It is a sad truth that since losing my hair  some nine years ago I had not been Out, Out. Yes there has been many jaunts with hubby, a couple of lunch time drinks with friends, the odd trot into a pub for lunch at Uni, and trips to the theatre and cinema, but nothing like going out with the girls, in town, on a Friday night.

So when J said her knitting groups pub had folded, I just jumped in with, ‘do you need some help looking for a new venue ‘hic’.’ I’ve no idea what came over me, but I do know this coming year I am going to sieze all opportunities that come my way.  This is not the year for maudlin, in any way, shape or form, I’m going to be packing as much as I possibly can in and to that end my diary is already pretty rammed through most of January, so it’s going well. Getting dressed up was tricky, most of my dress up wardrobe is in London. But at long last ready to go out, out. So excited!Met up with J and tried her antlers on! Scooted around Coventry, chatting nine to the dozen of old haunts I visited over thirty years ago.Park Lane, three nights a week, The Dog and Trumpet, The Bug and Black Bat, to name but a few. Memories of black nails and purple eyeshadow, a white dress with a red sash and red shoes came whizzing towards me through the night. Of silly hot, so very, very hot nights spent with girlfriends as we tip tapped through the city centre in our spikey high shoes, the scent of perfume and was it vodka as we chattered and giggled from the pubs to the dance floor of Park Lane. J and I scouted a couple of pubs and found the most ideal of spots for ladies that would like to knit, in a pub with a buzz but a more mature mindset.  We chattered and giggled and all too soon the evening had come to an end, I had such a good time, I will definitely be going Out, Out again.

Should anyone ever suffer from loneliness in the middle of the Christmas season, I have accidentally found the most perfect of cures.

Carry around a model of Rudolf the Reindeer and you’ll have more friends than you know what to do with.

Rudolf and I started our adventure together outside the greengrocers in the square, when after much consideration I chose him as my new best friend to come home with me. And we went to meet Mum and Dad for a coffee.  On the way we were met with giggles from middle aged women doing their shopping but at the time had no idea of the treat in store for us both. While enjoying our coffee men, women and children of all ages stopped and asked us how Rudolf was getting on, what was his name, what he liked to eat, would he be stabled in the garden or in the house and remark after remark came about just how gorgeous he was.

Next we had to go to Waitress to pick up a few bits and bobs for lunch and decided there was only one sensible route to take, to pop him in a trolly. Well, you’d think Santa with all his Elves had turned up everytime I turned a corner.  I was met with gasps and squeals of glee about just how wonderful he was – all the way around the shop. Rudolf often likes an olive to nibble during the evening. Eventually after lots of children laughing, old people laughing, shop assistants laughing and even some impromptu clapping and lots of gasps of glee, we made our way out of the store.

I must tell you I went to my knitting group the next morning and one of the ladies was telling me about how a wonderful reindeer had been pushed around the store of Waitrose, her friend had told her and she was sad she’d missed it, it was the talk of the town!  I said that was ‘me’.  She looked as though she didn’t quite believe me, until I got my piccies out.

So, should you be feeling a bit glum, grab your nearest reindeer and go for a spin around town, trust me, it will really cheer you up.

I often ponder, as I gently meander down an alley or two of a favoured hobby, that I have a lot to learn. Never has this been crystallised as clearly as when hubby and I went to a Clubman competition at our new to us photography club. I absolutely loved seeing all the photographs and the critique of the independent judge on every single one was just spellbinding. We all sat riveted to our seats, barely daring to breath, lest we miss a comment that one could learn from.  A very memorable evening indeed, especially for one who learns very visually, but also one that left me filled with a touch of anxiety.  I look at my photographs and I think, crap, crap, crap as I toss them mentally into the bin, and really I only have a couple of snaps that I am particularly proud of.  But I just have to take a deep breath, pull myself up by my bootstraps and say to myself, ‘that is the reason we are going, to learn’.

We have a Christmas competition next week, it’s meant to be a friendly and fun.., but by the steely look in some of my new found friends eyes, I can tell, it is going to be fierce, in a Christmassy humorous kind of way, but fierce nonetheless. Only eased by the free wine and nibbles – which might be good, its a mostly male group and I’ve a feeling they have ordered in catering, no bring a plate for them!

So, having looked at my photos and thought  yuck, yuck, yuck, and being full of a cold virus with my head spinning if I walked more than a few paces, so going out was a no go,  it was down to me and the cat to produce something fresh that I could bare to look at.  Fortunately Florence came good and I managed to get a few shots of her. Just after she had killed a feather encrusted stuffed mouse.  There is certain look in those eyes that makes me smile. So we worked on that a little and produced this. Which from a mini vote of my friends, out of the two they liked this one the best, my Auntie coming up with an amusing title of ‘Watching you, Watching me’.

Hubby has been to the camera shop and had it printed to the competition size of A4 and now we are ready. It’s all good, I’ll be fine, after a generous glass of wine and a vol-au-vent.

