How did your Christmas day go ?

Ours went like this. The day started of course with the opening of the presents:

Oliver requested a radio control monster truck from Santa and was not disappointed Lucy requested a unicorn, she too was not disappointed. But I love this dress from Mexico

Lunch was served at about 1.00pm - there was 15 of us in total

We ate:

Roast Turkey served with home made Spiced Cranberry Relish

Baked Ham with Palm Sugar, Cinnamon & Cloves Glaze, studded with pineapple and topped with cherries

Cannellini Bean Salad with Kalamata Olives, Semi dried tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, Red Onion, Parsley and a red wine vinegar dressing

Swedish Potato Salad made with Kipfler potatoes, shallots, fresh dill and parsley finely chopped, with a white wine vinegar and Dijon Mustard dressing

Traditional Potato salad made with Kipfler potatoes, mayonaise and greek yoghurt dressing and boiled eggs

Salad of Dried Pears poached in Maggie Beers Verjuice/Peppercorns/Lemon rind and then pan fried, on a bed of mixed greens, with double brie cheese and lightly toasted Californian walnuts

We finished off with a Christmas Pudding SemiFreddo. The recipe was chosen by me. But it was executed to perfection by my husband, he is the better cook out of the two of us. I decided we needed to add Cranberries and Pistachios to give it a christmasy theme so in they went. It was topped with melted Lindt milk chocolate and cherries and then popped into the freezer to set - the cherries came out all frosty and looked gorgeous, we then served it with fresh fruits - yummmmm............

notice the frosty cherries

Lucy was quite excited by it

And then we sat down and ate it all over again for dinner that night - sigh !

Our Tree !!!

I got a new camera for christmas, it's so wonderful to be able to take decent photos again. My LG phone camera just does NOT cut it !!!!!

I got a few shots of some of the sweet decorations on our tree and I wanted to share them with you. I love christmas decorations and always manage to get a few new ones each year.

I have some lovely shots of the food we ate on Christmas day and will post these hopefully tomorrow.

Until then, Happy Holidays !!!

Some of this years handmade gifts !

Canvas embroidered by me for my husbands office

Drawing is done by Lucy

Pencil case for my niece

reverse side of pencil case

pillow for my niece reverse side of the same pillow for my niece

large cushion for my nephew

He wanted something to put on the floor in his bedroom so he could lay and read

pillow for Nonna Julie

the kids did a drawing of Nonna and her beloved cat Seiko (who died a few months ago aged 18 years)

a close up of Seiko

This gift bought a few tears when opened by Nonna

Cushion for Lucy I copied from her self portrait she drew when she was four years old cushion for Oliver I copied from his self portrait drawn when he was four years old also

And finally my handmade gift tags

Belle and Boo christmas scenes sewn with silver thread onto cardboard

These were a last minute thought, quickly thrown together, I will do more of these next year

And next year I will start my preparation for christmas much earlier and I WILL MAKE THAT ADVENT CALENDAR I HAVE WANTED TO DO FOR TWO YEARS NOW !!!!!!!!!

Have you googled yourself ??????

I googled myself just now - or rather, I googled "eva mei & me "- my childrens label. I came across a post on a blog by Tina Givens, a textiles designer who has her own fabric line. She has done a post about my trip to Singapore on her blog and mentioned my clothing. Wow, I was stunned. Thanks Tina, your blog is fantastic and your designs amazing ! pop on over here and have a look at what she does. Tina was born in South Africa, then moved to Canada and currently resides in Cleveland Ohio, and guess what, she too has a set of twins, just like me ! This is her profile page from Quilt home here. So you never really do know what you are going to find when you type yourself into google. Give it a go! I'm off to see what else I can find

MARKET SET UP & HOT SELLERS

I wanted to share with everyone just a few pics from Mammas markets yesterday. I think the market was very successful, there was a lot of familiar faces there to say hi as they did the rounds. Mammas market is a boutique market, full of gorgeous stuff, I'm just sad I did not have the opportunity to have a good look around. Never mind, there will be another chance in February.

These are a few of my top sellers Christmas stockings were popular

My favourite, made from recycled lambswool blankets

My other favourite stocking

(this was sold to a lovely lady for her baby boys first Christmas)

It was so nice to meet the people face to face who are taking your creations home to their house.

