Merry Christmas!

 Seasons greetings to one and all!  I hope that you have an enjoyable festive season, and that Santa (if he visits your house) is kind to you.

My sewing this week was another fused snowflake tree - just a little one this time, the hanging is 24" tall.  The last of my die cut snow flakes, put to use to make a seasonal leaving gift for one of the teachers from the girls school.

Can you see how these chicks have come on?  They are about four times the size that they were, with feathers coming out all over and the start of little combs too.  The speed of growth has been quite surprising!

They are cheeky little things, very curious (although not very happy about having a camera thrust at them, as you can see!).

They all have names now.  From left to right they are: Earth, Stripes, Cheese and Peckit.

I'm off downstairs to tell them all about Christmas and to apologise for the Christmas tunes which they are about to share as I start peeling potatoes. 

Happy Christmas!

A little bit Christmassy

 A few Christmassy star hangings.  Not the project that I'd hoped to complete, but I realised that I'd reached that 'finished is less than perfect' point, and that if I was going to get anything in the post I'd have to stop prevaricating and get making, in the limited time that I have!

This year I'm taking part in a 'Journal Your Christmas' project by Shimelle Laine.  It's fun, and I thought that it might make me feel a bit more Christmassy, but I'm not sure that it has yet.  One great suggestion was that with a week to go until 'the big day' that we declared a 'Christmas Amnesty' (my interpretation is that you should write the big list of everything that you want / plan to do, then reduce it by 2/3rds, knowing that you'd be able to do all the stuff that didn't happen this Christmas at next Christmas instead, and that this Christmas would be more relaxing if you weren't exhausted by doing stuff that wasn't essential.  Great plan!  I mentally made my list, and realised that if I just finished some stuff life would feel better - I'd already pared it down pretty much to the minimum! 

I'm happy to say that it seems to be working, and a day and half of getting items ticked off the list has worked well.

Of course, some people may not consider sewing decorations, finishing this years TAST stiches or making a small hanging for a teacher who is leaving essential, but then they aren't me, and I am!

I've managed all 48 stitches of the TAST project this year, and I'm quite chuffed that I've managed it before the year's end.  I'm not at all sure that I'll be joining in again next year, although I will be stopping by Sharon's blog to see what other people get up to!


Christmas Sparkle

 An evening of making bead flowers last night - lots of sparkle, but not photographed very well, I'm afraid!

Lots of fun and not too taxing.

My only sewing so far this week - making a bag for 'Patch' who has been home from school for a week with DD2, and who arrived with his journal in a battered paper carrier bag.... I should have taken another photo with Patch, this bag (finished) and the little 'man bag' that I made to match - cute, even if I do say so myself.

It's one of those weeks where I seem to have been busy, but have nothing much to show for it!



Footnote:  For those interested in the progress of the chicks, I'm sorry to say that little Sunshine didn't make it, but that the other four are thriving - already trying to fly short distances, and only two weeks old today!  They are not only turning from fluff to feathers, but growing at a phenomenal rate!


Who would want to see this?

, it's

 Well really, I mean, it's a hanging that I made for my SiL, its Christmassy, fun, finished (always important!), its quilted and so on.....

 

but I'm sure that you'd rather see these little loves instead!  Five days old, collected from the Domestic Fowl Trust near Bidford on Avon, and currently living under a heat lamp in our living room.  We are hoping that they are all girls, as promised, and we are hoping that 'Sunshine' the littlest one, manages to hold her own against the others.

 

Of course, I'd like to hold my own against Blogger - these chicks are more golden than lavender, as you might guess from the bottom of the photo!