But I wasn't idle - honest! I decorated some candles by sponge dabbing them with paint and then using (home made) stencils to create a design. (The mottled effect looks better in reality than in the photograph!)
So here is my first project. A covered notebook which will be a gift for someone. That poppy fabric has been doing sterling service for quite a few years! I bought it to make a skirt in 2019 and it has been used for several projects since.
It has made a very cheap notebook look like a worthy Christmas present.
The centre piece of Christmas eating was always a turkey. It was the only time of the year that we ate turkey and after a few days of turkey sandwiches, casserole, curry, soup we were glad it was the only time of the year we had turkey. A huge bird would arrive from the butchers ready plucked but Mother preferred to draw it herself and then make stock from the giblets for the gravy. A piece of ham would be the gift of my grandparents who would come from their farm to join us for lunch.
Vegetables were from the garden. Brussels sprouts, carrots, red cabbage and runner beans which would have been salted in the summer. The pickles and chutneys would also be largely made from garden veg and would have been maturing a while.
Mother would have made the pudding, the cake and mincemeat well in advance. She made her own pastry, puff and shortcrust, but at Christmas she often bought bread.
I too will have turkey, but just a turkey thigh which I will stuff with sausagemeat and wrap with bacon. The vegetables will come from Sainsbury and will include carrots, sprouts and cabbage but also frozen peas rather than salted beans. I've made my own pudding and cake but will buy either mincemeat and ready-rolled pastry and ready-made mince pies. There will be treats too like smoked salmon, fresh orange juice, and some charcuterie meats.
And I shall be very grateful that I have a freezer so I don't have to waste any of those delicious leftovers!
And they have a raffle included in the cost of the evening. I had my second win of the week: a lovely flower arrangement!
Baileys condensed milk fruit cake
1kg
mixed dried fruit
400g
tin condensed milk
3/4
cup Baileys Irish cream
2
cups self-raising flour
Method
In
a large bowl, combine dried fruit, condensed milk, Baileys and 1/2 cup water.
Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove
from the fridge and stir well, allowing it to come to room temperature. Preheat
oven to 150C. Grease and line an 18cm square cake tin.
Fold
flour through soaked fruit. Pour into prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for
2 hours until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
(For dried fruit I used dried strawberries, cranberries, sultanas, raisins, blueberries, glace cherries, figs, dates, apricots)
I start preparing for Christmas on 26th December when I note what I have given and received each year. On 26th December 2023 I made a list of the people I would like to give things to this year, and I've been revising it throughout the year, adding ideas for gifts or crossing them out. The vast majority of the presents I give are home-made so I often start in January or February. I reckon if I haven't got my cards made before the end of July, they're probably a lost cause!
You have seen some of the things I have made this year: poinsettia wreaths, partridge and pear, and my Christmas cards.
I've got a few projects in progress - but you'll have to wait for future post to see what they are!!
Apart from "personal" Christmas gifts, I like to give to organisations. This lot is going to the Women's Institute. I seem to make a few every year, but this is my best batch yet.
 |
| Elf hoping not to be recognised. |
He visited my house during his off peak season and left a note saying that he knew a few children who would quite like the scarves I knit but would I make some a bit smaller., please. He even left me some sparkly red and green wool for a stripe in each scarf.
Who could refuse a request from The Great Man? So I donned my elf kit and set to work.
These are the first two waiting for his approval.
They may help me to stay off the naughty list.
The suicidal birds on the roads around here look more like this.
This is the book I am using.
I am regarding this as a challenge.
And it would still not be a good idea to wait for that drummer drumming.
I make almost all my Christmas presents and all my own cards. What I rarely make is anything for me!
And it's years since I did any embroidery, probably at least twenty five years.
So I remedied both this week and embroidered a pear to hang on my Christmas tree. (M from NZ, I hang my head in shame when I look at your glorious creations.)
There may be a partridge to follow.
But don't hold your breath for even one drummer drumming!
