Where did December go?

I'm not sure what happened to December, but I know it whizzed past in a flash.

We had our windows replaced in our house on the 17th, so Christmas was short and sweet this year. No decorations up until the guys had finished, so our tree had to wait until the 22nd to go up. I hadn't appreciated how few trees are left by then, but luckily we managed a little beauty. It was only 5ft tall and most of that was the top spike, but some fairy lights and baubles later it looked gorgeous.

I had put it up while hubby was at work and had it all ready twinkling in the window when he got home. He was a very happy man as it was a complete surprise to have a tree this year. We then went ice skating in our local park-so much fun!

We had a very relaxed Christmas day at my parent's house, and then went to my in-laws family for the weekend before New Year.

The New Year brought colds and illness to our house and I was asleep at 9:30pm (such a rock-star). Hubby woke me up to see the fireworks and then I went back to bed.

There are many exciting things in the plans for 2013, but more of that to come =)

Tiny touches of Christmas

We are slowly getting ready for Christmas in our house.
As we are having our windows replaced in the week before Christmas (it seemed like a good idea at the time) our main decorating will have to wait until afterwards as it seems silly to add to the chaos, but I have managed to get a few little hints of Christmas out.

I had the day off work today with a cold and I pulled out a little day project that I could do with little concentration and with a lot of enjoyment. It turned out to be a good day for quilting as our boiler broke this morning =( so I tucked up in front of our log burner with Max and we sewed the day away.

It was very productive and Hubby was surprised to see my table mat finished. 

I look forward to putting our tree up in a couple of weeks, but for now these few hints will have to do

Now back to the sewing table... I am still crazily making Christmas presents. Two quilts waiting for binding and one waiting for basting...It's going to be a busy December.

Clearing up!

I decided a couple of week's ago that my sewing space wasn't working for me. I use our spare bedroom but when we have guests would love everything to be packed away and for everything to have a home.
I discussed with hubby and we decided that I needed more storage space, some shelves and a new desk. I looked online and found a great desk which would fold flat against the wall and we went straight out to the hardwear store for some shelves and baskets etc.
All was going so well until the drill came out. Hubby drilled the first hole and all the plaster started to fall away. Then he drilled another hole and the same happened. He eventually managed to get some screws into the massive holes he had created and get the shelf bracket up, but it fell out straight away. The holes couldn't even hold the weight of the brackets let alone the shelves or anything on them. I was hugely disappointed as I realised that not only could I not have the shelves, the desk was also out of the picture, as it screwed into the wall.
After much disappointment, I had a great idea. My old desk would have worked fine with a few tweaks and would quite happily hold a very large cutting mat. Off I went to my local craft shop and bought myself a new mat. I wanted all of my rulers and my rotary cutter to hand so I put loads of hooks on the wall and hung them all up. I have a small basket on the side for my on the go bits and pieces which my laptop sits on nicely out of the way. All was looking good...

I put a quilt on our sofa bed which was made by my mother-in-law (GORGEOUS!!) which ties the two ends of the room together, but I had a small space behind my desk which was missing something.

Then discussing with my mum over the weekend, she told me that she had a sewing cabinet at my Grandad's house, which he would be needing to get rid of before he moves into a smaller house and would I like it (DUH!). It belonged to my great-grandmother originally and is a bit bashed up but fits like a glove in my little room-and Max still has room for his bed! It will need a bit of fixing up but I have plans for that (more later...)

Now all I need to do is get sewing =)

Autumn is approaching

We are feeling the start of autumn here at the moment which means that all I want to do is sit inside and hand sew with a cup of hot chocolate and a good film. I have finally got into the Sopranos (I know really behind the times) and I am madly sewing Christmas presents for my family. Two presents are done, one is waiting basting and quilting (I hate basting) and one is miles behind the rest.
We have turned our clocks back this week which means I have a few more weeks of light mornings with Max. It is nice to be able to run around in the park with him and let him wear himself out.

This morning the trees were really showing the start of turning (it all happens so quickly and before we know it we will be at Christmas)

In true Halloween style, I think a night on the sofa with 'The Nightmare before Christmas' and some quilt binding. Nothing scary as hubby is out for the evening =)

Enjoy Halloween!!!

Local talent

The Cambridge Quilters had a quilt exhibition last weekend which was fantastic. They are a group of very talented quilters and I hope one day to be as skilled as many of them.
A few highlights of the show were...

My little helper

I have the best little quilting apprentice in the world. I call him my inspector and he will quickly tell me if I am doing anything wrong...

He watches my machine quilting...

He shows me how to lay the quilt flat on the floor properly...

and he checks that i'm basting it correctly...

How did I ever get by without my little helper??

Back to normality with a bump

Hubby and I decided to have a last minute break to Turkey to enjoy the sunshine and have a good relax. It was wonderful and I could not recommend it enough to anyone. The people there are lovely and the hotel we stayed at was so luxurious. Neither of us tend to do beach holidays, but this time we loved every second of it and a week was no where near long enough.

Max was very glad to see us when we got home, but I think a week of playing with his buddy Megan tired him out. We didn't hear a peep from him in the back of the car on the way back from the hotel and he stayed like this for the morning (close enough to my suitcase to make sure we weren't going away again without him)

On the day we got home, I asked hubby if we could go to our local department store and have a look at sewing machines as mine was really not doing everything I wanted and I would like a new one for Christmas. I had been eyeing up the Singer 160 Anniversary machine which is only on sale in the UK in John Lewis but I took one look at it and realised it was wrong for me. It is a beautiful machine, but too big and not enough features that I would want to use. The lovely sales assistant spent a long time chatting through options and I decided that I still wanted a Janome. She did me a special deal and 20 minutes later it was strapped to the back of my bike heading home before hubby could change his mind...

It does make my old Janome look tiny, but already it is performing wonderfully. I love how it sews and as I have stuck with Janome nothing feels too different. I will have to play with it a lot before I feel very confident on it, but already I love it.

Now all it needs is a name...