Wishing you all the happiest Christmas as we remember the birth of a very special baby, Jesus!

   In the words of a favorite hymn:

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
~ O Holy Night 

We are heading out of town for a couple of weeks, for a much needed break. So it could be a while between posts. So I hope your Christmas is a special one, and somewhere you get to spend time with loved ones and friends.
I have been sewing like mad trying to get things organised for the trip. New covers for the sleeping bags, repairs to another. I have also made a 'bed-in-a-bag' for the port-a-cot and one of the camp stretchers. They have a fitted bottom sheet and top sheet all attached to a drawstring bag (thanks to the preschool sheets for the idea!).  They are going to be great, can't wait to get them into use!

I will be back sometime in the New Year, Happy Holidays!

{this moment}

Joining in {this moment} at Soulemama.

Schools out! Let the summer begin.

monkey

Some things really do seem to take forever don't they? This guy here being one of them. Say hello to Monkey, Jude's new friend! You may remember when I was in the piecing-together-stage back here, well I am glad to say that is over. He was one tricky little monkey to stitch together! Monkey was suppose to be ready for Jude's 1st birthday, but unfortunately got rather delayed. Somewhere along the way I lost enthusiasm for the whole project. But let me say how nice it is to finally have him out of the knitting bag, outfit complete and all! He is a hit with Jude, who calls him 'eee eee'. Boy am I glad I triple stitched his limbs on! He has been swung and pulled this way and that on many occasions, and I can only imagine there is far worse to come.
Pattern is from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague. The linen overalls were not in the book. They were made with my own simple pattern.

four

 Birthday celebrations were in place at our house this week for our sweet Maeve who is now 4.

Four, surely not? Yes, the big day finally arrived and she was bursting with excitement. 

She loved her gifts, loved the cake, loved going out for an icecream with her friend. 

But I think the most special thing was having everyone's attention for the day, she just beamed!

Four is such a delightful age, and we love everything about this Maeve of ours!

She is so sweet, kind and generous of heart, yet at the same time strong, determined and fearless.

We like to call her Maeve the Brave.

Happy birthday beautiful girl, you fill out hearts with joy xoxo

For a peek at her younger years...

{this moment}

Joining in {this moment} at Soulemama.

Sorry... he didn't save you any bolognese. Mess has gone to a whole new level around here!