A Christmas Present

This is the present I gave my husband for Christmas :)


It's a picture of my daughter- in her trademark "cowgirl hat" with her "cheese" look (it's from a reference photo we took ;)).

Seasonal Creations

It's been a while since I updated here- but I am hoping to be back on track soon :) Meantime, here are some recent works ;)

I love these seasonal oranges- back in England they were a little easier to get than they are over here- I remember having them in my packed lunch for school as a child :)


These are some of the presents from the advent bags I drew below.
My simple, but effective travel kit- pens, moleskine and watercolour pencils. I just added a water brush to the set :)

Everyday Matters (I heard a J.C. Penny's advert say that BTW)- in this case, things from the bathroom ;) drawn in situ, so there is an odd angle to them.
Some of our ornaments- I knitted the gingerbread man :)

DD and I went to see the Nutcracker ballet this year. Here is the ticket and a nutcracker :)
At the last minute, we decided on handmade cards. Here are the three designs I painted and scanned. I printed them and glued each to a card. I kept the originals for this spread :)

New Year's Theme

Those of you who have been reading my blog long enough, or who have just known me long enough, know that a few years back, I took up the idea of a yearly theme. This idea, came from my friend Dana, for whom I am very thankful :)
This year, my new theme is a hard one. Not because it is unmanageable, but because it so goea against my natural personality :)

"Cultivating Patience: Every Second Counts".

I have known for a very long time, that patience is NOT one of my virtues. I am just not very good at being patient. I don't like to wait for my watercolour paint to dry. I hate how long it might take me to knit something- and I often make dinner at the last minute. When the kids don't 'get' something (usually something like cleaning up the living room floor), I am forced to bite my tongue, and shamefully, more than once, my patience was gone!
It's not IMPOSSIBLE for me to be patient, just hard. So when I found myself having to learn patience for things recently, or when I found out that patience really paid off, I realised that in there somewhere, was a message.
So I told my friends that I thought 'patience' was my theme. Later that day, I realised that it wasn't JUST patience I needed to learn, but appreciation of time. So often I feel like I have to do it all NOW- well with patience I get to do it all, just not at once :)

So that's my theme for next year. Of course, themes are not finite things. They kind of mingle and meld with the ones that came before, and I think you are supposed to continue improving.
Well- I am improving. This year I did well with beautiful, but simple is a work in progress ;) I managed to make great strides in my theme from last year- Hospitality. But the one from the year before- stewardship- is still eluding me. Somewhat. I did manage to start eating seasonally, and I am constantly tweaking our food to make it healthier! It's the house that needs work :) THAT is where patience comes in- learning these things one at a time, bit by bit...

Anyone else out there with themes to share? :)

And I knew in a Moment that it must be St. Nick...

Well, at least a knitted one :)

I adapted my St. Nicholas decoration from Little Cotton Rabbit's Tiny Christmas Bear Decorations- well worth the knitting! You can too!

Make the Christmas Tree Bears according to the directions here, make it the longer version with no legs. I left out the ribbon- you can keep it, just make it a little longer.
For the face, make two eyes as described, use your yarn to make a small nose, and make a straight stitch for the mouth.
For the beard, use white yarn and make small loops across the bottom of the face. You will need several rows, and the loops work best if offset from each other as you go up a row. Stop below the mouth.
Instead of ears, make a mitre. This is how I made mine:

Knit two of these.
Cast on 7 stitches. Knit 3 rows.
Row 4: Pearl.
Row 5: K2 tog, K 3, K2 tog. (5 sts)
Row 6: Pearl
Row 7: K2 tog, K1, K2 tog. (3 sts)
Row 8: Pearl
Row 9: Slip 1, K2 tog, Pass Slipped Stitch Over.

On one of the mitre pieces, embroider a cross. Sew the two pieces together. If you included the ribbon, just sew across this.

For the arms, make an I-cord as mentioned in the Little Cotton Rabbit's site- only switch colours after 5 rows, knitting 3 rows in the flesh colour. Run the ends inside the I-cord before attaching to the body.


Finally sew the mitre to the top of St. Nicholas's head- voila! A teddy-turned St. Nick :D

P.S. I used regular worsted wool on very small needles because I like the way it knits up ;)

Advent...

or at least the Advent bags my mum made.  Inside are presents for each day of advent.  One for each of the kids, and my husband's one.  My presents have yet to arrive, and I have to make a bag for them while I am at it!

I'll try to draw a few more seasonal things as I go along- I really want to document December :) I love this season :D