Echoes of a Dream

Happy New Year

It was going to be a quiet week enjoying some Christmas presents in front of the fire:

reliving some childhood memories:

(does anyone remember how this was ALWAYS on in the summer holidays when we were children?

Of course more feasting. Then on Monday my nephew came to stay, Abby our ex babysitter came on the spur of the moment and today I seem to have a gaggle of children who are happy playing outside but seem to need constant nourishment. They polished these off in minutes:

which I've replaced with a plate of flapjacks - notice how I ration them to ONE piece each:

and here they are on their way to wolf those down:

Abby has gone back to Gloucestershire, Amber to London to a friend's for New Years Eve and Tom is at work. If the others stay out long enough after the flapjacks I might be able to put my feet up and start on one of these:

Can you guess which of the books in the pile are mine and which are Tom's? I won't be insulted if you get it wrong!

Well, Happy New Year to you all - by the way, do you like my gloves knitted by Amber? The pattern is from one of Kristin's books:

Happy Christmas

I'm off to my sister's tonight for the festive period and today has been a round of wrapping, packing, cooking and guess what - I had to go back to the Dentist again. My filling fell out on Friday morning and I had to go back this afternoon to have a temporary one put in. This time I didn't have to have an injection so I wasn't a bag of nerves when I got back, thank goodness.

Raj went to my sister's yesterday and the older two made peppermint creams for their cousins:

   

Before I go, I would just like to say Happy Christmas to you all. I hope you have a wonderful time wherever you are.

Thank You for reading my intermittent posts and thank you for all the lovely comments and emails that you've sent to me over the year. I wish you a wonderful, fun filled holiday.

Lots of love

Simmy

and the winner is .................

Thank you so much to everyone that left comments on the last two posts. I put all your names in a hat this morning and I picked out :

Nikki from Ninnynoodlenoo. Hooray and Congratulations - the bundle of felted jumpers goes to you and

and having just had a quick look at your blog Nikki I think you deserve it after having had a child be sick down your back and in your hair. Poor You. Please let me have your address so I can pop the bundle in the post to you asap.

........................................

 

So, one week left to the big day. It's odd this year in our household because we're not hosting Christmas. Instead it's my sister's turn to have us and we're going off on Christmas Eve and returning on 27th. I'm really looking forward to the break, the no cooking, relaxing by the fire, not being responsible etc but it does mean that there is a different atmosphere in our house this year. Normally I'd have lists as long as your arm, bags of food crammed everywhere, menus for everyday, meals pre-cooked, bedding to wash, etc etc. All I have to do this time is think of what to cook on Boxing Day and I think Amber wants to do that anyway. So I'm fairly relaxed and free you might say. Sadly, I think I thrive on frenetic activity so it's a bit of a learning curve for me this year!

Anyway, guess where I'm off to in an hour? The Dentist!!!

About six months ago I was told that I needed a filling and or a re-filling as it were. I made two appointmentsand cancelled them and then last week that blooming filling fell out and now I have to go and get it done as I have a gaping hole on the left side of my mouth.

I'm kinda thinking that I should have it done when the Dentist suggested it. Serves me right I suppose.

I'm going to leave you with two pics of a lantern that I treated myself too last week:

 

It has a lamp inside and a revolving star and different images on each side:

 

It's so beautiful all lit up in the evening ....................................

Let's try again.

OK I think typepad might be letting people leave comments on my blog now! Let's hope so anyway.

As I mentioned on Thursday I am giving away a bundle of felted jumper pieces:

So if you want to make one of these cupcakes:

or a couple of these hairslides (that could also be brooches):

then please leave a comment at the end of this post and I'll pick one name in a few days time.

Sorry to be short here but this is really part two of the previous post.

Angels and a freebie

This week I made a few Angels from a lovely vintage linen cloth that I had:

Some months ago I came across a tutorial for some paper roses here and I bookmarked it to try. I was going to try it with fabric and then this lady went one further and did a similar thing with felted jumpers. So with both these ideas in mind I decided to make some hair slides:

These are made from circles of felted jumpers. Two circles of different colours wound around and stitched and then I cut out two leaves and stitched the flower to those and then the whole lot onto the hairslide:

Looks good doesn't it? Why don't you give it a go too. You could make a brooch, stitch smaller flowers onto hair grips or elastic things that I can't remember the name of - the ones you tie hair up with. You can decorate the flowers with beads as I have done or keep them plain. They look like old fashioned cabbage roses - though in very un-rose like colours.

To help you along I thought I'd de-stash and offer one reader a bundle of felted jumper pieces:

 

If you'd like to win the bundle just leave a comment at the end of this post and I'll pull a name out of the hat next week.

.................................................

Well, I'm finding that time is literally flying by and I can't believe that the children's christmas hols will start tomorrow. Where oh where have the last two weeks gone? Don't you find that time is really going by too fast these days? Is it me or is it my age because I don't remember the days rushing by when I was a child.

Luckily I have done most of my Christmas shopping - I did most of it online and had a day this week at a big town near us. Which means that the children and I can have some lazy days in front of the fire with stories and games and The Snowman video. We can make our stained glass biscuits for the tree, decorate a gingerbread house. Sing christmas carols and generally spend some quality time together. That's my plan from now till the big day. Tom is taking two days off next week and we decided on impulse that it would be nice to take the children to Bruges in Belgium. Really wanted to go to Germany but you can't do that in a day. Anyway, we're going to the Midlands instead cos there are no tickets left on the Eurotunnel. Such a shame because it would have been really nice - cold, but nice.

Talking of cold I'm freezing, sitting here typing so I've got to go. Need hot drink, hot water bottle and nice music ...................

IT SEEMS THAT TYPEPAD WON'T LET ANYONE COMMENT ON THIS POST (THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW LADIES) SO i'LL TRY AND GET THAT SORTED OUT AND WE'LL DO THE FREEBIE NEXT POST.

Dolls, dolls and more dolls

My doll making classes are winding up and the ladies just have the hair to do this week. We've had a wonderful time both mornings and it's so nice that nine little people are going to get dolls this christmas. I've so enjoyed sharing my skills and all of us sharing our experiences about all sorts of things. As we sit around the table I feel as if we are keeping up a tradition started generations ago by other women. A sadly lost tradition where women would sit, talk and sew and connect. There really isn't anything nicer.

Meanwhile, I've made a couple of dolls that I will put in my shop later:

 

First off the cuddliest of mermaids in the softest velour:

I also have a dark doll that I need to dress but here she is wearing a makeshift sari:

 

The nativity is out already as are the advent calendars and the stack of christmas stories seems to grow each year. Here are some of may faves on Flickr. I'm finding this year that the older two seem to have 'outgrown' stories around the fire and sitting down to make things of an evening. And that's fine as long as they don't go around moping that they don't feel christmassy. I think it's a good opportunity for them to look within and decide what christmas means for them and how they want to spend this advent time. I think I might set them the challenge of making the family cards this year though - hmmm.

I had a quick look at my previous christmas posts to inspire me and I have to say there are some good how to's and ideas there. If you'd like to have a look yourselves they are here and here and here.

I'm off to sew the wings on angels and to listen to Handel's Messiah. Click here if you want to join me!