Merry Christmas

 

Camellia vernalis 'Yuletide' flowering at Yuletide - photo taken this morning

As has become my Christmas tradition, I quote from one of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear", written by Edmund Sears in 1849.

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angel-strain has rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not 

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing."

 To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful, Strive to be happy."

To all my readers and commenters who celebrate, may I wish you a Happy festive season.

Merry Christmas

A watercolour I did as part of a Care December daily journalling course

As has become my Christmas tradition, I quote from one of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear", written by Edmund Sears in 1849.

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angel-strain has rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not 

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing."

To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful, Strive to be happy."

To all my readers and commenters who celebrate, may you have a happy festive season.

Merry Christmas 2020

 Merry Christmas to all blog readers and commenters (who celebrate this festive season).

(One of our rather quirky angel decorations)

As has become my Christmas tradition, I quote from on of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear", written by Edmund Sears in 1849.

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled 

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing."

To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful, Strive to be happy."

Stay safe and here's to a better 2021.

Merry Christmas 2019

(Seasonal Tree decorations - some bought and some made)

Merry Christmas to all blog readers and commenters (who celebrate this festive season).

As has become my Christmas tradition, I quote from one of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear" written by Edmund Sears in 1849. 

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not 

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing." 

 (Pom pom wreath made earlier this year and various angels on our kitchen door)

 To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):
"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

I hope we all have a peaceful New Year.

Pocket Doodle Book 2019 pages 16 - 22 and new decorations

 I am nearing the end of this very enjoyable little challenge.  Page 16 was rounded rectangles.

Page 17 was lines in black and gold and page 18 was dots of white and gold.  I have tried to make the pages different from the previous ones so that has also been a challenge.

Page 19 was the most Christmassy image with floral and star decorations.  Page 20 was dictated by the eye patterns in the background print.

Page 21 was a mix of lines and circles (bit of a recurring theme, I think) and page 22 was more dots and lines following the spirals, in white and gold. 
In other creative news, I have been making some extra decorations for the Christmas tree, which are also a memorial to our previous and current much loved cats.

 I bought some mdf bauble shapes and painted them in suitably Christmassy colours, adding some gold stencils (oh look, circles again) and some glitter (well, it is nearly Christmas).  Their photos went on the front...

 ...and their names on the back.  Scruffy is our current cat and features on the blog now and again. They were all lovely cats and it will be a happy reminder every Christmas.

Recent crafting

I have been doing a bit of crafting recently.  Before Christmas, I made a variety of cards using stamps, embossing powders, die cuts and ink.  The ones I used most were the simple trees - two die cut trees on the front and a glittery one inside.

 I made these decorations inspired by a post on the Folksy blog, using letter tiles glued together.  Chris helped me by drilling the holes in them.  They looked great on the seasonal tree.

 This macrame bracelet was for a colleague at work and was a little more delicate than some I have made, as I used 6mm gemstones in blue and silver.

 I made some snowdrop thank you cards too, using a stamp.

I have also made a bracelet for myself, using black spinel and silver spacers.  I think I need some more of these in different colours!
I have lots of ideas for different crafting projects I would like to complete this year, but will save them for another post...

Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas to all blog readers and commenters (who celebrate this festive season).

As has become my Christmas tradition, I again quote from one of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear" written by Edmund Sears in 1849. 

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not 

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing." 

 To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):
"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

(Photos are of some of our decorations - some quite a few years old now...)
I hope we all have a peaceful New Year.

Christmas reading 2018

I wrote about my favourite Christmas reading back in December 2010 (you can read the post here).  They are: The Wind in the Willows, Little Women, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Children of Green Knowe, The Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol.While I have revisited some of these books so far this December (The Children of Green Knowe and A Christmas Carol), I have added another to the list. This is The Box of Delights by John Masefield (those of you of a certain age will remember the BBC dramatisation with what was then cutting edge animation).  I may also sneak in A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley as the story includes some wonderful descriptions of Christmas feasts and entertainment.
I really enjoy revisiting these books and in fact,  I get a great deal of pleasure re-reading many of my books.  I am quite a quick reader, which means that sometime I miss things the first time round.  I do view my books as old friends, ready to welcome me back in, no matter how long I have been away.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to all blog readers and commenters out there (who celebrate this festive season). 

