Happy Christmas

Last blog post before the holiday so wishing everyone a happy and stress-free Christmas with lots of crafting.  I've got one more day of work on Monday and then I'm off for two weeks, woo hoo!  I've already got a long list of big jobs I've been procrastinating about and hope to achieve: like cleaning up my dollshouse room, ditto my sewing room, tackling my scrap fabric mountain, finishing the Let's Bake quilt, tidying up all the photos on my PC etc etc.  I doubt I will get it all done though.

We went to a local church for a  carol service this week. There was a decent turnout and the organ playing was good although the timekeeping seemed a bit variable.  There was a tiny choir of two older ladies and two older men.  One of the choir ladies was attempting the soprano descant for some of the relevant carols, good on her but it was a bit hysterical as her pitch was all over the map.  Several people including me couldn't quite suppress a muffled giggle after a few of her most off-key flourishes.  It was still nice to hear the seasonal tale told once again, in a church that is hundreds of years old where generations have participated in the same tradition. Afterwards there were mince pies and hot drinks and we wandered around a bit inspecting some of the carvings and monuments.

Christmas fudge recipe
Today I made our traditional Christmas fudge, from a recipe my father used to make every year and he got it from his parents I think.  It's basically brown sugar stuck together with butter and milk, very good if you have a sweet tooth.  You only need:

1 Tb butter
1 cup light soft brown sugar (not dark)
1/3 cup milk (whole milk is best)

Multiply the above to the desired quantity, I usually do three times so 3 Tb butter, 3 cups light brown sugar and 1 cup milk.  Cook over a medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring frequently so it doesn't catch.  Once it is simmering nicely, add your candy thermometer and cook to soft-ball stage.  Remove from the heat and start beating it by hand with a wooden spoon while it cools down a little.  After a few minutes, add 1 tsp vanilla essence then keep beating.  The trick is to judge when the fudge is cool enough to pour into a buttered metal cake pan, you want to beat it right up until it gets very thick and is just starting to crystallise around the edges then quickly pour it into the pan and scrape out the saucepan into the pan.  If you wait too long, it will set in the pan and won't pour at all.  If you pour too early, it may not set very well or may be very hard and crystalline.  Beating it right to the last minute keeps it softer and fudgy.  Once in the pan, let it cool down 5 to 10 minutes then cut it into squares then leave it to cool all the way.  Store in an air tight container once completely cool.  Licking the spoon and scraping out fudge residue from the saucepan is the cook's privilege.

Christmas ornaments

This week I have been making up some of the Christmas ornament kits I've collected.

This first one is a giant Dorset button decoration, a gift for my birthday which I think is probably this kit.    It was fairly quick to make, and looks unusual on the tree.

Then this gingerbread house kit was from The Works and cost a whole £1, but was fun to do. And the snowglobe ornament is from Trimits and is such good value at £2.50, you get all the precut pieces and even the stuffing.  Finally the heart-shaped ornament is made using up some left over felted scraps form the teddy  bear I knit a few months ago.

I'm almost finished a Christmas robin cross-stitch from the same set of three kits that I made the Christmas tree card from, this will go on the tree.

This week on the Let's Bake quilt, I have made the final four blocks up, which are four little vintage aprons.

So now I can sew together the final section and the centre of the quilt will be done!  There is a narrow border to add around the centre and then all the pieced border blocks to sew together.  Hoping to get it done over the holidays.

Hope you have a lovely holiday!