'Twas The Night Before Christmas......

It's Christmas Eve...... A Wonderful and Magical time of the year!!

Our house is decorated from the front door to the kitchen. Carols are playing, presents are wrapped, cookies are baked, Turkey is stuffed and family is here!(Most importantly the ChAmPaGnE is chilling!!) EXCITEMENT is high at the Estate as Santa Claus is due tonight! Here is a little peek into our little Christmas......

 

 

Front Door Wreath

 

 Hall Way Tray of Pretty Decorations
 

 

Sweet Little Red Houses and Berry's
 

Santa's Arrival Gate

Our Lord's Birthday

Frosty The Snowmen!

Little Madame's Nativity Scene

Our Tree

Little Ginger Bread Men

The Gorgeous Fairy on The Top of The Tree

Angel's In The Dining Room

Santa In The Kitchen

Too Sweet

A Family Tradition - SOETKOEKIES

Paper Chains and Music Boxes

Christmas is a time of Love and Joy! It is my favourite time of the year! There is nothing like watching my Little Madame's face on Christmas morning, when she sees all the presents, realises that Santa has indeed been. The squeal's of happiness and joy as each present is unwrapped is music to my ears! I wish you all the most BLESSED, JOYFUL and PEACEFUL time of the year and would like to end this post with a line from my  favourite Christmas poem(I have loved this since I was a child and will read it to my Angel tonight!)........ "MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!" xxx   

Manic, Hectic Weeks.......

 

The last few weeks have been Exhaaauuusstting to say the least, And I cannot believe that over a month has gone by since my last post! It seems like yesterday that I sat down in front of the computer to tell you all about the beautiful sewing I have been doing(and much more has been done since then) Things just sort of got manic here on the estate! Well I am not sure if anyone has missed my ramblings but I sure have missed rambling.....   I thought I would quickly catch you  up on  some of the things that have made my life so ridiculously hectic over the last month... so here goes....

 

School concerts, Gymnastic prize givings and Ballet concerts took up nearly 3 weeks.

 

The school concert was absolutely amazing and all credit must go to the wonderful teachers at Little Madames school for getting all those aspiring little thespians to perform so well in the beautiful story of The Rainbow Fish...... There were little fish, mermaids, ninja turtles,  penguins, sharks and dolphins, and it was no mean feat to get all of these little sea creatures to sing, dance and act perfectly!  The show ended with a beautiful rendition of "You are the music in me" sung by the entire school  (All 3-6 year old)- there was not a dry eye in the audience. The show was outstanding, so much so that LSO and I snuck back the next night to watch it all again!

 

 

Sweet Little Fish

  

Dolphins and Penguins

 

 

Equally good was the Rhythmic Gymnastics Prize Giving, the entire club performed for us and we got to see our little angels all having fun and how well these exceptional girls had done at various competitions throughout the year. The mentoring and love that all these  little girls get from their coach, Eli is wonderful and they all love her with a passion!

 

 

The Gorgeous Girls from The Club

 

Now onto my favourite event! And  just looking at the pictures will tell you why! Little Madame and her ballet class did a SuPeR SwEeT version of Swan Lake complete with Classical Tutu's and the  epic music of Swan Lake. To say that Little Madame was GIDDY with excitement over the fact that she was getting to wear a classical tutu would be a serious understatement!!! It was all we heard about for  the 3 week run up to the concert! She looked GORGEOUS..... See for your self.....

 

 

A Very Proud Dad and His Little Swan

 

 

Oh So Sweet!!

 

While watching the concert I happened to glace down at the other little Ballerina's and my heart jumped for joy at the sheer beauty of the tutu's and eager little faces all watching and feeling like Real Life Ballerina's(this was said by Little Madame) and so very proud of themselves! Miss Gem Gem the Ballet teacher did herself proud with these elegant little swans!

 

 

How Cute Is This Picture?

A Little Pirate and His Mermaids

Many, Many, Many boring fix-up things were also done around the house, my favourite being a little re decorating in our bedroom! YAY!!!!! As you all know we moved into our house a few years back and to be perfectly honest with you we never really bothered with our room, it was starting to look really, well BORING!  So we bought a new bed(Or rather moved the new bed from the guest room into our room- I mean really, we had been sleeping on a 10 year old bed while all our guests got to sleep on the new bed in our guest room!) Two beautiful new bedside tables were a very happy purchase, as a matter of a fact my heart sings every time I  walk into my room and see them! A new duvet cover and curtains were purchased and a few bits and bobs moved around and HEY PRESTO! a whole new look bedroom!  It is calm and dreamy and I simply LOVE, LOVE, LUUURVVEE it!  



