handmade with love

It's been a while since I wrote a blog post, but I'm pretty excited to have finally made the time to sit down and write one today. It is said that one of the paths to happiness is to make more time for doing the things that you really enjoy and I certainly find this to be true. Having had such a long  break, though, I've been wondering where on earth I should start again, so basically I've decided to just start nowhere in particular, with a topic that is dear to my heart.

All gifts are given with love of course, but for people who love to make things, a gift that is handmade, is given with so many hours of  time and feelings of love behind it.

Of course, when you handmake a gift, you have to be prepared for the fact that the recipient may not appreciate or understand just how much effort you put into making the gift, and just simply be happy and proud of yourself for putting in that time for someone you love.  In the Christmas holidays I made this advent calendar for my boys, something I've wanted to do for many years but never got around to doing before.  It took me four full days of cutting and sewing in every spare minute I could find.  As I sewed away I received comments from my darling 6 and 8 year old boys such as, "Mum, why can't you just buy a calendar with chocolates in it from the supermarket like other people do!"  Or, another one, "Muuuum, it's already the 8th December and we've missed out on a whole week of treats - when are you going to finish this thing?!!"  When I finally finished it, I filled the pockets with a sweet treat for some days and for other days, a note which had a special activity for us to do written on it.  It was very popular once it was up and running, although I discovered that I could only put treats in the pockets on the day or little Teddy would rummage through and eat them all! But, of course, if the truth be told, it was me who really appreciated the calendar for the way it looked, as opposed to one from the supermarket!!

I can't tell you how touched I was when I received this hand knitted blanket from a lovely friend for my birthday last year.  She isn't an experienced knitter but enlisted the help of her Gran and managed to not only start, but also finish, this beautiful blanket.  I'm really in awe of how she did it and of course I absolutely love it.

It was probably at least 15  years ago now that my Mum made this beautiful patchwork quilt for me, as she did for each of her three daughters.  Each one was very different, in colours and a style that suits each of us.  Each one was made and given with so much love, and is something that each of us will always treasure and pass on to our own children. 

When I turned 40 another lovely friend made this garland of 1000 paper cranes for me.  Not only is it beautiful to look at, but in Japanese culture paper cranes are said to bring good luck - this is particularly significant for me, being a Japanese teacher and having lived in Japan.  Again, I was just so grateful that she put in that time and effort to make such a special gift for me, that hangs proudly on my wall.

How lucky I've been...another very special handmade gift that I treasure. My friend made this arrangement of medallions in the frame - each one names a character strength (this is a term from positive psychology that should definitely be a topic for another day!)that she believes me to possess. They say wisdom, love, peace, inspire...how wonderful if I really do possess those strengths...and how lovely of her to tell me that!

There are so many I could mention, but I should stop before you become too bored...but finally, I bought these pale blue and aqua fabrics from dandi.com.au and made myself these cushions over the Christmas holidays.  I wanted to make the lounge look more summery and I do love them - a gift for myself!

Please do leave me a comment if you can think of one - I can't tell you how much I appreciate them! That would be a very special gift...