Merry Christmas!

We made it.

5 hours for a journey which is usually 2.5 and an hour at Oxford services to feed Baby Plum ... through ice and snow, we made it to my parents house! Greeted with hot tea and homemade biscuits ... we were so relieved to be here!

So now it is Christmas Eve, the choccies are out and the carols are on the radio.

Merry Christmas to you all!

I will be back in the New Year - enjoy your festivities!

(A Bit Early!) My New Year's Resolution

I've woken up on a snowy, icy Sunday morning feeling a bit glum as we had planned a lovely family Christmassy afternoon - but I think that the roads will be too treacherous for my parents to drive down to London ... snow is only good when you don't have to travel anywhere. I'm really hoping that we will be able to get to my parents for Christmas ... I have been looking forward to spending Christmas with them since last Christmas (with my inlaws! ha ha ha). Actually, I have been looking forward to Christmas with my parents since the last Christmas we spent with them in 2008!

Anyway ... having relinquished my side of the bed to a 4 month old cutie pie, I am sitting in the living room with a steaming cup of tea reading a few blogs and thinking about the last few Christmassy things I need to get done....and planning my 2011 craft projects!

My new year's resolution for 2011 is ... to make a patchwork quilt!

Just the one resolution ... and am prepared for it to take the whole year ... but I just need to lay my hands on some lovely fabric ... hmmmm

The lovely Retromummy is having a fabric giveaway over at her blog - fingers crossed for me!

Go over and have a look!

Truffles

Every year I make truffles ... but I think I am going to have to stop as this year I think I have scoffed more than I have actually made!

Here are my white choc and raspberry truffles ... (I made 10 last weekend - not sure where they (ahem!) disappeared to!)

And here are my chocolate orange truffles ...

You can find the recipe here

Lebkuchen

On 1st December, Ruth over at The Pink Whisk began her Twelve Days of Christmas recipes ...

On the first day of Christmas the Pink Whisk sent to me ....

Lebkuchen

The plan was to make these biscuits and give them to friends as pressies....but I have only just managed to get them done (with a bit of sparkly glitter!) so I will take them home to my parents next week ... if there are any left!

Christmas Cake!

Here's my glittery holly Christmas Cake! The glitter looks a bit yellow in the pic ... but looks all lovely and sparkly in real life!

I had some help with the decorating ...

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Christmas Stocking

Here is the Christmas Stocking I have finally got around to making for Baby Plum! I can't wait until Father Christmas fills it full of goodies for her!

Christmas Cake and Experimenting with Babywearing

Having spent last week sat mainly on the sofa holding baby Plum because i) of the snow and ii) baby Plum has decided she hates her cot/gym/bouncy chair ... everything that isn't mummy! I thought I would give "Babywearing" a go ....

So I popped Baby Plum into the sling and headed into the kitchen to marzipan my Christmas cake ...

This year I have followed Ruth Clemens excellent tutorial so I sliced off the slight dome

Then ate the bit I had sliced off ... delicious!

One marzipanned cake ... not sure how much Baby dribble made it into the cake!!

Turns out that Baby Plum also hates the sling so I am back on the sofa, catching up with Replay, doing a bit of knitting, and babe in arms!

Blackberry Brandy

I have made Sloe gin for the last couple of years and thought I would try something different this year ...

I put equal measures of blackberries and caster sugar into a jar ...

And topped it up with the cheapest brandy I could find (Sainsburys Basics was under £8)

As with my Sloe gin, I will shake the jar regularly and leave to steep for about 6 months ... I hope that it will be worth the wait!

Feeling Festive

The pictures don't really do my cosy little living room and justice ... remember the Christmas bunting I made last year?

Our lovely new fireplace and gas fire which we have finally had installed!

And our tree!

Welcome to my blog to any new readers who have found me recently ... how about a little giveaway when I get 50 followers?

Getting ready for Christmas

So, here we are ... December 2nd.

Tree's up (but not decorated yet!)

Christmassy fat quarters purchased from Croydon Christmas "Craft" Fair (it was terrible, truly terrible! Not a crafty pretty thing in sight!)

Christmassy books out and cluttering up the coffee table. My Plum is getting a bit annoyed with my random piles of craft stuff which are springing up around our flat. I will tidy them up ... in due course!!

The Christmas Handbook was a present from Father Christmas in 1988! I love the fact that my mum and dad wrote in our books as children ... I have had this book for 22 years! There is even a random dried flower in the front!

Christmas cutters and moulds retrieved from the cupboard. Now I just need to decide what lovely goodies I will make this year!

Vintage Pixie Hat For Baby Plum

Here is a bit of knitting to show you ...

A "Vintage Pixie Hat" from my "Vintage Knits for Modern Babies" book.

I started this hat back in October - but as with most of my projects - when it comes to sewing it together ... it ends up at the bottom of my pile!

I used some odd balls of Rowan Cashsoft Chunky yarn, which is sadly now discontinued and I don't have enough to make some matching mittens. I will have to have a hunt around for something similar. I lined the hat for extra cosiness. I think it looks very pretty.

The only problem is that the strap isn't long enough to get round Baby Plum's chin!! Ha Ha Ha ... will have to attach some ribbon, methinks.

I will post pictures of Baby Plum modelling the hat tomorrow!