Stocking up for Christmas

Hello everyone, sorry I have been absent for a while just not enough hours in the day and things have been hectic to say the least.  Mostly centred around the house we have been doing a little bit of tidying up/reackerfurbitation.  I will not spill now but will confirm later on but needless to say that there has been a fair bit of work going on and simply not enough hours in the day.

I have been crotcheting again and nearly have a lounge throw completed.  It is the first one of two which have been planned.  I have been working them in a beige marled Aran wool which will be lovely and snug when sat down watching the TV of an evening and besides you pay an arm and a leg when you buy from a shop but working something from scratch means that I am putting something of me into the home crafted item as well as making my home individual snug and cosy and no one else will have the same items in their home.

I have carried on acquiring men's shirts in different colours to make into a patchwork throw or two.  I thought I would start with simple strip piecing using my rotary cutter which I am not too competent with at the moment and using this method might mean that I waste less fabric with mistakes; I intend to start the first one of these during the Christmas holiday thought it might keep me occupied and out of mischief.

I have however still been able to put a few goodies up for the Christmas Pantry and bearing in mind that OH is now diabetic there has been a tendency to put down more pickles.  To date made and sitting on the Pantry shelf are:

• Orange Curd
• Pickled Onions
• Pickled Shallots
• Pickled Beetroot
• Pickled Cucumber
• Picallili
• Pickled Eggs
• Apple Chutney 
• Pear Chutney
• Christmas Chutney
• Mincemeat
• Raspberry Wine
• Cucumber Pickle

I have Elderflower and Orange Wine on the go, together with Bitter and Lager Beers too.

I have various mustards and other preserves to pop up too. Thought I might start the one item per day schedule again from the beginning of next week.  So that I get things done without being overwhelmed with what I need to do.

I also popped into Lakeland today and was pleasantly surprised to find that their own pie makers four medium sized individual pies and then mince pie sized pie maker are both on offer - each £15 instead of £30 being the offer for the month.  I have the four pie version but have my eye on the mince pie version as well. Just thought I would let you know just in case you also have your eye on these individual items would be a shame to let a bargain like this go astray.  Would also make a nice Christmas present for a budding cook.

I have also popped a few more items into the Christmas Putdown Cupboard which I will update again in a day or two.

I do hope that life is treating every single one of you kindly.

Hopefully I will be back into the swing of posting again in a few days.

Take care

Pattypan

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