A late arrival.

I think the weather ensured that just about everybody in Britain was still waiting for something to be delivered on Christmas day. This house was no exception, though I think we were pretty fortunate as only one package was out standing.
It arrived yesterday and was waiting for me when I got in from work. Such pretty wrapping.
Look what was inside, a calender with pattern details and instructions and some lovely teas nestled in a pretty hand made case.

The green ticket reads.......

On Christmas Day at half past three,

Brew yourself a cup of tea,

I'll think of you, and you think of me,

Sitting beside the Christmas tree.

All this came form the lovely Janice. Thank you, I know exactly which room it will hang in.

As we missed out on Christmas day, Janice and I have agreed to have elevenses on New Years Day.

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A pair of my lovely new knitting needles got a work out last night as I worked some more on my latest project. I didn't have time to do Hat, scarf and mitts for every body, so I've set off completing the sets. DD's boyfriend Rich is scarf less as his got lost somewhere just before all the festivity, that's whats growing on the needles.

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I'll have more Christmas goodies next time.

More Christmas Goodies

Were you naughty or nice? Was Santa kind to you? Did you get everything you wished for?
Santa certainly listened to me. I pointed to an ad on the back of a magazine a few months ago and said, I want some of those. This is what I unwrapped on Christmas morning.
Tucked neatly inside the cardboard case was this pretty box.

and inside the pretty box, the most beautiful set of limited edition interchangeable knitting needles.

They are made form beautifully laminated Birch wood and come with end stops and 4 different cable lengths. Beautiful, thank you Santa.
While he was shopping, Santa also came across some black silk needle rolls,

They contained more Birch needles, just the usual straight kind, well I say usual....

Just look at the colours, aren't they beautiful? One pair has already been pressed into action. LOL I'm still knitting hats and scarves.

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I think Santa decided that I was a nice girl this year as he also bought me more of my favorite BBC Wildlife DVDs, I can watch/listen to those all day long while I knit or sew. Guess where I'll be for the next couple of hours.......

Secret Santa Goodies.

I have quite a lot of Christmas goodness to share with you, but first and foremost, my wonderful goodies from Tracy (Thimbelina) my Secret Santa Swapper. This lovely package was all wrapped up and came all the way from Australia.
If I didn't already know by the packaging, this would have given it away! Tracy says she didn't realise I had a Vegemite fan in the house and sent it as a fun item. For those who don't know, my Tony is a Kiwi, so Vegemite, marmite etc are all staple foods in this house. :-) I like em too, in smaller amounts.

As the main part of the gift Tracy made a beautiful cover for a project binder. All in the prettiest of blues. I wouldn't let my boys touch it, in case it gets dirty!

Inside there are dividers to keep patterns and inspirations apart.

All beautifully put together.

The rings are very deep, so plenty of room for all manner of pages, pictures and scraps of yarn.

Not content with that Tracy also made me a needle minder. Perfect, my old needles are currently residing in a Whiskey tin! You know the one I mean, at Christmas someone always gets a bottle of spirits of some kind in a tin or hard cardboard tube? Well, now my needles have a much more comfortable home.

All beautifully made with that same pretty blue. Tracy had added some stitchery and I love the measuring tape ribbon.

There are little patches of fabrics sewn on as decoration and lovely buttons tied in place too.

And of course Tracys very own label.

Tracy, I love my gifts, thank you very much, I shall treasure them and think of you each time I add new items to the folder or hunt for a pair of needles.

Thank you to all who took part in the Secret Santa Swap, thank you to Chooky for being a great Elf as always. Best wishes to everyone for 2011.
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I have more Christmas images and stories, but I'll save them for another day.

Who ate all the pies?

It's not often that I make mince pies, I'm really no good at pastry. But this year I bought a packet of ready made pastry and got stuck in. Some of them went a little wrong.
They're all gone though and I need to make more.

Elephants again!

A little more smoothing required.
Mum may just get her elephants for Christmas. Since I took this picture, I've been back down on the floor and smoothed away the last wrinkles and started the pinning. My hips are terribly sore, but it's on the kitchen floor and I daren't stop until it's all pinned and I can move it. I'm taking regular breaks to walk about and try to ease my hips. Back to it, the men folk keep making hungry noises.....

Decorations

We've become a two tree house! My lovely red and gold tree is in our sitting room.
My blue and silver tree is in the dining room.

I've been collecting blue/white/silver ornaments for a few years and last year was the first time I had enough for a whole tree, so this years new item had to be a second tree. Of course that hasn't stopped me from buying more ornaments. Hehehe.

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I've finished the Christmas knitting and I'm back with the baby knits. What I really need to do is get on and finish mums elephant project. I just can't settle to it, my hips are still playing up and I just can't get comfortable to sew. I'm struggling with inspiration too. She's going to end up with something thrown together on Christmas Eve at this rate.

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Thanks for all the congratulations for Tony. I'll pass on your words when he surfaces. He's snoring it off! He sat up quite late talking on Skype with his mate in NZ, I got fed up and went off to bed. Goodness knows what time they finished gossiping.

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I'm off to get on with my day.

He did it!!

After six long years of studies, my lovely Tony today got his degree results. BSc (Hons) IT and Computing. With a distinction in his final and most frustrating subject.
Congratulations Hunney, I'm soooooooooo proud of you.

Christmas ornaments.

Working, and knitting, and knitting and working and knitting and..........
I did get to go shopping with Mum yesterday and I did get to treat myself to a couple of new ornaments, which I thought I might share here. I adore this one, it's made of the most delicate glass with a snowy scene painted on.
And who could resist this guy?

