Busy, Busy, Busy!

The WI are holding a card evening tonight, and I was asked, along with other people, to bring a plate of savouries and a plate of sweet things. I thought I might as well do some extra, as the oven was on. This is the result -

A large quiche,

a dozen individual quiches,

a dozen sweet mincemeat tartlets,

a dozen sweet mincemeat pies

and a large sweet mincemeat pie.

Some will go to the card night, some have already been eaten, %-), and the rest will go in the freezer.

This afternoon I was also busy. I have been finishing off two presents for my granddaughters.

I bought these baskets years ago, knowing I would make bedding for them sometime. I made a mattress, a pillow and three blankets for each bed. Two blankets have lace, and the other blanket has each girl's name, embroidered with my lovely Bernina 630E. I also embroidered their names on ribbons, tied to the tops of the beds. Hopefully there will be no arguements as a result.

More Christmas ornaments -

A folded star. First one is in ribbon, which is not successful. The second one is in foiled paper.
This ornament is very scabby and falling to pieces, but if you were over sixty years old and shoved into a box for most of your life, perhaps you would be too! This is another war time ornament, cut out carefully and stuck together.

Later

I did not finish this post before I went to the cards. All my pies and mini quiches were eaten, and I got the booby prize - some really nice napkins for the table. I am hopeless at cards, but I really enjoyed myself.

Thankful Thoughts

The bad weather in Britain is supposed to be worse tonight, with the temperatures going down even further. I am therefore glad that my fireplace is finally finished, apart from a tiny bit of cosmetic work, so we are really warm and cosy, even if the electric goes out. Thank You.

Till next time.

tich

January!! (Photo heavy)

As well as the excitement of a brand new year, with goal setting and aspiring to keep resolutions, I think the beginning of January can also be a little sad. All the colourful decorations are taken down, the tree is bereft (see above) and suddenly the house looks bare! The decorations have to be carefully packed away, but I promised you I would show you some of my ornaments, some hand-made by me or by special friends, or some really special ones, tied forever to loving memories. We were supposed to be going down to see my grandchildren, to give them their presents this week, but the snow is so bad in the whole of Britain, (the worst winter for 50 years, according to the News tonight) we have had to cancel our plans. I was going to show these photos on the blog, when I was away, but it looks as if we won't get down for some time, so Christmas ornaments in February would look a bit strange!! A lot of my ornaments are a little 'tired', but they will never be thrown out!

I think I have mentioned Santa below. He is my all time favourite. My Mum got him out a Cornflake packet during the war (before I was born, I hasten to add), painted him red, somewhat faded now, and he has been on the tree ever since.

The next eight photographs are of ornaments I made for a workshop I used to run. Every summer I used to hold a 'Christmas in July' workshop. In the morning the ladies would make a lot of small items in a variety of crafts. They would then be given a Christmas lunch, with turkey and all the trimmings, sherry trifle and cream, tea and mince pies, and in the afternoon they were given the choice between two patchwork wallhangings. It was great fun, and so I have a lot of Christmas ornaments I made for the class.

Very simple wreath wrapped with ribbon

Cross stitch, wrapped over thick card, with either cord on its own, or cord and lace. (above and below)

Mini patchwork squares (about 3" - above and below) and material scraps pushed into a polystyrene ball. I also used 3D paint to edge the sledge - yuck!!

Lace gathered into a wreath and then stiffened.

Paper mache heads made into Santas.

A bad example of Suffolk puffs.

I am really proud of these. I made these with the ladies, but years later, I got my pupils with special needs to make these for Valentines Day. Every one of them managed it, even the boy with cerebral palsy, and he gave it to his Mum!

A crochet stocking. You start off with a Granny square, but on the last row you do some extra stitches, fold it over, sew together and you have a mini stocking!

I also have had some lovely ornaments from friends. This was a gentleman, who knew I loved beading, as much as he did, so he gave me these for my tree.
These ornaments were made by my Mum, who died over 22 years ago. She got a lot of mini milk cartons (the one you get in a cafe for your coffee). She emptied them, washed them carefully, and then got my son and daughter to help her decorate them. I love them!

I got my son to wrap up a lot of matchboxes when he was wee. This is the only survivor!
Thankful Thoughts

The weather in Britain has been dreadful. Snow, snow and more snow! We have had some hail and a little furry here and there, but mainly it has just been cold. I went out into the middle of the bay this morning with our dog. You can see the water is slowly coming back into the bay, and in the other photo, you can see the sun shining on our house. Aren't we lucky? Thank You.

tich