As has become a tradition on my blog, I again quote from one of my favourite Christmas carols,"It came upon the midnight clear" written by Edmund Sears in 1849 (thanks to Wikipedia).  The words remain as relevant and poignant now as they were when they were written.

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing."

As a counterpoint to all the tragedy and sadness which we all know about on such a regular basis, here is a part of the Desiderata ("Desiderata" (Latin: "desired things") which comes into my head every now and again.  It is a 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann - with thanks to Wikipedia again).

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

It is still a beautiful world despite everything and there is a lot of good out there. 
The photo above was taken yesterday and shows my camellia Yoimachi flowering for the first time.
I hope that you have a lovely and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Merry Christmas

(photo of a cherub from a church in Rutland - post can be found here)

Merry Christmas to all blog readers and commenters out there.  I hope that you have a lovely and peaceful time.

With all the sad and awful things still happening in the world, I am reminded of part one of my favourite Christmas carols,"It came upon the midnight clear" written by Edmund Sears in 1849 (thanks to Wikipedia).

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing."

The other thing in my head now is part of the Desiderata ("Desiderata" (Latin: "desired things") is a 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann - with thanks to Wikipedia again).

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

Good advice to us all in this Christmas season and beyond.

Christmas in July swap 2016

I signed up to take part in Kim's (wisdom with needle and thread) Christmas in July swap.  I took part last year (here is the post)  and really enjoyed it, so decided to take part again.  The idea was that you would be given a recipient's address and someone else would be given yours.  Three hand made Christmas items from a suggested list would be made and other items could be included if the sender wanted to.  The gifts would be posted in time to arrive for the great unwrapping on 25th July.  My sender was the lovely Debbie from  debbie's corner. The parcel arrived and I had to ignore it until 25th July (which required some willpower!)    

I undid the parcel to discover more exciting parcels waiting for me and I opened them up to find...  

...a very generous and lovely selection of beautiful things!  Debbie is obviously very creative as she had sent me some fingerless gloves, an appliqued placemat, a beautifully cross stitched decoration and another beautifully stitched box decoration, as well as pencils, a notepad, a cracker, a selection of tea and two recipes.  Wow!

 You can see what I mean about the beautiful stitching on the decoration.

 Inside the box are some flower tags - another surprise!

 I do suffer from cold hands, so gloves are always welcome.  A HUGE thank you to Debbie who was so generous and sent me the most beautiful things.  I am very lucky.

The recipient for my parcel was Gracie at needlespins and dragonflies.  I had sneaky peek at her blog to see what she liked and was able to include some things I hoped she would enjoy.  As you can see, the Christmas things were bunting, polymer clay heart decorations and a felt star.

The other things were a UK cross stitch magazine, a pug dog keyring and a pair of pearl and sterling silver earrings.
Thanks to Kim for running the swap and doing all the organising and again to Debbie for my lovely gifts.  Here's to Christmas in July 2017.

12 Days of Christmas Swap - the results!

 The Twelve Days of Christmas have some to an end and so has the swap, organised by Jo at Through the Keyhole.  I was partnered up with Sally at Crafty Northerner.  We did the usual checking each other's blogs and emailing to find out particular likes and dislikes and then got making, buying, wrapping and posting.  I really enjoyed this swap and received some wonderful gifts.

 A week planner and pencil; snowman socks; Star Baker notebook (perfect for special recipes), hundreds and thousands and a cake fridge magnet; heart ribbon and Christmas baubles ribbon.

 Then there was: a bag of glass beads; some gorgeous red and white Scandi inspired material; The Miniaturist novel; a red bead bracelet.

 The final four gifts were: a bag of assorted pretty buttons and a crocheted star brooch; a felt Christmas tree decoration; magnetic pegs; some luxurious glitter paper.  Didn't I do well?  Sally managed this despite having a house for sale and getting sorted, so a HUGE thank you goes to her!

