December in the garden

Our magnolia tree, every year I love this view, it's our wildlife food table.

Hubby fills the coconut shells with his own lard mix and with dried worms and nuts, there is a feast here. We still see loads of birds, Starlings swoop in numbers. Our squirrels are back, watching all the time for next doors cats. 

 The garden is in winter mode now, most of the leaves have dropped from the tree. It's nice to see the Pansy's in the pot, a little extra colour.

 Typical for the cats, Grace out watching me, Purdy inside watching me, are they thinking " strange woman is always taking photo's".

 These pots by our back door are colourful, the primroses are coming into bloom, wrong time of year, but loads of plants are mixed up. I still have flowers in my front garden, they don't look their best, but it's nice to see. We have had some rain yesterday, it has been dry for weeks and my pots needed the water.

 Angela my dear friend set me a challenge, she gave me this Poinsettia, I have bad history with these plants, they drop their leaves very quickly. I have been on the net and found out where I was going wrong. I was given this on last Sunday 08.12.13, lets see if I can keep this one longer.

 My Orchid, Amaryllis's and Hyacinths are all behind this year, so I should have beautiful flowers in January, which will cheer the house up after all the decorations are packed away.

Hubby is having a week off work and he is working in our bedroom, turning 4 tall wardrobes into a 7 unit walk in wardrobe, with the original doors on the front. This large alcove is perfect for this. He is hoping to complete on Monday. So I have had a huge sort out, loads of things going to our local charity shop.

I have not stitched any thing, it's very busy here, with loads of invites from friends and the house sort.On the plus side I had all the presents and they are wrapped, yesterday we did the big Tesco shop. Today I am out with a friend for a couple of hours.

Every thing else is normal, family are well, our grand sons keep us smiling and we will have them all together again on Christmas Eve, it's turning out to be a great Christmas season.

Christmas crafts

It's been another busy day here, shopping this morning, and spotted these, they are beautiful, I love real glass on the tree it reflects the light so well.

 We have had some cards printed this year, here with our grandsons.

 I have this evening finished all my hand made cards, most of them have snow flakes on and 'snow flake is a winters butterfly' none are the same. I'm glad they are finished.

 I have made up my heart, not sure if I like it, I want it to be a bit flatter, so I will put some books on top to see how it looks in the morning. It is a present, but I'm not happy with it yet.

 My friend Cat, has stitched these birds, and this afternoon I made them into a cushion cover, both Cat and I are both pleased with the outcome. I have also stitched together loads of little things.

The day has been busy, and loads have been done, won't be a late night tonight, we have another busy day tomorrow.  Popped in to Sammy and Josh as well, Sammy is now much better, nothing sadder than a poorly little boy.
I have not done any cross stitch, hope to pick it up tomorrow.

Light our way

I have finished this design, and I love it. 

Sits well in the bottom corner of my work.

 I am looking to do some textured stitches in the 3 squares below, I only want to use silks, and not add any beads or buttons. But I can't find any thing I like. I did some beautiful stitching on another of my designs, but I can't remember how I did them and I can't work it out from my very fine stitching. So most of my time I am on the net searching for sites.

 I love this photo of the bottom of our tree, I have been playing with my camera, I also have a good selection of large glass decorations. I have also 12 real red candles on our tree, they are just for show, but I love them.

 I purchased another fake candle last weekend, hubby was a bit stunned at the cost of it, but they work well on my dining room unit where it is not safe to burn real candles.

 My table decoration is almost the same as last year, I am using battery operated white lights, with mistletoe on top, the dull light is very different.

 In the office I have put lights in my plant, just for a laugh, this window is at the front of the house, so it does look a bit like Christmas.

We are having storms in the North and North East, we have had a windy day here, but no real problem, loads of homes are on flood alert, loads of bridges are shut. I do hope every one is safe and well. It has got very cold here, so we need to wrap up warm before going out. I love scarfs and gloves.
I am in the swing for Christmas, once a week our boss allows us to have a two hour lunch break to go shopping, my day was yesterday and I got loads done. I must finish my cards, I have just to put them together, and then get them in the post. I have presents to wrap and my cake to ice.
I have just a couple of presents to purchase, hope to get them done over the weekend.
Sunday we have afternoon tea planned here for 8 people, just a chance to catch up with each other and share our Christmas cheer.

Every thing is heading towards a good Christmas.

Seasons Greetings

Christmas has arrived early

 I have been feeling festive since our visit to Berlin, 

and so on the last day of November

 (early for this house hold) 

I have put up or decorations. 

Very pagan, loads of holly, ivy and berries.

 Above is new this year, golden and bling, but lights a dark corner, 

Below these figures from Spain have a place in our room each year. 

 Our hall way shelves, just a bit of fun, 

 One note, I do not use tea lights in my ceramics, I use the battery operated light sets, about 10 small bulbs, the smaller ones are not big enough to hide the battery case, but much safer than candles.

 The down side, our spare bedroom is now full on for storage, and looks a mess.

Not much stitching done, had a very lazy week in which each night after work, we just relaxed together. Yesterday was lost to decorating, so many things, loads to pack away to make room for Christmas.

Today Sammy and Josh are going to visit, we will have to watch Sammy, his excitement levels are going to be high. I have a couple of items to get for presents, but most of it is done now. So we are looking forward to a family afternoon here.