Some of my favourite things..

At the moment these are some of my favourite things:

A very sweet skirt, with lovely embroidered twittering birds! I found this scrunched up at the bottom of a plastic bag with other bits of linen in a thrift shop for 50p

A great find - an original piece of art - found in a thrift shop some years ago, it remains a favourite item, there's always something new to discover when you look again...

An ever changing little corner filled with treasures - including bowls from Anthropologie and a selection of bird skulls :o)

Pretty embroidered cushion

Vintage patchwork knitted blanket, and a Christmas present cushion from my good husband

My white roses from my lovely hubby

A really nice book about growing plants with edible flowers

My latest haul from my favourite charity shop, appropriately in spring colours!

Interestingly, few of my current 'special' things are new; they are mostly pre-loved or hand-made. I am not really a bling girl, nor do I particularly go for the boutique look!

Do you have some special peachy things at the moment?

Teachers and presents

We have well and truly entered the busy pre-Christmas period. Only a few days until the schools break off for the holidays and there are many preparations yet to be finished. Having two boys at different schools means two sets of teachers and two sets of presents.

 

As Sam's class is small, I made each child a little gift bag with three gingerbread cookies, and the teachers and support staff got one with a few nice chocolates and a Christmas tree decoration.

Today BB gave a talk at school; he was quite nervous. He had to tell a story in 5 minutes, and had been agonising over this for weeks.  He had tried reading various books, and even writing his own story. In the end I advised him to keep it simple, and perhaps try to inject a little Christmas spirit into the story.

He eventually chose an old classic: the Gingerbread Man. BB turned the little old lady character into Mrs Santa, and the cow and the horse into a reindeer and a snow hare. The fox became a sly wolf, and he took a large Gingerbread man into school as a prop (and ultimately to eat!) and gingerbread Santa biscuits for all 27 of his class mates.

Presents for BB's teachers -  a bag of our pollinator friendly annual seed mixes!

The story went down really well (and so did the Gingerbread biscuits) and his story ended up in the class' prestigious 'Hall of Fame'! 

Well done, my lovely Christmas elf!

Boys can sew too!

As time is hurtling towards Christmas, it's also time to get creating home made presents for loved ones. BB decided he'd like to have a go at learning to sew on my sewing machine, and so he cracked on with gifts for his grandparents.

Being an 'engine', I thought he might well engage with the sewing machine, and, actually you know, I think it's good for boys to be able to sew! He quickly mastered the art of straight stitching and zig-zagging too.

First of all cutting all the pieces needed for the project

Zaf being his usual helpful self!

Here sewing pieces of fabric together

BB used offcuts from my fabric stash and odd pieces of lace to create something I hope his Grandma and Nana will like! So, obviously, I can't show you the finished items yet!!

I think for a 10 year old computer-mad boy, small projects which he can easily finish, is probably the best option for him. Making presents also teaches him the value of giving, which I hope will bring pleasure and pride to him when he gives his creations away on Christmas day.


I hope a few home made presents make their way under your Christmas tree too!