It's interesting how similar some of the things we sent were. Sally told me she liked flamingos, blue, making cards and baking, so off I went...  I sent her a little pack of papers and card making bits and pieces; some ribbon; some magnets and magnet pegs; a notebook with a flamingo painted on it; a set of Christmas cake cases with some chocs, a blue bracelet; a pair of earrings; a blue keyring; some pens; a felt star decoration; flamingo bunting and a cuddly flamingo (yes, there was a little bit of a theme!)

I was especially pleased to have been able to find the different flamingo material and Chris liked the finished bunting, suggesting that we should have some for us as well!
Many thanks go to Jo for doing all the organising (I really hope she'll run the swap again next year because it was lovely to put together all the gifts and made Christmas last just that little bit longer) and also to Sally for being such a great swap partner.

Happy Christmas

I'd like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and thought I'd share some recent sunrise photos with you.  I'm not often up early enough (or am 'with-it' enough to grab my camera), but I did manage to catch these recently.  

 Living in a city, there are always aerials and the odd roof which creep into the frame, but the sky is still the star.

Finally, here's Scruffy (he isn't chilled or relaxing here, he is waiting for a foolish person (usually Chris) to attempt to tickle his tummy.) To do that is to invite untold scratches from some extremely sharp claws...

I'll be posting in a few days about the Twelve Days of Christmas swap and what I received in my parcels...

May you all have a lovely Christmas.  

Christmas Cracker swap

I have taken part in Tracey's (Mad About Bags) Christmas Cracker swap for a few years now and it is one of my favourites.  You just have to fill a kitchen roll inside with lots of little gifts and wrap the filled tube in material.  I was partnered up with Melanie of The Patchwork Robin , which was lovely as we had been partnered up before in a different swap, so we had already done a bit of research about each other's likes and dislikes.  I received the lovely cracker above, packed full with little golden treasures...

as well as some printed linen ribbon, two seasonal green teas, some chocolate coins and a genius ideas to make your own apron (perfect colours for me too, with the teal pattern).

 Once the little golden parcels were opened, here's what they contained: seasonal washi tapes; a tape ribbon and Christmas ribbon; a pair of scissors with a scissor lock so they can't be used for anything other than material or thread cutting (!); some rose scented hand cream (which is gorgeous); a fridge magnet all about cakes and a candy cane.

 The linen ribbon is beautiful and I felt it deserved a close up!
 A HUGE thank you to Melanie for being so generous and choosing such lovely gifts for me and thanks to Tracey for organising such a fabulous seasonal swap each year.

 Here's my cracker for Melanie.

Material with a sewing theme, sewing thread, Christmas ribbon, a magnet peg, hot chocolate drink, mini chocolate reindeer, a felt bird, a key ring/bag charm, a pair of earrings and a bracelet.  I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this swap and am looking forward to next year's already!

Twelve Days of Christmas swap

I signed up to the Twelve Days of Christmas swap, organised by Jo at Through the Keyhole who was inspired by a swap she had with a friend last year.  The ideas was to provide twelve gifts, one to be opened every day after Christmas Day.  When I read about it, I thought it was a lovely idea and signed up. I was partnered with Sally from Crafty Northerner and we did the usual emailing to find out about each other and looked at blogs too.  

Here is the lovely box of goodies I received from Sally.  Needless to say, I am excited about them and it will be a challenge for me to wait (but I will!)

Here is the set of gifts I sent to Sally, which I really hope she likes.  I think it is a really nice way to continue Christmas, right through to New Year.  Thanks to Jo for organising and a HUGE thank you to Sally for being a super swap partner.  I shall post about the gifts over Christmas.

Christmas making and baking - despite my creativity going AWOL!

 For some reason, even though I have been enjoying time off work, my creative muse appears to have left the building! I just haven't really felt like being creative.  I know that this is sometimes the way, and I do try to make the most of those times when the muse strikes.  Before creativity deserted me, I did make some polymer clay Christmas trees, using liberal amounts of glitter.

They are very simple, stand about 6 cm tall, use up some scrap clay and were quite satisfying to make.

I have also made the my usual iced star biscuits which I enjoy making.  I hope that over Christmas I will feel that I want to finish my tunic dresses and skirts, make jewellery and perhaps even make some felt...of course, if not, there is always eating, drinking, watching TV and reading!