New year? Where did it go?

Well, that wasn't exactly the way to start a blogging good 2011. Middle of January and no updates at all. Shocker.

Luckily the sewing hasn't been quite so sporadic. I have made a pair of cotbed duvet covers and pillowcases which took have hopefully eased the work of the dummy fairy, as well as a draught excluder and a couple of leftover strings of bunting.

The draught excuder is (badly) pictured to the left. It is double sided (check on the outside and floral inside) and has a tube lining that is held in by ribbon bows at each end. The idea is that it is easy to post and also to stuff. It works on our landing so I'll get a couple more done for the launch of the new Folksy shop in the next few weeks.

Next up is a doorstop design that I dreamt up over Christmas. I'm all about adaptability at the moment and hopefully this idea will make it possible to use a variety of stuffings and weights. Let's hope it comes together without too many tweaks.

What I am not telling you is that I have just made my worst set up muffins ever. They were supposed to be diabetic friendly, but the only thing they did really successfully was prove how essential butter, eggs and sugar are to cakes. Bicarb of soda might make a cake look OK, but the flavour just isn't there. At all.

Lesson learned...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is now very nearly here and the season of plenty has well and truly arrived. We still have a pretty decent dusting of snow so as long as it stays cold we look set to have a crisp white day, which would be lovely.

The snow has been less beautiful when it has been in the way though and it very nearly caused us to have to spend Christmas in Oxford. The road there was some of the worst driving I have ever had to do, with the option of turning around blocked by skidding lorries and fishtailing cars. While a Christmas away would have been lots of fun in many ways, it would have left a lot of our Norwich family with no Christmas dinner. And I would have had to find a way to use up a large bag of cranberries and a half hundred weight of sprouts in January!

Now we are home safely, it is just left to say Merry Christmas to everyone and to wish you all a fantastic New Year.

Oh, and I nearly forgot the pic. I'm sure it doesn't do it justice, but I love the shadows on the wall made by the twinkling lights on the tree. It's like the winter version of water ripples reflecting the summer sun. Except a bit chillier.

Have a wonderful weekend!

What's under the Christmas tree?

We were scrolling through our pictures from last Christmas and this popped up. Jester loves the outside coming inside and always make a beeline for a great vantage point under the tree.

Last year he even stayed still long enough for me to take a picture of him, even though I have managed to make Santa sit on his ear.

Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas preparations. It has well and truly arrived here, with the cake decorating done, the fairy lights twinkling away and the tree making the house smell amazing.

Today the season of plenty will be reinforced by the first batch of homemade mince pies, a ginger cake, wreath making, present wrapping and a curry for tea. Well, you can peak too soon!

I should also say thanks to everyone who ordered some of the Christmas bunting. I have been busily sending strings out all over the country which has been lovely and a great stepping stone towards getting a bigger range of things organised for the Spring. It feels like a challenge, but one which I am now really looking forward to.

This time last year I was halfway through serving my notice at work, considering what I was going to do with my new-found independence. Ooooh, I can feel a review of the year coming on....

Mrs Tiggywinkle comes to visit

Look who we found!

This little lady had curled up in one of our many piles of oak leaves - buried right at the heart of a huge drift outside our back door, but sadly right in the way of our delivery of firewood.

The poor sleepy thing had to be moved but luckily we have plenty of piles of leaves to choose from and hopefully she was just as snug under the hedge.

I have been watching out for hedgehogs in the area as we keep hearing that they are getting rarer so it is particularly nice to have one right outside out door.

In other news, the mincemeat is made and lined up ready to be distributed. It made the house smell amazing so lets hope it tastes just as good in mince pies! I have also been wrapping up a few 'says alice' purchases to send out, so it feels like the festivities are just around the corner.

And then... there was snow :-)

It's christmas cake o'clock

Well, the 2010 christmas cake has lift off...

The fruit is marinading, the butter is softening as I type, the spices are lined up ready to go and the brandy is, well, staying in the cupboard. The reason for that is the cake is a trial run for a wedding cake I will be baking next year and alcohol free is an option. Nut free definitely, alcohol free possibly. So we'll see how this one tastes.

I have also got a lot of mincemeat to make, which means a trip to the lovely farm shop up the road. I'm using a recipe from the River Cottage Preserves book, which uses Russet apples. I know there are lots of Russet trees on the farm so I'm hoping to get a bag of East Anglia's finest. The trick is to stick to getting the apples and to avoid coming home with a sack of spuds, ton of onions, pile of pumpkins, crate of cabbages.... you get the picture. It's far too good a shop.

