit of sibling bickering I heard going on while they worked away on this monster of a tree together. Surfer Boy and Darling Daughter both have collections of their own decorations that are added to each year to ensure they will have some to start off their own trees when the day comes for them to leave home. The majority of our decorations are handmade, mostly by me but many by the kids and my creative friends. The tree is full of Christmas memories past, as it should be. Two blogging friends inspired me to do this post, Dee who I hear from every few days and her tree in Florida looks wonderful but like me she had trouble photographing it for you all to see, the other is Nan who really wants to know what other bloggers trees look like this Christmas.