Our Christmas Day…..

A relaxed happy day, celebrating together.

Merry Christmas

I've been away and am back again (more on that later when I have time). We are just about ready for Christmas - the house is decorated, the girls are home :-) and all the food is prepared.

Merry Christmas everyone xx

The last stitch…..

…. and the quilt I have been making for my friends is finished!!!!

Just waiting to get a good light to take some decent photographs - its so dull here all day at the moment.

Lost…..

Panic call from C, she has lost her bobble hat. Not really a panic, but she really really loves her hat as it has quite a large bobble. She has searched all over, followed her tracks but cannot find it. I knitted it for her last year see here and here and C made the bobble!  She would like another one knitting exactly the same, blue then grey then red.

So, I have found the pattern (my filing system worked!) and have found some left over bits of wool. I had made another hat for a friend using the wool in a different combination - red, then grey and blue so was a little concerned I may not have enough blue but have managed to get hold of another ball.  I definitely have enough grey - but might be a bit pushed for the red!

So Chevy the Chevron cushion may go on hold for a bit.

Singing at Ripon Cathederal

My good friend A and I sing each year with a local school choral society. This year we were going to sing in Ripon Cathedral. We start rehearsals in September, just once a week through to the performance which was this last Saturday. It's so enjoyable to go each week and sing in a crowd - with a real mix of ages from younger pupils to older members of the community. Time just to just stop and concentrate on something new and make music. The society takes 'all comers' which is probably just as well as I'm not musically trained at all, but as I've been singing for quite a few years now I can sight read a bit, and learning new pieces is getting a little easier.

So, on Saturday afternoon we arrived at the Cathedral for a rehearsal before the performance in the evening. The Cathedral really is a magnificent building with beautiful carvings and stone masonry, and wonderful acoustics for music.
This years programme included three pieces, we sang Vivaldi 'Magnificat', Britten 'Rejoice in the Lamb' and my favourite this year Elgar 'The Snow'.

The Cathedral was packed for the performance, and it went well, just a few shaky places but we got through it. I love the performance as it feels like the countdown to Christmas has really started!

Quilt and Knitting update

I've been busy as a bee, and have now finished all the blocks for the red and white quilt. I did take a while to decide which fabrics to use and in the end came down with this mix, each block has mostly the same eight red fabrics, but in different positions - and just to mix it up a little I've just swapped a couple of different red fabrics in. All will be revealed when the top is complete!

 

I've never added sashing and cornerstones into a quilt before, so I've been on a bit of a learning curve. I found a really good tutorial here and it seems to have worked well for me.

 I've also taken time to do a little more knitting for my Chevy the Chevron cushion, which is slowly growing - hopefully it will be ready for Xmas!

View from my window - November

It has been a bit of a funny month weather wise this November. I think we have had just about everything!

Late evening sunshine,

 the first frost of the winter,

 rain storms with a lovely double rainbow,

 hail!

more frost,

 more sunshine - and the wood has been transformed into beautiful autumn colours…...

……then we had strong winds and almost overnight the lovely leaves have blown away.

 

Lots of cloudy dull days as well…..

….. but the month finished in sunshine.

 Only one more month to go and my record of the year will be complete.

'Knit and Cake'

Quite a long time ago now - probably about this time last year, I was lucky enough to win a give away from Mags Creative Meanderings. We discovered that we lived close to each other, so met up in January and Mags gave me a wonderful collection of goodies. It contained, amongst many other things, two balls of Noro Silk Garden wool, and I have just got around to using them. I've been wanting to make a wooly cushion for ages, and a couple of weeks ago I bought a pattern from 'Purl and Jane' for a chevron cushion - perfect!

So, I have started my Chevy the Chevron cushion, and it seems to be going ok. I bought another couple of balls of Noro wool in slightly different shades so I can do two rows alternating in each colour and get a more interesting effect. 

I think I am going to make my opening more in the centre of the cushion than at the top. I just love the randomness of the way it is growing, and the red wool is so festive.

I was also busy last Friday evening making our Christmas cake. I think I am a little bit, only a little bit, more organised this year as it was already December when I made it last year. The fruit had been soaked in brandy, and I knew I would be busy over the weekend - so it had to be made last Friday evening!  Again this year I phoned the girls to let them have a virtual wish whilst I was stiring the mix…..

…… then tipped the mix into the cake tin (square this year - J says its easier to cut!) and found the paper carrier bag that I saved from last year to tie around it to try and stop it burning.

It was quite a late night….probably about half past midnight when I first checked the cake and it needed just a little longer. My family are not that keen on icing, so I usually just add almonds on the top. I think I may just have left it a little too long as the edges look a little well done

- oh well, I'm sure it will be fine once I feed it with brandy!

Hurry up Mr Postman

After being very indecisive about which red fabric I should get for the quilt I am making, I was eagerly waiting for the post to arrive to see if the selection worked together!

I now have a selection of red material, some new and some that I've also pulled out from other projects, so I think I have enough now for the top which all tone together.

For the quilt back I selected this grey and white fabric from Moda fabric 'Winter's Lane' called grey evergreen. I also bought berry evergreen and berry mistletoe in the red fabrics above.

Just need to get on with it all now…...

New project on my table

Just started a new project, but I have to keep it quiet as it is a present for my friends who took me on holiday in the summer with them. It won't be a complete surprise as I said I would make them a quilt for their alpine home, so having thought for a long long time how I would make the quilt, I came up with the idea of a red work quilt with the embroidery reflecting aspects of our holiday and the area.

I think I will use the embroidered pieces as a centre to a square block, and then add white sashing to join them together.

I've got a few more to sew, but am now looking for red material to make the other patches. I'm finding it  quite difficult to find a selection of red material that will tone together and not clash! It is difficult to see the true colours on web pages. Any thoughts would be welcome!!

Just finishing the walking boots now, reminding me of our walk to the 'Pic de Marcelly' and hearing the cow bells drifting up from the valley below - ahhh brings back lovely memories of warm summer days!

Hmm, think I'd better tidy up my needle case - maybe I'll make a new one.

Two years

I have just realised that I recently passed a blogging milestone again - the end of October was my second anniversary! I celebrated with cake - what else :-)  Not home made cake I'm afraid, I'm trying to cut down on what I eat in the run up to Christmas, so just one shop bought blueberry muffin - my thinking was that if I made a cake to celebrate we would have to eat it all!!! so J and I shared this one.

Time passes so quickly and it was good to look back over the year to see what I have been doing. Thanks to the many people who read my pages and to those who leave lovely comments for me to read, I really appreciate the thought and effort that you make.

I had a fun morning yesterday, I went to visit a new (to me) 'knit and natter' group in Skipton. During the Yarndale weekend I visited 'The Studio' above Coopers Cafe Bar where Tracy from Patchwork Chickens  and Lucy from Attic24 have their studio. Tracy said that anyone was welcome to drop in on a Friday morning to the group in the cafe, so I decided to go! Such a lovely bunch of people, so friendly and welcoming - and the Coopers coffee is delish! I live an hour or so away from Skipton so will probably just call in from time to time. I had a walk into the town and had a look around the shops and the Friday market, and visited a lovely yarn shop 'Purl and Jane'. Skipton is such a lovely town and I'm looking forward to my next visit.