My owls were seriously popular, sorry to those people who missed out, but there will be more hatched in the new year

I love the combination of the pistachio green chenille and vintage floral fabrics

This my practice run at home in the week leading up to the market day

And this is the real thing above and below

TMe on the left and my friend Ming Lee on the right who helped with the setup infront of my stall. My new eva mei & me banner in the background which I made especially for the market

Me with Oliver & Lucy, my gorgeous twins, they hung around the stall all day and helped to give out the change, played their DS and ate market food.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind wishes for success in my very first market day. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of hours of work went into creating each and every article that I had for sale (over 100 items were hand made totally by myself - except for the 3 or 4 door stops that Oliver stuffed for me, he is a great little helper).

Don't know if I could do it again on such a grand scale.

In the meantime I look forward to visiting Mammas markets in February as a customer - this way I can get to have a really good look around.

Only 6 sleeps til Santa comes !

Mammas is over

AND MY FEET HURT..................

Well, all my owls have new homes. I sold every single one of them today. Wish I had made more. I will upload some photos of my market stall in the next day or so. But right now I have to drive to Brisbane to collect my parents from the airport. They are coming here from Victoria for Christmas, so it's an exciting day, first the markets this morning, now my parents arrival this afternoon.

It was lovely to see so many people I knew at the market today.

Hope you all managed to get some lovely gifts for Christmas.

One more sleep

It's happening

TOMORROW

SATURDAY 18TH DECEMBER

9am - 1pm

Buderim Memorial Hall

be there or be sorry !

I'll be there, come and say hi, look for my eva mei & me banner

I'm busy with final preparations, last night did not help as we had a hail storm, water leaking in through windows and no electricity. That will teach me for leaving things to the last minute.

Couldn't print my price tags etc etc

Couldn't sew any last minute items

So I went to bed at 8pm and watched the lightning from our window

It was good to get a few hours extra sleep to catchup on all I've missed since sewing for this market.

I CAN'T WAIT !!!!!!!!!!

Softie Swap interview

Amy & Olivander

Vanessa over at the Clip Cafe Blog has been working hard posting interviews with the people who participated in her recent softie swap. It was my first swap ever, and it was so nice to receive this most gorgeous doll in the mail from my swap partner Allie - check out her blog here. I have called her Amy. I sent Allie an owl, she named him Olivander. My interview is now up on Vanessas blog, over here - follow this link Pop on over and have a read, you may find something out about me that you don't already know. And whilst you are there you can check out Vanessas photography and crafty work and Allies blog too. They are fabulous blogs, ones which I check almost daily.

Only 8 sleeps til christmas, are you ready ???

An apple for the teacher ?

AN APPLE !!!!! Not likely. It's handmade all the way thank you.

This is what my kids gave to their teachers and teachers assistants

to say "thanks for a great year and for all your hard work"it's hard to know what to give

they don't want chocolates or flowers do they ?

so, a little handmade goodness was in order

the kids were excited to hand them out today

and I was content that this gift will not be thrown away.

They are a great little stocking filler. Great to have on hand already wrapped for the people that give you a gift when you don't expect it.

You can hang them on your tree, pop them in the undies drawer, hang them in the wardrobe, hang them in your car, pop them in the linen closet, stick them in the toilet or just about anywhere. You could even use a few of them to make a mobile or garland/bunting.

You can personalise them with initials if you like, add ribbons or any other embellishment you can think of. You can use all kinds of fabrics, and be clever and recycle. A tea towel, tablecloth, hessian, corduroy, old denim, lace, chenille just to name a few.

I have stuffed these with polyfill, added a few drops of Moroccan Spice oil (from spotlight for $2 a bottle) and also a cinnamon stick and a star anise (from the herb and spice section in the supermarket.

Couldn't be more simple.

I have a funny feeling the teachers for the next 15 or so years will be getting these. Of course, I may have discovered something else by then.

Blinking Flights

I was sitting in a waiting room today waiting for an appointment when I came across an article for some great doll patterns. Mental note to self - when I get home, look up this website and download patterns before I forget the address.

The magazine was Notebook. The creator is Rebecca Dunn from Blinking Flights. And these are just some of her creations, she has more here. Maybe in the new year I'll get some time to whip up a couple. In the meantime, be my guest.