I think it is something to do with the colder months - the instinct to stock up takes over. Until the freezer lid closes first time, every time, I must resist!

Holiday update

We have just returned from a fantastic week in Cornwall, rescheduled at the very last minute when our intended holiday in northern France was cancelled due to the strikes. You need petrol to drive across France unfortunately...

On the up side, we got a wonderful cottage at the last minute on Lizard point and got the opportunity to have a look around a very beautiful county. The pic is from Perrenporth beach at sunset. It got properly rosy and orange a few minutes after I took this, but I like the dog. It isn't ours, it was just very happy to be on the beach and in our photo!

We can recommend the fishing villages, stone circles, art galleries (the Tate in St Ives of course), the pasties, cream teas and the sea views. If anyone can recommend a good post-Cornwall diet, I'd be grateful!

Now we are home and getting back into the normal routine. I have a few sewing projects with a very fixed deadline of Christmas, so once the washing mountain recedes I think it might be high time to get started. Then there is jam and mincemeat to make, the christmas cake to make and a gazillion other long overdue jobs to do.

Blogging definitely important though. Definitely!

A new header!

And indeed a new logo - very exciting times for says alice!

I am very much enjoying having a graphic designer in the family and will be baking her many more cakes to say thanks for all of her hard work. There are more amendments still to come, so stay tuned to watch things develop.

I'm enjoying this, can you tell?

To blog or not to blog?

The more I blog the more I find myself interested in other people's blogs. I find myself clicking into half a dozen of the ones I visit most regularly instead of doing the job in hand - blogging myself.

I think of myself as well behind the curve in the blogosphere, in that I am technically challenged and only just getting to grips with the idea of sharing some elements of my life with a very public audience. But some of you out there have been doing this for years. And years and years. Some have even finished one blog and started another.

I do find myself becoming a bit of a blog snob though. Huge pictures from other people's sites / brochures / catalogues with no dialogue other than 'I just love this' doesn't do it for me, and nor does a blog which has clearly turned the corner and become a commercial website. A link to etsy or folksy is fine, as is a page of the kinds of things you make, but front page ads? In fact, ads of any description are offputting.

If I ever head in this direction, poke me with a Mac pointer.

But I do love the blogs that chat, give insight and illustrate. There is certainly a dialogue that I as the reader am happy to play my part of, even if it is only as a stat in the page traffic. I like to go back and find out what happened next (or before) and to link out to the blogs which have inspired the writers I enjoy.

I guess what I am stumbling towards is the conclusion that one of the reasons I enjoy blogging is other bloggers. You are all just far to good at it!

Stitching and a bit of bitching

These are the remnants of the very first (but still long overdue) sewing group evening last night.

I think we all made some progress, caught up on a bit of gossip and got a bit of inspiration for new projects. Which, of course, is the whole point.

It was also nice to get a reminder that other folk are doing the same things as me even though it often feels like a slightly isolated world. Taking a planned break from work is an incredible luxury, but does have the down side of increasing the amount of time spent alone. With a sewing machine. And, on occasion, a distinct lack of inspiration.

Looking forward to the next one already.

And in case you were interested, the projects in progress are shirt alterations for a husband who is hard on his cuffs, the making of a beautiful blouse and a very funky handbag. More later...

Things I discovered today

Today, I walked into the city from home, a journey of just over an hour on foot each way.

On a mixture of country lanes, suburban roads and city streets, this affords a pretty good opportunity to have a mooch about and mull over stuff in general. Today though, I was distracted. And these are the reasons why:

1 - I was badly dressed. Two hours of walking requires sensible shoes: a ladies lunch calls for Jimmy Choos. Or at least shoes of a far less sensible variety.

2 - Aforementioned sensible shoes have developed a squeak. Annoying on any level, but particularly because it sometimes did it and sometimes didn't.

3 - A threat of rain called for an equally sensible coat which blew about like a flag all the way there and has now got fluff from my scarf attached to all of it's velcro bits. Wrong scarf, wrong coat, wrong everything!

On the up side, I caught up with a great friend, resisted the cake in the cafe, bought a fantastic and less flappy bargain coat, acquired a few library books and got some exercise. And the sensible shoes did mean that I could swooosh through all of the autumn leaves that are already starting to pile up everywhere. Beat that, Jimmy Choo!