A Little Reading Nook

My Favourite Place - Bed!

My New Bedside Tables!

So Happy With My New Look Room!

My Beautiful Roses started to bloom again and so I just had to include this gorgeous collage  of one that I picked and put into a vase in our hall!

 

A Rose By Any Other Name.....

 

With the school term's end rapidly approaching, Christmas gift had to be made or bought. There are just so many people to buy for, all the coaches, dance teachers, swimming teacher and wonderful  school teachers  that have been so loving and nurturing to my one and only Little Madame.. buying 10 presents does tend to get dear, even though I would sincerely like to purchase the moon and stars for all these people, we decided that to once again make yummy biscuits for them,  was the best option, so out came my trusty Nigella books and "Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies" were made. I am so not going to bore you with the recipe for these now, but promise faithfully to post the recipe soon! Suffice to say they are totally, totally YUM!

 

 

The Making And Bottling

 White Chocolate Chips - YUMMY!

Crochet Snowflakes and Ribbon

So finally, I seem to have caught you up........ Whew! I am so sorry that this is such a long and possibly boring post with no wonderful recipes or Ta Dah moments!

 

Oh and One last thing.... all my present buying was done and dusted( and wrapped) by the 30th of November, ready to be shipped of to our various families all over the world! I am a total ROCK STAR in that department, even if I did really neglect all my lovely peeps out there - PLEASE forgive me....... xxx

Presents Waiting to be wrapped!

PS:: Loads of new post coming soon........ WATCH THIS SPACE!

Summer Sewing.....

 

For me, Winter  is all about knitting and crochet, using beautiful yarn to make beautiful warm things, to snuggle up with! Fast forward to Spring, and the yearning comes upon me to break out the sewing machine and start to sew.... I love sewing lovely summer dresses for Little Madame, I have already found some gorgeous summery fabric, and have set about finding vintage looking dresses to adapt

Cutting Out, Not My Favorite Thing

Patterns and Gorgeous Fabric!

 

As I have mentioned before, my pet peeve is cutting out fiddly pattern bits, so what I normally do is wait until I have about 3 patterns bought, and then I get stuck in , with a cup of hot chocolate next to me , the TV on and a very, very sharp pair of scissors! Another trick I have learnt is to fold all the pattern pieces so that I can see the numbers/letters of the pattern at a glance. You would no believe how much time I have spent unfolding every piece to find the one I am looking for! AND that piece is ALWAYS the last one!! Grrrrr!! 



Folded and In Order

 

My kitchen island becomes a make shift cutting table because it is really easy to move around, and I also cut out everything in one go.....  Although it is kind of daunting when I have an entire pile of cut out patterns waiting for me.

Cutting Table - Love This Print!

 

Half the Pile Done!

So this particular cutting out marathon consisted of the following:

A Peasant top for Little Madame
A Dress for Little Madame
Another dress( An idea I had that I am going to show you)
A Teddy type thing I found in a book
And Finally...... a skirt for little ole me!

 

All Cut Out and Waiting!

So lets start with the little peasant top! I used a pattern for this and it was an experiment , as I also want to make dresses like this, because they look very vintage and are cool! It was very quick, I think I whipped this up in an hour, start to finish and I love the result! I buy pure cotton quilting fabric, it is dear BUT it is really cool summer fabric! This print is beautiful purple roses, it caught my eye as I walked into the shop, it is very old fashion, and very vintage looking - just up my alley! The pattern I use is a McCall's pattern number:M6313

 

The Peasant Top

And here are a few pictures of the finished item, as modelled my my very own Little Madame, I just love that she will happily wear the things I make for her, that she is so excited by them and loves to tell everyone ' My mama made this for ME!'

Sweet Child Of Mine

Cool and Pretty

Off The Shoulder

I Love The Vintage Print

 Next......