Also yesterday the postie delivered a very special package, it had come all the way from Tracy in Australia. She is my SSCSwapper and she has made me not one, or two but three beautiful ornaments for my tree.
Lots of pretty stitches.

Red Ric rac and ribbon

and a delight to behold. Makes my efforts this year rather pale by comparison.

Thank you Tracy, I love them. If you'd like to see what else Tracy has been up to here's her blog, go take a peep.

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I don't usually have my tree up yet, it's DS Joe's birthday tomorrow on the 10th and ever since he was a bump I resisted putting up the tree until after his birthday, but this year I made an exception, for two reasons, this is a new tree which of course I had to check over and I had to have something to display my new ornaments on!

Right I'm off to see if I can remember where I hid the boys gift!

Sand and Grit

The gritters have been busy here on my little island. We've had pretty much a week of snow and ice, mainly on high ground and in the south of the island, we up north have only had light dustings. The roads are not the only place to receive sand and grit. I feel like that's whats in my hips just now. I tried to potter in my sewing room, but it just wasn't working. I think the getting up and down between the sewing machine and the ironing board was too much. There was no way I could get down on the floor to layer and pin, so I gave up and got on with my knitting. Pottering is still ok though, so long as I stay on my feet! Mum dragged me out the other day, we did some slow Christmas shopping. I think she was a bit disappointed as we only visited half the shops she had planned, I just couldn't keep up with her, and she found it amusing watching me go up and down stairs!
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So, the knitting has progressed somewhat. The navy blue scarf is finished, I need only to make a hat to complete that set. I was ready for a change of colour though. Remember I made the Cadburys purple bag? Do you know what colour of chocolate wrapper this one is?
I think it's a Swiss brand, I know it's called Milka! Two little wrist warmer mittens were made last night, I need to get on and make hat and scarf in this shade too, but I decided to have a bash at a crochet star/snowflake. You'll notice there is no picture of that...........For today's project, I'll be watching youtube videos. LOL

How Long?

Just look at how long it's been since I got to spend a significant amount of time in my sewing room. I've snatched 10 minutes here and there, but that's it.
I plan to remedy that. I'm signed off work at the moment with a 'itis' in my hips and lower back. Hmm, I didn't know what to do with myself yesterday, I couldn't walk, I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand, I just couldn't settle all day. Today pain relief and anti inflammatory medication is working and I think pottering may be possible, so I've plan to spend a little time in my nest, hopefully I'll be able to potter in there. I did get a shock when I saw that calender though.
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Speaking of calenders, here's my wavy advent, complete with extra waves since I was folded up for a year! LOL Maybe I should have had a go at pressing it before I hung it and stuffed the pockets. It's all ready for tomorrow.
Hopefully today I'll be able to do a little more to mums elephants. I still need to make some more pieced blocks, but I'll have to find the box first!

I haven't been totally idle, the knitting needles have been busy with Christmas gifts. Here is some that I can show, a lovely blue Aran scarf, I need to make it two ball of yarn longer.......

And matching wrist warmers.

I got my SSCS package away and a couple of other international packages, so now the pressure is off and I can relax for a week or two.

Time to move or I'll seize up.

Is there such a colour?

I'm pretty certain that the recipient of this gift won't be looking in on my blog, so at last I can show off some of my Christmas knitting. I whipped up this little bag today on huge great 12mm needles and some super chunky yarn. I lined it with Cadburys purple fabric and added a cadburys purple ribbon to the front.
Is there such a colour as cadburys purple? Chocolate eaters will know exactly what shade of purple I mean. LOL Time to slip a bar of said chocolate into this little baggie and get it ready to mail.

On with the secret stuff.

Cross stitching for my Mum.

Back again with another cross stitch show and tell.
Mum chose this piece herself and asked me to stitch it for her. It was done on 11 count aida. LOL It felt like cheating the stitches were so big.
As soon as I saw this kit in the shop I knew I had to have it. All those cuddlies are so adorable.

There was so much clever shading that there was no need for back stitching. That really made my day! I think my sister Moya has this one now. I can't help wishing I had hung onto it.

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These Fuchsias were another must, as soon as I saw the design in a magazine I knew I had to do this one for mum. I stitched all of the outline/frames first then enjoyed stitching the fuchsias one at a time.

She loves Fuchsias and used to have many different varieties. She has a smaller garden now, and had to leave many behind. This sampler is on her dining room wall though, I know she adores it.

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All of the projects shown today are large pieces and were framed in 18 x 20 inch frames.

Round Two

Chookyblue is currently hosting round two of the cross stitch blog hop. Go peep at her blog for a list of those taking part. This is of course my fourth post! I got carried away last weekend.
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On with the show. I stitched a series of six of these 'Windswept Santa's' and made them into tree ornaments. I really should remember to photograph the rest of them.
Ooops! You'll have to turn sideways to see this one! 'Good Fortune' Was a gift to my brother and sister in law when they moved into their new house together. The blurb on the kit packaging said it should hang near the front door. And that's where it is. :-)

'Holly Fairy' was a magazine chart. One of my sisters started it, but got stuck. I finished him off for her. I'm really not sure what happened to him, I must ask.

I made the tatty teddy wedding sampler twice! Once for James and Pat and again for a school friend. Sadly both couples have split. I haven't done any wedding samplers since learning that. I feel like I jinxed them.

Needless to say all of these pieces were finished off with beautiful frames. You don't see said frames here because I learned that it is oh so much easier to photograph them before they go under glass.

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Enjoy the blog hop, I'll be back tomorrow with more.