Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do you hear:

• wrapping paper rustling as Mr Button begins his annual ritual of wrestling with the ribbon just prior to bed?
• the carols from Christmas Eve mass still going through your head?
• the excited little voices checking just one more time that tomorrow REALLY is Christmas?
• the hum of the air conditioner?
• Mr Button, Uncle Button and Mr Button's good mate carrying the ginormous trampoline up the hill from the neighbours into our yard? Have I also mentioned that we live on the side of a mountain?
• the sound of cool drinks tinkling on ice for the strongmen?
• Christmas cake being munched?
• Christmas books being read aloud?
• the turkey sizzling in the pan, ready for tomorrow's lunch?
• snuffles and snores from tired little buttons tucked up in their beds?
• blessings being counted and thankful prayers for the good and beautiful life we live?

Merry Christmas to you who have made such a difference to my days and have brought me so much pleasure. I hope the things you hear fill you with the same warm, squishy sense of contentment that I am feeling. Christmas Blessings and Peace to you and to your families.

A Christmas Treasure

After a fortnight of barely catching breath, I thought I'd do a quick post and share one of our Christmas treasures. My Dad's brother John, trained as a carpenter many, many, years ago. I think it is probably more helpful to say he is a fine, arts, craftsman. He became quite skilled at chip carving and some of his work is in Parliament House. One Christmas he presented us with a beautiful Christmas string. Each one is an ornament in itself. I love looking at them and notice something different each time I walk past. It was the most surprising and delightful gift!

I couldn't quite show all the pieces and capture the hanging string so I have placed it flat on a table. The detail in each piece is extraordinary. I love the gentle, rustic, colouring of the timber.

Thought for Thursday

Laughter is an instant vacation.

Milton Berle

Remember I was telling you about the sewing frenzy taking place around here? Shortly after I wrote about that my trusty Janome threw a hissy fit. I reacted calmly and set about replacing needles and re threading and in a desperate move, cleaned that bobbin area which required unscrewing the plate and pfaffing about with the brush. It was at this point the crisis began. Those wily feed dogs wrapped their tails about their legs and wouldn't go back up. The manual clearly states that for normal sewing to occur the feed dogs must be up - and they weren't. After frantic jiggling, unscrewing, re screwing and gentle coaxing they were still down.

There was no calmness by this stage. Mr Button found me hyperventilating, gesticulating at the 80+ pieces of sewing still needing to be done and laughing maniacally while I rocked back and forth in my chair. Luckily he had his wits about him and suggested we email the sewing machine repair man who lives in our neighbourhood. I shot off an impassioned email detailing the problems, the urgency with which the machine was required and begged for his help. I believe I may have offered to mow his lawn, bake Christmas dinner and give him a pedicure but the details are a bit hazy.

My cry for help sent to cyberspace, I returned to the machine for another look and as I switched it back on, low and behold, the feed dogs were at attention. I asked no questions but threw myself into my work and, to be honest, totally forgot about the repair man.

He phoned today obviously prompted by the urgent tone of my email. I had to report that at this point things seemed to be OK. He sounded a little surprised by the miracle and asked what I had done. He lives a few kilometres away from us but when I gave my reply, I swear I could hear him laughing without the aid of the phone. The phone call was as good as over once I said, "I just turned it on." There may have been more to it but it was hard to hear over Mr Button sniggering in the background.

A Little Thank You

Frenzied sewing seems to be happening all about the place at the moment. We are preparing for two markets this weekend and also filling lots of Etsy orders. Some of our fellow bloggers and marketeers were busy last weekend at the BiDM and are now looking down the barrel of 3 consecutive markets on the coming weekend. It surely is a crazy time of year.

In the middle of all the craziness, Mr Button wanted a gift for one of the doctors who have been taking care of him over the past 6 weeks. She is not too far away from having her first bub so I thought this might come in handy during our hot, hot, summer.

There is more to this story than a simple picture. I have a new arch nemesis: The Ruffle Foot. I shall share more about this epic tale at a later time but for now, I would like to state that no super, whizzbang, machine ruffling was used in this garment and it was not for want of trying. I resorted to a good old fashioned gathering stitch and my own little fingers gathered the fabric. Sometimes you just can't beat the old ways!