Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Festive Season

Life flows on here as Advent, the beginning of the new church calendar and the festive season arrive upon us once more.

It has been ages since I have blogged anything. With a lot of projects still to finish and gift making in full swing, as well as minding my new granddaughter two days a week, I haven't had the time to consider what to write. Today, as I finish putting up the Christmas decorations and prepare to write my Christmas cards, a tradition I love, and one I sincerely hope will never die out, I feel inclined to write down how fortunate and blessed I and my family are.  Thank God for all the love and good fortune we have in our lives.

Below are some items I made for a few nieces' and nephews' children.

Handmade Santa envelopes with personalised Christmas cards.

Personalised Christmas cards for my nieces in Canada

Front of Santa envelope - finished

Back of Santa envelope

Outside of the Santa envelope completed, just to add the interfacing and lining. 

Work in progress - Christmas envelopes

Hugs and Kisses

Here is the Hugs and Kisses lap quilt made from two Tilda charm packs.  It's pretty and so easy and quick to make. A joy to put together.

First border on the Hugs and Kisses quilt

16 blocks sewn together.

Adding the white corners to the 5" squares

 Use co-ordinated charm pack fabrics.

I used 64 5” squares and 128 2½" white squares.

• Chain piece each 5” square with the first corner.

• Cut apart and add the 2^nd corner.

• 4 squares make up one block.

• My first border is 2" which gave me 1½” border

• My second border will be 3½ giving me a 3" border (the width of the coloured material), with matching binding.

Blackberry Jam

Four jars of delicious wild Blackberry Jam

Bubbling blackberries

Blackberries in abundance ready for picking.

Seamus Heaney's poem Blackberry Picking says it all:
"Late August, given heavy rain and sun 

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. 

At first, just one, a glossy purple clot 

Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. 

You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet 

Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it 

Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for 

Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger 

Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots 

Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots. 

Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills 

We trekked and picked until the cans were full".

On this beautiful Indian Summer day, I set off to forage and pick wild blackberries in County Wicklow, to make blackberry jam. I know from foraging expeditions over the years where to find these hidden treasures in abundance. The world is certainly an abundant place if one looks hard enough. 

Beautiful ripe blackberries
from the recent sunshine and the rain.

Lovely blackberries picked from the hedgerows.

Hexagons

Machine sewn hexagons went together very accurately and look very neat. I prefer the look of the whole hexagons over the strips of half hexagons.

Half hexagons sewn together.

Machine sewn hexagons, quick and matched better than by hand.

The top Hexies are halves and sewn in strips while the ones underneath
are whole and will be sewn together on the sewing machine.

I bought a lovely charm pack and two of the colours called to be separated from the pack and urged me to use them immediately.  They are a beautiful shade of green and mauve. I searched in my fabric collection to find similar shades and was lucky to have a few very nice fat quarters.  I have made English paper piecing hexagons before, this time I decided to try a quicker method.  I started cutting out the hexagon shapes and before long had a nice selection for two projects, maybe a cushion and a teacosy.

Afternoon Tea

Oh! yet

Stands the Church clock at ten to three?

And is there honey still for tea?              

From the peom "The Old Vicarage"
Written in 1912 by Rupert Brooke who died  later on the Western Front.

Tea, a most civilised meal, it just can't be hurried!

I found this lovely little poem on Pinterest. 
 We would usually have scones, jam and cream. 

It was my birthday a few days ago and I love going out for tea.  Today, my sister is having afternoon tea for me.  There will be six of us, family bliss, drinking tea, eating yummy sandwiches, cake, buns or hopefully, my favourite baked scones with butter, raspberry or strawberry jam and lashings of thick cream. I am also looking forward to being in Harrogate, England, next month, where we always go to Betty's for either a scrumptious breakfast or afternoon tea.  Life doesn't get any better than these simple pleasures.

I love the Pharrell William's song 'Happy' out now, today I think I'll request that we all sing or play this lively little song instead of Happy Birthday and we can all dance to the tune and be very Happy and grateful that we are all together.

Two of the cheery lines from the song say: ♫Because I'm Happy - ♫Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth, ♫Clap your hands, if you feel like that's what you want to do♫. What a great song.  The words are very powerful as you instantly feel uplifted.  I hope you are feeling happy and if you're not, then do something you love, even if it's playing with the dog, you will start to feel better.

I love this quote, I know I keep using it, but it is so true that I like to remind myself of it often. 

We are all so blessed living in this part of the world. There are people living in nightmare situations in other parts of the world, so say a prayer for them and let us be thankful for all we have. Because as I read once in one of Wayne Dyer's inspiring books "Happiness is something we decide on ahead of time". 

So today, I hope you choose to be Happy.

Happy Wednesday.

S.

