Well at least we'll be clean lol.....

Is it normal for one person to do so many different things? Most people seem to choose a hobby or three and concentrate on doing them well. Not me, I flit from thing to thing like a voracious honey-bee in a flower garden. I sew, embroider, spin, make soap and candles, do punch needle and rug hooking, make prim dolls, knit, crochet, make braided rag rugs, and so on. And that's not to mention the preserves, bread, pickles, jams, etc etc etc. I just love producing things with my hands. I may not be an expert at any one skill but I never get a chance to get bored! I am in full-on soap mode at the moment. It's becoming an obsession. First it was the olive and lavender soap with oatmeal and hemp. Now I have produced a massive 3. kg lot of canolive soap which I am in the process of hand milling, or re-batching, into different varieties. Merran (11) and I made chocolate and vanilla soap today, and tonight I made a batch of cinnamon soap. It has real cinnamon and cinnamon leaf essential oil in it. Yummo! I had no idea how long it would take to melt down the canolive soap, it took about an hour. The first batch we did in a saucepan over a low heat. I was stressed out thinking it was going to burn. So the following batch I did in the Pyrex jug over a saucepan of hot water. Took just as long but not as scary. Apparently it can be done by double bagging the grated soap and immersing it in hot water. I'll try that next time.
This is the canolive soap curing so it can be hand milled. Who ate the top of the bread? Hot bread is just soooo good.......If I can't get the hand milling process sped up I'll just make small batches of the gourmet soaps. I made extra of the canolive so I can use it to make my laundry liquid anyway. Hmmmm, wonder how long this phase of my creativity will last?

My gifts to Mill.....

And here's what I sent Mill.......

I am sooooo spoilt.......

I have been the lucky recipient of some gorgeous goodies in our P4P Advent Swap. Thanks Tea for organising this...... Each person sent 24 small pressies to their swap partner, one to be opened each day until Christmas. At least half had to be handmade. Then on Christmas Day we got an extra special pressy! My wonderful, talented and generous swap partner is Mill (in the middle with the cowboy hat lol...) Here's what she sent me, thanks so much hun!

How cute is this?

I was lucky enough to receive this gorgeous piece of family history for my birthday recently. My Oma (Grandmother) was given this from her brother in 1953! He made it from cardboard and painted it..... I have always loved it and as Oma is getting on she is giving her goodies to those who loves them. She is 86 now and amazingly her brother Franz who made it is 92 and still going strong.... It is great to watch, when the breeze catches it the couple cut the wood. I have to find a suitable stick for them to cut to complete the scene. I feel so lucky to have such a gorgeous piece.....

How cool is this? If you'd like to make one check out this site........
http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/

My swap to Robby......

In an earlier post I showed you the gorgeous prim bear that Robby made for me in our Christmas in July swap. This is what I made for her.

I used a Dirty Crow Inn pattern and a vintage quilted pillowslip for the stocking.

The candy canes have German glass glitter on them. I had a ball making this, I made one for me too. The one pictured is actually mine, I added a rusty star to the tag on Robby's stocking. Now on to the Advent swap!

How lucky am I?

I am participating in a Christmas in July Swap through A Passion for Primitives forum and my gorgeous parcel from Robby has arrived ALREADY! They're not even meant to be sent out until July 1! How organised is she???? Here's a pic, Robby used a pattern from Sweet Meadows Farm and a wool blanket to make the bear. He is soooo prim, I love him to bits... The great little stitchery ornie features a Robin with some berries in it's mouth, and the tree is just divine. I have to get my butt into gear now and finish Robby's present. Now I have finished my ornies for P4P all-year ornie swap I can get onto this swap. I love swaps, and the girls on P4P are so talented, I have been extremely spoilt!

Playing.......

I've been playing today when I should have been working, here is the results lol......

The top pic is Callum (16) and the other is Rhys (15). If you would like to pimp your pics go to http://www.pikipimp.com/ Have fun, but be prepared to stay for a while lol.....