The Tiny Bear Advent did make it all the way to Christmas

16th December - These bears are very clever! I placed these new Christmas decorations on our tree last night and they seem to have borrowed them. Peace, Wish, Joy and Noël xo

17th December - These little bears are scallywags. I bought this Christmas Pudding scented candle only yesterday and overnight they have put it to good use toasting marshmallows! Sweet treats xo

18th December - A cracking time was had last night! While I was out at our street Christmas gathering the bears found my squirrel nut cracker and they managed to operate it. Cheers xo

19th December - The reason for the season. The little bears have managed to get themselves all costumed up and made their very own nativity........minus a few animals but you get the idea I'm sure.  Memories of the yearly school nativity play come flooding back. Peace xo

20th December - Wow, these little bears are truly amazing! Overnight they've assembled the gingerbread house kit I had hoped to get done over the weekend.  Looks so good I could eat it for breakfast!  Happy xo

21st December - A string of pretty Christmas lights has kept the bears busy for quite a while by the look of it. Hot work on a very hot night in Eastern Australia. No white Christmas looming for us! Sparkle xo

22nd December - I decided to leave a candy cane out on a plate for the little bears last night. I had one left over after making peppermint bark. They have worked so hard for three weeks I think they might they need a bit more energy for the last three nights before Christmas. Bliss xo

23rd December - The little bears are too clever. Now they've got onto my laptop and into my Pinterest account and found a pine cone decorating idea I had saved. Little pom poms stuffed into the spaces makes a great little tree for them. Love their tree topper! O Christmas tree xo

24th December - Oh no, my little bears are into the Christmas chocolates before me! Seems I may have sewn a bit of my chocolate addiction into each of them. Christmas is a time for sharing. Love xo

Christmas Eve - I'm heading off to bed and I just checked on the little bears. They all tucked up in bed, their stockings are hanging and they've put out a little plate of Christmas cake for Santa. T'was the night before Christmas xo

Christmas Day - I just snuck out to see if Santa had visited our house overnight and it seems he has. The little bears were off their table and scrambling around under the Christmas tree eager to find their presents. Merry Christmas everyone! xo

1st January - After a busy time preparing for Christmas it appears that my little bears like to let their fur down and party. I got up to our needy dog in the middle of the night because tourists were celebrating NYE with very loud fireworks at the beach to find a bit of celebrating going on in my house. They had invited half a dozen bear friends and they were all enjoying themselves around a little bowl filled with keys! Those naughty little bears aren't as wholesome as I once thought! Happy 2014 xo

Well after a very busy time in December it is time for the bears to go into a well deserved hibernation!

Tiny Bear Advent update.........not long to go now

4th December - I guess the bears must have been looking for boughs of holly in my garden. No luck! They have made do with swags of rosemary and it was a big team effort to get it back to their table. Sharing xo

5th December - It seems the tiny bears have been reading the Christmas magazines that are beside my bed! They've turned the boughs of rosemary into mini wreaths tied with kitchen string. I had thought I would make these for our Christmas table setting. I hope they whip up a few more for me. I have always loved decorating my house for Christmas and this year I have the tiniest helpers. Joy! xo

6th December - It took two tiny bears to hold the pencil but they got it done. All good little boys and girls need to be quick and get their letter off to Santa at the North Pole. Ho Ho Ho! xo

7th December - That's not mistletoe! I guess the little bears are improvising. The old fashioned Christmas tradition of hanging a piece of mistletoe so people would have to kiss when they passed under it. My English Nana always had a piece hanging at the back door at their farm house. I miss that place. Christmas is all about family and traditions. Love xo

8th December - Hey, the tiny bears have the same wrapping paper that I bought! I hope they can help me to wrap presents, that's one job I don't enjoy at Christmas time. Giving xo

9th December - While the cat's away the mice will play. What are they up to now! I hope someone gives little Frosty a paw to hang on to, he's so tiny! Fun with family and friends. xo

10th December - Why? Because it's there I guess. These tiny bears love getting up to lots of mischief while I sleep. Christmas is a fun time of year! Enjoy xo

11th December - It seems even little bears have to have a photo with Santa. They're are all lined up waiting for Roly to take their pictures, even Grandma has brought their little cousin Violet to meet Santa. Christmas tradition xo

12th December - Tiny carollers all in a line. I didn't hear their voices overnight but they'll be ready for the local carols by candlelight this weekend I'm sure. Joy to the world xo

13th December - I think the little bears look a bit green with envy. They found my front row ticket and program for the local production of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol that I went to last evening. It was a fabulous show, a reminder to not be like Ebenezer Scrooge, no bar humbugs from me! Christmas is about giving. Caring xo

14th December - The little bears are busily writing their Christmas cards this morning. Is this Christmas tradition slowly disappearing with the advances in social media and email? Sadly I think so, we've only received one card so far this year. I hope the little bears get a few wishing them a very Merry Christmas. Greetings xo

15th December - The little bears are improvising today! Frosty is teaching Ted and lil' Mate all about snow angel making with a pile of rice. It would be lovely to experience a white Christmas just once in my life! Snow xo

I really hope this little advent is bringing the magic of Christmas into your life this festive season.   

