My Swap Parcel

I got my swap package the other day and I must say WOW what a wonderful package! Here are some photos of what was inside the HUGE parcel.

As you can see I got spoilt by Pammy Sue! The beautiful pineapple shawl in the background is just perfect to snuggle up with.

Here are some cute cowboy inspired Christmas ornaments, already hanging on our tree I must say!

And last but not least two wonderfully festive pot holders. I just love the sparklly yarn.

Thank you sooooo much Pammy Sue. It's been wonderful having you as a swap partner and learning all about you. I hope we can keep in touch over the years to come.

Handmade Christmas Presents

Just thought I´d post a few photos of the Chrissy presents I made for Axel´s niece and mum. Both presents were appreciated and many thanks were given. It was amazing and a great relief for me to see the cardigan and beanie I made Lena fit so perfectly. It´s tricky making clothes for a baby that is growing so fast, you have no idea how much they will grow over the 5 months you are away.

Anyway I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the new year, I know mine has gone off with a ´bang´! I can´t believe how many fireworks were lit in Berlin. Everywhere on the streets people were throwing those little bangy fireworks (I don´t know what they are called fireworks are illegal in Australia) and then the other rocket ones. The appartment above our friends caught on fire from fireworks sparks. The firebrigade and police had to come but by the time they did our friends had broken into the appartment and put out the fire which we later found out was just a flaming plastic chair on the balcony.

As you can see it looked quite bad.

Chritmas In Germany

Hi everyone! Finally after 30 odd hours I made it back to Germany and have been reunited with my darling Axel. It´s kind of weird seeing him after 5 months. You go from kind of being single to being part of a couple in a flash. Very strange for the brain to get around but lovely for the heart!

Anyhow after a nice long sleep in Axel and I went to Öberhause for some Christmas shopping and lucky for me there was this great Christmas market next to the shopping centre. I remember going to a Christmas market in Berlin when I first came to Germany in 1999. I was worried I was going to miss out because I was coming so close to Christmas time and most close just before Christmas.

Here is a photo of some yummy potato fritters we had with apple sauce and the famous Gluwein! It tasted even better than I remember it. Hmmmmm Gluwein.... I also got to have this yummy cheesy potato pizza thing and some cooked mushrooms with herb sauce and fried onions, what an awesome dinner!

There was also some winter fun to be had with this snow slide set up and another section for kids to ride snow mobiles. We decided we will wait till we get to Berlin to have a go.

Anyhow today Axel and I have the honour of decorating the Christmas trees and then we are off for dinner in Xanten with his family, the dinner will be our engagement dinner and so it´s going to be quite a special event.

So if I don´t add another post before Christmas I will take this opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. May you all be blessed and surrounded by loved ones and good health.

Gingerbread Men

More gingerbread men madness! It's a great way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon, especially when you have babysitting duties!

Eliona adding a lovely blue icing suit to her gingerbread man!

And here are some of our decorated men! They not only look good they taste good too. Yes the kids' dinner was spoilt, I am a bad babysitter!

It's Starting to Taste a Lot Like Christmas!

Well there is only a week and a half of this term and we are making the most of it by packing in as many Christmas activities as possible. This week we've already started on the Christmas baking and turned out a batch of yummy gingerbread men and Christmas cookies. The kid's had a great time putting their 'play dough' skills to good use and I let my creative side get the better of me and four tubes of writing icing. In the afternoon we also settled down with a Christmas D.V.D 'Elf' which the kids thought was a hoot!

Both the biscuits and gingerbread men turned out so well that I'm now thinking I should make some myself for gifts. I used the gingerbread man cutter and gingerbread recipe I received as part of a swap package last year. Makes me wish I was part of a Christmas swap this year!

Anyhow I hope you are all well and enjoying the lead up to the holidays, baking your own gingerbread men and other Chrissy delights!

Update on the wedding planning... the dress has been ordered! I'd love to blog about it but I know my fiance reads this blog so I'm afraid I can't mention it here as I'd be giving it away and I want it to be a surprise on the day.

Summer Update

Hi everyone sorry for being quiet for the past 3 weeks but with Christmas and new years madness there has been little spare time for craft projects. I do have some things I want to share with you all and the first of those are photos of the Christmas Traditions swap package. Unfortunately my family and I got to the scrumptious ginger bread men and pecan balls before I thought of taking photos of the package so these photos only feature the non edible parts of the package. Thank you Tammy for such a wonderful Christmas surprise and all your efforts that went into the package!

I recently visited my uncle's farm and brought back another large sack of beautiful raw fleece which is of finer quality than that I used last time. I am confident that it will be easier to clean and work with and hopefully the felt made from it will be smoother and softer.

Lastly I'd like to share with you my favourite thrift store find this summer. I love this chair! It's perfect for sitting in and knitting or crocheting and at 10$ it was a steal! If only I had room for the other one that was also on sale. Also if you notice that is one of my granny square projects draped over it, all finished and on display!

First of Many Christmas Thingies

I have finished one of the table pieces I started last weekend. This one is for a friend. I hope they like it! I'm having a house warming on the weekend so I'm thinking I might try and decorate my room a little better because at the moment it is very 'daggy' for all those Aussies out there they will know what I mean. I was thinking I can at least make some pretty quilted cushions and square mats for the bedside table, bar fridge and top of the book shelf. I also thought an interesting vase with some flowers might help spruce things up. See if I have enough energy by Friday.

Christmas is on it's Way...

This year I am actually looking forward to dressing up the house for Christmas, partly because of this wonderful book I found at the library which has the cutest Christmas craft projects in it. I am particularly fond of the 'partridge in a pear tree' project and the birdy Christmas tree. These are both featured in the photos. I am also hoping to make a table runner in Christmas fabrics. If I manage to make any of these items it WILL be a Christmas miracle! I will of course keep you all posted. Sorry for not having any new photos of projects that I am actually 'making' at the moment there's been lots of finishing stuff off for work and trying to tidy up some junk around the house, as well as catch up on sleep but hopefully I'll be back into the craft soon. Until next post have a wonderful week and for those in Australia, enjoy your Melbourne Cup day holiday!