'Tis the Season

The best laid plans do not always get us to where we may hope to be. So it is that I suddenly found that the festive season was upon us and my plans to make a set of handmade decorations for our tree was yet to even begin. Not one to be put off by a challenge I remain committed to producing at least some before we reach Christmas day.

The picture above is a bunting I know will look great over the mantel in the lounge........next Christmas....? It is in progress with a couple of flags almost done. Perhaps we can herald the joy of the blessed babes arrival just in time...stay tuned.

So far we have two decorations and I'm very happy with them. The first was inspired by some I saw a friend stitching before Christmas last year and she kindly shared the pattern for the shape. There are three more of these cut out but they may not reach the branches till next year.
The felt bauble is inspired by this book which a dear friend kindly lent me. In a perfect world I would have made at least one for her to repay the loan but perhaps next Christmas for that too. I still hold out hope that I may be able to decorate the handle of what was to be her housewarming basket and has now become her Christmas basket but well, this seems to be the Christmas where I keep gently shifting the goalposts and moving plans to future dates.

I've been snatching every possible moment to do stitching or sewing of one kind or another and I keep adjusting and rearranging the list of most important projects but still refuse to admit I can't get it all done........out loud anyway.

On a hot evening last week we made an impromptu dinner visit to the beach. Whilst we have now become regular morning beach goers this was our first evening visit. A fish 'n' chips and icecream dinner and this awe-inspiring lighting made a big impression by us all. More summer evenings will be spent just so.

While the boys big and small played in the cooling shallows, I managed to squeeze in a bit of stitching. Two felt Christmas stocking were requested by a friend about a week ago. She kindly said next Christmas would be fine but I would love her to have them before this one ends so I'm carrying them everywhere with me and hoping I can continue to resist being tempted away to other (non-paying) projects.