That time of year...

...when we celebrate the birth of our first child.  15 years old..wow!!  We celebrated as he wanted..with the extended family enjoying spaghetti and meatballs.  We are very lucky too, in that this boy is still happy with Lego for his main gift :)  I made a wintry birthday cake for a change...many of us nearly lost teeth to those silver balls!  Having a birthday 5 days before Christmas must be hard going but we try and keep everything separate.

This is also the time of year when today marks another year gone since my lovely Mum died.  This evening will be the 7th year without her here...although I still feel her with me, so she not really gone.  The thing I do miss though, is being able to just pick up the phone and talk to her, tell her those silly things/happenings, that don't really mean much, but are great to share.  I'm quite sure she's been checking  in on the progress of my Hut and would have loved to have done some crafting with me there. 

I'm actually feeling very positive today.  I've been to the Christingle service at school this morning, then dropped off an order.  This afternoon my sister and I are going to see the Book of Remembrance at the Crematorium.  Neither of us have seen it yet as we usually go to the cemetery where we scattered her ashes, so this year will be different.  Then this evening I've got the last order to finish and the marzipan to put on the cake (which I only managed to make yesterday!).

I would like to thank you all for sticking with me through this up and down, busy busy, year.  I shall try very hard to post more regularly in this lovely online world next year.

Solistice blessings for today, Yuletide greetings/Christmas wishes for the 25th and lots of love and happiness for the New Year.

So there went Christmas (with 20 boxes of Lego between us), then New Year, with card games that are still ongoing, onto 2012.  What will it bring?  I'm hoping for lots of love, lots of laughter, and lots of adventures - big and small.  What about you?

Ready?

Well, the tree is up, some of the pressies are wrapped, the food is ordered or in the freezer, the invites are out, but...I don't know, I'm just not really feeling it yet!  Is it really this weekend?  Am I the only one feeling like this?  Maybe its the blooming cold that has been lingering in the background for over a week, that finally decided yesterday that it would rear it's head properly.  Out came the honey, lemon and echinacea again.  Probably a bit late, but when it was just sort of lingering in the background I stopped making it...serves me right really ;o).

(mmmmmm, dumplings...)

So today, I'm waiting for the shopping to arrive, I'm waiting for the courier to pick up a box of milk bottle tops (recycling for charity), I'm preparing for tomorrows birthday (eek a 14 year old), I'm sneezing alot, I'm hoping the glass doors will be back on the painted and filled cupboards so I can show you them, cos I LOVE them, and I'll be trying to find my Christmas zing again.

Christmas is coming...

...so I thought I better make a start on the cake!  Here's the fruit soaking in brandy and sherry.  I've also made the mincemeat...it looks quite disgusting in this picture but, trust me, it's delicious.  I use Delia Smiths recipes for the puddings, the cake and the mincemeat as I find them very easy to do and I've always had good results from them.   Anyway, back to the mincemeat...it is now packed tightly into jars waiting for me to start on the mince pies in a few weeks.

I'm also drying some apples and oranges.  It's the first time I've dried apples...I forgot to brush them with lemon juice so they've gone a little brown.  There are more oranges still drying as they are taking ages.  Lets hope I don't burn them like I did last year!

Don't forget the give-away over on this enchanted Pixie



Loads to show you

It doesn't seem like it's been over a week since my last visit! Anyway, I've got loads to show you so here goes. We going to the Green Parent meet up this weekend and have to travel by train so I thought JJ could do with a small bag. It's made like my purple shoulder bag and lined with denim.

This is a commissioned card from last week.

I've had another tattoo - the cat was already there, but I've had it re-freshed and all the flowers and bits added. I completely forgot to take a picture before hand!


JJ wanted a new scarf - he picked yellow and orange so I crocheted the two together so it was quicker, then added the fringe onto the ends.

One of the Yule list - a reversible apron for my nephew.

Ten (plus two for me) san pro pockets and inners.

Chamomile soap ready in a few days so I'll hopefully get that in the shop later today. I've got loads to do - it's my Dad's birthday today so I'm making him a cake as he doesn't really do birthdays anymore so I thought this was a good compromise, we shall see. I've also got to get my MILs birthday present ready for Friday as I won't be here - I'm making her a pamper hamper as she's asked for something else for Christmas.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the gorgeous autumn weather and managing to squeeze in some crafty time too.

Happy New Year - 2010

Happy New Year everyone. Lets hope that this year brings more joy and happiness - I have a good feeling, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and being positive. The above picture is all the baubles from the tree. I do love vintage glass baubles - I have managed to find quite a few on car boot sales and in charity shops, plus we have a few new ones too. They are all now packed away safely into boxes and are residing back in the loft. Time for other things.

I have been thinking about resolutions, or hopes, as we have decided to call them on the GP Forum, for this year. Last year (in fact the last 4 years) brought alot of sadness, through death and illnesses in the family and with friends. But in a funny sort of way, it also brought about alot of good - we have met family we haven't seen since I married 12 years ago, and we have resolved to stay in touch. We have resolved to 'do' more as a family with hubby's VW club and make more of an effort with friends. We have also resolved to end relationships with the people who cause us anger and sadness. I wasn't going to do resolutions but those last ones are all resolutions :-). Anyway, my hopes for the coming year are:-

* to do more as a family.
* to stay as calm as possible while the long awaited extension is built.
* to be calmer generally - I don't want to shout as much as I do any more.
* to continue to look at alternative/complementery medicines.
* to continue with handmadehaven.co.uk and hope that it remains a joy.
* to continue with my crafting.



And on that final note, here's a new bag for the shop.

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.

Christmas Stocking and advent calendar

Well, today I've done a bit more on the Christmas Stocking that I'm making for my nephew who is due in December. It's actually been a joint collaboration - the stocking is actually one my Mum had cut out ready to make. My sister has sewn the embellishments on the front and I'm sewing it all together. I've got most of it done now - just the hardest bit left as I've got to do it all by hand because the sewing machine is broken. I finished the back-stitch along the top of both pieces, then pinned the two pieces together and running stitched them ready to sew when I'm brave enough for the super thickness of it.

After I'd done that I thought I'd get the advent calendar as well. Oh, so fiddly. I had it out the bag for 10 mins then put it back again. Can't do that with a 2 year old trying to help.

Ordered More Wool

I love the freedom spirit wool so much I searched the internet last night, when I should have been going to bed, and found a few websites that stock it. I ordered some more of the green (or nature 514 as it is called) and some air 506 from oh sew simple. I thought they were very reasonably priced as well - £2.69 per 50g ball plus £1.30 p&p (for 4 balls). Lets hope they deliver quickly as I've started another hat (for me this time, so I've had to make it slightly bigger as I'm using this wool again).

Other projects I've got on the go are:-

• Christmas stocking for my unborn nephew
• Advent calendar for my unborn nephew
• Dressing up cloak for one of my son's friends
• Dressing up mask for another of my son's friends
• Season table swap gift for a member of the Green Parent Forum

I'd also like to make my youngest some oven gloves to go with his Christmas present, and we shall be making some handmade cards (blank inside so they can be sent) as a Christmas present for my wonderful Nan. There will be loads of other things in the run up to Christmas as well, but I'll talk about them as we go.