Christmas Emporium!

Forgive me if it is a little too early for you to be thinking of Christmas - I do understand; after all, Hallowe'en and Bonfire night are barely behind us, but in the world of the small business and retail in particular I am really running late. Still, not to worry. If it is all too much just click away to a more autumnal blog and return another day, but if you are ready to think of all things festive...well, here we go. ( Grab a coffee - it's a long one!).



A suitably Christmassy picture to start us off at the top followed by a Holly & the Ivy Christmas Stocking. This is big enough to hold plenty of goodies and made from a soft linen/cotton fabric. Fennie, please note Lucy's Babbit modelling for me - He gets in on everything!



a little close up of the hand embroidered detailing - holly leaves, berries and silver starts.



I have focussed on holly leaves and scarlet berries for much of my range this year as I love the simplicity of this most traditional of motifs. Some items, the stocking being one such, also have delicate silver thread tracing through the sprigs and silvery stars scattered throughout to catch the light and bring a little something extra to the whole. The theme continues with the Noel and Merry Christmas Hearts



The Noel Heart



and Merry Christmas, both featuring my hand embroidery.



Something a little different? What about a Noel Tea Cosy? I drink a lot of tea and seem to make endless cups over the festive season, what with older children home for the holidays and a steady stream of visitors. This cosy is inter-lined with a layer of wadding and lined in cheery ticking to keep your cuppa snug till the last drop.



I have scattered clusters of scarlet berries throughout this cosy as I love the cheeriness of them which is so in keeping with Christmas.



and finally, for now anyway, Dove and mistletoe Hearts



Elegant and simple



A touch more colour



Phew, well done all of you who are still here and thank you for looking through my Christmas emporium. I will be adding more no doubt as there are still some things in progress - some more gifts including something for little boys who I have sadly neglected thus far, and possibly a decoration or two to come.



Hope you enjoyed it and should the need grasp you to pop over to my website then any of the links will take you there as will the actual website link at the top of this page on the right hand side - or click here if it's easier. Lord, she does waffle on doesn't she?



Have a wonderful weekend. I'm off for a cuppa and a lie down! x

P.S. Hurrah for the end of the postal strike!

Views from the River Bank.

The tide was out and mud was present; thick, gloopy, squidgy river mud which for once had no particular smell. Penryn River Mud is somewhat renowned around here for that pungent pong of an ebbing tidal river. I, of course, quite like it.



Doesn't it make you want to stick you feet into it? Actually, now I think about it the river was flowing gently back in, not ebbing, the drift of the tide seeming not to move and yet rapidly setting the boats lined along the banks free from their muddy moorings.



I love the way boats tilt at almost impossible angles, waiting to come to life again like some sleeping ocean creature.



This houseboat fascinates me, though I have no idea why. I have walked along the bank where the path runs high above it many times and still am no wiser about it.



So pretty in all its guises: high or low tide, rain or sun, the river is just magical.



Well, that's me for today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a post about this and all things related



or maybe I have now guaranteed it won't happen just yet - curse my doubting heart. We'll see and in the meantime...

Have a lovely day x

A Bit of a Wooly Post.

So, the half term is over, the Christmas countdown begins, but before I rush headlong into the preparations I want to wave goodbye to the loveliest week's break. Hallowe'en was such fun with friends bringing their two little ones over for an afternoon party with Isabella while the rest of the gang were at the cinema. The littlies made pumpkin lanterns and mini pizzas, raced around and generally had a good time. And then the evening came with this motley crew arriving



not to mention the priest which I was so not happy about. Most creepy he looked, even after several cocktails. Games of apple bobbing, cutting the flour cake and so on were played, and another very fun Hallowe'en was over, decorations packed away till next year.



From now on it gets difficult to blog about any projects we have underway for Christmas as I know some of the family and friends dip into my blog on the odd occasion, so I will have to give peeks of what is afoot rather than anything specific (very frustrating really). Dave has been knitting a little gift with the softest, most beautiful wool - Patons Eco Wool Chunky for those interested to know. The colours are gentle yet not insipid and remind me of moorlands in late autumn with dew covered grass, weather softened granite and the sea in the bakground, all washed by the mist...get the idea? Truly lovely and I want to make myself something to snuggle into with it now.



As for me, heady with the success of the socks (and well done to my dear friend Diana who has also completed her first pair..woohoo!) I moved to safer ground and made dave's Mum a pair of fingerless mittens for her Christmas gift. So quick - two evenings - and so snug to wear, but have you tried photographing yourself in mittens? Not the easiest is it?



I am now part way through something else with yet more gorgeous wool. The colour of this one is not really shown very well in the photo, but it is the exact shade of the blue in the Toast catalogue if that is any help. A beautiful blue with hints of grey and teal. Oh how I would love to have most of the clothes in that catalogue and it is a very rare thing to hear me say that...sigh. Anyhoo, knitting with this wool makes me feel I have created a little of that feel for someone. The make is Patons Pompero and is again gorgeous to work with.



So, a bit of a mish-mash today with amazingly unclear photographs which show litte and are innacurate in colour! Ah well, better next time. Hope you had a good week.



Happy Monday x

A Birthday, Some Hens and All.

Golly, it's so dark here again today. In fact we have had a mix of beautiful sunshine and such gloom over the past few days that I will scatter a few pictures of bright autumnal leaves glowing like jewels to stop the rest of my light-deprived pictures tipping you all into a state of deepest depression.



