Christmas in April

 Christmas came and went without much blogging from me

and I know you will think I am completely mad for posting Christmas at the end of April ... as summer approaches and the garden is full of birdsong ... but for blog's sake (for completeness of blog's sake) I'm slipping this post in to remind myself in years to come of the lovely, simple, peaceful Christmas time we had

we didn't have snow or jolly snowmen

nor any frosty leaves

but I whipped up a pretty snow storm on a heart for Caterina

"the snow was now settling so fast"

so ... I had to work quickly ♥
 

this heart was made from satin, silk and chiffons

with plastic, acetate and melted ribbons

it features silver sequins, beads, snowflakes
and an ice crystal dangly

I wanted to make something so special for Caterina

along with six beautiful crystal snowflakes

because I was so very grateful to be chosen

as the winner in Cat's beautiful giveaway last year

a copy of the Summer 2011 issue of Sew Somerset

in which Caterina's beautiful work appears

Caterina's stitched mixed media books

featured beautiful seed head forms
of which I am rather partial to

the magazine is gorgeous

and I'm very happy to have this copy in my collection with

Sew Somerset being very hard to come by in this part of the UK

Caterina also made this heart especially for me

layers of vintage cottons, lace and scrims

beautiful ribbons and a seed pod with beads

transferred to linen with black hand stitching

at the bottom there are more ribbons and lace

and a perfect button

I absolutely love the heart to bits

thank you so much Cat ♥

the snow/snowflake theme continued on our tree this year

with lots of new crystal snowflakes that I made myself

and snowy cards from family and friends
 

  for the first time ever I cheated completely

 with Christmas dinner and bought all M&S food

(as I only got home from travelling on 23rd December)

we had ...

easy carve duck

with a pork, cranberries and morello cherry stuffing

*

beetroot, red onions and chantenay carrots

in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil glaze

*

brussels sprouts

roast potatoes and parsnips in duck fat

and lots of cranberry sauce

 (and ... yes ... only one glass of sherry was consumed

... so was sober enough to peel the sprouts myself)

 

 I love the nostalgic glow of the Christmas tree in firelight

with pressie opening, choccies and Christmas films on TV

in the rosy glow of a real log fire

later there was frosted snowflake cake

with a nice cup of tea

and time to enjoy the lovely hand made cards

received ... which are always extra special

this adorable robin is a OOAK original print

by my very talented artist friend Lesley Ninnes

and I was glad of some quiet time

to leaf through Cathy's latest (at the time) art zine

and admire her very special card to me

so, after a very difficult time in my life

those few special days of Christmas were just what I needed

to relax, to reflect and appreciate what I have

a fleece as white as snow

thank you to the artists featured
1. snow on snow 2. new grey sheep 3. snowing cows and birds 4. snow flake bokeh 5. some plain spinning, 6. fleece as white as snow 7. sheep 8. tailspun yarn 9. Får 3 10. best friends 11. curious sheeps 12. sheep in the snow 13. homespun

thank you for visiting me ♥
more catch up posts are in progress ...

 I wish you a lovely weekend
Carolyn ♥