Merry Mouse

 A little mouse crept into our house on this last weekend before christmas.......her name is Merry.....and although she is quiet and rather timid she is a very merry and smiley mouse too.......

 .....as mice tend to do, she has been popping up here and there around the house, watching as we get on with our christmassy preparations, and as we come and go on errands and trips, she is always waiting when we return......

 ....she is a little white mouse with red skandi print ear linings and she has an embroidered felt top and a dala horse printed skirt......

 ......and a red bead for her nose (i looked in my bead box and there was exactly the one i wanted)....

 ......Merry Mouse is waiting beside the new musical biscuit tin, hoping it will soon be opened and there will be some treats for her to nibble......

 .......and just after the little mouse crept in this weekend, a wonderful parcel arrived........

 ...i was one of the lucky winners in the wonderful Bee Happy blog giveaway last week and the parcel contained this beautiful scarf......so soft, in subtle pretty colours, and so warm too...perfect to wear right now....thank you to Deb at Bee Happy for such a generous giveaway gift, I am really delighted.....do go and visit Bee Happy, and see her etsy shop, and  folksy shop too....

                           ......thank you to Bee Happy for knitting this lovely warm cosy scarf........

....now i think it's almost time for a mid morning cup of tea, and a little look at my list or i should say lists as i have quite a few of them now...the work/commission list, the christmas present list, the crafts i want to make list, the food list, the christmas to do list, and the every day to do list......yes, lots of them to keep track of...i might need a mince pie as well......
Thank you for dropping in to visit me today....i hope your lists are getting ticked off and all is peaceful where you are....enjoy the countdown and keep cosy....i'll be back soon xxxxxx

Merry Wishes Quilt

 Since my last post it has been real quilt weather here....with icy cold winds blowing every day....so lucky that i finished my merry wishes quilt in time for the wintry weather and festive season i think....

.....it was just a quick and easy little quilt, made of simple squares of fabrics in mostly reds and greens, using up lots of my stash that had been around for a while and needed to make room for new fabrics.....

 .......i added labels here and there with xmas themes and cheery wishes....and then i remembered a baby quilt i made a few years ago that i added a pocket to, with a little stuffed teddy in it.....so i decided that the merry wishes quilt should have a pocket on the back too.......

 ....with a little stuffed heart in it, scented with delicious winter pot pourri, and with a little festive message stamped on the selvedge ribbon at the top.....i love making little fiddly things like this, especially when i should be doing something else really......

 ....i'm hoping that this quilt will be part of many merry memories this christmas and in the future .....

....a few more red and green things from this week.....a present for a friend who has a birthday next week and some delicious red currant jelly she made for us, my new red and green jingle bell wreath which jingled merrily in the back of the car all the way home when we bought it last week.....and bright and christmassy  flowers my lovely daughter and son in law gave me at the weekend....
It is still very cold here at the moment, and still very windy....lots of woolly layers are needed and i have begun knitting a new woolly scarf which i hope to show you soon.....hope you are keeping cosy (or pleasantly warm if you are over on the other side of the world).....

Thank you for visiting me and for the lovely comments.....tomorrow is the closing day for my giveaway and we will do the draw ready for me to reveal the winner next time......i hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week...back soon xxxxxxxxxx

Candy Canes and Winter Wishes

 It's a cold and wintry day here, with winds howling around the house and occasional showers of sleety rain rattling on the windows...definitely a day to be indoors and enjoy the cosy warmth of home.......

 ....we have had a lovely weekend filled with happy family times celebrating both Mr P's birthday, and the xmas season generally....(if we had Thanksgiving over here in the uk i think that's how i'd  like to celebrate  it)...being thankful for having a lovely family (ages ranging from eighty eight  down to eighteen months) and a cosy home for everyone to spend time in together...

 .....we decorated the house with lots of traditional decorations from years gone by, and lots of candy canes this year...more than ever.... of course some of us like eating them so we do need a lot ;-)....

 The food and cakes were all eaten up and all the help i had from my mother and daughters made it very easy...little Daisy Dot spent all the time trotting about, or dancing on tip toe, in her tiny pink sparkly party shoes (when she wasn't being cuddled by everyone that is)... and Charlie is soooo excited about the whole coming Christmas experience it's so lovely to recapture a little of that magic through their eyes.....

We have cleared up today and now i have a moment to pop in to blogland to write this post and to visit some of you too....and don't forget that the giveaway is still open until next thursday.....
Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my last post and all the happy birthday wishes for Mr P, he was thrilled........
.........I wish you a wonderful week, filled with good times, cosy days, and a few sweet treats as well....this week i'll be taking pictures of my merry wishes quilt and some other projects too....so i'll be back with them  very soon....keep cosy xxxxxxxxxx

Making Time

 First of all today I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has entered my woodland winter giveaway in my last post, and all your kind and delightful comments....the giveaway will be open until december 8, so there is still time to enter if you've missed it.....and one of the nice things about it is i've discovered lots more blogs to visit, read and enjoy!......

 Today's pctures are from the rather festive looking potting shed, where i've been spending a little time making some xmas decorations with a woodlandy, greenery kind of feel.....

 .....this week is the lovely Mr P's birthday week and we have already been celebrating rather a lot....and at the weekend we'll be having a family party, so i wanted to put up the decorations a bit earlier than usual this year...............

 ......as well as making decorations i've been cooking....and my mother is also baking....and both my daughters are cooking and baking too.... so we will have lots of delicous food and of course plenty of cake...

 ......there are still flowers in the garden but now i'm going more for the foliage and some berries both real and not so real......the picture below shows the geraniums bright blooms which greeted me when i opened the potting shed door......such a vivid fanfare of colour that i really wasn't expecting!

 ........next week i'll be planting up some pots of bulbs as presents, when i've finished the decorations..

 ......here is one of the toadstool tealights, the same as the one in the giveaway....it's fun finding suitable containers for them and this one seemed ideal.....the glass lantern hangs up and looks very pretty.....

                                     ........a sweet little holly topped cake or two to help the work along.....

......and now i'm going to make some more top secret things, and hopefully put the finishing stitches into my new quilt....and clean my house, decorate the trees ready for the birthday/christmassy party....cook a little more....bake a little more.....and enjoy the week a lot.. I hope you are having a wonderful week too with lots of making time and happy cosy days and evenings.....back soon xxxxxx