Starting to feel a lot like Christmas

Sorry I've been missing but during most of November and at the start of December I just didn't feel like sewing or blogging. The year has been quite long and at times felt very intense so when not working I curled up with a good book, watched TV or chatted with family. Since early December I've started to get my act together and I'm ready to enjoy Christmas and get back to sewing. 

Friday was my birthday and we had a fun family evening with my daughters cooking dinner and then all of us joining in to play some silly games. Sadly Olly had to work but Lucy's boyfriend Dan joined us and coped very well with the noise that Kathryn and Lucy generate when excited. I put the tree up with the intention that everyone would help decorate it but that didn't happen. I've always done it and no one wanted to take the job from me so later this evening I'll put all the decorations on it. I'm secretly rather pleased they didn't do the decorating as it's my favourite part of the Christmas preparations.

Richard decided to make me a birthday and I was very impressed with it. It was a chocolate orange cake and tasted amazing. I managed to get a picture before we cut into it. It was very rich and very yummy.

Last weekend John and I went shopping for curtain fabric for our main room. This is a long through room with the front being the family sitting and TV area and the back the dinning area. The curtains are the last part of the room needing finishing. The curtains at the front which faces south had faded quite badly in the sun . I chose fabric on the same colour theme but patterned for the front and solid colour for the back. I've got to match up the pattern for the front curtains which will slow down the process and also meant I had to buy slightly more fabric than I needed to allow for the pattern drop. I have everything I need, lining, curtain header and thread so I can get started on them during the week. 

Last month I made a very small start on the bag lady embroider and then unpicked it so I have nothing to show from that. This month the bag lady is Earlene and last night I pulled this out and made a start. I was watching a film at the time and so didn't get very far as I got interested in what I was watching but tonight I will be doing more work on her. I finish work for Christmas on the 19th so I will have quite a bit of sewing time. We have several visitors coming over the holiday period and it's nice to sit and chat but have your hands busy with some stitching.

Today we've had snow on and off in London and it has been very exciting. We don't get snow often in London, well not the sort that doesn't melt away as soon as it lands, and very rarely before Christmas. The children by us were squealing with delight and I felt the urge to join in with them. I'm not exactly sure what it is about snow that is so exciting but it makes me so happy and it's really got me into the mood for Christmas. I'm hoping we get a lot more over this winter. I'd already got into the Christmas spirit as Lucy and I took some of our Rainbows to a Christmas event yesterday, where they made some tree decorations and food items all themed around Christmas. They had a visit from Father Christmas and there were presents for everyone. It was great fun. On our way home we walked along Piccadilly and the girls loved the Christmas window displays in the shops.

I'm linking this post with Kathy for her Slow Sunday Stitching  link up. 

Lyndsey