take your needle, my child...

antique wool challis shawl & my dear leaping stag pin keep by sherry hunt

~~~

Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern...

it will come out a rose by and by.

Life is like that . . . one stitch at a time,

taken patiently.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

hearts a flutter

a small watercolor painted for me by my daughter,Katie

~~~

she wrote her heart in sepia script

with small and delicate letters.

with written words that she longed kept

and did not dare to utter.

then safe she sealed it with crimson wax and sent

her heart

...a flutter

quiet new year

our new year dawned onto glittering snow covered fields

and quiet iced landscapes.

Our breath hung in the thin pale pink light

and crunched beneath our feet

as we did our chores in the early morning

of the new year.

ethereal quiet and calm

not even one rustle of the last leaf was heard

just the tinkling of ice crystals

from our breath frozen in mid air.

it's as if this frozen sleepy place

was a stopping and a beginning all at once.

a jumping off place.

where we stand at the edge

and gather ourselves,

getting ready for

a new beginning

for positive changes

and wonderful things to come.

~~

I hang my heart on the hope of it

and wish you all the very best~

peaceful and content at home for Christmas

~the dearest place on earth to those that live there~

The old farmhouse is dressed in her best. A snowy white winter gown edged in glistening cedar and fir. She smiles knowing her rooms glow... with shining wooden floors and flowers bloom in old pots.

Candles are glowing in every window,

there's a good crackling fire in the hearth and wood smoke curls from her chimney.

The scent of cookies baking and

the fir tree shining with tarnished silver and gingerbread.

The music of laughter and love of old friends & dear family fills every corner. The old farmhouse wraps herself around us and sighs... peaceful and content. ~~ As we begin our family Christmas here on Deerfield, I wish for you the blessings of family and home, the Merriest of Christmases and a most joyous and peaceful New Year.

~~

with love to you my Dear friends on this Christmas Eve,

Christine & family Deerfield Farm

peace & plenty

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

sending my wishes

for a blessed Thanksgiving to you all.

a gentle heart

" Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics,

when women of high thought and accomplishment love to sew....

especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts

while so occupied....

~Nathaniel Hawthorne~

a little bit of Christmas for you in somerset and romantic homes

Somerset Studio December 2008

there's a little story in the December issue of

Somerset Studio about my dollies and how they came to be.

I'm so very pleased with it, they made it so pretty,

I hope you enjoy it.

~~~

romantic homes~ December 2008

I've been making these old paper candy containers for a long time. During Christmas especially to hold special

gifts and treasures

and as sweet little gifts themselves. ~~~

I've hung them on the Christmas tree, and made them for the dolls to carry their own little chocolates. (see my Queen Anne in Somerset with her little candy container?) I bet you didn't know that Queen Anne dollies need lovely chocolates just as much as we do!

~~~

I've hung them with ribbons from the back of each dining room chair as a small favor for guests during holidays. ~very beautiful by candlelight when hung from the crystals on the chandeliers~

~~~

You could cover your boxes with beautiful old fabrics, color copies of beautiful old pictures or use treasured sepia photos.

I have used these beautiful little glass encased pretties made for me by my dear friend, Cathy, as the centers of the paper rosettes, as beautiful dangles hanging from silk ribbons ties and as gifts nestled inside the tiniest boxes.

the pattern is found in Romantic Homes for you to use. I hope you enjoy making lots of them for your loved ones.

~Merry Christmas!~