Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Background : It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me to write an Advent blog - a series of posts leading into Christmas from 1 December . In the past,  I have featured Christmas characters by the alphabet, all you ever needed to know about Christmas cakes, Christmas Firsts  and  Christmas traditions.  I usually find myself on 30 November, thinking what  to do this year?  However, I've had  the idea of "crazy " Christmas trees in the back of my mind since last year.  So this year, it's about non- traditional, unusual, crazy, weird  Christmas trees.   There will also be a "handmade" element to my posts, so there may even be some links to tutorials or other ideas....  So here we go. Christmas Countdown 25 - 1 December.  Source : https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/455285843573622091 This is the image which started this line of thought....  a yarn bombed, crochet granny square Christmas tree.  I though...

As today is my granddaughter's birthday, I thought I would feature her favourite Christmas ballet The Nutcracker . Before anyone protests, I am not saying that this was the FIRST ballet with a Christmas theme ever written or performed, but I can verify that  The Nutcracker   was first performed in St Petersburg, Russia in 1892. While there is no definitive claim that The Nutcracker was the first, its beginnings suggest that it would be difficult to find an earlier Christmas ballet. Hoffmann’s 1816 tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King had been adapted by Alexandre Dumas (of Three Musketeers fame) in 1844, and it was a ballet based on this version that was commissioned by the director of the Russian Imperial Theatre in 1892, following the huge success of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty two years previously. from "The Nutcracker" 1892  ( mentalfloss.com)  The premiere performance of The Nutcracker was  not well received and that is probably being k...

Diary Doodle - Wilma Simmons 2017  It's THAT time of the year again.  For the last few years, I have posted a daily post for Advent, featuring some interesting and sometimes weird information about all things Christmas. You can always go back and have a look at these posts from previous years  by searching for the tags " Christmas " or " Christmas Countdown."  This year, I am going to explore the facts, the speculation, the stories and my interpretation of Christmas "FIRSTS" ...and today, 1 December, let's have a look at the first time Christmas was actually celebrated.  The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on  December 25th  was in 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the  25th December . For at least three hundred years, birthdays were obviously not days of cel...

It's that time of the year - Christmas countdown - a kind of blog Advent calendar.  This year, my December blog posts will be about Christmas foods which will hopefully give you a glimpse of the history and traditions of many of the Christmas foods we love. Today, the first of December - it's Christmas pudding which is my favourite of all the rich delicious food of Christmas. Every family with English origins has a traditional recipe, and  in our family my  sister -in-law always brings the pudding to the Simmons family gathering - it is always fantastic, with brandy cream of course. A newer tradition in our immediate family is that my daughter -in-law makes the pudding in the traditional way of boiling in cloth for hours. I found this amazing recipe for Christmas pudding, no doubt published in most Australian newspapers of the time, but this copy comes from "The West Australian, 25 October 1927 EMPIRE CHRISTMAS PUDDING. A Royal Recipe. The King's chef,...

Christmas Colours? I always thought red and white were traditional colours of Christmas because theywere the colours associated with Santa Claus, but  the origin of Santa dressing in red costume comes from a marketing strategy rather than a tradition. It was adopted by Coca Cola when an artist depicted their soda brand with the colour red during winter season. This was in 1890. Previously, Santa was dressed in green ever since the Victorian era.

Each year, on the Saturday close to the beginning of Advent, we hold an "open house"  Handmade Treasures Sale for charity. My husband takes care of morning tea/lunch, and I ask my creative family and friends to contribute to the sale. Last Saturday, we held our fifth sale and although the heavy rain probably kept many away, those who came seemed to have a good time . Most popular were the home made palmiers, chocolate cake and freshly made sandwiches , marinated mushrooms and feta cheese prepared by Jim. Other than the food,  there was an amazing display of really beautiful work by local artists, embroiderers and talented artisans - all handmade with love ... quilts, handbags, clothing, jewellery, cards, mixed media art, embroidery, dolls, crochet, smocking, knitting, textiles, sewing accessories, Christmas decorations, kitchen accessories, jams, pickles, home made chocolates, rum butter,  Christmas puddings and cakes .... and lots more. ...

Last week I said I was not ready for Christmas. This week I don't think I ever will be - not this year anyway.   While I have been distracted this week from Christmas preparations, it has been worth it. A  very talented textile artist friend Wendy Scott had the opening of her solo exhibition, Rainbow Journey, at Timeless Textiles Gallery on Thursday night. I really recommend that you take the time out to see this one - a magical visual journey of colour, excitement and pure joy.  The exhibition is open until 7 December at Timeless Textiles Gallery, 7 Beaumont Street, Islington  (Newcastle NSW) - just a 2 minute walk from Hamilton (NSW) Railway Station.  Congratulations, Wendy - it is an absolutely beautiful exhibition and a wonderful testimony to your artistic talent.  Wendy Scott and self portrait  We are very fortunate to have opportunities to exhibit and see great textile art here in Newcastle. The next textile art exhibition op...

To state the obvious, Christmas is closer than you think! Each day, the diary and the "to do" list must be consulted to make sure we don't miss a Christmas party, a Rotary event, a grandchild's school presentation or concert,  a family gathering and all the "jobs" which  need to be done before Christmas. However, this last week, I have been making dolls. I would love to show you the photo of the art doll I finished during the week  for the Doll Holiday Ball Swap, but I would like my swap partner, Deirdra  to see it before I post it here.  I have also made dolls to be donated to a local charity, Centacare. Each Year, Hello Dollies members make and donate dolls to Centacare to be given as gifts at Christmas. I made a few sock dolls, and little hand stitched felt dolls tucked into a sock ( photo above). The other sock is inside the toe, so the gift is a little doll and a pair of new socks! The original pattern for the felt dolls,  Pocket Petunias   ...