August Alchemy

As the weather is beginning to change and with September just around the corner, it's important not to let lovely August slip by without enjoying it fully and making the most of the last days of the Summer, particularly if you've had your holidays. So today, I decided to play house with my gorgeous collection of Burleigh. I love nice china and Burleigh is one of my favourites.  It goes with everything and makes my heart sing when I see it displayed beautifully on my dresser.

To 

A Dresser filled with shining Delph

Beautiful Cosmos from the garden

It was a very changeable day, starting off with beautiful sunshine, followed by dark clouds and showers all afternoon.  Hence, my reason for changing around my kitchen dresser . I also cleaned out and re-arranged my cupboards.  Last Saturday morning my husband woke me with the customery cup of tea and said he had a surprise downstairs.  When I opened my cupboards I was thrilled to find that he had put up some space saving baskets on my kitchen unit doors. It reminded me of the elves and the shoemaker, as the night before my cupboards were without these little miracles, but magically in the morning, there they were neatly aligned and ready to accommodate whatever I wished to put on them. They are terrific and now all is in order again.  Like my Mother before me, I am a bit OCD about my cupboards.  I like everything in it's place.

Spices neatly stacked for convenience 

As my husband has taken to cooking in earnest and will cook maybe a couple of times a week, he can rummage in peace with these handy spice racks inside the doors of my cupboards.  They accommodate the extra spices and other sundry items needed for his recipes. He can now see at a glance what he needs and all is well again!!

Over the last few years my husband's  tastes have changed, he now likes a lot of spicy food.  I still prefer my mashed potatoe, garden vegetables with whatever meat or fish we are having, and of course lots of delicious Irish butter. However, I always appreciate being handed a delicious meal., whatever that happens to be.

Roses

"I'd rather have roses on my table, than diamonds on my neck".  Emma Goldman

What a lovely quote.  Growing your own roses gives a two-fold pleasure. One is the joy of seeing them adorn your garden and the other is bringing them indoors to adorn your home. 

Below are some beautiful Roses from the garden. They are filling the kitchen with their heady scent, and as you pass the table the beautiful scent hits you. Summertime joy! 

These lovely Roses were drooping to the ground from the heavy rain today.

Live your best life

  “It’s God’s Call”.

At Church yesterday, Father O'Keeffe left the congregation with something to think about as usual. He finished Mass with the following :

People are often unreasonable and self-centred.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.  Be Kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.  Be Honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.  Be Happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.  Do Good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.  It never was between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa

Homemade Presents:

I love making small craft items as presents for friends and family.  This month it is Covers for Notebooks. One personalised one and a blue and white patchwork one, made from leftover strips of fabric. A Pegbag to co-ordinate with a friend's new kitchen and a tea cosy for one of my Sister's who loves blue and white. 

Holidays in The Kingdom of Kerry

We decided to holiday at home this year and chose beautiful County Kerry, and it didn't disappoint.  We went in early June and the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny for the full holiday. We were so lucky, we drove around magnificent Kerry, staying in the Muckross Park Hotel, Killarney and The Park Hotel, Kenmare.  

It was such an enjoyable holiday, thanks to the lovely weather. There's no doubt that Ireland is the most beautiful country in the world when the weather is good. 

The Sun shone everyday as we drove around Kerry, with the roof down and the high factor sunscreen on. An Artist's paradise, I may take out my easel to capture the beauty I saw.  Each time I visit Kerry I see with more eye-opening awareness and discover new place to explore. We took in the beautiful lakes and mountains of Killarney. The breathtaking Ring of Kerry enjoying the spectacular Ladies View, Molls Gap, Beara Peninsula, the Gap of Dunloe and lovely Kenmare. Wonderful food and outstanding beauty everywhere. We visited all the beautiful hotels in the area including, Parknasilla, Sheen Falls, The Dunloe and The Park.  Here are a few snaps I took to remember it by.

We stopped off in picturesque Adare, Co, Limerick on the way :

Thatched cottages in Adare

The beauty of County Kerry

View from our bedroom window at The Park, Kenmare

View on the ring of Kerry

Ladies View

in Killarney National Park

Rhododendron growing abundantly in Killarney National Park

Torc Waterfall in Killarney's National Park

Muckross House

One of the Lakes of Killarney

Gardens at Muckross House

Beautiful Dunlow

The Gap in the distance

Kenmare

View from the gardens at Sheen Falls

June crafts

Sew Inspired to Sew!
While browsing through a friend's craft book "Sew Fabulous Fabric" , I saw a peg bag with a little appliqué clothes line on the front. I just had to make it. Is there anything more satisfying than a line of freshly washed clothes, blowing in the breeze.

Inspiring projects for home and fun. 

I began as soon as I got home, I made the peg bag and then made some of the flower corsages, two really enjoyable projects for using up scraps of pretty material.  I'm not comfortable borrowing, hence the immediate use of the book, I want to return it on Sunday when I meet my friend at Mass.

Front of peg bag with appliqué  

Made from Cath Kidston cotton duck material, strong enough to hold the pegs.

       Finished Appliqué Pegbag