Home made Christmas

Aren't these crochet table mats wonderful?  My lovely daughter who is obsessed with wool, cotton and anything to do with crochet, made them for me for Christmas! No wonder Faye hasn't had much on her blog recently she has been beavering away making these for me and another set for her MiL!

Along with this lovely wreath.

 And the presents were topped off with these decorations (now on the Christmas tree)

My lovely son and his girlfriend made me Rosemary and Thyme assorted nuts and Laurie some BBQ rub (no salt as you can see!)

Home made presents are really special!

 The top picture are the 12 balls of 100% cotton that DH got me (excited to get started on them - just not sure what to make yet) and below are some more yarns that Faye got me. 
Aren't I lucky?

Merry christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a happy and healthy day!

Indian Elephant

Work progresses on little elephant! Rather than having to hunt for a square frame to put him in when I finish I think an A4 frame will be much easier so I am extending the top with circles of stitching.  I'm rather enjoying this part because there are no decisions to be made it's just simple running stitch with all the hard work completed. I will try and do some slow Sunday stitching tomorrow, although that's looking less and less likely but I will still link up with Kathy's wonderful blog  tomorrow!  And as you can see below I finished Chris Moose!

Slow Sunday Stitching

How quickly the week has passed, but I do feel as if I've achieved one or two things!  DH and I bought our Christmas tree in the week and Friday we decorated it. And what a beauty it is, tall and very bushy. It's in its usual place between the window and the French doors and laden with every decoration we own.  Each decoration has a memory, whether it be our first Christmas together (those baubles are a bit tarnished now but I wouldn't dream of not having them on the tree), to the ones the children made many years ago, and the tiny wooden ones that came out of an advent calendar given to them by the Grandparents. And we always buy a new one every year, with this years coming from Cologne on our recent visit! (Gosh was it only two weeks ago!)

I've finished the red work heart and just have to sew it together and fill it with toy stuffing. On Monday I had my textile class and instead of starting a new project I carried on with my little Indian Elephant. This is the second month I've gone solo and not done the class project so next month I really must try harder to get everything I need ready instead of waking up the Sunday before and realising I needed to buy supplies!!  Having said that I am pleased I now have all the shisha mirrors in place and feel as if I'm nearly there. So this afternoon I will carry on with this project and watch a Christmas film (The Bishops Wife is nice and Christmassy and has the added bonus of staring Cary Grant)  I am linking up with Kathy's BLOG so you can see what everyone else is working on today.

Two finishes!

 Yay!! A finish for December (and I've sewn in all the loose threads).  I love crocheting blankets! I had wanted to add another row and I might have had just enough wool to do the granny squares but I used all my joining grey/lavender wool - with believe it or not 12 inches of wool to spare! So square it will stay.

 My next project will be socks!  I found a great blog Winwick Mum where she has started a sockalong earlier in the year (I am always late joining in these things). Christine uses this wool which just happens to be German so I popped into a department store while I was visiting Faye and the Christmas markets and purchased this rather wonderful wool.  I also bought the circular knitting needles but realised I only had hand luggage with me and rather than have them confiscated at the airport I hope Faye will bring them with her when she comes home for Christmas.

 At the Christmas markets I also bought my new niece a little wooden fairy on a spring to hang from the ceiling and thought it would be nice to make a patchwork Christmas bag for it!  So that's two finishes so far!!!!!

Germany and slow Sunday sewing

I managed to do some red work while I was in Germany visiting Faye and the Christmas markets last week.  I love red work and want to complete one of these little hearts every Christmas.  Faye had the brilliant idea of putting the date on so I've squeezed it into the heart on Chris Moose's rump! I have linked up with Kathy's blog for slow Sunday stitching which you can find Here

We had such a good time in Germany. Unfortunately Faye and her husband were working during the day so we amused ourselves by visiting the Christmas markets - Dusseldorf (a bit wet and miserable that day) and Duisburg, then Cologne the following day, where we got to four of the seven markets.  Each one is themed - Angels, Gnomes, St Nicholas etc and apart from the shopping its all about the food and drink. With gluwein or hot chocolate being the order of the day, drunk out of mugs that match the theme of that particular market.

The photographs really don't do it justice but all I can say if you ever get the chance to visit Germany go at Christmas!