Making a list…checking it twice

So I’m getting organised with this handmade challenge!!!!

I’ve posted links here to the things I think i will make to save all my inspiration in one place. I’ve also printed off instructions and have placed them into a binder marked “Birthday” and “Christmas” with the child’s name and birthdate labelled on the front of each clear display folder that holds the tutorial I’ve printed.

Here’s what I have found so far….

Nephew –(turning 16)  Soccer legend – I will be starting with his birthday in January and knitting up a beanie for the cool winter season in his team’s colours of yellow and green

How beautiful is this beanie! Yep, the cabling is a bit above my skill level, so we move on…

How cute is this!!!! BUT, I don’t think my 15 year old nephew would walk outside the house in it!

This is the type of style I will do,

in these colours:

So one present organised!!!

 

47,000 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some more ideas:

 

Nephews (4) and (2) years  – Super idea for reusing half used crayons:

Courtesy of HERE

Nephew (2) – Memory game

From HERE

 

Nephew – LOVES to cook: Apron and Oven Mitts

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/09/26/oven-mitt-pattern/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/02/25/simple-apron-tutorial/

My niece (turning 15) also plays soccer, so thinking of maybe a quilted throw blanket for her to rug up in at the games….or something colourful for her room?

 

From HERE 

 

Assorted hair clips and bows, pins etc for all my nieces and daughters:

All ideas from HERE

“You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind”…keeping my hands busy.

I don’t know who wrote the above quote, but I love it! If I want to learn something new, I have to try, to DO.

No point wishing and wanting to learn it, you gotta get your hands dirty and have a go.

 

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea,

never regains its original dimensions.

{Oliver Wendell Holmes}

I’ve been AWOL from blog posting for a bit, learning new things and keeping busy.

Here’s a snippet of the goings on at Christmas River the last couple of weeks:

Knitting a jumper for one of the little munchkins (now I need to learn how to knit it all together once the front, back and sleeves are done! I have a growing number of items knitted but not sewn up…know any good finishing classes!?)

Put my quilting class with Deborah Louie (AKA legend!) to good use and have pinned up my first quilt top in preparation for machine quilting.

Have been skimming my eyes back over lots of home magazines, clipping and tearing ideas for my ever expanding ‘home inspiration’ folder.

This page is from Home Beautiful, and its vintage exterior weatherboards sanded back and used in a living room. I plan to do this technique in my hallway and maybe dining room, using new weatherboards painted with Porters Milk Paint and sanded back to look old.

Have a pile of books waiting to be read…(hurry up summertime!)

 

Have been whipping up a few goodies for the Christmas Open House.

  Assorted felt wreaths in stunning Christmas colours, with a bit of lace thrown in!

Dreaming about the fires that will one day warm our home from these fireplaces just finished being bricked up.

Took delivery of the timber for the wall frames this week, and been busy making coffee and baking jam drops for our carpenters so they keep working through the frosty winter mornings!

Yes, I am baking…and enjoying it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YUMMY, they were really good straight out of the oven with the jam still hot and gooey!

Took hubby on a weekend adventure to Mudgee and his childhood home of Gilgandra, and found a crusty old fireplace surround that will become our new fireplace mantle in our bedroom.

The colour is quite a bright teal, which I LOVE. All I plan to do with this is give it a light sand and lacquer and fix a couple of parts which are loose and it’s done!

The detail on it is gorgeous…and all that chippy paint… *sigh*

(It’s the little things that make me smile!!)

 

What adventures have you been on? What new things are you learning? I would love to hear…..

 

 

He who would learn to fly one day must

first learn to stand and walk and run

and climb and dance;

one cannot fly into flying.

{Friedrich Nietzsche}

 

Seed Gifts…bringing Hope

Hello!

Well, our women’s event went off wonderfully, with 200+ women joining together for an afternoon in “The Secret Garden.” I will have more photos to show you of the day soon, but today I want to share the gift that we gave the women.

Our theme revolved around the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett “The Secret Garden”. There are so many great lines and life lessons interwoven through the pages! The main quote we used for the day was -

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done,

then they begin to hope it can be done,

then they see it can be done–

then it is done and all the world wonders why

it was not done centuries ago."

 

The music, the decoration, the message from the speaker, the dancers…all combined to bring a message of hope…that one life sown out in service to others, can reap immeasurable reward.

We wanted to give the ladies a gift that they would remember, not just take a quick look at and throw away. 

We found a company that makes ‘seedsticks’ – basically cardboard impregnated with plant seeds that you simply place in soil and water and voila!..the seeds sprout to become beautiful flowers!

When we received them though, they were far smaller than I envisaged!

 

Stressing that I only had a few days left till the event, and needing to make these gifts look more memorable, I turned to my scrapbook supplies and designed a cover for them to slip into.

The brads were tiny pastel coloured flowers, and I found cardstock with both sides patterned so as I folded the flap over, a complimentary colour folded back.

We glued the butterflies (that a friend made for me) to the flap, and then raised their vellum wings to look as though they had just landed on the case.

 

I wrote “Bloom” across the top of the 270 cards we made with my trusty Zig writers (LOVE THESE PENS!)

You can see the seedpacket in the top right case.

 

"Two things cannot be in one place.

Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow."

"As long as you have a garden you have a future,

and as long as you have a future

you are alive."

{Frances Hodgson Burnett}

“Perfumes are the feelings of flowers”.

 

We have been busy little bees, humming about our flowers here at Christmas River.

You see, in June this year, our women’s team at church is hosting a fundraiser (we do it every year) which raises funds for a charity in Uganda that cares for the poor, orphaned and widowed, the sick and the hungry.

(see.www.comeuganda.org for more info).

And we have been making the decorations for the event, where over 300 women of all ages will be treated to an afternoon amongst “The Secret Garden!”

I’d rather have roses

on my table than

diamonds on my

neck.

  

~{Emma Goldman}

What is this you ask?

What does it look like to you? Myriad colours, dancing in the breeze, blooming and blossoming before our eyes!

Over 1,000 flowers made from assorted coloured napkins, tied to a chicken wire screen are just ONE of the decorations we have been putting together for the event.

The frame was made from 2.4m x 2.4m timber supports, and then chicken wire was stretched over the frame. The flowers are tied on with garden wire one by one!

 The napkins close-up. Some of the flowers are solid colour, others variegated just like roses you see in the garden.

If you’ve never been thrilled to the

very edges of your soul by a flower in

spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been

in bloom.

 

{Terri Guillemets}

*

Bloom where you are planted friends!

 

 

New Years Goals…tick them off one by one!

This is what I’ve been up to for the last few days!  MY FIRST QUILT TOP made to a pattern! I’ve had a crack at quilting before, but never followed a proper pattern, knowing what colour to put where.

The only thing now is, I need to learn how to put the batting in and backing on! And until that time comes, I will keep on making quilt tops to my heart’s content!!!

This is a Thimbleblossoms pattern.

One goal about halfway accomplished, what’s next?!

Losing those few kilos that jumped onto the hips and thighs over chrissy is one for starters!

What are you hoping to achieve this year?