They look Okay......

After my Hob covers disintegrated in the (first) wash, I decided I may as well make my own replacements:

I think they look okay.....but I'm making some belated New Year Resolutions to try and stop making the same mistakes I make every time I start a new project.

1. Never, ever start a project thinking, "if I get a move on with this I should have it done by lunchtime and then I can cook the roast".
2. Never start by carefully drawing out the circle with a compass and then decide it will be much quicker to draw it freehand.
3. Never layer the wadding and two pieces of fabric together and then zig zag stitch around the edge in the hope it will hold it together - you'll have to unpick it because it will go very wrong as the fabrics revolt.
4. Never decide it will be much quicker to just machine quilt the layers rather than tack them in place first; again, you'll have to unpick it because the fabrics revolt.
5. Never quickly think, "Right, so I want the binding to be 1/2 an inch wide so that's 1/2 an inch front and back plus two 1/4 inch seams so that makes 1 and a half inches" and not remember to double it.
6. In fact, never, never think, "I'll quickly do this".

Four days later they are finally done but the work is pretty shoddy to say the least.  Best part was yesterday at Pitch and Stitch when I was huffing and puffing over it and Eileen said I'm too much of a perfectionist.  I think I know a few people who would splutter at that.

I know the sun has been shining but I have been making quite a meal of January, so I felt a bit feeble when I read my cousin's blog all about their lovely walks along the beach and work in the garden.  I decided (when it stopped raining) that I would walk around the garden and seek out colour.

The pansies are getting more established

and the Hellebore is in flower

The Winter Jasmine is the best it's ever been (probably because Jonathan forgot to cut it back)

and the Viburnum is pretty and heavily scented

and I'm so pleased with my succulents I brought back from Wales

But best of all has to be something I didn't even know existed until Pippa (well, who else?) pointed out the tiny little pin prick flowers on the hazel.

Oh, and then of course

 

 

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Well, this Christmas is going on for EVER!

And I'm hanging on to it - I've never been one of those people who take their decorations down before Twelfth Night, (a friend of mine used to take hers down on Boxing Day, and this year she said she wasn't going to put any up) so I'll be taking mine down on Saturday.  I went to Marlborough yesterday and was pleased to see the Christmas lights still up, and on, both there and in Hungerford.

As ever, this Christmas has included lots of home made gifts....

.....my quilting friends and I exchanged home-made gifts and I was thrilled to receive the collection below:

My gifts to them were the cause of some considerable pain.....back in October I had the idea of making little scissor purses for them, and then four days before we were due to exchange I decided I'd better get on and make them.  I stalled for two days with the prototype which went horribly wrong and was thrown aside.  Then I sent to work again and literally a couple of hours before I had to hand them over, managed to finish them.

They weren't too bad in the end.

Then some of the ladies at pitch and Stitch found the prototype and insisted it couldn't be thrown away, so I changed it a bit and turned it into a tissue holder for my Auntie Pauline.

Hmmmn.

And Isaac enjoyed his home made gift from me

made from the pattern I bought from Tactile Treasures and the Ally Pally.

Anyway, we have had a lovely Christmas with our little grandson coming over so everyone finally got to meet him, and I got to spend lots of money on essential things like cots, highchairs, activity centres and various musical toys.  I was so pleased to be able to put in Victoria's room this musical box which my cousin Jen, and her husband Steve, made years ago.  That's it, in the picture at the top of this post and it still works as good as new. 

We've sung lots of carols, eaten lots of food, visited friends and family and had visitors here.  I just finished my Christmas puzzle yesterday

which is a bit special because my sister, who leant it to me, knows the artist who painted the original picture - Mary Tozer.

And I even convinced everyone to join me on a shrooming expedition up in the woods and we found some very interesting specimens

which I can now attempt to identify with my lovely book I was given for Christmas!

Possibly the biggest surprise was my discovery of these

 

under the Hazel tree at the top of our drive - there are loads of them.  Have I been going around with my eyes shut all these years?