Stars and lights, stuffing and ice

Making sesame stars with the boys

I've never liked stuffing...all that soggy bread and dried fruit, i don't get it. So when it came to Christmas, the first chez nous in three years, we decided to skip the big turkey and each picked a dish instead, and i chose stuffing. (Me and it have to do right after all.) The recipe i found had dried ciabatta, sauteed leeks and fennel, artichoke hearts, spicy sausage, chilies, and orange zest.

We had it with spaghetti and drumsticks, and for the first time, it wasn't all that bad.

We finished our Christmas meal with lemon ice, an old food & drink recipe that involved lemon juice, sugar, eggs, whipped cream, and double/triple churning. My favourite way to make ice cream - no need for an ice cream maker...it turns out just as fabulously by hand.

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just a glimpse

i'm finally managing to get some solstice/christmas/new year gifts out. they'll be in the mail shortly and once the recipients have them, i can spill the beans on what they actually are.

A Slow Start

January is a satisfying expanse of time that too quickly fills up.

I spent the holidays picking up a few old projects and starting some new ones.

A dragon towel for Eily and one for his cousin:

Learning intarsia for the cardinal motif on E's hoodie:

A second roller blind, this one went much more smoothly:

And, at the quilt shop, E requested a needle felted elephant like he saw in a book. It's a tiny little thing named (oddly enough, considering his natural habitat), Snowy:

Cookies 2010

10 variaties baked, 2 disasters semi-adverted, and enough treats to last for weeks.

grapevine

Eily and I finally managed to finish the wreath from day 5's activity on the advent calendar...well, actually I did while Eily waved from the window. We had gathered grapevine from the iron horse trail and I added cedar boughs from the backyard.

Next to the door sits our grapevine tree which I made a few years ago from wrapping vine around a tomato cage. This year, I filled the inside cavity with big white Christmas balls that had been left draped along the back overhang when we moved in.