HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I had high hopes on Christmas Eve of posting on my blog photos of some delicious treats!

Christmas cakes decorated with the help of Charlotte!

Cheese & Rosemary Sables.

Nigel Slater's sausage danish plus a few mince pies made with left over pastry that the seagulls really enjoyed!

These were so much better!

However Christmas Eve passed in a flash as so did Christmas and Boxing Day.

Lots of fun and laughter was had by us all, a busy time but an excellent time.

We've had long walks in the winter sunshine 

and yesterday enjoyed a coffee and some lunch looking out to sea at Aldeburgh.

Perfect!

So tomorrow we start a fresh new year. Lots of projects planned (yarn delivery has arrived this morning) and a fourth grand child to look forward to.

Thank you so much for following my blog through 2014.

I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!

CHRISTMAS TREE!

Yesterday the christmas tree was squeezed through the patio doors into the lounge. 

I was making sausage rolls in the kitchen at the time and when Michael called for me and I walked in the lounge I had a - Oh deary me, what a big tree! moment.

 Last night I got Michael to put the fairy on the top and drape the lights round it as I couldn't reach the top. Today I have spent the afternoon putting the baubles and other decorations on and I do think it looks very pretty. (The bucket at the bottom needs some attention but I'm leaving that for another day.)

I do like the fact that it still has a couple of pine cones on it, that's what sold it to me in the first place. If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have got one quite as big but then knowing my past record, I probably would have.

I bought this santa decoration the other day when I was in the tourist information centre in town. I had to buy it for Michael as I thought it very appropiate as we have a boat just like that in our garage.

At long last I am beginning to feel a little more christmassy and I'm now off to listen to christmas music while I wrap some presents.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE!

Here is our christmas tree!

Outside it looks huge

and inside I feel it's going to look even huger!

(I wasn't sure if huger was a word but according to google it is so I'm using it!)

What swayed me to choose this one from all the others at the garden centre is that it still has a few cones on the top. 

Michael and I as always had our normal christmas banter as we paced along the rows of christmas trees.

"That's enormous, have you any idea how large that's going to look in our lounge!"

My reply, "It'll be fine, I like a tall tree!"

"IT'S GOING TO BE TOO BIG!"

"Oh no it isn't, not when you've cut it and trimmed it a little, it'll be perfect!"

We left the garden centre with the tree.

So now we have the tree in the garden. We do have a slight problem in that the patio doors aren't opening as well as they should but by the weekend this should be sorted and the tree will appear in the lounge ready to be decorated.

On Tuesday I moved the lounge round leaving the gap ready for the tree, looking for those extra inches of floor space that are never going to be there!

Am I the only one that does this?

Once the tree is decorated and the christmas cards are opened I will hopefully then start to feel a little more festive!

Next time fingers crossed I'll have some photos of my decorated tree to show you.

PRODUCTIVE SATURDAY

On Friday when I did my shopping in town, I joked with my butcher.

"Am I going to get 20% of my pound of sausages today?" I asked.

"Ah no, sorry" was his reply. 

We laughed!

Thankfully the rest of Friday passed quietly in the little market town where I live but following on from Black Friday I decided to create my very own Productive Saturday. 

When Kate asked me to make her this chevron blanket she did say she would really like it to be finished to coincide with the completion of her newly decorated lounge.

While the decorating is yet to be finished, I am very pleased to say the blanket is!

One job finished off my "to do" list.

Now I'm sorry but I am going to blow my own trumpet here. I am so pleased with my christmas stockings.  I did fly into panic mode on Saturday morning when I found my marker pen had dried out completely and attaching the labels was my first planned job of the day.

Thankfully my husband came to my rescue. Coming in from the garage he made us a coffee, plied me with one of those nice biscuits from M& S and grabbing a pencil and paper redisgned how I was going to attach the tags.

So I must say a huge thank you to him as his new idea is so much better than mine ever was. The 3 double sided tags are on the side ready to be written on with my new marker and then I just have to slot the little hanging down strips into each of them and hand stitch them to make them secure.

I lined the stockings with a piece of flanelette sheet, to make them a little thicker which I bought so cheaply from Poundland and then put in a blue lining for Jacks and red for the girls.

All I hope is that Father Christmas has enough toys on his sleigh on the 24th to fill them up!

Hope you all have a great week!