Nearly there!

 I thought my last post would be the last one before Christmas, but this one is 🎄!

Our visit this weekend to exchange presents with my older son and his family in Sussex included a visit to Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, not far from Horsham, which my daughter in law booked to see the lights.

We were wowed by the light trail through the garden, along with music along the route.

Sculptures of animals like this owl

Translucent models with a wood skeleton, some had plain white light, some had colour changing lights

The Earth was projected above one of the lakes

And a view on the opposite side of the lake.

The tulips (which changed colour) on the bluebell bank are actually small trees growing in tubes as you can faintly see the tops of the trees in the light.

I liked the light on the tree trunks too.  

Including this one below on a Eucalyptus with peeling bark.

Finally this sculpture with lights on the grass near the end of our route.

It was just a lovely evening for our last trip away for the year and to look forward to Christmas

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 

🎄🎄🎄

Racing Towards Christmas

 Last weekend saw us spend a few days in Cornwall and we rented a cottage on a farm near Redruth.  We have enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights at Mousehole which are displayed in the harbour, in the water, around the harbour walls and in the hills above the village. 

We spent the Saturday starting out at NT Godolphin, which although an old building has modern features due to the house being rented out as a holiday home accommodating large parties.  The house was decorated for Christmas with the large hall, the Kings Hall decorated with a lot of paper origami stars.

We then went to Helston, the nearby town to have a wander and we found a Cornish Pasty shop which had a small Christmas tree decorated with miniature pasties, so I had to ask if they sold the decoration.  It’s actually a key ring.

But our surprise in Helston was the town museum. It’s free, with volunteer staff and full of quirkiness, so a must see if you’re in the area. All sorts of things from the lives of people in the town. Below is a paper dragon, suspended from the ceiling.

And an automaton of the dragon. You can just about see a baby dragon hatched from its egg.

There was some quilt interest in the form of a banner made by the ladies of the Royal British Legion in the town.

Penzance was just 6 miles away so parked the car and a little later took the small bus to Mousehole. It was packed. While waiting for the bus it was starting to get dark and we saw, for the first time ever, a murmuration. Only ever seen before on television and it was fascinating seeing the sweep of birds in the air as a big group then breaking into smaller groups and gathering together again. This spectacle lasted for several minutes.

The lights at Mousehole didn't disappoint. Displayed around he harbour walls and even in the water (the sea serpent and blue whale). There were a lot of people but between David and I we got several pictures.  Back on the bus to Penzance there are lights on display around Newlyn too.

On Sunday we visited another NT property Trelissick, following a disappointing visit to Truro. There were queues at the city car parks and the Park and Ride doesn’t operate on Sundays. The downstairs of the house is open and has beautiful Christmas decorations and further displays around the stables.  In the afternoon we had a walk around the garden and lovely view of the River Fal. The weather was cloudy but it rained towards late afternoon.  

Another Christmas decoration has made its was to our tree (remember we don’t need any more decorations!). In the art gallery at Trelissick we saw ceramic pigs in blankets, so one came home with us.

My brother in law and his wife have recently moved to Devon from Surrey so stayed with them overnight before travelling back home. It was a chance to see more Christmas trees at a festival in the town’s church.

Then on our way home to visit Otters Garden Centre near Ottery St Mary and more decorations to see.

They certainly go to town with decorations and is becoming the place to stop on our travels to the south west.

Everything All at Once

 November and December can be overwhelming with our birthdays and anniversary mixed up with the upcoming Christmas holiday, present buying and events all going on.  To add to this I’ve also gone and decided to buy a new (to me) car, so service and MOT’s will also have to be done in future Decembers.

I collect it next week and it’s my third Jazz.  This one is a hybrid and I’ll have to get used to driving an automatic, which I haven’t done for some years. New bits and bobs to get used to in a newer car but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

So there’s not been much time for sewing, 

David and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Branksome (between Poole and Bournemouth) to see Christmas Trees at the local church, which is an annual event. It really makes Christmas for me, with none of the pressure of present and food buying. They are decorated by local groups and organisations. Below are just a few of the 50 trees on display.

