Holiday Craft

Come holiday time, it can sometimes be difficult to find things to do with the kids but today the boys are being very industrious.

Louis is using fabric scraps to cover a box that he painted a few years ago. The box is still good, but as he likes to point out "the painting isn't that good, cause I did it when I was a kid".....I'm not sure where he sees himself in the scheme of things, but in my eyes he's definitely not an adult. Although he regularly disagrees - as far as he's concerned he can do whatever he wants to......hmmm

Anyway, back to the post - he's using the scraps from the Japanese quilt I made him. He's taking his time and being quite meticulous. Once it's covered we are going to lacquer it.

Julian has slowly been collecting Scheich knights and last week he bought this dragon. As we all know, every dragon should have a cave so he started making one and is now sitting down to paint it :)

Which means I have time to get on the computer and blog about it and then hopefully I will also have enough time to pin my table runner together so I can start quilting today - yipee! That will mean another project finished.....one of many ufo's I seem to have stashed everywhere.....that's the trouble with spring cleaning - it unearths a multitude of sins ;-)

Cheers

l

x

Sometimes you are never too old

We had to buy a new washing machine the other day. Isn't it typical - two days after Christmas ours broke down :(

A lovely man came to deliver and install it and as part of the service he took the old one away. He left all the rubbish though and it got me thinking how a few years ago the box would have been so much fun for the boys but I was pretty sure they wouldn't be interested in it now.....

Think again......
not only the six year old, but the nine year old have both had so much fun (and so many arguments) with this box. They asked if perhaps we could buy something else big to get another box.....
and where were their Christmas presents???? Safely tucked away in their room, not being played with!!

l

x

Happy New Year

For as long as I can remember my mum and dad hosted New Year's Eve parties. There was always lots of people - adults and kids - and the night was spent playing board games and chatting and generally having fun. I remember as a kid having so much fun running around in the dark and staying up really late!!
Lately though, there have been less family as they are growing up and doing their own things, and the friends that used to come have moved on or away......And mum and dad are no longer up to hosting the parties.....so I've taken it upon myself to revive the days of old and keep the tradition going.

Here's Louis with the big stack of board games (just a few that we own). We tidied up the garden, lit the lanterns and got ready for a little gathering. We were lucky that a cool change blew through, dropping temperatures from the high 30's to the 20's.

This is the little nook where my dad settled himself until the sun went down. I love this spot in the garden - it's gorgeous on those really hot mornings when you take your breakfast outside and sit in the shade of those vines........

Here we are at night, enjoying a few games......there still weren't many of us but at the end of the evening we decided it was so much fun we will make sure to invite more next year.

Part of the tradition of New Year's is to eat Oliebollen - a dutch treat reserved for this occasion. I remember when I was growing up that my dad would spend the whole day making them - usually in 40C heat! He would sit under the grapevines with a deep fryer and I would love to watch him do it. These days he doesn't make as many but we still love them so he makes us a few :)

Happy New Year my friends - I hope that 2011 brings much joy and happiness your way

l

x