Christmas Eve

The candle has nearly burnt away.  

Presents are wrapped.

 The dog is cosy on the sofa.

All is peaceful.

Have a wonderful Christmas, whatever you do.

Don't forget to track Santa, right now he's in Marseille ~ must be my bedtime. 

H A P P Y  C H R I S T M A S

Clicky Needles x

Christmas Card Swap and Another Year Older

Hello there!

I had hoped to blog earlier but time has caught up with me.

Firstly here is my card from Amy's Swap.  I have been sent a lovely handmade dove from Selma at Eclectic Home and Life.  Thanks Selma I like it very much.  On the link you can see the one I made for her too - I forgot to photograph it! 

I've also had another birthday.  This makes me two years away from the big 5 O.  I celebrated with my family and a takeaway, a nice family time.

I had an email from my knitting pal Romain, who asked me to pop by.  She has been very naughty and gave me a bag stuffed with presents.  I don't know what I've done to deserve them but I opened one for my birthday and I'm saving the rest until Christmas.  A yarn holder that rotates so you can pop your ball on top and knit happily with no tangles.  Thanks so much Romain!  

Can you see my lovely nails?  Had them done for Christmas. :-)

The dog has been guarding the tree and presents.  Can you see the red bag?  That's the one Romain gave me, I think there may be yarny goodness within.

I've finished my Daybreak Shawl at long last so I've just these ends to sew in.  They're taking a while but there you go.  

And the last thing to show you, a Santa sack knocked up today from two tea towels.  A special request from Miss Clicky so she could put her best friend's presents in.  

That's me for now, we're out for a meal with some old friends tonight.

See you soon............Clicky Needles.

Life Marches On

Hello Folks!

Like most people at the moment I guess, I've been a busy bee.

School is it's usual mad self, we've had some staff changes which means I will spend a short amount of time in the lower class.  It's a boy heavy group for Years 1 and 2, 5 to 7 year olds.  This will be a challenge to me, I've never directly worked with this bunch before, and I find them tough.  I like the older children, mainly because they don't pick their noses quite as much, they don't tell on each other quite so much,  they can organise themselves better and generally you can have a decent conversation with them.  I think I'm a patient person but this may be tested.  This will happen when we come back in January.  Watch this space.

On the home front I've got my 12 Days of Christmas Swap sent

 

and received my parcel from Maria at Dotty's Daughter.  I hope she likes what I've sent.  I've also sent my Christmas card for Amy's swap.

I had a go at making some Soda dough but as you can see it was an epic fail ~ well, Master Clicky called it that.  I put them in a hot, just used for cooking oven and I think they dried out too quickly and cracked.  I'll try again sometime.

Mr Clicky spent last week in Shanghai on business.  It was very smoggy, but still beautiful, unfortuantely he has come back with a nasty cough.   

He did however, bring me back some Wife Cake, which I have yet to try.

Right, that's for now.

See you soon..............Clicky Needles.

Rugby

Hello there.

Master Clicky had a rugby match this morning for his Colts team.  A few weeks ago it looked like the team might fold but we managed to turn a team out today.  It was windy, not just a bit windy, really windy.  The type of wind that makes birds fly backwards, and the marker flags go horizontal and the posts flap in an alarming way. 

 The game was well played with some flourishes from both sides.  He was playing a different position this time ~ flanker, so he was in the scrum, if you look carefully you can see those pink boots.  

The pink boots have turned out to be really good ~ they are so bright you can always tell where he is on the pitch.

Master Clicky's team won, he scored a try and was voted player of the match by his team.  This is the first time in all his rugby playing years he's had this honour.  He was dead chuffed and I am one very proud mum.

I was less chuffed as the winner of man of the match gets to wash the team's kit.  As I type it is going through the wash for a second time ~ it came out with mud stains on the first time.

I've done a bit of Christmas shopping, and came across this violin playing tight-rope walker on Thursday night in Cheltenham.

  He was a brilliant musician and I was in awe of him.

I bought a few presents ~ not as many as I would have liked but there you go.  I have nearly finished getting my 12 Days of Christmas Swap things together, I shall wrap tomorrow night.

That's me for now, there's some washing to deal with.

See you soon...................Clicky Needles.

Crafting

Hello All.

