Big Apologies! RIP Gabriella the Gin Fairy. LOL

 I’m so sorry I haven’t been to see you all. Do grab a cuppa -it’s so kind of you to visit. Warnng this is going to be a photo heavy blog post!
You aren’t forgotten it’s just been so busy what with makings, thwarting would-be burglars, and lots of small forays into shops. Daughter at Portsmouth Uni had a flat fire (no alarms went off and the smoke had worryingly reached the lift and could be smelled on other floors). Of course no one is admitting culpability for that health and safety hazard.
 
Ulla from Finland sent an amazing pre-Christmas parcel to help me keep organised. There were pencils, pencil sharpener, rubbers (inside the mushroom), and paper. What a pretty heart wallhanging too. Thank you Ulla.
 The mug made me smile- it’s been so like that here the last few weeks.
 With Lovely Husband fueling me with coffee.
 Ulla though fueled me with my fav soup- mushroom. What a pretty packet!
 Moomin is native to Finland. I love this gorgeous tin she found.
 I keep thinking this card would make a great applique.
 The photos aren’t in order as they have some from 2 different cameras (whichever was closest!). Pipsqueak’s new dog bed cover. This is an idea from my head made from a charm pack called Rose Parade by Moda. I’m calling it Hedgerow as it reminded me of a country hedge which has all sorts growing in it through the years.
 They say the older a hedge is the more plant variety it has. If you look at the bottom left rose you will see that it is pink and red. When I came up with the idea it was under electric light and all the pink looked red, so I thought I had enough red to make 5 roses. It turned out to be 2.5 of each. 🙂
 I was sailing a bit close to the wind with the green too. This is all I had left of it after making the velcro’d back and binding.
M Kate in W Malaysia has opened her little something from me so I can share it now. A Christmas mat.
The stitchery has 2 doves and mistletoe.
Remember Anne Marie and I met in London at the end of November? I went down by train.
We met by Euston Station and walked up to Camden Lock.
There is a huge market there with 100s of small stalls.
Moped seats at one cafe stall.
Copy of one of the lions at Trafalgar Square.
The afternoon was wet and windy. It got dark fast.
A bin by the Horse Tunnels. I think this place was used by the canal people for their horses to see a farrier.
 There were many horse themed sculptures.
Elegance of a by-gone era. I wish modern shopping malls were as pretty.
Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to London without showing you a red London Bus.
 We had a meal at a place I began to wonder about. I felt like I was at Faulty Towers. They didn’t have coffee! Then they didn’t have lasagne! Anne Marie and I spent a long time chatting before boarding our parting trains at Euston Station. Thank you Anne Marie for meeting me. It was a lovely adventure.
Now I have some very “sad” news. On Chrissidecks Day (1st December in our house), we took the decorations down from the ceiling high cupboard. Gabriella the Gin Fairy who usually keeps us laughing by swooping from wherever we have put her at unexpected times really did it this time. She swooped out of the box and beheaded herself. Oh we had to laugh! It was so typical of her. Luckily long ago, we bought the Sober Fairy to grace the top of the Christmas Tree.
Another casuality this year was Lovely Husband’s 2011 Christmas decoration. He went out before adding it to the tree and unfortunately one of the hounds found it and thought it was for them.
But we did get the tree up!
I made this little stitchery for us in chocolate brown star fabric and red.
 I couldn’t resist this stitchery of a full up mouse and the Christmas Pudding.
I can also show these now they have arrived with their new owner and she knows she can open her parcel. Above is the lining.
These are the backs- for her 4 dogs.
 And these are the fronts. All crazy patchworked from as many Christmas fabrics that I had in red green and cream. I’ve not done much like this before.
So while I remembered how to do it, using a quilt as you go method. I made some for us. The lining is a pale purple. The backs are a Cadbury’s  purple dot. (Gorgeous!)
And these are the fronts. I used the scraps from the Christmas Elf wallhangings (Gail Pan) so the room is looking very colour co-ordinated.
We had snow last week! This week we’ve been battered by strong winds. 
None of it stuck- this was as exciting as the snow got. I would sooner have snow than wind. 
 
A chunky jumper is now made for Lovely Husband but not yet wrapped. I’m working on tall socks for son from a vintage pattern in 4-ply yarn. They are taking forever! 
I’ve also got 323 5″ squares to sew together to be the back of the Thimbleberry Village Green quilt. I didn’t have one piece big enough, so I thought as I was piecing anyway it might as well be pretty and co-ordinate. I used up all the leftovers which were bigger than 5″ so my scrap basket is looking full with the new offcuts.
I also have a stitchery which will be turned into a bag as soon as the perfect fabric arrives. It is the season for miracles– I found the perfect fabric in my stash with a name selvedge, and was able to find the old fabric on Ebay in the extra quantity I need. 🙂
Good news- I’m up to date with my course work! Another miracle! 
Now today I really will pop over and visit you. I have it timetabled in. I have been such a bad blogger lately. Sorry.

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