Following seeing the trees we went to Westbourne and the arcade there has shops and what is notes to be the smallest cinema, which shows old films and often have vintage film posters for advertising. I was amazed by this one.

And you have to stay and watch the last 10 minutes of the film.  I’ve not seen a movie there before so it may be our must visit next year! 

It’s December 🎄

 This month’s marker

Hazel is getting to be a show off! 

And it’s not long to Christmas and the tree is up already.

Just before the end of last month I received something that I pre-ordered ages ago and you’ll think this barmy, but I bought an iron!! Not just any old iron…..

A fancy Tula Pink Oliso iron! Bright pink with little fishes on. It has a silicone shark shaped iron rest, an on/off switch, a bright light at the front to see where you’re ironing. It is a steam iron so it has the function to spray or have a blast of steam and the sole plate is non stick. All that in a small project iron and it’s quite weighty for its size. Just brilliant. 

With some birthday money I treated myself to a neck light.  I’ve wondered about getting one for a while for knitting in the evenings and it’s really good. It’s in purple but the photo shows pink ( especially when the lights are on.

The lights bright or dimmed (as with most LED lights nowadays. 

It makes a change for me to spend on new gadgets.  

End of November 🍁

 November is at an end and December is to make an appearance, though it seems it’s been around for a while with the Christmas ads 

November has been a month of finishes.  First off I finished  pair of socks (for me). This pair was made as part of last month’s Sockoween, a celebration of sock knitting in October by The Bakery Bears.  The sock pattern I knitted was the Incantation socks, The main colour is Pumpkin Patch by The Crafty Bird with the orange yarn by Blue Fern Yarns. 

Another finish, though this had hibernated, was David’s cardigan. Needing the front bands doing I had put this off.  I just need to get some buttons, but as he doesn’t often button his cardigans there’s no hurry. So I finished this cardigan in just under a year.

This was knitted in Aran, 

 

Some more crochet squares on the Yorkshire Blanket have been made.  I completed these 4 to add to my collection.

 Mill wheel

And a final knitty finish is Hazel the Crofter Sheep. This was a kit by Lucy Locketland as part of the Year of Little Cotton Rabbits.  I’d been waiting for a sheep kit to be released and I bought this at Yarndale. I was going to wait until the Christmas holidays, but I wanted a new cast on. I like the little small scale stitching. Her dress curled up at the hem so I had to block it to straighten out.

As well as the dress she also has a shawl, boots and a knitting belt with small scale knitting on cocktail stick knitting needles. She has joins other sheep on the sheep shelf.

A quick knitted make was this pair of mittens for my granddaughter. She choose the colour and I added the daisies to make sure she puts them on the correct hands.

As for sewing I’ve been making pouches for my friend to raise funds for the local Project Linus group. The photo below is just a few of them.

I tried using a couple of squares with a Japanese theme, below, and I’ve kept this.

I’ve finished off a quilt from Project Linus that I’ve put together

Following a Dorset Creative Embroiderers workshop in October, I made this cover for a jar using strips over wadding strips in the style of the Camden Bag. Great for using up scraps and there might be some more next year.

I also finished an embroidery that has been lingering most of this year.  It’s called a Bag of Flowers (I think?). It was a project from a very old issue of Inspirations magazine that was a project started at embroidery group. I sewed this design onto some blue Moda Grunge fabric. I had a floral button that went well with this.

I framed an embroidery that was finished earlier this year.  This is a design by Em Bea Roidery (on Etsy). I taped some purple fabric onto a hoop and finished off with felt on the reverse, just the day before my birthday last week.

So it seems I’ve kept busy in November.  I may not be quite so productive in December as Christmas takes precedence over anything else. We plan to go away and enjoy some Christmas lights in Cornwall during this month.