December...ing

 As December is well under way I thought it was maybe time for an 'ing' post, just one more week for us in School but out of School I am busy as ever and the weekends just never seem long.  Here goes...

Loving the children's attitudes in School at the moment as they have all been so amazing!  They came back after the summer with everything different and weird after being off for so long, they have taken to constant hand washing, being escorted for every toilet trip and segregated from the rest of the School and still carried on without complaint and lovely smiling faces every day.  I just wanted to say that first of all as I am sure it is the same every where, children are just so adaptable and brilliant.

Reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, this is set in Barcelona and the story revolves around a discovered book and its mysterious author. I started it ten days ago so this is slow going for me but it is one of those books you can't rush.  I am fluctuating at the moment between loving it and wondering come on where is this going?   So I will let you know my final thoughts  later.

Also enjoying Imagine a Forest, this is a book on folk art that I treat myself to and it has been inspiring some of my latest handbags.  I am using tips from the book and then adding my own twist, of course it is a bit different as I am creating in fabric so anything I make cannot be too fussy or it would take forever to stitch. 

Making a few bags this past week, as I mentioned I am enjoying the folk theme so this is what I have been working on.  First of all I am trying to get back into writing down what I do each day in a creative way and adding any ideas or doodles to that.  If I get down things on paper as they come to me I find I have more ideas for what to make and in effect I do more. Here are the last two bags...

 

I have still been making my regular bags too, these more recent ones take me more time to complete as ponder what to put where and there is a lot more stitching.  Here are a few of my others...

The difficulty at this time of year is always when to take the photographs, I don't seem to be able to get good daylight in the house even at weekends and in the week it is impossible as you leave in the dark and come home in the dark. Speaking if which...

Walking in the dark and in the rain, there has been plenty of that. Wiping down dogs constantly and cleaning boots.  We went to Chatsworth to see it lit up the other evening as we really wanted to do something a bit Christmasy.  You have to book a slot and ours was 5.30, it was raining and very cold but we wrapped up and went in good spirits.  Now I have been to Chatsworth twice this past year and loved it both times but this did not do it for me.  It was £30 for the three of us and the part that was lit up maybe took twenty minutes to walk around (slowly) you could explore the rest of the gardens if you wished but in the pitch black nobody was doing that of course.  If you had an earlier slot you could have made the most of the rest of the gardens and then just enjoyed the lit part just before you left.  So without sounding like a party pooper please do that if you go and get your slot while it is light.  Other wise the only way you can stay for very long is if you stand around in the lit parts drinking over priced mulled wine.  Here are some very dark shot of it anyway...

As you can see out camera was not up to the task of taking such dark images, the bits we saw were nice but with an hour trip there and back you can see my disappointment that it was such a short event.

We have seen some lovely lights in out local neighbourhood for free, and I would urge anyone with children to take them on a dark walk around your area at the moment to spot all the lovely house lights. These are in the local community garden near the park, they look lovely lit up but I thought I would show them in the daylight so you can actually see what I mean.

Baking chocolate cakes, I have got quite good at vegan gf chocolate cake now though it takes a slightly different theme every time I bake it.  This time it was Belgian dark chocolate, apple and coconut, I know it sounds odd but I just got all involved in it then realised I had no bananas!  So applesauce it was and of course there was coconut milk that needed using up, it all worked a treat and my son preferred it.

This evening I am making date, banana and cashew bars as I now have the bananas and these will keep in the fridge. No images as they are still baking.

Watching The crown still, we are on the final series now and only a few more episodes  to go it has really brought home just how little I know about the royal family.  I know it is a dramatization but all the facts at the end and who they are related to is just so interesting, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I have.

Wondering what to make with the dress fabric I have bought and also my extra piece from Minerva, I have not been very inspired by the last few Burda magazines and I have two very pretty pieces that Don't want to cut until I am sure what to do.  I have also ordered a piece today to make a vintage style dress for my son's girlfriend for Christmas, that one is from Burda from the vintage edition.  She chose the pattern herself so I will have that to crack on with too. 

Shopping for a few bits for our sons today, we don't go mad here with the whole presents thing but we like to get our children something (well they are grown men now) and then they have money to do as they wish. We ventured out today to get them something to wrap up. 

Feeling very blessed that we are all safe and well, take care everyone and have a good week.