I made some rolled fabric roses (tutorial to come on these- so simple and so pretty!),

Polka-Dot Baby (fondly known as Spotty around here) was finished

(Orange baby was finished last night and lay waiting to be found this morning peeping out from behind the pillow!),

a baby toy lamb whose ear had parted company was sewn back on,

gallons of tea drank (thank you Seamus for keeping us in Snack-bars all week!!) and more dolls are being made… 

Which brings me to a Christmas Giveaway!

The winner will win a Rainbow Baby (in the fleece above) with an orange hat. 

So, how can you enter??!

Leave a comment here on this post, or on Mondays (tomorrows) post and I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday morning and send it off then too.

(can’t guarantee you will get it before Christmas though, unless you are in Ireland!)

or email me at: info{at}theNest.ie

 Good luck!! 

 Some while ago, my mother gave us a beautiful tea set, which has been languishing at the top of a cupboard, as I didn’t want it to get broken, and our smallest isn’t quite imbued with finesse yet….

 But yesterday we took it down to have a look, and marvel at how cute, how small, how delicate (said with emphasis while giving “the look” to the youngest) it was.

We had a little tea party there and then, the two smallest and I, with Hot-Chocolate-Tea in the little tea pot and speaking ever-so-nicely to each other (“Pass the sugar, please, m’dear” “oh, jolly good!” “Spiffing tea mater”)

And so, this morning when I was making the 3 dozen fairycakes

(lest my little darlings might feel peckish at some stage during the day)

I decided to make some miniature fairy cakes using petit four cases I just happened to have squirrelled away in my baking box.

This afternoon, I set it up on a little wooden stool complete with the lace cloth and more Hot Chocolate Tea. 

This pastries stand was one we had for sale in our shop, perfect for the fairycakes!

Little ones spent a long while pouring tea, and enjoying the finer points of life until the wildest smallest began to spoon the sugar into herself, bypassing the cup of tea altogether. 

And then we were all done, our little tea set was carefully washed, and back into the box for another tea party, another day! 

Just back from the most beautiful walk down the boreen beside our house…

(This was taken just outside our gate, the little house has been abandoned for years)

The sun was setting as I walked, would have made the most beautiful photograph… (no, I won’t start whinging again…)

I came home to fresh scones and hot tea… perfect on a day like today!

Can I tell you about the most gorgeous (FREE!!! Even better!!) online magazine: Rhythm of The Home

It is jam packed with crafts, recipes, stories and other complete delights, so well worth a look, the December issue is out now!

I completely forgot as usual, and Beloved Husband didn’t. As usual. 

Flowers, cards and a sleep-in by myself for an extra hour (don’t children make you appreciate the simplest of things?!) 

As it happened, we were going to Fanore in Co. Clare with some good friends for the night. So as it progressively got wetter and wetter, off we went, packed with our dinner marinading, fresh scones, jam and wetsuits (we knew it would be irrelevant to our children as to whether there were storms, freezing temperature or pouring rain. If we are beside the sea, they will get in for a swim)

And there we were, deep in the Burren with purple-y hills stepping down to the sea, enjoying some great conversation washed down with pots of tea and nice things…

Then we walked down to the empty beach when the rain stopped for a bit and while all the children threw themselves into the sea with excited abandon, I photographed these extraordinary skies and wild sea…

…and then back for more buckets of tea and scones and jam in the camper van while five children watched a dvd on my laptop “upstairs”!

The next day, in the pouring rain, all my boys went swimming in a (warm) sea (I wilted in the camper van hence the lack of photos) and then spent some glorious few hours talking more crochet and crafts and all the new delights we are adding to our Nest in the coming weeks… (I got a sneak preview as we were holidaying with one of our new “makers”, and boy, am I excited!!)

…before we travelled home to our little yappy dog, four thousand cats*, one hen, three chicks, two ducks and a rather handsome rooster. We brought some of the sea with us, though, and that night we feasted on freshly caught mackeral and potatoes from the garden…

Ahhh yes, I think we are slowly perfecting the perfect holiday formula  

(*perhaps a slight exaggeration…)

well… 

I’m somewhat slow therefore to even start telling you about the weekend we had…

On this warm June weekend we travelled to Co. Clare to indulge our inner feral selves, and to take part in a Bushcraft weekend- (woodland survival skills)- facilitated by  Chris Holland from Wholeland.  

The sun shone all weekend as Chris patiently showed us how to carve spears,

spoons, (we have been carving spoons, sporks (spoon/fork) and other delights ever since)

light fires

and forage for food (I will happily be stranded in a woods for ever more)…

Chris told stories that had everyone enthralled, even the smallest ones were completely absorbed; he played digeridoo

(and some other funny instrument)

and interspersed games incorporating everything that we had learned throughout the weekend (plenty of throwing spears through hoops and squirting water at people- needless to say our boys had a ball).

In the evening as the sun set, we had stories and a bonfire,

and barbequed bananas with chocolate- yum-cious!!

The whole weekend was deliciously relaxed, with children running wild in between times, and there were plenty of tea ceremonies to be had…

at every available opportunity…!

On the last day, we made clay sculptures and did a little environmental art…

We came home armed to the teeth with the spears, knives, sticks of various sizes, drawings, and Chris’ own book “I Love My World”,

which is simply fantastic (we are implementing time slots so that everyone can have a read!!)

The book is available here, and would make a fantastic present for… well, anyone really!

We are now at peace with our untamed garden, verdant and lush with buttercups, dock leaves, wild orchids and nettles- ‘cos, hey, we can eat most of it!!!!

Thank you Chris~ for a truly memorable weekend!