Lisa xo

It seems there is a Tiny Bear Advent happening at my house this year......

I came out this morning the 3rd of December to find these little bears of mine huddled around waiting for their Christmas gingerbread bears to cool. I especially love the bear oven glove!

Just a tiny bit of Christmas cheer for the young and young at heart.

Yesterday the 2nd of December I found them giving Santa a boost up so he could hang a Christmas wreath. Lots of paws make light work!

On Sunday morning the 1st of December, which happened to be my birthday I did notice the bears were up to something! When I had a closer look Roly and the Santa's were trying their hardest to hang a tiny strand of Christmas bells. Roly's little mate Bud was stabilising the upturned wooden bowl with Ted.

 I think there might be a little Christmas advent of sorts happening at my house while we sleep!

A bit of history about these tiny bears. 

They are very cute! All only 3" tall or smaller. I made all of them by hand many years ago. I must have sewn a little bit of my Christmas spirit into them because they are certainly getting excited about Christmas! I can't wait to get up every morning to see what they've been up to overnight.  

So much fun knowing your house is full of Christmas preparations even by the littlest residents.

Believe!

Lisa xo

PS - You can check in every day and see what they are up to if you follow me on Instagram 'lisaplainjane' or use the button on my sidebar.  I promise I will keep this advent happening, sure to make someone's Christmas just a little bit brighter.

Starting to feel like home.....finally

One guest bedroom is looking more inviting..........anyone need a bed?  Great simple second-hand bed frame.  I love the retro tea trolley I found at Griffith Vinnie's recently.  The 'Gone Sailing' cushion I found locally and it's a shout out to Surfer Boy who is in the Navy.

Our dining room has a big old teak boardroom table that seats 8, found on Gumtree in Wagga.  We have 8 old teak Chiswell chairs from a Gumtree seller in Albury that need recovering, that will happen!

Lots of old thrifted pottery has been found, loving my retro 'RED' toaster and jug.

Thrifted watercolour found in Moruya, re-framed.

We slept on a mattress on the floor for quite a few months so this second-hand bed frame has made Dear Husband very happy, he was sick of grovelling around at floor level.  He is fairly tall!  I do enjoy sitting up in bed blogging too especially on cold winter mornings.

A great retro Parker corner table found on Gumtree in Batemans Bay.

A great little spot to sit and read and blog!  A favourite of mine!  The vintage Tessa leather lounger came as a bonus with the Tessa teak and leather lounge suite I found in Melbourne second-hand and had sent up to Griffith.  Vintage sheepskins and a mohair Onkaparinga travel rug all found at charity stores.

Main bathroom is so sunny and warm.

This is where I blog most of the time, right in the heart of our new home.  It has taken 6 months for me to start feeling at home here.  We didn't bring very much with us from our coast home so making our home homely has been a challenge for me that I'm starting to win.  

I noticed one of Australia's most clickable women bloggers Chantelle Ellem of FatMumSlim fame has asked bloggers to show her with a photo 'whereiblog' on twitter this week and that is how this post started.  Darling Daughter has also asked me a few times have I taken any photos inside our new house and I had to tell her "no", it wasn't ready to be captured in pixels just yet.  I hope this post makes her happy, she can see where we live now, one day she might even visit!  

My latest crochet project and my photographic assistants, Annie and Ruby

I've been crocheting for over a year now so I thought it might be time to tackle a 'big' project.  I still have great difficulty reading crochet patterns and still get confused with UK and US stitch names.  If I could see the project I could copy it and if I saw someone doing it I could replicate it, read it and I'm a mess.  Anyway I found this pattern Ocean Tranquility Afghan which didn't seem to be too hard to work out and it hasn't been so far!  I was gifted a large quantity of beautiful chunky homespun pure wool, probably Australian as it has a lot of sticks and burrs that I pick out as I come across them.  I decided to get this wool out because sadly I recently came across a death notice in the paper for the lovely lady who gifted it to me.  So this blanket (Australian term for Afghan) will be known as my Annette blanket.  Yesterday I pulled out the back of a huge knitted jumper Annette had begun many years ago with this wool, I wound it around the legs of a chair and made it into a hank and then washed it carefully to remove all the crinkles and I'm pleased to say now it's dry it is so soft and springy.  Once I finish this mammoth amount of crochet I will soak it and then block this blanket and I hope it will become a family favourite over the cold winter months ahead. 

