Catching up

Today I had a few things I needed to sort out. Normally I like to wrap Christmas presents as I buy them but I didn't have any left over wrapping paper and I hadn't bought any yet this year. A trip to the shops was needed to buy paper and then I could sit and wrap the presents. Unfortunately I still have one I need to buy and then I'm finished. The wrapping didn't take too long and the ones for the family members sharing the house are now under the tree. Last year Missy and Twiglet didn't bother with the presents and haven't bothered with the tree since I put it up.  

Last week I needed to make the Christmas pudding I'd promised one of my work colleagues so on Sunday 14 December I soaked the dried fruit overnight in some brandy and orange juice. 

I'm using a different recipe this year. The recipe is one from Mary Berry and I've always enjoyed the tasty dishes her recipes create. By the end of Monday the pudding had been steamed for the required time and I Tuesday I took it into work and gave to my colleague.

Having got the Christmas pudding to the point of being steamed I moved on to the next task, making the binding and attaching it to the St Louis 16 patch quilt I've been making. I had hoped to have the binding stitched down by the end of the week but I still have 3 sides to stitch. Unfortunately there have been a lot of little but important tasks that took priority. I am now on holiday and so it will be finished before Christmas

We hadn't seen older daughter recently so when we did meet up she gave me my birthday present. She'd found this book and thought I might like it. 

It has patterns for several vintage samplers and a lot of block patterns. There are also some recipes and interesting snippets of history. 

On Thursday I finished work for the Christmas break. Recently there hasn't been a lot of time for visits locally so on Friday John and I decided to go into central London. John wanted to buy some more pages for his stamp album and I suggested that we could see the Christmas lights. The tube journey was good and once there the Stanley Gibbons shop was our first port of call. The lights were on along the Stand but it was still light so there was little point taking a photo. We decided we would have a look round the Portrait Gallery and also have afternoon tea in the cafe before walking to Oxford Street and Regents Street. The tree in the gallery entrance was pretty.

We had to pass through China Town on our way. It has been years since I've been there and I didn't recognise any of the restaurants. During the 70's and 80's this was one of my favourite areas. 

We walked to Oxford Street which was very crowded. It was very noisy with music playing  from the shops and also the tourist rickshaws. In fact the rickshaws were the noisiest. Although it was crowded people seemed to be paying attention as we didn't get jostled as we walked. I was underwhelmed by the lights in Oxford Street but they were pretty.

Walking past Liberty I had to take a couple of photos. The building is beautiful and I love having a look round the shop but we didn't go in as it was way too crowded for our liking.

Many of the bus drivers were getting annoyed with pedestrians just stepping out onto the road. There were horns sounding all the time. The lights along Regents Street were good and by now it was fully dark and so they had more impact.

One of the arcades off the street had pretty decorations.

The big tree in Trafalgar Square had lots of lights but did look a little light on branches in places.

and I took this last photo on the road back to Charing Cross station.

It was a fun outing and we enjoyed it. We were pleased to get back home and to a quieter environment but I was impressed with how polite and considerate people were to each other. We are planning to make more trips into central London over the next year as there are several museums and galleries we want to visit. 

For now I need to get on with stitching the binding down as John wants to gift this quilt before Christmas.

Take care

Lyndsey