box of treasures

This is the new sewing box I go for Christmas, which I love. It was a present from my Mum and Dad, along with the stocking darning thread and hooks and eyes, that they found at a flea market and it's perfect for fitting all my main sewing things in and with room to spare! Previously things were spread out between various boxes and tins but now the things I mostly use all fit in to one lovely box. I spent late yesterday afternoon and evening working my way through a big pile of mending, whilst watching Dolly Parton on BBC2, 3 cardigans with moth holes in, a dressing gown with a split seam, a pyjama top with a button missing, a cardigan whose button holes keep stretching out of shape and one of R's cardigans in which he'd managed to make a huge hole in the armpit. Although my left-hand seemed to have frozen into a strange claw shape by the end, it was hugely satisfying all I have to do now is mend my patchwork quilt...

(my new sewing box, lots of exciting things inside (including my darning toadstool!), threads for mending stockings, little hooks and eyes)

birthday season

In our house January is birthday season. Although in many ways it's not the best time to have a birthday (mine falls a few days after new year) I do like starting a new year with a new age and spending my birthday money in the January sales. So here's a summary of our birthdays through their cakey goodness...

(R's tropical birthday cake, meringue piles on birthday plates, birthday tea, my apple and wensleydale birthday cake)

2010

It's been a while, I know. I've noticed a lot of other people talking about enjoying the quiet time after new year but so far for me 2010 has been the opposite, hence the lack of posts. My recent lack of time is mostly work related so I can't complain but unfortunately it does mean some less frequent posting for a while.
So Happy New Year! And I'll be back soon....

darn it!

Ha - I've just amused myself with my silly post title. Sorry. My Mum has taught me how to darn. My alpine jumper (again... it's that time of year) has some quite extreme moth holes in it which I'd been meaning to darn for a while but didn't know how. My Mum's reaction to said holes was to inform me that she'd bought the jumper whilst visiting the Hebridies during the early 1970s thus making it almost 40 years old and therefore expected to have holes. Anyway with the use of a darning mushroom and some almost identical thread I successfully mended the six holes in my jumper and I'm now ready to combat any more damage the evil moths that live in my house might make!

Over the last year a group of pesky moths have wreaked havoc on my clothes, destroying the skirt of my 1950s suit (the jacket is currently in the freezer to protect it from any more damage - if they ruined that I think I would proabably cry), an angora cardigan that had belonged to my great aunt and chewing holes in many other jumpers and cardigans. I don't like the idea of coating clothes in lots of scary chemicals and although I did try some kind of toxic mothball they didn't work anyway. I have cedar blocks folded into all my jumpers and cardigans, have made little bags of herbs and recently put conkers amongst all my wooll items after hearing that they act as some kind of a deterrent. I don't have anything against moths as a creature in general and I know that they need to eat but I wish they wouldn't use my clothes!

(darning in progress, ta-da!, some brussel sprout trees in the snow)

diary

Every year, during December, I obsess over which diary I'm going to buy for next year. I love the sense of a new start, as this year's diary starts to look tired and worn, and the ritual of copying over people's birthdays and filing in other plans already arranged for next year.
I like either Muji or Moleskine (I've had Muji ones for the last few years but I'm going back to Moleskine this year as I've managed to find one of their vertical layout diaries!) I'm quite particular about the layout of the pages - I either need the week to be laid out with the days arranged vertically or if the days are going to be horizontal then they need to be on the left-hand page and a blank page on the right-hand side.
Why this specificity you may ask? Well it's because of my lists. I'm an obsessive list maker. I make them all the time. There's something very calming about making a list. And then crossing things off it. The security of knowing you don't have to worry about remembering something because you've written it down. So I like to make lists in my diary of things I need to do on particular days.
I have notebooks with lists in of books I plan to read, films I want to watch, items of clothing I feel that I 'need'... I like the address book insert that comes at the back of a Moleskine diary, it's perfect for list making, and as it has tabs I can have sections for different kind of lists such as: a list of things I'm planning on making/doing eg. mending my patchwork quilt, moving around the furniture in the bedroom and a list of things I plan to achieve in the next year and a list of important phone numbers that I can't remember - I am very bad at remembering numbers!
In the new year I'm thinking of creating a series of list based posts - so any topics suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

christmas crackers, icy turquoise and clara bow

I've just read this post and it's really inspired me to think about my Christmas day outfit. I normally stick to my alpine jumper but that's getting a bit repetitive now and I want to get more wear out of it generally during the season rather than just saving it for Christmas day... I do have a red and green checked 1950s dress (which my sister calls my christmas cracker dress) that I usually wear quite a lot during the summer but rarely at this time of year - perhaps that's a missed opportunity I've overlooked? I've also got what I like to think of as my Marilyn Monroe ski lodge jumper - as I image that it's the kind of thing she may have worn if she were visiting such a place - a Biba black knitted polo neck with leopard print faux fur cuffs which is another possibility. Hmm. I think I need to give this some thought - it needs to be something comfortable and warm for relaxing in that will allow for an expanding waistline after eating too much... Do you plan a Christmas day outift?
I've just painted my nails with my newish Barry M nail-varnish in turquoise. (I do love their range of flat opaque colours - not a big fan of metallic nail-varnish myself). I thought it seemed appropriate for today's very cold icy weather but I'm not so sure if it looks right against my cold pink hands? Perhaps I just need to get used to it - I usually stick to reds, dark reds or coral.
Yesterday I dyed my hair, my hair has not been it's natural colour since I was seventeen, and this time I went for a more obvious shade of red rather than the gingery colour I've favoured for a while now - although after a few washes my hair normally returns to said gingery shade. My hair has been red predominantly for the last twelve years, with the odd period of black and an 'interesting' blonde period, as it's the colour that suits me best. I feel frustrated that my natural shade of mousy brown does nothing for my complexion and makes my incredibly pale skin look washed out and sallow. And with my new darker shade and recently trimmed bob (courtesy of my sister's excellent self-taught hairdressing skills) I'm quite liking my Clara Bow-esque look. Damn it if only it were natural!

elf

I have decided that my calling in life is to become an elf. (When I say elf I mean a one of Santa's helpers kind of elf not a Lord of the Rings kind of elf). I'm small. I like making things. What other requirements could I possibly need to fulfil? For the past few weeks most of my spare time has been filled with Christmas present and card making and in spite of not being the world's biggest fan of Christmas I'm enjoying this year's build up. Although I suspect that may have something to do with the fact that this year I've eschewed Christmas shopping in favour of the aforementioned making of presents. I had a tiny amount of shopping to do which I did yesterday and was fortunate enough that not only was Oxford Street not painfully busy but that it also snowed quite heavily and so I mostly enjoyed the experience. Today has seen the first wearing of my favourite jumper - my alpine style Shetland wool jumper which used to be my Mum's and I save for wearing this time of the year (it's very The Ice Storm). And also my first taste of my winter lettuce that I've been growing which I had for lunch with some poached eggs.

(my living room looking cosy and festive, a failed attempt at photographing the snow whilst shopping, my tasty lunch, and fortnum and mason's window display - just because)