I can’t tell you how much I look forward to the 1st of December, not least that I can now look lovingly at all of the Christmas decorations in the shops without feeling the slightest hint of revulsion that it is still November and I was still enjoying Autumn thank you very much. But now we have had hard frosts and I sense that Santas elves are hard at work making children’s dreams come true, I really do feel Christmas is coming.

When I was very young we had a beautiful, in the sense of cardboard and a bit tatty, but beautiful nonetheless advent calendar which had pictures of children dressed up in winter star motif jumpers, woolly bobble hats and thick scarfs and mittens enjoying toboggan rides and throwing snowballs behind its pretty doors.  I loved peaking into the frosty snow clad scene to see what was revealed each morning. One year it was replaced by a chocolate version, equally good and for a few years we had both. And then sadly I grew up, the Internet wasn’t born, so to find a vintage advent calendar would have been all but impossible – and I still hope to find one, one day, and chocolate seemed for children, so advent calendars for me stopped.

Until, the beauty industry had a bright idea to make its own pretty advent calendars. I love the treat sized products to try, and this year has been my year of the beauty advent calendar, but my one true love is the version by Liberty. It is just so pretty,Mornings will be so much fun, maybe not as much fun as racing down the stairs, half dressed to open up a door and pop a chocolate in your mouth aged eight,  but almost and maybe even a teensy weensy bit more grown up, perhaps.

When I came home and regaled hubby with tales of my wonderful trip to Birmingham, I knew by the longing in his eyes that I would be making another trip very soon, giving me a day off on Monday he enticed me back on Tuesday, although to be fair, I didn’t need much convincing. We started off at John Lewis enjoying a late breakfast of builders tea and hot buttered toast with marmalade, just the thing to set one up for a trot around the German Market.  I loved these plates in the restaurant, quite amusing. We had a quick tootle around the Christmas decorations.  I nearly bought foxy home, so cute. Who wouldn’t love to drape their fireplace with an assortment of fir cones. Or adorn doors with beautiful wreaths with which to welcome Christmas visitors with.  There were so many beautiful things but it was time to leave and carry on with our adventure. The station is simply wonderful, lovely restaurants and cafes, wine bars and gorgeous shops.Next we found a cereal cafe, with over a hundred different types of cereal to tempt you with. That was quite something to come across, having heard of it in London but never having seen one. And then we were out, marching briskly in the cold. Hubby seems to be having a nice time. So many pretty things to see, these are delightful when they are lit up with a candle. Handblown glass balls. Just getting dark enough to appreciate the lightsof the carousel. The boys are beginning to cook up a storm for the visitors that will flock for the hot Bratwurst sausages. and German beers and Gluwein. Stars begin to twinkle in the darkening sky. Next we came across these Himalayan salt lamps and I simply swooned at their prettiness. After a little convincing that hubby really did want to lug a 5 kilogram lump of salt home and that I didn’t really want the 20 kilogram version that was absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, we came home with this.  A lovely reminder of a wonderful day.

Although storm Angus and the very enthusiastic weathermen and women did their utmost to put the wind up me so that I nearly cancelled I managed to find the strength to get out of my cosy warm bed in the pitch black,  shower in an ice cold house and make it to the train station, wind whipping through it as usual, just before nine, shortly to be followed in by Jane.

Wrapped up as snug as bugs in rugs we chatted enthusiastically as we waited for the train to take us to Birmingham and soon we were trundling through wind torn countryside to arrive at New Street in time for coffee before the shops opened up for Sunday trading.

It is one of life’s greatest but simplest of pleasures to spend a day shopping with a like minded, love all the things, creative friend.  John Lewis called us with its siren call and we entered and quickly found their stationary department, me mainly to stock up on some ink but also to just look at all the pretty things, and look we did.  We gaily trotted around, off to find the haberdashery department, dashing across the wide expanse of floor to find the make up department, admiring, cooing, wanting, as we went.  Eventually leaving John Lewis, with a deep, I had such a good time sigh, we headed off to M&S to stock up on a few necessities and wander around admiring Christmas jumpers and gorgeous lingerie.

Having found that storm Angus had danced its merry way onwards we wandered the German Christmas market, so many pretty things to see. It was the greatest fun to look at all the Christmas baubles and decorations. Walking up to the canal basin we enjoyed lunch of the dirtiest, tastiest beef burger I ever did eat, rocket fuel for a cold day, which was just what we needed. And then heading back, waving at the Birmingham Rep as we went, through the German market on route to Selfridges to spend an hour wandering, with another sit down for a drink and a little light shopping of a bright orange half price Radley purse, go me!  I must say Jane was a brilliant guide, knowing Birmingham so much better than I, showing me short cuts I never knew existed.  Seven hours and seven miles later we wended our way towards the train station, both of us planning to come back another day very soon with our partners.  Chattering non stop on the journey home, its a wonder we noticed our train stop, it really was the best of times, with a great friend I simply haven’t seen for ages, we must do it again and soon.

As storm Angus arrives to remind us all that we do indeed have winter windy weather in the U.K. may I just take a moment to pause and savour the last of our summer toms.

