Advent Calendar

 The festive atmosphere has begun this week and I have been out shopping more than once to find the perfect something something. Of course I have also been busy making stuff, which I enjoy just as much.One of the projects I started making was an advent calendar. The existing hand sewn one was looking a bit worn out, I probably made it when the girls were only about 6 and 8 years old! I had seen a pretty Scandinavian looking one on a blog a couple of years ago, but never quite got round to having a go at making a similar one myself until now. I used some off white wool fabric and a bright crimson embroidery thread. First I cut out 24 envelope shapes from the wool fabric and sewed them together before attaching them to a length of red bias binding.
Just a couple of mistakes were made along the way. I 'should' have drawn the numbers on before embroidering them freehand, hence some are slightly bigger than others! The second mistake I made was sewing the buttons on 'after' I had made each little envelope! Quite a tricky bit of maneuvering was required with my needle and thread for those. I got a little impatient trying to find some red buttons, which was my first colour choice but I wanted to keep sewing in the meantime as I was keen to finish. I looked everywhere for red ones without any luck, so I ended up using these little white buttons instead, which I already had in my button stash. A length of embroidery thread wraps around the buttons to tie them securely closed once I have put some assorted wrapped chocolates inside. To finish off I tore strips of red and white polka dot fabric and tied little bows between each envelope. I have attached the finished product to the chest of drawers to see how it looks, but should probably take it down until the 1st Dec. In case it's unlucky or something??
With Christmas decorations in my mind as I was browsing in a local hardware shop (looking for the elusive tiny red buttons!) I found this lovely cotton runner that I wanted to show you. It is by Martha Stewart and is quite Scandinavian themed too. I think it will look great on the dining room table for Christmas dinner and also for Amber's birthday party.This weekend I shall be working on altering and adding to Amber's costume for the play, the dress needs to be taken in and I was so lucky to find the perfect petticoat or crinoline in my local thrift store for only $3!!

It is a full length one made to go under a wedding dress, the top is tiered cotton with netting layers underneath and it fits Amber perfectly. I still need to shorten it quite a bit so it just peeks out from under her blue dress, giving it plenty of fullness.
Tomorrow is Craig's company 'do' which should be fun. Christmas dinner and a live band with possible dancing with a bit of luck.
Amber is just a few days away from her 16th Birthday on Dec 1st. The planned party has been postponed until after the school production when she can relax and celebrate with a few friends from school and I can decorate the house for the event.

Hazel x

Ambie's Special Day

Amber survived her Duke of Ed trip a week ago, arriving home 5 hours later than scheduled, quite bedraggled and exhausted. The weather was much worse than the teachers had predicted, they said it was one of their more difficult challenges. Everyone got soaked to the skin in the very heavy rain, a couple of kids even fell in the fast flowing river! Amber was a little quiet on her return and so glad to have a soak in a hot bath and climb into her own familiar bed for a good nights sleep. Even with bug spray and face net she still got practically eaten alive, with the insects being particularly prevalent this year. Don't think she will be keen to go on another camping trip or hike anytime soon!
Yesterday my adventurous daughter 'finally' got to celebrate her postponed birthday. A 'half birthday' for the first time this year. She requested a trip to the City to do some shopping. Having already conferred with Jemma we bought the dress and ballet flat shoes that Amber really wanted, that was her first surprise. Her second was an unexpected digital camera of her own. Now she can snap away to her hearts content and hopefully download some more great shots onto her deviant art site. The girls wanted to shop alone (parents in tow not cool at this age).

Girls who do like to shop!
Craig and I did our own thing, lunch at an Italian restaurant and plenty of time in Michael's, a huge craft store, book store and diy shop.We picked the girls up after they had 'shopped til they dropped' and had enjoyed their lunch together at Manchoowok.

On the way home we stopped off at a cute old 1950's diner for desert, coffee and to listen to old tunes on the juke box for fun!
It was a great day, although a little weird and I suspect that she will want to go back to her usual December 1st birthday, even though it is close to Christmas it is the real day.

Next week I will try to report on our deck, which is coming along very nicely, unless I manage to sneak a picture in here mid week :)
Not long until our overseas visitors arrive, Dave from New Zealand on 29th June followed by Craig's sister Tessa and her family of 5 from South Africa. I am sure there will be lots of juggling with cars and children with who wants to go where, as well as all the cousins finally getting to know each other after 7 years!

Hazel xx