 

As you can see I always have assistants on hand to help me with my photography.  Our 14 year old cat Annie had been living down the coast with Darling Daughter but this week we brought her on the 500km 6 hour journey with us and I have to say she travelled so well probably because I had bags of my Nana's English lavender pegged allover her cage, she is always so calm and placid when she has lavender around her.  If she doesn't then it is a nightmare (poop, vomit, wee, you get the picture) transporting her even the shortest of distances.  Ruby and Annie get on famously and I think they have both been missing each other a lot. 

 

Now back to my crocheting!

Home..............

..................soon we'll be calling another place home.  A new adventure for us.  We won't be selling our coast home that we've lived in for almost 22 years, we hope to be able to visit it regularly.  It is our real home but the one above is the one we will be calling home for the next few years.  We are going to really need a pool to survive the long hot summers. 

More photos to come once we've made the move.  Stay tuned!

My new sewing studio ta da!

It's big, bright and great to work in.  I share this new room with the family as it has a computer area and a tank full of tropical fish.  So glad I've moved but I still don't have everything stowed away, must get onto that!  I like having my cutting table out to full size and being able to walk around it makes cutting much easier.  Having the ironing board and iron nearby is great too.  It is a vast improvement on my old tiny 2m x 4m room.  No excuses now, I have the perfect home sewing studio, thanks to Surfer Boy leaving home I could reorganise our rooms and indulge myself.

Vintage sheet room makeover

When Surfer Boy left home to join the Navy, Darling Daughter decided she wanted his larger room!  So a coat of fresh paint (Dulux Whisper White), new super soft carpet, new Luxaflex plantation shutters and new white furniture where needed.  After all that Darling Daughter and I went hunting for the perfect bed linen.  This proved to be a difficult task.  We picked up some beautiful white Sheridan pure cotton damask striped sheets but finding a quilt cover set was more problematic.  As you know I'm a keen thrift shopper and I mentioned to Darling Daughter I had a collection of pure cotton vintage sheets stashed away.  So while she was at school one day I ripped and sewed, and now she has a reversible striped quilt cover with a button opening at the bottom and a pair of quilt as you go pillowslips.  She loves this quilt set better than anything we saw in the shops and then we started adding some bits and pieces to her room make it more personalised.  Picked up the great lamp at Freedom and string of paper lanterns and Paris inspired canvas artwork at Typo.  The pair of turtle doves ornament was particularly revolting when I found it at a local charity store so I sprayed it pale turquoise and it looks great now.  My 17 year old loves her new room and that is all that matters!

I've used vintage sheets before when I made myself a new cotton bathrobe a few years ago.  If you like vintage sheets too then you should pop over to this great blog The Vintage Sheet Blog. 

Books, books and more books

Bibliomania bib·li·o·ma·ni·a - An exaggerated preoccupation with the acquisition and ownership of books.

I have this problem and fortunately we now have a library room in our house.  When Surfer Boy left home to join the Royal Australian Navy we decided to swap some rooms around, paint and lay new carpet.  Darling Daughter of course claimed Surfer Boy's old bedroom because it was the biggest!  I moved my sewing room into a room double the size of the old one, it's the best room in the house!  Full of light and a much better amount of space for all my creative ideas.

The bookcase above is in our new library room and it is 2 metres high by 1.6 metres wide and it's full of just my craft  book collection!  On the opposite side of the long narrow library room are bookshelves from IKEA that are 4.5 metres long and 2 metres high, and they hold a LOT of books, our fiction, non-fiction and reference section.  We've culled our collection, donation to our local charity and we still have books in big boxes in our garage.  Finally got rid of all my very old put of date nursing textbooks and you know what?  Darling Daughter returned from an open day at a nearby university last week and announced "I think I might do nursing". 

I've put two comfy sea grass chairs in the library, a sheepskin in one and a cosy quilt on the other, still need to hang the artwork and then I'll photograph it and show you what a wonderful addition to our home this room is.

You might also notice I've added some of my favourite craft books to the sidebar of my blog.  I found a new website for buying books.  I know, I don't need any more but I would like a few of the latest quilting and knitting ones I've spotted!  If you click on any of them you will be taken the page for that book on fishpond.com.au, they don't just sell books either.  The prices are listed in Australian Dollars and shipping is free in Australia.  They have a great variety of titles and a really easy to use search facility.