I'm not panicking....really I'm not!

JJ and I mixing the christmas pud - we now leave it overnight then pack it into basins and steam it tomorrow.

One very rushed, hap-hazard greenery basket.

Another pile of felt food cut ready for sewing later today. Eek, eek and eek again :o).

Hope everyone else is busy/excited/not too stressed today.

Mmmmmmmmm....

............I could spend hours looking (and stroking) my new pile of felt. I only use pure wool felt, bought from Myriad, as it feels lovely, looks lovely, and is very easy to work with. Mmmmm.

I've had another order for felt food and a bag this weekend and decided to try a couple of new things to go in it. Can you tell what they are? (I really hope you can otherwise I'm buggered ;o) ). And here's all the pieces together ready for the bag.

Hope your all having a lovely weekend whatever your doing :o).

Peaceful

Today feels very peaceful - or I feel at peace - not sure which really, but it is lovely. My Dad has got back from his enforced stay in France, so I've decided we are going to see him later. Build bridges.

I can hear the birds singing, the tractors and combine harvesters working all hours, the bin men emptying the recycling boxes, the odd car on the main road - it's peaceful.

Three of my boys are in bed - one off a night shift, two from a late evening out at the beach having a barbegue in the rain with our fellow vw club members - the other is sat on my knee having cuddles and helping with this post.

I have made the felt food and bag that has been on my list for months - it was not needed until next month but I really should have done it before now. It feels good to have it finished (and delivered). I have made lavender sugar after reading it on a blog somewhere (can't remember where, but thank you to whoever you are).

It is good at this moment - I will try and remember this feeling later when it's not quite so peaceful ;0).

Finished or Forgot

Finished this Week

2 christmas cakes (the above one was a pressie) I make my own royal icing too as I can't stand the ready roll stuff.

The jam tarts, mince pies and butter tartlets.

The cranberry and orange relish.

Uncle billies toffee (Delia Smith's recipe), and it tastes just like dime bar!!

The Christmas dinner (3 courses) for 10 people.

Completely Forgot (or didn't get round to)

The cloak for JJ (was mortified when I realised, but I actually don't think he would've noticed).

The greenery for the front door.

The Christmas sack.

The finger puppets for the stockings.

I'm actually quite pleased with myself really, although when I forget/didn't get round to the things I wanted to get done, I was pretty disappointed. Thinking about it later on did help - when I think of the things I did achieve. I hope everyone else was pleased with the things they achieved. The blogs I follow (must update the list) are sooooooo inspiring, full of mum's who have to put the family first, yet still achieve a whole variety of things, just amazing.

Thank you Mamas.

xxx

PS The green man painting was done by the very talented Joxy. Thank you - it was loved hugely xxx

More off the lists

Here's the Christmas puddings and mincemeat that I made the other day. I forgot to photograph the cakes before I wrapped them, but needless to say, the house smelt gorgeous the day I made it all.

I've been doing more on the crochet blanket (when I probably should have been making the log cabin bag) but I just need something at the minute that doesn't need too much thinking about. I've now got enough squares to make 16 blocks containing 9 squares each. This leaves 5 skeins left to make my edge. I did want to make 20 blocks but then I would only have 1 full skein left and I don't think that would have been enough to do it justice.

I've also done the felt food order, so that shall be posted tomorrow.

Grandad is now off the machines - we are waiting.

Getting back into it.

Starting to get back into the crafting after the last few weeks' of turmoil. Here's the 'cat in a garden' bag. I just need to add the liner now.

My sister has moved into a new home, so here's the card.

I've been experimenting with more felt food. Can you tell what it is??

Today I also harvested the rosemary from the garden. I didn't get it done last year so the plant is looking rather straggly. Anyway, tomorrow's post (hopefully) will be full of rosemary.

Don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance in the draw.

Play food done

I managed to finished the play food yesterday evening. Off to put it in the shop now.

We also have a birthday in the house today :-). I'm making his cake now, so hopefully there'll be a piccie later of a strawberry affair.

Mmm

Felt food for a birthday present on Thursday. Want to make some clay peas too, but I don't think my brother would appreciate them rolling around his floor ;-).

Arn't old sheets great?

It's been a very productive day today - we do get them sometimes. After making the wrapping paper bag I got carried away slightly and made the dog bed cover (yes it does have cats and mice on it), re-made the felt sausages as we didn't like them in a string and re-stitched the eyes on the green mini monster (yes this is the 3rd set he's had). That's a couple off things of my list.

And, Hubby is happy with this pile of soft rags that were left over from the sheet as well.

2 of the sausages sizzling in the pan ;-).

Mini monster

After sorting out Ds3's bedroom and wardrobe I took these out as they have a couple of stains on them so they are no good for the charity shop. I'll try and think of something to make them into. The last t-shirt that we didn't want to part with was made into a cushion which sits on his bed. (I'll try and remember to post a picture). Any suggestions very welcome.

Sausages!

Finished the felt food with this string of sausages. Not quite as I intended them to look but they'll do. Been doing my secret Christmas present as well.

Finding December more difficult to cope with the further into it we get. It will be 3 years since Mum died this year - just made even worse by having to have the dog put to sleep as she had the exact same cancer as Mum. Still can't get my head round it properly - I was determined that I was just going to keep this blog to crafting but you just have to let it out somewhere don't you.

More food, oven gloves and advent calendars

These are the play oven gloves ready for ds3 for Christmas. Very simple but hopefully effective.

This is the advent calendar I made for ds3 for Christmas last year. I bought the panel off Ebay and then sewed it together. My other boys have fabric advent calendars made by my Mum.

We now have another 2 bits of ravioli and a fried egg! Would like to do some more fruit/veggies but not sure how as these have all been made without patterns. We do have 3 strawberries that were knitted by a lovely mama on the GP forum.

Felt food, wool and season table swap.

Blimey, has it been 5 days since I was last here. I've been making some felt food (I've managed 3 carrots, 1 ravioli and 2 burgers so far) and my 2 season table swap items. I tried making some felt snowflakes for the swap, but the felt was just too thick and I didn't like them so I've changed the second thing I'm making.

The top picture is both colours of the wool I ordered.

Off to look on ebay now for some funky blue material to line a cotton bag with.