Handmade Holidays

Felted Toadstool Gnomes

It was very sweet of Marie from Softearthart to send me three of these little Toadstool gnomes to show me exactly how to make them.  I'm now spending many evenings with beautiful soft colorful wool, felting little presents for the children.  Three of these little toadstool figures are what I have made and the other three are from Marie.  I plan to put them in the children's Christmas stocking.

[caption id="attachment_1759" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hairy Gnome"][/caption]

Sania loves little gnomes so I made this one for his birthday next month.

[caption id="attachment_1760" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Knitting the Lamb with Kitty"][/caption]

Loving the cooler autumn evenings with the cat snuggled up to me whilst I knit for Sania's birthday.

[caption id="attachment_1768" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lulu the Lamb"][/caption]

and here she is, Lulu the Lamb.  I put her in the washer to felt and fluff the hair but it didn't felt as nice as I would have liked.  I knitted this same little lamb a few years back for Sasha's birthday but one of the dogs had fun with it and so it wasn't a lamb anymore... there is something about dogs, cats and wool.  I've had many nature tables destroyed by my cats so now they are no longer allowed in the family play room unless supervised.

[caption id="attachment_1767" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Granny square blanket from my Grandmother"][/caption]

Grandmothers are so special, how I loved to be embraced and loved by them. The wisdom in their wrinkled faces framed by their beautiful silver hair passed down in generations. They were always so kind and loving to me and I always saw such beauty in them.  My grandmother made a beautiful colorful blanket for my brother and I when we were toddlers.  I feel the warmth of  her crafting hands in the softness of this blanket. The children love it to.

[caption id="attachment_1772" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Crocheted Purses"][/caption]

Crocheting is new to me so I am challenged by many projects and some times I have to take it all out and start over.  This is a simple project for beginners and a wonderful Christmas gift for children.

[caption id="attachment_1761" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Papa playing the Guitar"][/caption]

Gathering together at the family table for an early dinner after a long day working about the farm is a wonderful way to celebrate and converse about the happenings of the day. We usually have our dinners around 5pm and after clean up and sometimes a sunset walk we head upstairs to the children's comfortable play and family room. We spend the evening socializing and cuddling and the children play quietly with their papa building with their blocks or setting up a train track. Many evenings Fabien plays the guitar and sings beautiful french and english songs. The children enjoy singing along to.  A French bed time story is read and the children are usually asleep by 7.30 which gives us more time to craft or read.  We haven't had a television in our home for 8 years now.

Beautiful pods opened into a flower

These are enchanting little pods opened up into the shape of a flower, that we found floating along the stream.  I didn't have my camera to capture the beauty when we found them but here they are on the nature table.

Little Knitted Bird

Mine is pink! This is a sweet little knitted blue bird pattern of Linda's from Natural Suberbia.  Knitting on the round is also new to me.  It was a fun little project.

My husband will make a little wooden house/barn and some other wooden toys for the children and I will buy a few more handmade crafts from the local people here in Dominican Republic.

I've also ordered the knitted squirrel from Linda's etsy store, a gorgeous woolie owl and hedgehog from 5 orange potatoes and some little wooden toys from Renee's store called Little Sprouts!

Thanks to all those wonderful ladies for sharing their beautiful handmade projects with all of us on their etsy stores and making birthdays and holidays all the more special. Don't forget to sign up for Marie's giveaway at Softearthart, her felt crafts is so beautiful.