Heresy

I'm not going to write a list of resolutions as lots of people have already written my list for me - I could use any of these! So instead ... we went to Liberty on Saturday so I could buy my Christmas present (hee hee!) and I found some of the scrumptious and non-fattening Martha Negley Cupcakes and Teacups fabrics.


I've been lusting after these literally for months. I managed to leave some on the shelf for anyone else who gets there quickly - and it wasn't easy, believe me. And then I saw the whole shelf of Amy Butler prints. Hmmm. I'd better say this quietly - I don't think I really like Amy Butler fabrics. There, it's said. Please don't judge me, all you goddesses of style! There really is no hope for me.

We came back via St Pancras. How could we not, knowing that MrsM is so proud of MrM for his part in it?


I'd seen it described as "the sexiest station in the world", and let's just say the writer did not lie. We stood there like Sir John Betjeman:


All we could do was gaze at this beautiful old structure, so gorgeously modernised, and feel very envious of the people setting off on Eurostar while we shuffled back to grubby Kings Cross. But hey! At least we got to show the girls Harry Potter's Trolley!

Anyway, you'd think that would be enough, but no. Today we braved Cambridge John Lewis for school shoes; who was the genius that placed the children's shoes next to the toy department and then ensured a 30 minute queue? Thank goodness I was not wrangling both of them by myself ... Of course, after that ordeal I had to just check the haberdashery department. I was feeling very pleased with myself that I had resisted the delicious new glass beads (because really, I do not need any more stitch markers and unless I start selling them I will soon be buried) when I spied the woolly sale bin. Tell me honestly, could you have resisted this little lot at £3 per ball?


No willpower at all. Which doesn't bode at all well for the New Year's resolutions. Oh well, have a great night and a brilliant 2008! I'm off to find some champagne.

Coming out of hibernation

The weather and the festivities kept us inside over Christmas and Boxing Day , but now it's time to venture outside and try to walk off some of the roast potatoes. We took a flask of tea and some brownies to the bird reserve on the edge of our village and fished with sticks on our way to the big hide that looks out over the reedbed.



Obviously we didn't see many birds, walking with two loud galumphers, but we saw a bridge being renovated,


and we saw some huge skies, and , as usual, vowed that we should come back more frequently. It is a wonderful place.

Returning home, it was time to write Thank you letters.


How come everyone here receives presents but only one of us ever writes the letters? OK, at least two of them can't write very well, so I suppose I should just be grateful they sign their own names ...

Happy Christmas!

I know Christmas is nearly here now - because we made our annual trip to the teddy bear train at Audley End. We picked a really cold and frosty day, just perfect; the steam hung in the air and as we rode through the woods everything seemed very magical (and nearly made us able to forget how cold the seats were).


Eventually we reached Father Christmas' forest hiding place where the man himself was waiting with Rudolph to hand out Gummy Bears and teddies to all the children. I love this train. It is old and rickety and a bit grubby but the children don't see any of that, and it is a real treat to be able to share that with them.


So, the presents are wrapped, the cake is iced, the tree is decorated, the spare room is made up; now there are socks to be knitted and wine to be drunk, and my inner five year old is going to find it hard to get to sleep tomorrow. Wishing you all the happiest of Christmases, and I'll see you when it's all done!

Decking the halls

I was tagged by Lina for random Christmassy things recently, so I thought I'd tie it in with some pictures of decorations and see if I can make some sort of pattern from the randomness - hey, I am a scientist after all!

I've been holding off posting these pictures as some have been sent off in the Montessori by Hand swap and I was waiting until I was confident the parcel must have arrived; but then I realised if I didn't put photos of them now I'd be posting about Christmas decorations after Christmas! I made quite a few decorations this year, trying to find the right ones to send . Not all of these made it into the parcel but here they are anyway:


These are clove scented, and the beaded snowflakes were inspired by some that Dragonfly made for her Christmas cards this year. Random thing: I still secretly hope for a white Christmas even though the only ones I remember were in the US and even though it would be complete chaos in this country if we did get snow at Christmas and even though I know I'm the designated driver on Christmas Day - and I hate driving in snow. I used to be OK in a 4wd pickup in snow, but in a people carrier? Scary thought.


I was really pleased with these - then I saw something very similar in Good Housekeeping, so not very original after all. Random thing - I love red and white in Christmas decorations - maybe because they're the colours of Father Christmas?


I've had these little panels for ages but I finally stitched them and stuffed them - more cloves! And there's another random thing - I can't resist Christmas fabric or Christmas ribbons. I've had the various bits of fabric I've stitched for a good couple of years but they called to me in the shop ...


These looked very different in my head. Fimo is far more bendy than I remember it! There's a little bell swinging at the bottom, which sounds very festive but won't hang still from a shaky hand. Random thing: You can see here evidence of my "more is more" approach to tree decoration - we don't have tinsel or garlands on our tree, and we do have simple white unflashing lights, but the concession to good taste ends there. If I see a branch without a bauble, I don't feel I've done my job ...


