Pesach....

....I think if you did a survey well over 50% of us would say Pesach was our favourite festival, it has always been mine.  It involves a lot of work for the wife/mother, several weeks of frantic cleaning turning out every drawer and cupboard, every nook and cranny.  Then the big change over which I always leave to the very last minute and spend the last couple of hours before Pesach managing on the draining board because the rest of my kitchen is ready.  The day of our seder is spent cooking everybody's favourite foods, special cakes and biscuits that I only bake at Pesach and Pesach rolls which are such a treat - but thats probably because we have to then wait another year before we have them again.  Of course also preparing all the food for the seder which by tradition has always been held at our house.  But this year things have changed, for several reasons we decided to hold it at my older son's home, I made the chicken soup, the chopped liver and the roast chicken, my son's wife make all the vegetables and prepared the seder plate and my younger d-i-l baked macaroons and the lightest plava. 

I have always found the seder a very special and moving occasion - thinking back to how the Israelites escaped slavery and what they went through, having the whole family round the table for several hours.  This year our 4year old granddaughter was allowed to stay up for the whole seder, hopefully next year her little sister will be able to as well.   My younger d-i-l sang Mah Nishtanah with a little help from our granddaughter, then we have a family tradition of singing a song about the plagues it was written by a friend of ours and is sung to the tune of 'One Man Went to Mow' and by the time we reach the 14th verse the whole family is singing at full voice.  It just all goes together to make a wonderful family time and creates special memories. 

After shul on the first day I try to spend some time thinking over what has happened to our family and to this world of ours - a time to reflect and to remember and to wonder what is ahead of us.  A time to pray for peace in Israel and for the brave boys and girls there who are defending the country.  To also think of the British boys and girls who are working abroad in the Armed Forces and to wish them all a safe return to their families. 

May the leaders of the world be given the desire to find true peace and may all the peoples of the world be treated equally and allowed to live in peace.

Chag Sameach

felt roses

when I saw these plain felt roses they seemed to cry out for changing.  So I added some tiny beads and fixed them to pins so that I could add them to a plain summer t-shirt just to jazz it up a bit.

and finally for now...

here is set number 3, I was just playing around with some left over bits and pieces for this one so consider it a freebie to myself - dont you just love a bargain  :o)

Jewellery - set #2

on a run at the moment, made this set today - wanted something antique looking and yet quite funky, not 100% sure with it yet so there may still be a few tweaks.  It's made with wearing with jeans in mind.

a close up of the fob watch (which does work) and to which I added a butterfly and some 'dangly' bits.

Jewellery - set #1

I have played around with bits of jewellery in the past - bag fobs, key rings, book marks etc - but never made any serious pieces.  Until now!!!!  I decided I want to dabble with this craft, not be making stuff all the time, after all how much jewellery can you wear, but just something to relax with from time to time.  So I decided to buy a kit for the first set - just to get used to the different techniques before I started on the costly stuff - well of course I had to tweak the design a bit to add my own individual touch to it and was very surprised by how weighty this set is.  It has turned out how I wanted it and will look perfect on a plain black dress. 

now off to play with a more complicated design of my own.

"The Last Time," a song about the Terrorist Massacre in Itamar

there are no words, except 'Amen'

When I have a bit of time on my hands....

...I rummage in my alteration drawer and find something to play with.  I saw something similar to these on Etsy but they were much plainer and they were selling for $25.  The light bulb went off - I have some of those polystyrene balls lurking at the back of the drawer, a couple of hours later this 'evolved'

and then this morning another followed along...