Christmas Eve

Everything is finished, Deah and Anya's quilts are posted, have arrived safely and are waiting under their Christmas tree. We have just enough snow to be correctly seasonal and enough mince pies to feed an army... Thank you to everyone who ordered quilts this year, I love to think they are all in use during the cold weather. Also thank you for all the kind e mails I  have had about how much you like the quilts I make. It's so encouraging! Some of you have babies on the way , so there will be more quilts to make next year and my news is that I will be a Granny for the first time in July - very exciting!
So now the sewing room door is shut. The wood burner stove is successfully lit. Stockings are hung up and tonight we wait..... Happy Christmas everyone.

Winter frosts

In between the wild winter storms there have been several frosty mornings here. Our poor garden has been blown about by whooshing winds and driving rains. Some nights I have feared for the greenhouse filled with shivering geraniums, still bravely flowering. Then there are the early mornings when frosty diamonds glitter everywhere. There is a raw bite to the wind and the blackbirds hang around the kitchen door, waiting to be fed. Walking down the garden one morning, I realised the hydrangeas were putting on a spectacular show. Three big bushes had gone into colour overdrive. I was thinking about the quilt I am making for Charlotte and suddenly there were the colours reproduced in the garden. Each flower with a delicate rim of icy glitter which lasted until mid morning. 

The magic apple tree

On Sunday I had a lovely time in the garden raking leaves. An enormous pile of leaves is such a satisfactory thing, I felt I had completed a very big job using a lot of energy. No excuse was needed for that extra choccy biscuit..... I had worked very hard. The big heap showed I was worth it, and maybe a third one too........... Sitting with my coffee at the picnic table, the light was fading, the afternoon nearly gone. I looked at the apple tree, it was decorated with golden bobbles. Like the most expensive Christmas tree. The setting sun made the apples glow. It reminded me that it is time to read my favourite book, The Magic apple Tree by Susan Hill. She writes about the seasons in her rural home in Oxfordshire. If you haven't read it, you have a huge treat in store and you need to read it at least twice a year.  I hope you love it as much as I do.........