This is a little wreath I made using mosaic tiles from the local craft shop. They took far more tiles than I thought they would to get the tiny cardboard rings covered but I am pleased with them. Random thing: I love a wreath on the door at Christmas. My mum always put the same one up and it had that essential Christmas familiarity about it. Throughout my childhood we had all the decoration in Sainsbury's carrier bags, with the baubles packed in plastic egg boxes. I love unwrapping the same decorations year after year. I loved the crinkle of those boxes and the rustle of the bags, and the smell of the plasticine and oasis she always used to make a Christmas display with floral picks and model reindeer. Gorgeous.


These were fabulous fun. We had some very cheap beads left over from a necklace making party and I decided to stick them onto silver wreaths. I LOVE these. In fact I'm tempted to stock up on the bead sets lining the supermarket shelves at the moment and going into production for next year!

Hansel & Gretel time

We have had an introduction to the construction industry this week - for once, not courtesy of Bob the Builder (altogether now, "Can we fix it?") I saw a pretty gingerbread house on the cover of this month's BBC Good Food - not one of my regular reads, but still - and it seemed just the thing to occupy two little people who weren't dreadfully ill but ill enough not to be going off sneezing all over their classmates.

The recipe and patterns are on the BBC web site - the gingerbread is gorgeously crunchy and makes lovely little men. We had a couple of heart stopping moments when I dropped one of the panels while sticking the walls together - gulp - but the shell went together well:


and the decoration was huge fun:



We got out the edible glitter for the roof - well, what else did you expect? The hardest part was stopping them eating all the sweets before we'd decorated it ...

Everything's better covered with glitter

Oh blimey, it's been a week since I wrote anything. The truth is I think I'm longing for the end of term more than the children are - we've all had colds, we've been flat out with work and school and really, enough's enough. Only another week to go, hurrah!

I have been making things too. Yesterday was the School Fayre, which went pretty well - we were busy for 2 hours solid, even with a cold and yet another sick bug felling half the PTA committee and a good number of the children. We sold a lot of mulled wine :-) I was running a children's craft stall, with lots of glitter and glue. It was a hit with smaller children - and the parents who realised they got 10 minutes babysitting for 30p! The older children - less so. Oh well. At least we have lots of bits cut out ready to do it all again next year ...

We offered them hearts and trees:


stained glass snowflakes:


lovely smiley Rudolphs:


and some shiny stockings that completely failed to hit the spot, so they need a rethink. More fluff and sparkle needed, methinks.

By the way, please note the gorgeously glittered display twigs. They grow that way in our garden, you know.

PS Do you think the teachers will be inundated with Nigella's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge this year, or can I risk it? I've got Oxfam Unwrapped stuff for them too but this is something the girls could "help" with.

A new tradition

We always had advent calendars when we were little, and it's a tradition I've kept up with our two. We have the picture based ones, and we have the one the elf fills (going well so far, hurrah!), and we also have another one that has slips of paper in with activities for each day. I've seen other people doing this too, and it isn't that I object to the sweeties or gifts that frequently come in these, it's just that we don't need quite that much sugar-and-sparkle fuelled excitement before breakfast. Believe me, they're not lacking in chocolate.




So, one of the activities for last weekend was to visit the Christmas tree festival being held at the church in a nearby village. We arrived as it was getting dark on Sunday afternoon and the effect of the candles lit for the advent service, and the 28 (!) sparkling trees decorated by village groups was absolutely magical.


We will definitely be marking this in our calendar for next year.


In case you have been wondering what I look like, this is a portrait of me, apparently.


No, I'm not crying, those are my ears.

OK, who stole November?

It is not possible. How can it be December already? If I think logically, a lot has happened this month but I honestly thought I had longer left to finish the Advent calendar:


It may not be as original or creative as some of the gorgeous ones others have been making - it comes from one of those preprinted panels - but I like it and it does the important job which is giving the Christmas Elf somewhere to put all his ornaments. Every year we dig out a little wooden tree (a bit like this one, only ours is green) and each day during December the elf hides a tiny ornament somewhere in the house. Only, sometimes he forgets and has to leave 2 or 3 days at once. I'm hoping this calendar, placed prominently, will REMIND HIM!!! Which reminds me, better get it out of the loft ...

I've been making all sorts of things but most of them are half done. One very quick project was these little books that have been appearing all over the place recently (apologies - it's early and the sun was not up when I took this picture):


They're just scrapbook paper covers with plain paper inside and handstitched - I tried machining but ended up with perforated pages which has its own charm but wasn't quite what I was going for! I don't scrapbook, but I have silly amounts of paper stashed away and this made me feel a bit less guilty about it. The plan is for the girls to fill in one book each for each grandparent for Christmas - there are only 6 pages and they chose the covers so hopefully it won't be a case of me chopping up random scribblings to stick in on Christmas Eve ...
I thought this was an original idea until I realised Amy Karol is doing the same thing. So, I'm in good company then!