It's been such a good half term holiday so far with the start consisting of Dave's birthday weekend. Thank you, by the by, for all those birthday wishes which were much appreciated. A birthday lunch with children, girlfriends, boyfriends and friends for ten on Saturday meant that our huge table came into play - a piece of specially cut MDF which is placed on top of our usual table means that we have seated up to fifteen at Christmas and other events whereas we can usually only stretch to ten and that more on the cosier side of comfy. We scoffed a huge vat of beef in red wine, a parsnip roulade (one of my most very favourite veggie meals), cauliflower cheese, roasties, oh you get the gist with a pile of chocolate brownies for Dave's birthday cake, all crispy on top and gooey in the centre...yum.



Our lovely friend Lou gave Dave just the best present in the shape of these two beautiful copper laced maran hens. Now we are known for giving our animals a strange melee of names - I cite Mustang the drake and Fatty Arbuckle the cat to prove my point with past choices including the likes of Discovery, Fitty, J-Lo and The Bishop. I, of course, usually go for the prettier side of things: Marigold, Tansy, Madeleine, etc but Dave and the children definitely err on the side of bizarre. No surprises then that these two dears are now known to us as Oss and Feffer!!!



A quick picture of the acer to lift the spirits. This glows right outside our kitchen window and makes washing up dishes quite a pleasant thing to do.



And as for me, look what I (finally) finished! Woohoo! Awful photographs as the light is so poor and has turned everything somewhat orangey. A frantic knitting session on friday saw the last rounds knit, the last stitches of the Kitchener toe finished. I am most pleased and so thank heavens is Dave who insists they fit and feel like you can't imagine, telling us it's like the sock is cupping your heel.



Ok, fortunately I am used to his ways (!) and can also report that finshing a pair of socks is akin to giving birth in that I am now ready to knit another pair, the pain, sweat and tears of this last pair already consigned to the outer reaches of my incredibly short memory. Anyhow, I have little feet so surely this won't be so bad?



In the meantime I am back to knitting fingerless mitts as Christmas presents; so much faster with this one almost being finished in an evening.



I find something so appealing in photographs of wool. Whether it is a close up of crochet or knitting is of no matter as it is the weaving of fibres which I love, the varying textures making me want to reach out and touch them. So many wonderful and enticing images of such things out there in blogland aren't there?



An image of berries glistening in the front garden for you.



The darker weather which seems to have come in here has made us head off in search of a some light and air. Yesterday we headed over to the north coast to a beach called portreath where the surf crashed in and the wind blew away any cobwebs.



Caves were explored and soft sands



and a cuddle kept me and Lucy warm



until we got home for a cup of tea and a slice of passion cake.



well, a slice or two that is!



And that's the holiday so far. A clean of my sewing room in a while, a walk this afternoon and some knitting tonight are my plans for the rest of today.



What are yours I wonder? x

Friday Notes.

Some notes from my morning: sea surging against seaweed and sand, making the sssss sound of this alliteration.



Shadows cast on shingle, pebbles, seaweed, sand, shells



Ropes and reflections.



Such a beautiful morning where boats seem to bask in the warmth of the sun, barely a ripple breaking the soft surface of the river and hardly a breath stirring the leaves on the banks.



And talking of leaves, the acers in our garden are glowing today against the bluest sky.



Fiery and delicate and burnished



Early morning rain drying on a rosy apple



Biscuit and Mustang hiding under the magnolia, patiently waiting for breakfast.



So, that is my Friday so far. the rest of it will consist of finishing this blooming sock, making a cake and cooking, coooking, cooking in between finishing orders...argh! The reason for this list? Well, today is Mr Davey's birthday and I so want to give him the socks as one of his present....maybe.



Happy birthday my Davey; I do love you so xxx

And a happy Friday to you all x

An Unseasonal Wednesday!

I'm in a bad mood.

And why a bad mood, you ask? Because my free morning has been spent faffing with the website, photography, copy writing and not one tiny teensy bit of sewing.



It is sunny, but the light is harsh outside. Not good for product photographs.



My sewing room glass roof is covered in ash leaves from the shedding tree nearby, thus there is no light in there to speak of - usually this room is perfect; now I feel as though I am in Hobbit-land (or whatever it's called)!



My whingeing will now cease as I take myself off for another try. It will happen and I will manage to get my Christmas section finished before Christmas is over...she says hopefully. Let's have a photo of one of last year's Christmas puddings - well, I did say it was an unseasonal wednesday.



Hope your day is going well x

What We Did.

This weekend we made bread animals



Noticed how beautiful the nasturtiums are, particularly the deeper red ones.



Thought about how overgrown the border in front of the hen pen is, but decided it has an autumnal beauty all its own when viewed through the arching, heavily laden branches of a Cornish Aromatic apple tree. We will let it die down and eventually put it to bed for the long, cold months under a blanket of manure.



We sat on the courtyard with a glass of wine, chatting together and enjoying the sun while Isabella helped me to strip the last of the elderberries into a box for the freezer. Look at the concentration on that face.



We prepared the shallots from the allotment for pickling ready for Christmas feasts of cold meats, cheeses and all types of homemade tangy things!



More gin and vodka was acquired as we decided the cupcoards could do with a few more drinks to keep the chill at bay. Bramble vodkas and sloe gins are now steeping nicely alongside the others.



We also went to Falmouth Oyster Festival and a friend's 4th birthday party; ate a roast dinner, chatted with tom and his girlfriend and had a generally good weekend.



How about you? x