what a great idea!

oooh i wish i'd seen these before i bought christmas crackers. i am definitely going to be making some of these in the future .

http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/surpriseballs/

inspiration

these easy mini apple tarts look yummy - i may be making some soon!

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/dessert/recipe-nearlyinstant-apple-cinnamon-minitarts-068904

you may know i love penguins - and this amigarumi version is the cutest i've ever seen!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Crochet-a-Baby-Penguin-Amigurumi/

this year, my tree is very homemade and fun, but looks a bit like a kid made it. next year i have determined i will have a bigger tree, only white lights and then some homeade things like this:

and this:


ah roll on christmas 2009. and another thing. next year i am definitely taking more time off in december!

yule yumminess

no posts for months, now two in one day. had to just post a couple of pictures, as much as anything to remind myself that seeing things thru a picture doesn't give you an all round picture. was moaning earlier about having no time, but i guess thru a picture my christmas still looks pretty great so i cant complain so much !

also at the bottom, the towel bale i bought today (half price dahling). i am ridiculously happy about these towels , and amused at myself for being able to get so excited about it. but aren't they yummy? :)


happy yule everyone! x

no time :(

i am feeling envious at the moment of other people having much more time on their hands to do all the fun things christmas should be full of. all the crafting and wrapping and baking - i haven't had a chance to do any. the decorations got thrown up in between dashing about. the present shopping is finally finished but most of it is yet to be delivered and i am still trucking back and forth from london every day for work.

not how it is in the magazines - that's for sure!

i am now focussing on the fact that i finish work on friday - then have my yule do on sunday - but i can't even enjoy planning for that as i have another one to go to on saturday, so will have to tear around the supermarket on saturday and still make it to that on time.

basically the only day i have is monday 22nd on which the only thing booked is the making of mince pies, and presumable all the wrapping of presents. so i shall just have to look forward to that one.

well now i've had a moan i feel better.

i did have one very pleasing thing happen at the weekend. last year when i started putting bird feed in the garden i had alot of blue tits and coal tits would come by, but gradually they seemed to have been forced out by three pairs of sparrows who've made it their own. but on sunday morning there were three little blue tits eating the last of the rose hips. i was so pleased to see them! maybe they don't tend to stay around in the summer- i shall have to try and find out more about their habits, see if i can encourage them.

hopefully i'll be able to get some nice pics to post here of my xmas decorations and the wrapping and mince pies next week...

autumn and halloween

phew long time no post ! there's been alot going on - the birth of a new nephew, halloween, and some fun potato printing for xmas wrap (which came out really well despite sounding like a kindergarten game). i have more halloween craft pics on the camera which i have to put on here sometime, but here's pob the pumpkin plushie. i was quite sad to have to put him in the cupboard after halloween was over.



nerdbunny and i had a great fun evening making xmas wrap using potato printing :

another labour of love was the baby blanket for the newcomer. i was really pleased with this and so was my sister. i also made the pink one for my neice to give to her baby doll.

i am sick at the moment, so missed going to see any fireworks last night. luckily there is another display nearby on saturday so i will hopefully get to go to that instead.

x

very quick update

this is a super quick update because no photos have been put on for ages i thought i'd quickly add some. i've been growing things, and cooking quite a bit recently, but not taking pictures. but here's some things i've been working on. some lovely cards to start off. amazing what a difference a gold pen can make :)

i have been doing a few mini cross stitch experiments, with good results ! not sure what i'll do with these yet, perhaps put them on book covers, or bookmarks for christmas gifts maybe. I'm going to keep the tractor for myself tho- i love it!
this is my threadcatcher - my solution to the threads that were collecting on the end of the sofa ! bit different from the normal straight ones, just made from card attacked with a hole punch, and you get a lovely colour wheel into the bargain. hurrah!

A death in winter

today the guardian has an article, and subequently many comments, containing poems about death. this one grabbed my attention.

poem by Jeni Couzyn, from the Bloodaxe Book of Women Poets.

A Death In Winter

Beside the exit, seated at a table
is a grey clerk with a ledger.
At his feet is a kind of box --
a trunk perhaps, a hope chest or
a rubbish bin.

Cross-legged in the doorway
my friend sits, watching light
stream in through the opening.
It soaks her in beauty.

She has given back her future.
In character, neatly folded, she placed it
carefully in the box
and the clerk ticked it off.

Now she takes off her feet, like shoes
gently, one beside the other;
she takes her speech and returns it
syllable by syllable
she unpicks it thoughtfully, like knitting
unravels it, one plain, one purl
meaning by meaning;
she gives back her hands --
lays them down in the box with a smile.
There is no regret in her.
She knows their excellence.
And now she gives back continence, choices,
understanding the strange
comings and goings about her.
Everything she returns is fine and cared for.
The clerk ticks it all off in his ledger.

She is hardly human now
she is almost entirely love
she has given back her children
and very little of the personal #is left in her heart.

To the left of the doorway is a linen basket.
A plump girl, laughing, kneels besides it.
She is handing out gifts
to the souls who come trooping
in through the opening like sunlight.

Hands to grip a finger
feet to walk
the first smile
Mama, Papa, I want, I think
all the trappings of the journey.

My friend smiles across at the girl
as if she were a daughter.

The radiance streams in and over her
soon she will take off the last of her body
and step out
into the stillness.