Now there is a little story behind the next dress - The "shuffle dress" Little Madame came to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I could make her a shuffle dress, to which I politely replied - "A WHAT??" She went on to explain it to me and after much gesturing and twirling, I realised she was talking about a ruffle...... so sweet! So I have been thinking about how to make her a dress that would twirl out really well and was cool too, and here is what I came up with:

 

I took her chest measurement, and cut a piece of fabric double that measurement ( I chose a random width, 20cm) for the next ruffle I doubled that measurement, and tripled it for the third ruffle! Got that?

so - ruffle 1 = 60 cm
       ruffle 2 = 120cm
       ruffle 3 = 180cm

All widths 20cm

I then hemmed the top one and pull elastic through it so it gathered up

I then sewed the 2 pieces of fabric together and gathered the 2nd ruffle to fit the first one and sewed it onto the first one (make sense?)

And did the same with the third....
So I ended up with a 3 tiered piece of fabric, which I then sew up( I have used this as a back seam)

I cut straps and sewed them on, and hemmed the finished dress!

 

Sounds complicated but in actual fact the most difficult part was gathering such a loooonng pieces of fabric.

 I think a Ta Dah moment is in order - Ta Dah - A shuffle Dress!

 

Shuffle Dress In Progress!

Adjusting The Straps!

Will Stop The Straps Falling Off

It Twirls REALLY Well!

Could Not Get Her To Stand Still!

Whew, so although two little items are finished, I still have a long way to go, and am literally dying to make my skirt, but  guess where that is, yes right at the BACK of a very big pile of sewing....... I have also recently been informed that her Little Highness now also wants a "peacopt" dress..... A WHAT? .... Yip, you guessed it before I did, a peacock dress! Don't know how I am going to pull that one off....... Any idea's out there??? All suggestions gladly accepted! xxx

Gratitude

 

Grateful:/gratytf(a)l  1.feeling or expressing thanks  2. archaic pleasing or comforting  >gratefully >gratefulness, noun.(grate pleasing, thankful, from Latin gratus)

 

 

 

 

 

A few days ago, I was thinking about how much I have in life and how grateful I am for all the things that I have been blessed with. I am absolutely grateful for everything I have! This was really brought home to me when a few days later I received an email from Little Madames school about Christmas gift box's for an underprivileged creche that our little school helps! The letter asked if every child in the school could take a shoe box cover it in bright paper and fill it with stipulated items( crayons,a book, a small soft toy or item of clothes, a small packet of sweets, wet wipes and purity baby food) , this  box would then be given to a child at the creche!

 

As I sit here and type this, I cannot help but think about all the presents we have planned for Little Madame for Christmas, and the utter joy on her little face on Christmas morning! She is always GRATEFUL and happy no matter what she gets. So, on our next trip to the shops, when I explained to her what we were going to do, she was quiet astounded that not everyone had a roof over their head, or a mommy that picked them up from school everyday, a full tummy or more important to her, that Father Christmas would only be giving these children a very small present and it was up to us to help out!

 

I was very happy that she understood the importance of giving to some one less fortunate than her, and then had to stop her from buying 10 of everything on the list! It was a very gratifying shopping trip for both of us!

 

We were asked to do just one Shoe Box Present but we wanted to do two, one for a little girl and one for a baby girl! Little Madame loving packed the boxes and even asked 'Baby Jesus' to bless the children that received them! Once again I was in awe that such a little person could actually understand the concept of the gifts we were making up! 

 

 

Two Shoe Box Gifts

One For A Baby

One For A Little Girl

Little madame drew pictures for each box, she took time and effort to do this !

A Little Girl Box

A Baby Box

So, gorgeous peeps, I know this is not my usual post full of happy things I have been sewing or crocheting or and yummy things I have whipped up in my kitchen, it is about being grateful ! And  am so grateful for the BLESSING'S I have:

My Beautiful Family
My Wonderful Friends (far and near)
A Warm Bed
A Hot Bath
Cappuccino's
The Voice of My little Angel Singing All Day
Warm Hugs At Bed Time
And Last But Definitely Not Least........... LOVE - Because All You Really Ever Need Is LOVE

I have promised myself that I will find something to be grateful for everyday from now on.

 

Now, I want to challenge all of you gorgeous peeps out there - Make up a Christmas Shoe Box Gift, get in your car and find a child who is in need and watch the joy and happiness that happens in front of you , and know you made a small difference to a beautiful child who just needs to be loved! xxx

Christmas Shoe Box Presents!

The First of Many