Oh Christmas Tree!

Well we managed to finally get the tree up this afternoon. Even Jack managed to help as he came home from Uni a day earlier than he said (what a nice surprise that was!). John wasn't at home to help us, he went Karting to Rednall and came back with a bottle of Champagne, he finished 2nd overall and not one of us was there to cheer him along :(

Still got more decorations to put out and the lights outside (hopefully we can get this done before the snow comes which they have forcast for round here tomorrow!) then it's just the food to concentrate on and I haven't got a clue what to buy for Jacko yet!

Christmas is Coming!

Still haven't managed to get the tree down from the loft yet but hopefully that should be remedied later today. I have however managed to pop a few Christmasy items about so it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Still got a few items to sew together, mainly clothes for me and then my machine can be tucked away for a while. Made my wreath to go on the front door yesterday afternoon, I gave up buying a bought one quite a few years ago, seemed stupid when we had a garden full of greenery. Be back later in the week with pictures of our tree.

I have received this award from the lovely Amy. I have to list 5 things I like doing and pass it on to five friends so that the circle grows! Well here we go
 

1. Sewing!
2. Spending time with the family.
3. Going for a walk on a cold frosty morning.
4. Baking. I love homemade cakes!
5. Shopping, girls love to shop!

I'd like to pass the award on to


Funkymonkey
Swirlythoughts
DollyDollop
Country Cottage Chic
Mary Poppins


Don't worry ladies if you haven't time before Christmas I'm sure we can wait until the New Year to find out more about you!

Christmas Stocking Swap

Yesterday I received my parcel from Silkie Sue. It was full of wonderful Christmas goodies. I saw some of her felt decorations on her blog and thought how good they were and she had sent me quite a few. Stanley has to be my favourite, he's sooo cute! I got lots of chocolate, some apple tree decorations, a tin of sweeties and a wonderful toilet bag made out of CK cowboy fabric. It is so wonderfully made and will hold all my make up in one place now, (i have two small bags sat on my dressing table). I must say a big thank you to Sam as the gifts I received were wonderful.

Here's a few photos of what I sent to Sam. I do hope she likes them.

If you pop over to my flickr (link at the side you can have a look at a few more photos).

A Big thank you to Bekimarie for organising the swap. Looking forward to the next one!

New Curtains At Last

It seems to have taken forever for me to get Soph's curtains finished but here they are at last. I didn't know how the beads would work on the pelmet but now they are on there I quite like them. I hope Soph will when she comes back.

Our First Christmas Card

Our first Christmas card was delivered by the Postman today. How are some people so organised? Mine are either still waiting to be made or I have bought a few and they are still in the box waiting to be written.

Whilst I was shopping the weekend I treated myself to this Yankee candle, Golden Spiced Pear, it smells wonderful, and the two tealight holders too. I also got some pot purri and filled these wellington boots which also stand on the window sill in my kitchen. At least the kitchen looks a bit Christmasy!

I've just managed to list a few items for sale on Ebay, some shoes and boots Soph has hardly ever worn. You can take a look here if you want.

Thrifty Christmas

I need something to finish off my Mother & Father in Laws Christmas present, I always make them a Christmas cake, (I make 8 cakes altogether to give as presents) but I like to give something else with it. They have had a new bathroom fitted recently so I decided to embroider a new towel and face cloth I found in my bag of bits with a holly motif. I put this on a set of plain white towels for myself last year and popped them in the bathroom on Christmas Eve and made it look quite festive.

Embroidery machine in action

The finished items

I always buy the kids a jar of sweets to pop in there stockings, they may be 18 & 19 but they still have a stocking left in their bedroom by Santa, instead of buying this year I decided to use some of the jars I save for my jam making and fill them with a mixture of there favourite sweets. I t worked out much cheaper and I had enough to do jars for my Nieces too. I was quite pleased with how they turned out and think I may use this idea for Birthday gifts next year. We have an old fashioned sweet shop in the village who sells lots of lovely sweets and chocolates, your always spoilt for choice when you go in so I can fill the jars with every ones favorites from there.

Sew

Yesterday was another day spent sewing. I have managed to finish off a few presents and try a few items from CK Sew. I made the bag a couple of weeks ago. Now I have made it I think there are a few things I would change, I do think that if you are a first time sewer the instructions aren't that clear. I don't like hand sewing so decided to quilt the hot water bottle cover by machine, bad move, the machine didn't like doing it nor did I! I have ended up and a mixture of different sized stitches and then found it quite hard to sew the whole thing together. Think this will have to be a present for Mom, as everything is beautiful to them! Next time I think I will make the hot water bottle cover out of an old woolly jumper and see how that goes. I haven't put the loop fastener on as by this time I had lost all patience with it.