This is the second time in just a few weeks that the fifteen year old boiler is on the blink. Last night when it caught me unawares I looked like this.
All praise the wondrous power of wool from sheep and alpaca and actually the earthy toned scarf was yak. Currently I am a big ball of wool, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head and it is an attire that I am very glad to own. Put simply, wool works.

When we moved into this house some years ago we were warned about the boiler, how old it was and then it carried on for another ten years, I think it made its 28th year, it was only retired when the combustion chamber cracked.  It was a sad day indeed, what with it being New Years Eve and we went through a cold winter without central heating, just the toasty warm coal fire and a ready supply of hot water bottles and blankets. Do you know it was the best winter we ever had, the boys came down from their computer driven dens and we read books together, played board games, watched films and generally enjoyed an old fashioned winter.  Yes it was cold and yes I was very grateful for the open fire and the independent emersion heater, but I still remember the good times much more than the cold frosty starts to the day.

Eventually we saved enough pennies and did enough research to be confident of our choices and got a new boiler, but not until the spring.  Now we are back in that position, but the boiler is only fifteen years old, which means its nearly half the age of the previous boiler, half!  I listen to the argument for efficiency, but really, if I do the maths on even the most casual of basis its going to take ten years before I break even and working on the current inefficiencies of how boilers are built, that might only be seven years.  Its a bit like the Kenwood that was built to last fifty years as apposed to one built today.  You would think though, that if landfill and the green arguments in general were true, that companies would be making things to last, or at least produce the parts for twenty years not ten after production ends of the main item,  not try to get the consumer to upgrade because  a product might be more efficient by a certain percentage. We all know of course that that doesn’t make a profit. Lets all hope the engineer can fix it on Monday and we can then play the game a little further of, ‘how longs it going to last’.

I started the design of this quilt as being a play on light and dark, of course being at the mercy of the jelly roll and layer cake in Wrapped in Paisley by Moda, it didn’t go exactly to plan, but I am still very pleased with it, not least in that I achieved a nicely sized (as in big) quilt with one layer cake and one jelly roll.  To start with I separated eight light coloured strips to make the binding with as I wanted the binding to have a nice contrast to the quilt when finished and then went from there. Firstly I  made the triangles in light and dark, squaring them up and then playing around with squares and oblongs of fabric until I had what I wanted and sewing it all together, firstly in squares, then in stripes and then all together. I quilted it by quilting in the ditch (or trying to) all the straight seams and then I quilted the diagonals then adding quilting 2 inches each side, which meant there was at the widest point 3 inches of space between the quilting, which was the widest my chosen wadding would allow.  How to quilt it took a bit of figuring out but in the end I was pleased with the route I chose and I think it suits the quilt well. 

And as I have finished the quilt a couple of months ago it has been road tested and I can assure you all that it is as cosy as it looks.
I think it is my favourite quilt so far. 

I have named it Beloved Butterscotch after a friend said it reminded her of molten toffee, along with the date and place and my web site address should anyone discover it in a dusty corner of a second hand shop in the far and distant future.  But that is a long, long way off and for now it is to snuggle under at the merest hint of a frosty night and perhaps to keep toasty warm, hot chocolate in hand, whilst gazing at the largest supermoon since 1948 tomorrow night.

It all started peacefully enough, the mixing of water and flour in the hope of making a sour dough starter.  After a week and a couple of floury feeds to my hungry new born I had this, a happy little fellow indeed, burping away. And then disaster struck, the oven died on the very same day that the central heating did. Hubby ordered the parts for the cooker and phoned British Gas and I looked at my sourdough baby and wondered what to do and decided to make the bread as far as I could and slow it down in the fridge if need be and hope that the cooker would spring back to life with a new part – there was no guarantee at this point.

I made the dough by adding water and flour until I had a dough that I felt was about right, adding a little salt with the flour and then kneaded for fifteen minutes.  I think it was just slightly too wet but it was a lovely dough and was springing to life under my hands, it really was a pleasure to work.  I did a bulk rise, which took longer than expected,  we had a very cold snap so it was sat in an icy kitchen and this happened to be a good thing as when the mail arrived the cooker part was not with it.  Oh, so I finished the bulk rise overnight in the fridge with fingers crossed that it would arrive soon.

The next day the part came and hubby fitted it and ‘hurrah’ the cooker sprang back to life and I was able to knock back the dough and set it for its second rise in a heavily floured tea towel sat in a bowl. And that rose for about three hours, I then plopped it into a heavily floured cold cast iron dutch oven, slashed it with a knife, covered it with the lid and popped it into a cold oven, whacking the temperature up to its highest as I did so. I quite like the cold oven baking, I think it gives you a nicely flavoured bread without the burnt bits. The dough was very soft, so spread a little,  I wonder if it is worth baking in a bread tin in a dutch oven?  I took the lid off for the last twenty minutes to colour the bread. And 50 minutes later we had a lovely sourdough loaf to go with some home made butternut squash soup and slithers of vintage cheddar cheese. Time taken 9 days. But you know it was worth it.