what did the postman bring today?

It has been a good day for the post. A large envelope arrived from Norway, with my prize from May Britt's and Hanne's giveaway, a pattern for a baking cover from Northern Quilts. Included was a lovely Christmas message from May Britt, with a heart pattern, also designed by her, which you can also see on her blog.

I have been looking forward to my prize, even looking through my fabric stash for suitable designs.

I visited Hanson's today for some Christmas ribbon (but any excuse will do!) and purchased another fat qtr, just in case. It is worth mentioning here that if anyone will be travelling in the area next year, Hanson's is a must. They are well know in the West Country and I make the 40 miles round trip quite regularly!

The baking cover might well be my first project after Christmas.

Thank you May Britt and Hanne for you kindness and generosity and thank you Northern Quilts for a lovely design!

While I was out, I picked up a copy of one of my favourite patchwork magazines, Magic Patch. I know I am a little behind, this is an autumn issue, but the December/January one is not in the shops yet, and I was attracted by the lovely rich colours on the front cover, a nice change from the Christmas fabric of recent.

In the post arrived my favourite embroidery magazine, all the way from Australia.

A parcel arrived from Germany, my order from Geschenke website, a new candle ring, Sebastian design, including some other decorations. I discovered this Danish table decoration some years ago, and very year since I have been buying some new bits for it, depending on the season. You will see it later on my Christmas table.

The path to our house was well trodden today!

this month's progress

My stitching is progressing very slowly this month, may be the cold is slowing me down..

At last the wadding for my Christmas tablecloth has arrived and I have started to quilt by hand, determined to finish it in time. "Heirloom Hannah" now has a dress embroidered along the bottom.

I am also still working on the yellow hardanger tablecloth, at this rate I might finish it for Easter!

                     Still, by then the weather should be very different from today.

"suz"

Would a blogger with the user profile "suz" please get in touch again.  I am not able to answer you via your blog, as your profile doesn't allow me to do it:))

Very foggy and cold day. It looked like someone has sprinkled a huge bag of icing sugar all over. And as the afternoon was getting darker, the countryside looked like a fairy tale. (Although I did not think so when  my toes were freezing, waiting for the school bus!) But I did take some pictures before that.

crazy weather and christmas cards

It rained the night before last, it rained all day yesterday, so  most of the snow has now gone. Crazy English weather! It is a beautiful sunny day today and we were desperate for a good walk in the forest, so we set out this morning for a short drive to the woods. But the temperature must had dropped in the early hours this morning, there was a lot of black ice on the roads. After some careful driving we made it to the forest and while walking, we also collected some stuff for Christmas decorations.

While I am waiting for the postman to deliver some wadding for the Christmas tablecloth, I started another small project. I bought this kit for "Heirloom Hannah" by Elaine Aitken from Button Angel nearly two years ago and rediscovered it recently when tidying my room.

My granddaughter's school let the children design their own Christmas cards and then had them commercially printed and made up into packs of 12 cards. The proceeds of the sale of the cards will go to the PTA, for those little extras.

This is a card by my 5 year old granddaughter, with her name as the designer on the back.