So much to do and so little timeĀ – maybe that is better than so little to do and so much time?Ā Ā I often find if I have time I will fill it with something and Christmas is no different.Ā Just when I think oh yes I am nearly done you can guarantee I will be off on another project – just fitting one more thing in.Ā I can’t say it has been any different this year but I do get carried away with all the Christmas making and baking and never feel I have done enough.
Anyway to the Advent task on day 18 – this was one of my favourites a bit of repurposing.
A while ago I sorted through a bag of vintage table linens and crotched doyleys that I acquired when my mum moved out of our family home a few years ago.Ā They had been passed on to her from my grandma. Ā I washed and pressed the ones I wanted to keep and took some to charity, but there was one or two that had bad stains on them that I couldn’t remove.Ā I kept them and began thinking of what I might do with them as I loved the fabric.
One of the items I kept was a small round tablecloth that you would put over a little side table.Ā The fabric is a white Jacquard linen – the type you will have seen old-fashioned napkins made of – edged with some cotton lace which may or may not be hand-made.Ā Because of the stain it was no use as a cloth anymore so I thought about what I might do with it.
Then recently I saw it in the drawer with my sewing bits and had an idea.Ā I decided to make little Sweetie, my new granddaughter, a little Christmas stocking for her first Christmas.Ā I only had a few hours to make it so it is not my best sewing and the beading is a bit wobbly but my daughter likes things to look homemade so it won’t be a problem.
So now little Sweetie has something that once belonged to her great, great grandma to keep.
But you will need to keep it a secret until Christmas Eve (and her real name too!)
Only a few more days to go now so I hope I can complete my Advent activities posts in time.Ā Apologies again that I am out of sync with the actual days – but you can’t have everything – life has a way of taking over sometimes.Ā x
Day 17 – I swapped my Advent task today to make the mince piesĀ – after all Christmas would not be Christmas without them even though I can only eat one or two as they don’t really agree with me now.Ā I often bake these tiny ones as they make a lovely token gift and this batch was to take in to my old workplace for my former colleagues.
The thickness didn’t affect the taste though, the pastry was ‘melt in the mouth’ with no soggy bottoms.Ā After a dusting of icing sugar I packaged them up onto these little white trays (I collected during the year from Chocolate Mini Rolls) lined with a doyley and added a sprinkling of confetti – green metallic holly leaves. 
I also took in a tray of the chocolates.Ā Well it is Christmas.
Day 16 – Sunday – we woke up to an unexpectedly bright and sunny day here – we really had plenty of jobs to do; my Advent task was to make some tiny mince pies to take in for the girls at my old workplace sometime during the week, but instead we left all that at home and drove down into Derbyshire for a bit of a break and the mince pies would just have to wait.Ā Of course we had been the weekend before with my mum but it was difficult to really do very much or spend any time looking around the shops and there was a couple of gifts I needed to sort out and I knew just the places for some inspiration.
Sadly he died in 2009 but the work he has left behind still stands the test of time. If you want to see and read more click-through 
As you might expect the shop only stocks quality linen tea towels and amongst them I found these old-fashioned oven gloves which I bought as they were only Ā£6 – I have been searching for ages to replace mine as they have developed a hole from overuse –Ā I like them to be quite soft and flexible as I do not get on well with those quilted stiff ones.Ā These passed the test for flexibility.
On our way to Bakewell we stopped off at the pretty little village of Baslow.Ā There are a couple of independent shops selling gifts and plants and vintage finds.Ā In the vintage flower shop we came across a round zinc tub perfect for holding our Christmas tree and at a very reasonable price (photo later when I take one of the finished tree).Ā We then stopped briefly at the Derbyshire Craft centre looking for a small gift that would be light enough to post, but nothing really fit the bill.
The huge Nativity scene outside the church on the hill is certainly something to see – we climbed up through the grave yard to capture this photo – I wasn’t sure it would come out very well but it has.
We had a ‘perfick’ day – I do love doing something impulsive from time to time just as the mood takes us and we chose a good day to do itĀ – and I did manage to fit in the mince pies the following day – photos tomorrow. x
Day 14 – on Friday my Advent task was to make a tray of my now famous chocolate for the neighbour’s get together that evening.Ā This year I found a tub of miniature meringues reduced to 30p in Waitrose and these were sprinkled on the half with tiny fudge and honeycomb pieces.Ā The other half of the chocolate had fruit, nuts and ginger pieces.Ā The whole slab is laced like a spider’s web with white chocolate and when it is set chopped or broken into square pieces.Ā It is as my friends say ‘just far too moreish’.
I kept some of the chocolates to take a packet in to my old work place for my colleagues to share.
Day 15 – Saturday – after getting home at 2am in the morning (it was a good night!) I didn’t have a very early start and it took a while to come round and eventually I had another go at printing my lino cut Christmas card.Ā 
This year I tried creating a more stylised robin and nothing has gone well with it.Ā The black ink has taken ages to dry and I swear some of the cards were still sticky when I put them into the envelopes – even after being in the airing cupboard all weekend.Ā 
All I can say is that it is ‘different’ and I certainly need more practice but I had fun doing them and I shall miss my ’round’ of robins now they are gone to new homes.Ā Each one was so individual I could have given them names!
where the journey takes me 2 