Christmas pottering

Back already, how did that happen? New Year, newly refreshed and ready to blog more frequently (hopefully!). I hope you all had a fab time over Xmas and New Year. We certainly did, especially once I had finished all the Christmas shopping, although I did spy this Orla Kiely bag in Tesco to brighten my day. I rarely use these Orla bags for food shopping as I find them really useful for storing wool and unfinished crochet projects (yes I know, there are a few hanging around).

Christmas day was perfect - we had family over to ours, including my sister and her new husband. I am one of only a few people I guess who actually enjoy cooking the christmas dinner, although we bought a giant 18lb turkey this year and I had to get up at 7am to get it in the oven. The kids weren't even awake either!! I spent a merry time in the kitchen during the course of the morning, peeling potatoes and sprouts whilst listening to the radio. Once my sister arrived, we cracked open some bubbly and finished cooking the dinner. I got some cracking presents this year. I got the Downton Abbey box set, some L'Occitane hand cream and my Mum got me this book (thanks again Mum!) which I am looking forward to using for my Mollie Makes inspired blanket.

There are dozens of borders to choose from, it's been quite difficult to decide which one to try first. I have always struggled with choosing which border to go for, mainly because I can't ever seem to find border patterns online, so this book was just what I needed.

I also got something that I have wanted for nearly 2 years - a lobster pot stool.

Not a great photo as it looks washed out here, the colour is much richer. It came all the way from Scotland through ebay and I got it for a bargain price (hence the reason it has taken me so long to get one as they usually sell for a lot more than I am prepared to spend). As soon as I saw it and realised it was on a buy it now price, I snapped it up. I have had it for around 6 weeks now and having been moved from pillar to post about the lounge, I think we have found the perfect place for it to reside. Everyone, including the kids, has been given strict instructions not to sit on it as it's about 60 years old and I have heard horror stories of them collapsing under people perched on them! Gerard can sit on it though, not that he's shown the remotest bit of interest in it!

I also bought several Marks and Spencer tins, including my favourite one below. Need to sort out some storage for all the tins I have acquired. Some will be used for homemade cakes/cookies and some will be used for storage elsewhere in the house. On my list of things to do this year is a massive clearout, especially of the tardis (our hall cupboard - it's huge and that's the problem, it can hold so much clutter that just gets forgotten about). I'm hoping that we will eventually have a house with only things that we need or love in. The tins can hold all those annoying little bits and pieces that you need but don't necessarily want to look at on a daily basis. That's the plan anyway, my fear is that I have hoarding tendencies and slowly slowly the appearance of unnecessary stuff will start creeping back into the house. I can't believe we need to have a clearout so soon after moving - we got rid of loads of stuff before moving 2 years ago, prompted by the removal firm telling us that we had an awful lot of stuff. I was quite embarrassed!

I spent a fair few hours over the Xmas/New Year period with crochet blanket in hand, gradually joining all these little squares together. I am joining them one by one into a long row, followed by sewing in all the ends (there are so many, I was really hoping that this blanket wouldn't have so many to do, but sadly I was wrong), then I am joining the long row onto the main blanket using double crochet. I have four more rows to attach and then I can start on the border - hoorah!

The kids had a fab time, they were pleased with all their presents (phew!) and have thoroughly enjoyed some down time after an extremely hectic December in school. So many performances and things to remember to do. Yes, they have definitely appreciated sitting around watching tv and eating chocolate! Back to school this week and back to the mammoth task of getting this house looking its best again for me. All the decorations were packed away yesterday and the lounge is looking remarkably bare, tidy and spacious. Long may it last. x