HOLIDAY CREATIONS

We had been invited to Rowena and Dick's 40th Wedding Anniversary last night. On the invitation, they had requested that there be no presents - except from anyone who had been at the wedding originally!!
Well, we did not qualify there, as Rowena and Dick only settled here from New Zealand about three years ago. But I felt the occasion needed something special, so I decided to make a card.
I started with a heart shaped window card, and used a background of dark red silk paper - to represent romance and the Ruby Anniversary. Then I did an arrangement of dried, pressed flowers, with a little gold adhesive butterfly.
While I was in the mood, I decided to make a few others, all using the same sort of materials.

The only pressed flowers I had handy were some hydrangeas and some May - but you can get a fair bit of variety with those. The older hydrangea flowers go a pretty green, and can be used as leaves. (Somewhere, I have some dried "Love-in-the-Mist", which would have been perfect - but I could not find them.)

I really had to scratch around to find some star shaped sequins for this one. I liked the ripple in the silk fusion.

This one is my favourite. It will be saved for a special birthday or another important occasion.

Meanwhile, although I have been feeling rather lazy and laid back in the hot weather, I decided to get stuck into completing a "commission."

At the Spring Fair, I had some Patchwork cushions in pink rose fabrics for sale.

   

Shirley had admired them, but felt they would not complement her colour scheme. She asked if I would consider making a pair in blues, and I agreed.

I found I did not have the same variety of rose and floral  prints in blue, but I had plenty of other lovely blue fabrics. I decided to base them around a blue rose fabric that was put out to promote funding for breast cancer some years ago. I also found a lovely toile fabric in dark blues whch would make a great "feature" fabric.

I pieced the fronts, and then pieced quite a length of frill in various blues.

       

Here is the finished result. Shirley has not seen them yet, but I hope she likes them!

      

SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR CHRISTMAS

I am always sorry when the Christmas/holiday season is drawing to a close, because there are always wonderful occasions with family and friends, and a relaxed abandonment of normal routines. Some special memories are created at this time, and our rather impromtu Boxing Day get-together was a great example.

I say "impromptu", but Kim had been thinking it up behind the scenes. Originally I just thought we were going to have a nice Christmas leftover lunch, and a special repeat Christmas celebration with Miriam, Sarah and Emily, who had arrived from New Zealand that morning.

But Kim, who is a wonderful "events organiser", had arranged for some family and friends, including a number of children to come around to experience a special event - the arrival of Santa on the Bobcat!

There was of course plenty of food and drink, and everyone was in a relaxed mood.

Then there was a buzz of excitement - not to mention a buzz of an engine! And Father Christmas made his entrance from the trees on a rather unusual mode of transport!!

There followed a session of handing out presents, with a generous sprinkling of ho-ho-ho's, in a voice that sounded  remarkably like one of my sons!!!

Young and old got in on the act!

Finally it was time to say goodbye

Santa  performed a few tricks for his audience

And disappeared back into the woods!

It was a really happy occasion, right in the spirit of goodwill that should characterise Christmas!

William greatly enjoyed it all. But he is not silly. When he caught sight of Father Christmas's hat ( inadvertently left lying around) a couple of days later, he commented that his Dad had looked really funny wearing it.

Seascapes for a Rainy Day

We have had just a little bit of long waited rain this afternoon. I decided to spend some time on a creative project instead of weeding the garden. Just kidding - I would not have been weeding the garden anyway - too hot for that.

At the moment my inspiration is some recently purchased silk fibres, plus Judith Baker Montano's latest book "FibreArt Montage". I have been itching to get onto some seascapes, and spent an hour or two yesterday sorting through some fabrics that said "water".

A few months back, I purchased this little hanger at the Op Shop. It is designed to take little photographs, I suppose. But I thought it would lend itself to some little collages, and starting "small" would give me some confidence for tackling the project. At the top of the hanger is a Pisces motif, perfect for a marine scene or two.

In no time at all, I whipped up three little seascapes, plus one reject. It just took a mini crazy patch background, a few teased fibres, some embroidery thread, some beads, and a doo-dad or two.

Now the trouble with showing photographs of a miniature on the blog is that they end up larger than the real thing, and you see more detail than you are meant to....so just squint when you look on these pictures!

Next on the list is to gather together some smallish frames. so I can tackle some scenes that are just a little larger.

FOR NANNY AND POPPY AT CHRISTMAS

and for fond grandparents everywhere........

My camera really worked overtime at Christmas, especially capturing 2 year old Wiliam's enjoyment of the occasion. On Christmas morning, we walked down to "Devonside" to watch the family open their gifts and to see what Father Christmas had left for William.

When we first arrived, he was opening some gifts in front of the computer screen so that Nana and Poppy in Wellington could enjoy the occasion too. Isn;t modern communication wonderful?

