20 :: doing a runner...

Not literally, I might add, although it sometimes feels very tempting.

Following on from this post, I have brightened up my kitchen table with a new runner.

It is far too close to the ends of the table at the moment but come the weekend, I will have two extra leaves in to extend it to seat the masses.

The blocks are the Starry Night Blocks over at Fresh Lemons and are my first attempt at paper piecing. Faith's tutorial is fab and I am loving my interpretation of the block.  I used some red and natural fabrics from my stash, some of my precious Spoonflower fabric and some natural linen/cotton mix that I was given by a generous friend.

It is looking a little crinkled up because it has been folded up for a couple of days now~~I'm sure it will flatten out!  I used Insul-Brite heat resistant batting plus a layer of regular batting as I want to be able to put all my hot dishes straight from the oven onto it without worrying about scorching the table.

19 :: rekindled...

I have the knitting bug back!

It's been ages since I knitted anything and since I finished my wrist-warmers I have been planning and dreaming of yarn!

So, next up on the needles was this ribbed cowl, as recommended by Kristina.  Once again, I used Malabrigo worsted, this time in Pink frost, which is a beautiful, soft dusky pink.  All details on Ravelry.

In fact, I love this colour so much, I have something else on the go already using the other skein I bought...

18 :: Oh, Christmas Tree...

My tree is up, at last, having been in the garage since Wednesday.

It looks nice and twinkly in spite of my decorations being slightly sombre in colour.

It's not much fun putting it up on my own, to be honest, but No2 just shrugged when I suggested that he might like to come and help.  He doesn't seem to get Christmassy these days which makes finding the motivation to get it all ready for our guests a little difficult to come by sometimes.

I think I will call it a day with the decorations now. It is time to concentrate on the menu planning and ingredient buying.

17 :: Christmas pudding cupcakes...

I made Christmas pudding cupcakes for my craft ladies. They were delicious!

Easy peasy - you just add some mincemeat to a cupcake recipe then ice with brandy buttercream and sprinkle with red sugar crystals.

They were incredibly light, but still nice and moist.  I made them smaller than my regular cupcake size because I wanted to use the gold liners and so I have another dozen in the freezer for Christmas tea.

Recipe found here.

16 :: Christmas sewing...

Pretend that I didn't miss a day of advent!  Not really sure where the time went yesterday...

Today I have been able to spend some much needed therapeutic time in my sewing room.

My table runner is ready to quilt so hopefully I'll have a reveal over the weekend.

14 :: berries...

I am taking advantage of the profusion of berries on the bushes this year and bringing them indoors to add to my festive decorating.

The ones on the ivy are particularly impressive and add drama to a bunch of supermarket roses on the kitchen table.

I bought the tree today and was unable to resist a bunch of mistletoe too.

13 :: M&M's...

I had fun today, shopping with my sister. Something we don't do nearly often enough.

There was some present-buying for No2 in Selfridges (my favourite of the big London stores) and then the day ended at M&M'sWorld in Leicester Square.

Tacky, I know, but sometimes these things need to be done because I need just green ones for my Christmas table. As you do.