I've had a busy time of late.  We had a mock Ofsted inspection at school.  We had a new head in September so this is going to trigger a visit from the real Ofsted pretty soon. The 'Inspector' spent several days with us, made lists of notes and comments and managed to put the wind up everybody.  Times like these I'm pleased I'm a teaching assistant and not a teacher.

Mr Clicky and Me went to Birmingham last weekend with our very dear friends S and B to have a wander around the German Market and have an evening out.  It rained and rained and rained.  I had hoped to bring you lots of lovely Christmassy Pictures of twinkling lights and German gifts.  In reality my phone's camera didn't seem to like the rain ~ can't say I blame it neither did I ~ and I bring you one picture of the big wheel.  Too wet to go on.  We walked from one end of the market to the other at which point S mentioned he had a drip of water going down his back and my boots had leaked through the leather so we retired to a nice warm pub.  We dried out and walked back up to Brindley Place where we were staying and enjoyed another few bars until we went out for a very nice Italian.

On Friday afternoon Mr Clicky and me went to see Spectre.  I love a trip to the cinema in the winter.  Go in in the daylight, get lost in fantasy for a couple of hours and come out in darkness.  I also love a Bond movie and this was no exception. 

On Saturday I made some twine balls.

 They are really easy, blow up a balloon to the size you want,  dip garden twine in PVA glue and twist it around your balloon.

 I had a lovely time getting gluey.

 When it's all dry, pop your balloon and you're left with a hard twine ball.  I haven't added a hanging ribbon yet I might use them in a glass jar.

Today I carried on with tree decorations whilst whipping up a cauldron sized pot of bolognese for weekday suppers.  I'd forgotten just how nice it is working with felt, and I'm very pleased with the green tree.  I also forgot hanging loops for the fabric trees, something I'll try and sort out this week.  

I had a minor panic today when I realised the Twelve Days of Christmas Swap that Jo at Through the Keyhole is running needs sending on the 5th of December.  Two weeks!  Best I get a move on.

The last (not very exciting) thing to show you is our living room light.  We've had this Ikea light fitting up for 15 years (blimey!) when we moved into our then new house.

We decided to go for some fancy bulbs that seem to be all the rage at the moment.  I wonder if they'll be here in 15 years time!

Righto that's me for now, have a super week.

See you soon................Clicky Needles.

Dreary

Hello there.

It had been a dreary weekend.  The raindrops have been chasing down the window.  Mr Clicky tried to take the dog for a walk in a bit of mild rain.  They walked 100 metres up the road and the dog looked up at Mr Clicky, turned on his heels and came back home.

I have been knitting, making Christmas Cards, making more decorations and reading my Christmas Ideal Home Magazine.   There are lots of inspiring Christmas rooms to make, which I love reading about but don't really manage to replicate!

 The magazine also has a calendar, another good reason for buying it.  January's snowy picture is beautiful.  I wish I was like that just now.  Not warm and miserable rain. It's not really cold enough to light the woodburner so I can't even cheer myself up with that.

That's me for now, have a super week.

Clicky Needles

Half Term Sewing

Hello Folks!

I dragged my sewing machine out from underneath the stairs and I've been Christmas making.  I'm going for a handmade look so along with bought Christmas decorations I'm making some of my own too.

Firstly I went into Stroud and bought some Christmassy Fabrics.  

Then I got my 'workspace' ready, well, the kitchen table.  I pondered about opening the table out to make it bigger but decided it would be ok.

As you can see I am a messy worker and was soon regretting not pulling the table out.

I got this sleeve ironing board on Amazon a little while ago.  It's perfect for small things.  I'm really pleased with it, so much better than having the big ironing board out.

I've been making the Twelve Days of Christmas decorations I got free from a magazine last year.

Now, I describe myself as a straight line sewer, so the curves were a little challenging for me.

Here they are, The Twelve Days of Christmas.  I've enjoyed sitting quietly and stitching up the closings by hand.

As you can see some turnings and curves weren't that great, but, do you know?  I'm pleased.

I had much fun choosing the colours of ribbon to match each one.

The other fabric that I bought?  I'm busy with that and I'll show you next time maybe.

Back to school tomorrow.

See you soon.........................Clicky Needles.