It was so heart warming to see his great delight, not only in his own gifts, but in helping Mum and Dad open theirs!

Kim has really been looking forward to this!

It is moments like these that you can relate to the old adage "Christmas is mainly for children" (although I am not sure I completely agree)

William just loves books, and pretends to read aloud...Once upon a time....

Trying on new pants....

What is in this box?

I don't know who is more excited about this one, William or his Daddy!

Hope you enjoy these Karen and John (William's other grandparents)

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS PLEASURES

There is little to beat the feeling of warm contentment when Christmas Day finally arrives. All the bustle and busy-ness seems worthwhile, and you are glad you made the effort!!
Daily pressures are forgotten for a while, and there seems to be goodwill everywhere.
Looking back on the pre-Christmas season, we feel very blessed.

We all have things that are special and important to us at this time of year, and these things may change as we get older. I just love Christmas Eve, and yesterday was no exception. The final shopping and decorating and present wrapping is completed, the house gets a bit of a tidy-up (in preparation for the inevitable Christmas Day clutter), and likewise, the frig gets a clean out to make room for the festive food.

For me, the absolute highlight is the midnight Christmas Service at the Chapel. It is here that the anticipation and the arrival of the day  meet up in a wonderful climax, and you get a brief and intense vision of the way things ought to be all year round!

Looking back on my photos, I think about the things that are important and special to me in the lead up to Christmas.

The first is setting up the Nativity scene.

 We acquired the basis of our Nativity scene 3-4 decades ago, when Lladro was incredibly cheap on Norfolk Island. Over the years we have added a few pieces. This year, we realised there were no cats round the manger, so we found a small and mischievous"Mr Shingles" and another grey cat to resemble Basil.

Some of the more elegant felt birds I made last year, and a couple of my Christmas stockings hang from the mantlepiece.

Making a Christmas pudding is one of the priorities. For years I have tried to emulate my mother's puddings, which were very black and shiny. I never thought to ask her for recipes when she was alive, but my nieces were able to supply me with photocopies of her handwritten pudding recipes.

She wrote that Mrs Beeton's pudding was her favourite, and this is the one I used this year. Mum said that the secret to the black shininess was using beef suet and treacle. I included both.

I had help.

That was important. When we were children, my mother insisted that everyone had to take a turn at stirring the pudding mixture for luck - and maybe to give her arms a rest! Another clear memory of pudding preparation when I was a child was the blanching of the almonds. It was my job to remove the skins.

I am afraid my pudding does not look very black or shiny - but we will see when we cut into it this afternoon!

Yule Logs are another important part of our family Christmas tradition. I use a melt and mix uncooked recipe, and add a few luxurious ingredients which vary from year to year. This year I decorated the tops with turkish delight and pistachios, and silver cachous (which William calls "sparkles.")

Many of my decorations now stay in their boxes. I prefer to spread greenery through the house. It seems to provide a buffer from the glitzy commercial part of the season, and provides a link back to old traditions. We have no holly or ivy, but up in the woodland we have evergreen bush and ochna. 

 Usually at this time of year, only a few red bracts remain on the ochna, and I need to add some red artificial poppies to the arrangements.

But the other day I came on a stand of big bushes just full of the bright Christmas red "blossom," and all that was needed were a few stalks of the silver artemesia.

We all have one or two very special ornaments, and one of mine is this angel which I bought at a Craft Show in Auckland some years ago. She is somewhat understated, but for me she embodies the gentle side of Christmas.

One of the main delights of the season is the generosity of friends and family. This Christmas we have been given two big hams, one smoked by our son Peter! It is beautiful. We had the first sampling for breakfast this morning.

Peter has also supplied us with a shoulder of pork to roast, loads of bacon, some freshly dug sweet potatoes, and two big melons.

Jamie, who gave John the other ham for our family, also dropped in some small water and rockmelons this morning.

There is an enormous bunch of plun (banana) on the back porch, from the Pitcairn Settlers' Village garden - courtesy of Charles, and put there for us by Brett yesterday.

Matt, who worked wth Peter on the hams, brought a beautiful box of vegies, including our favourite red cabbage. Earlier in the week, he sent a box of overripe bananas which I used to bake a plun pilhi (a Norfolk dish.)

Rusty gave us two very large chickens, which will add to our big Christmas dinner tonight. John is baking a lovely loin of pork, and Kim is cooking a turkey.

We have been gathering avocadoes and passionfruit from out the back each day, and have had plenty to give away.

We have not even opened our gifts under the tree yet - but our larder and our hearts are full and overflowing. I do not take that for granted. At this Christmas time, it is my prayer that a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude for God's gifts and provision will remain foremost in our lives throughout the year.

Happy Christmas!