Skip to main content

Family Christmas

Christmas with the Simmons family....

We wish you Peace and Happiness to all during the festive season.
Hope you had a lovely Christmas Day. I went to a different church service (Lutheran) with Riikka, our exchange daughter on Christmas Eve, and then friends came over for supper afterwards. A really good start to this special day. Our children and grandchildren had a very relaxed lunch with us, and we really enjoyed spending time with them . Of course opening the presents was a highlight of the day for the boys. Each of our grandsons has a handmade Christmas stocking. Here is the latest for William - I finished it on Christmas Eve. It is a red velvet creation, with computer printed images on cotton fabric appliqued to the body of the stocking. It depicts Santa busily writing out his lists of good children and things to do, distracted by William playing with the lights from the tree in the background. I bought the little tree light buttons some years ago, and here they were in my stash just waiting for the right creative occasion.
Riikka has been doing a lot of Christmas cooking including a gingerbread house, complete with Finnish flag and snow. In Finnish tradition, the gingerbread house is not eaten until the 12th day of Christmas (6 January), but I did notice that some of the chocolate "freckles" shingles on the roof proved irresistible to little boys.

Special News: Please follow the link to the Hello Dollies blog, where I have published, free to all, the instructions for the little beaded Christmas star. www.agbhellodollies.blogspot.com
I hope you all have a wonderful relaxing holiday time doing all the things you most enjoy with your family and friends.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Jaunty Josie from JOY - How did that happen?

  No new year’s resolutions , but I like the idea of words shaping a year …. I  did not choose JOY - I chose PLAY and CHALLENGE, which I think also fits the upcoming  Chinese Year of the  Horse…. “ The year 2026 signifies a fresh start, embodying the dynamic Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese zodiac, representing energy, freedom, and innovation, coupled with a Universal Year 1 in numerology, signalling new beginnings and pioneering action “  How did JOY become the focus of this story?  Where better to start than with the weekly colour prompts  #coloricombo by EsteMacleod …these are published each Monday night ( Australian Eastern Summer Time) , so I’ve had  a week to work on these . Added to the colour prompts Este has also intensified the challenge by including a different shape or form each week.  This week, she chose the word/letters J O Y Between workshops, travelling and other projects, I spent a few hours cutting and   pa...

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons   The work for the "Stitched Up " Project  continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood  Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours.  Trimmed and cut if necessary  Ends sealed with matte sealing solution.  Drying  - solution goes on white but dries clear.  First wrapping - foil to create a body shape  Second wrapping - stretch fabric.  Third wrapping - fabric strips  Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to ...