A bird in the tree

Well, I'm quite familiar with the inside of our loft now - more than I want to be - but I still can't find two sets of lights that we put outside.  I'm running out of places to look.

The tree lights are working though and I've added a couple of new homemade decorations to all the others we keep from year to year...a little felt heart with shiny beads, and a white dove of peace.

Christmas Biscuits

This are spicy and nice and somehow taste so much better than shop-bought biscuits - oh and they are very simple to make
8 oz plain flour
4oz butter
2 good teaspoons ground ginger
Pinch of cinnamon
4oz icing sugar
1 beaten egg
Sieve the flour, spice and icing sugar. Mix. Rub in the butter. Bring it all together with the egg. Cut out with some Christmas cutters. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes. If you want to see Noreen Making these, check out You Tube: A Homespun Year

Plenty of snow

There's been loads more snow since iI took this photo - these agapanthus seed heads have been completely flattened.  But they did look gorgeous, just for a few hours.

Mincemeat

There's still time to do this; once you've done the shopping bit it is really simple to make - honestly

1lb/450g currants

1lb/450g raisins

1lb/450g sultanas

8oz/225g chopped mixed peel

1lb/450g cooking apples, cored and chopped

4oz/110g chopped almonds

1lb/450g dark soft brown sugar

8oz/225g shredded suet

1 tablespoon marmalade

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

grated rind and juice of an orange and a lemon

6 tablespoons whiskey

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, adding the whiskey last. Put in clean glass jars, and use in a few weeks when you make your pies

This will soon be  on YouTube, and is also included on A Homespun Year, our e-book, available on Amazon. Our YouTuble clip this time is  found at ...Homespun Years. Please have a look!

Not too soon, is it...

...to mention Christmas?  Sewing some decorations keeps me occupied while half watching reality TV eg. I'm a Celebrity, The Apprentice etc. The little Westie is simple to make, just handsewing, mainly wool and felt so I'm including basic instructions for anyone who wants to have a go.

Cut the westie shape out of paper - about 4ins/10cms high
Pin onto white felt and cut out 2 shapes
Cut a length of  red cord 8ins/20cms
Fold cord in half and sew to edge of back on one piece
Sew a round eye with some black wool
Cut a little heart out of red felt and sew in place with a cross stitch of black wool
Place the two westie shapes together and using white wool, sew around the edge with a running stitch, leaving a small gap for the filling
Fill with a little polyester filling and sew up the remainder.
Tie some narrow ribbon around the neck and stitch a liitle siver bell in place.

Staying out of the rain

There's not much to do outside right now...or I guess what I really mean is, it's not much fun going outside in the pouring rain (and that includes sweeping up piles of wet leaves!) 

At least there's a reminder of summer in our conservatory...some pink pelargoniums still flowering away.

If you've just navigated to our new blog from The Homely Year, it's good that you're here, and welcome to A Homespun Year.  Do hope you'll stick around for more posts and we'll try and catch up with everyone.