244 sleeps
to Christmas! Do I hear a chorus of
groans? Probably.
It’s also ninety-three
days since I last wrote a post. I typed
a long post from Jack a mere thirty-five days ago.
But it’s a mere two hundred and forty-four sleeps to Christmas so I’ve got my cards made.
And writing
this post may get Jack off my back. Here’s
hoping.
TWO? That Was October!
It was the month I turned 71 and celebrated suitably. In fact, two weeks on, I am still going out for birthday meals. I was supposed to go out today but a friend has the dreaded C***d so we have had to postpone.
I've been doing a lot of craft courses, We have a local set-up called CLIP, Community Learning in Partnership, and I have done a Christmas fabric craft course and a rag quilting course with them. Both are on-going but I thought you might like to meet my gnome. I have called him Dopey. The rag quilting is with pre-loved fabrics which I've found in charity shops.
I've also done an on-line macrame course with Hobbycraft and made two trees and a star. It was supposed to be a garland but I may detach the things from the garland and just hang on my tree.
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I had my breast screening and got the all-clear again so that also makes me very happy.
I have been rather active in leading worship and have visited several new-to-me churches which I may write about sometime.
Not a bad month. (Except that Blogger is being even more temperamental than usual.)
I know I've said this before, but when I was in the regular vicars I knew I had to have my personal Christmas prepared (cards written, presents bought and wrapped etc) by the end of October or I didn't get a personal Christmas. November I prepared my professional Christmas and then in December I went to all the carol services, Christmas parties and general socialising that I was invited to and still had time for the funerals and pastoral visiting which are part of every minister's everyday life.
So, here are two of the first presents I have made. I made something similar for several friends last year but these are destined for friends who live in different parts of the country. Each wreath will have to be mailed so they are robust enough to be posted. My cards are written but left unsealed in case of last minute messages.
I know many people are allergic to any mention of C*******s before mid-November by the very earliest, but if you make your own cards and presents you will know that not starting before November means not starting at all.
My first job is always making cards. I make around 100 each year, most of them the same. I also address the envelopes but leave the card writing until November. I've gone back to writing envelopes by hand as I found seeing endless address labels as I opened cards last year made everything feel a bit impersonal.
I was doing quite well on blogging my Christmas preparations then things went pear shaped. I've still be preparing for Christmas but not blogging.
First of all the sewing machine had a major hissy fit. So I tried to phone the nice little man who services my machine. But he had closed down during the pandemic. So I had to find a new nice little man. Who (of course) was further away. And he works only two days a week. So off I went and delivered my machine.
And on the way back the windscreen wipers broke down. This is not the season to be without windscreen wipers (and it's illegal anyway). So I contacted the garage and they were fully booked. But they fitted me in as I have been a customer for over twenty years. But the part wasn't in stock. And parts are (like everything else) a bit difficult to obtain at the moment. So I had to wait a few days for parts. When they came it was a two hour job with a correspondingly high bill.
And when I went to fetch my machines (I'd taken in two) the bill was also high so bang went the December budget.
And then I caught "the" cold. It seems as though everyone who has caught a cold recently has said it's about the worst they've ever had and I would endorse that. Over two weeks later I am still coughing for Britain. It has really knocked me out
Those are my excuses. But I'm hoping you will allow me to claim that I am
PS I'll post about some of my Christmas sewing later.
A poor little sheep has lost his way. Sheep should herd together but this is a single solitary sheep. Poor thing. He can shelter in the stable. I'd hate the posh cove who arrived yesterday to fancy a lamb chop.
And I've posted all my Christmas cards! Yay!
Most years I put the figures back with a view to a logical order of getting them out the next year but last year I decided to go rogue and (apart from Joseph, Mary and Jesus) I put them away in a random order so I will be telling the Christmas story in an original style this year.
I feel that I should sign this post "Pincushion" as I have had my covid booster, my annual flu vaccine and the shingles shot which I was offered because I have passed seventy.
