Day Fourteen

Yesterday I chopped up lots of dried fruit and left it steeping overnight in copious amounts of alcohol.

 

 

Today I mixed up some other ingredients...

 

Combined the two together and there are now two large and two individual puddings steaming away as I type.

 

I know... I'm a few weeks late with this particular task but I really don't think anyone will notice as they tuck into their pudding on Christmas Day. And it is making the house smell rather lovely and Christmassy today. I could almost be tempted to put on some Christmas music... but no... a step too far I think.

Day Thirteen

You know how it is when you are on holiday... and the waiter brings you a little tipple of something sweet and delicious to try after dinner. And because it is warm and balmy and you are sitting overlooking a Tuscan hillside feeling relaxed and happy, that little tipple tastes like nectar. So of course you pick up a bottle of the said tipple at the Duty Free shop on the way home. But under grey British skies in the middle of winter it tastes... well... nothing like it did on holiday. I always feel like that about Limoncello. So on seeing a recipe for Clemencello you would think I would be wary... but no!

 

 

I had to make it if only for the wonderful pun on the name. A clementine infused liqueur called Clemencello... what's not to like. And it does actually taste quite good... if you shut your eyes and imagine that Tuscan hillside!

 

But then one thing led to another, mostly because having used the zest from 18 clementines I needed to do something with the juice. And so I had a rummage through my recipes having vaguely recalled making something in the past and the result was several jars of clementine curd.

 

Which of course meant I was left with the dilemma of what to do with the clementine curd... aside from giving it away or eating it straight from the jar which does seem perfectly acceptable given how wonderful it tastes.

 

And so I made a Clementine Meringue Pie...

 

A very summery dessert in the middle of winter...no one complained and it vanished pretty quickly.

 

I rather like it when one good thing leads to another... don't you?

Day Twelve

Yesterday's make was not a Christmas present... well it was, but not one that I will be giving, as a friend had commissioned me to make it for her to give to her sister for Christmas.

 

 

 

My inspiration was this wonderful spotty teapot so I went for a bit of a spotty theme.

 

And whilst I was making one I thought I may as well make another, so there is one very similar in my Etsy shop... which could still be ordered in time for Christmas if you are short of a present idea.

 

I could even tell you where you can buy the teapot!

Day Eleven

I finished another Christmas present last night.

Don't be fooled... there are still plenty more to finish off... or even start for that matter. I find the nearer I get to Christmas the more hand made presents and decorations I seem to think I'll have time to make. I'm still at that optimistic stage where I think I can do it all!

 

 

A scarf knitted in Sirdar Big Bamboo which is very soft and snuggly.  The pattern was the one printed on the yarn label but the two balls required were not enough. I used three and it is still fairly short... although long enough. 

 

When it was finished I stitched it together along its length to make a long tube, turned it through to the right side and added some oversized pompoms at each end. I thought they might make it look a bit more contemporary... young and modern. Then I wasn't so sure.

 

But I quite like them so I think they will stay.

Hope the recipient likes them too!

Day Ten

The other piece of furniture that has been given the make-over treatment is the sofa that lives in the conservatory at the end of our kitchen. When Stewart and I combined households we also combined items of furniture and the sofa came from his house. Between you and me I was never very keen on the colour or the fabric but in the interest of fairness it came to live with us... although it wasn't me that ripped it... honest! The combination of sun in the conservatory and apparently boys sitting with their feet up (I'm not even going there) caused the fabric to rot and tear.

 

 

We lived with it as you do, covered with a large throw but it was never ideal and always looked a mess. Stewart was all for getting rid of it but I rather liked the shape and felt the basic sofa was sound. So when someone recommended a good local upholsterer, I had it recovered.

 

It arrived back home last week and look how beautiful it looks now!

 

Complete with two new cushions from Ikea!

Day Nine

We've recently had work done on our kitchen/conservatory roof which was why I was painting walls last week. But I've also been revamping some of the furniture including this old pine dresser. I say old, not in a really 'old' nice way but as in in has been knocking about for years while the boys were growing up. It had been used to house art supplies, there were stickers on the cupbard doors and it was generally used as a place to dump all manner of objects without a better home. As a result it had seen better days. The varnish was yellow...

 

 

and as you can see the surface had been badly mistreated.

 

So armed with a couple of cans of Annie Sloan chalk paints (No sanding or prep... I love them!) I first painted on a coat of Duck Egg Blue, followed by a coat of Old White...

 

Then wax, sand down to distress, wax again... and this is the result.

 

I absolutely love it and wish I'd done it years ago.

 I just need to invest in some more old china now... and a couple more of these beautiful glass knobs. I bought four in different colours a couple of years ago on a visit to Anthropologie, when I first started to think I might like to do a make-over on the dresser and didn't realise I actually needed six

 

I'm okay as long as I don't shut the cupboard doors!

Day Eight

Today I had a list.

48 mini almond paste mince pies... done.

(Recipe here)

 

 

2 platters of egg and cress sandwiches... done.

 

1 gluten free chocolate cake... done.

 

My contribution to our Embroiderer's Guild Christmas Tea this afternoon.

 

We had a very entertaining talk from Kevin of Art Van Go about photographing textiles. Gill and I had to put on Silly Santa hats and act as his assistants (We switched some lights on and off) and then we had our tea... but there were so many sandwiches and so much cake that I seem to have come home with more than I made. Oh well... that's supper sorted for tonight!