Merry Christmas

 It is almost here.....the sleigh bells will soon be jingling and we have been busy with all our christmas preparations over the past week............baking, shopping, wrapping, card writing, stitching, knitting and hurrying to finish off work deadlines............here are a few pictures taken around our house this week..........

 ................this is a lovely maileg pixie girl who is keeping me company in the studio while i finish drawing templates and writing up a project............

 ...............below are the sugar mice, back again in their little maileg pram.............

 .............the things i make for my books and magazine work are things i would like in my house too, like this tumbler patchwork pillow.............

 ................i made some cute little festive flower arrangements in a variety of glass jars......

 ...............they have to be placed well out of molly our little dog's reach though.......she thinks the berries are yummy...........

 .................a seasonal sampler from one of my earlier books......this is all hearts come home for christmas from my home sweet home cross stitch book..............

 ..............we have quite a collection of vintage postcards........i love the spidery writing......

 .............we have bundles of very old letters too.......i decided to use them in my christmas decorating this year, dotted here and there...........

 ..................i love little houses like this one........it lights up which is sweet.....the lights also flash on and off rather rapidly but that is not the setting we prefer ;)

 ...............here is my advent calendar.....there are tiny chocolate figures in the little drawers for my grandchildren to discover whenever they visit..............

 ..........later this week i will be minding my two oldest grandchildren for a few hours and we will be doing some cookie decorating and christmas crafting together............

 .............my publishers recently entered modern vintage gifts into the homemaker magazine book awards and the title came runner up in the best patchwork and quilting book category.......this was such a lovely surprise and i was very happy to hear the news last week......

.............thank you for visiting me here dear readers, and for all your visits and sweet comments this year..........thank you for dropping by to share my crafty life, and to all those who buy my books, patterns and the magazines that feature my work.......your support means such a lot to me...........thank you all...........i will be taking a little blog break next week to spend time relaxing with my sweet family so now i would like to send you all my warmest wishes for a very merry, happy and peaceful christmas..............with much love to you all........xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx