Christmas Is Nearly Here!

 It's the eve of Christmas Eve & Bill has made it home for Christmas, no kids this year as they're all with the significant other's family with next year being our turn with the kids again.

We'll have the furbabies, the black & white ones with bob-tails. 😄

We're trying to keep with the traditions that we've done through the years. Tomorrow is the fish dinner with salad, a Hungarian tradition, then on Christmas day the stuffed turkey with homemade cranberry sauce & other vegetables. The day will come & go like any other day that ends in 'Y' but we will hold ourselves as being one of the blessed ones with healthy family & friends doing the same in their own little bubble.

Baxter & Bridget love the wood firebox & ask for it to be put on when the great room feels chilly. Bill & I laugh because our old Boris did the same thing with the gas fireplace to be switched on for warmth.

They cozy in there until their bedtime around 7-8pm then the cat sleeps in the same place!  

Rexton the Manx is sleeping on top of the heat register! She has been doing that all week, she's been laying on different registers & you know what that means! Cold weather is coming & has arrived!!

The winds this morning we had winds in the mid-60s', burr but by Christmas, the south winds are going to give us double temp's 10+C, crazy weather in the Atlantic northeast this year!

We had our first real snowfall yesterday, so glad Bill was home last night & has already neatened the lane & parking area up. I'm going to put thee geese in their Santa suits today.

 

I thought I would add some organic Christmas to the kitchen decor by drying this lemon & cloves out for the Jim Shore table topper. I like the way it turned out & will do it again next year!

Now for some treats for the feather friends outside. I follow Home is Where the Boat Is & Mary is always fixing up treats & sharing recipes, check her out. The recipe called for everything that I had in my pantry so I made these bird/squirrel treats!

These are the Christmas Eve treats that will hang from the evergreen tree & because the cookie cutters are open on both sides the birds can enjoy them as they hang there.

They can then be removed when empty & used again& again.

For now, the birds have been enjoying the suet balls that I made from the same recipe.

It was such an easy recipe here it is:

Suet Ornaments For Birds

1 cup lard - 1 cup peanut butter - 1 cup all-purpose flour - 3 cups cornmeal

Add in's oats, birdseed, unsalted peanuts -(I used 5 cups of birdseed)

Melt lard & peanut butter in a dutch oven or large pot over low heat.

Stir in dry ingredients then add in's of birdseed & other nutritious bird food.

The mixture must hold its shape.

With string already attached to the cookie cutters, fill & level them off or make balls of suet as I did & place each in their own paper cup.

Refrigerate overnight or place in the freezer & keep there until ready to use.

I'm lucky to have the sunporch as it is not heated nor is the garage & they have kept well there!

I'll be making this treat again after seeing the price of bird suet, the price of everything has really gone up!

This is my newest Luna & Friends animal, I called him Billie the Badger.

This is his cute badger tail! I also made him poseable by adding two layers of 18 gauge wire to his arms & legs.

He is 16 inches tall & has the same body type as Luna & Alfie so all their clothes are interchangable.

I was looking through my stash & had a chuckle & idea with this pant leg of Mitchell's that I cut off & made shorts for him. I cannot throw out good fabric that could be upcycled & now after 16 yrs it is going to be remade, or the new term 'upcycled'!

The overalls for Billie the Badger! Just enough, & I got two back pockets, the straps, & the front pocket from one jean leg!

I was so pleased with this little fellow! He even fits into the camo runners!

And now they are a trio of friends around the Christmas table! I made a tiny Christmas table cloth for them& used my embroidery machine to make a ring of red bells to accent the Christmas theme.

Yes, we have snow for our Christmas...I think if it lasts for another two days.

Bridget is not fond of the snow! She goes out & is right back in again. Baxter looks up at the tree for the squirrels that usually chatter at him.

There is comfort in the purity of the winter snow.

And now the winter begins & with each passing day, the days will grow longer!

Love this character! I've thee red fox cut out & ready to sew, I'll show him in the new year.

He's such a handsome badger!

I crocheted this outfit for Alfie Lupin last night. I had a pattern for the hat & made the vest with pockets & scarf from my head as I was crocheting. I used the whole ball of Irish 100% wool, made in Canada!

Going through my old stash of sewing materials I discovered this 'Pillow Case Doll' that I had started over 20 years ago! Where does the time go?!! I finished embroidering the stamped cross stitch & then cut the pillowcase apart to create undies, the bodice & the bonnet. These dolls were popular back in the day & I think I purchased this one at Mary Maxium's in Paris Ontario.

I was going to darken her with a tea stain but like her white purity & over time the fabric will age on its own. So for now I left it.

She is faceless, this is her lying straight out. I used tulle to give body to the sleeves & gown skirt.

The back is plain, the bodice has vintage lace that came from a relative's factory in New York. Thank you, lice, I try to add these things into heirloom pieces that I'm putting together for the future generations to come.

Billie the Badger, that fellow is everywhere!

Bridget fell asleep with her stuffless stuffie. I'm so happy that Boston's do not want to destuff my little woodland creatures like they did to the Grinch & Cindy Lou, Christmas past.

Right now all is calm all is bright!

I want to thank you for your visit & I am wishing you, wherever you are, health & happiness as we enter into another year!

Wishing you, a Merry Christmas & the very best in the New Year 2021!

Cynthia

Turned the Corner!

 With Christmas fast approaching, I was outside two weeks ago hanging the bird feeder & that's when it happened! The sciatica nightmare was to begin, two weeks of sheer pain through my lower back then down my leg & through my lower leg. I have not experienced pain like that since a horrid near head-on collision in my  1969  VW in 1976. Younger then I healed faster, my God sent was having my husband staying home with me for a week to make meals, bring ice packs, roll me on & off heat pads. I could not straighten up for days!

The medical system is moving at a snail's pace too which is not good, I called my Nurse Practioner as I have not had a doctor in years & the NP was working well until COVID hit. I called to see if I could get a muscle relaxer as all my over the counter meds were not touching pain or inflammation. I called on for a prescription muscle relaxer or antiinflammatory anything that could give me some relief, I wanted to steer clear of painkillers as we all know how that works out. To my dismay that Wednesday, the next phone appointment was on Monday, OMG 5 more days of this. After much research Bill helped & encouraged me through more icing, heat & yoga stretches. I do the child's pose, cat/cow, the sphinx to relieve pressure on my back when it starts to tighten with pain & today I'll start the treadmill very slowly.

Enough of my pity party, here's something that will put a smile on your face!

Luna & her brother Alfie Lapin, wearing their Christmas PJ's!

I made a pocket on his top to carry his carrots, I also use thick variegate embroidery thread to make a pillow for the chair.

I loved how it turned out. I was looking for a small scale pattern that would work for both & cut up Bill's Christmas boxers from many years ago that I don't even think he wore! lol

The elastic top of the boxers is now Bridget & Baxter's Christmas collars! What a fun upcycle project!

I asked Bill if he could make me a small table to go with the two ladder chairs that the rabbits sit on & he came up with this fantastic idea!

The smallest nesting table had a broken leg, so he cut the legs down to the chair scale & Voila!

The handwoven dishcloth that matched the teatowel set that my girlfriend made, is so to scale & Christmasy on the set table. As my dear departed English friend Harry would have said 'How civilized to have a dressed table". We use to have tea after he was done with his bridge game, in the summer I would surprise him with an outside patio table all dressed in linens. Some friends just leave footprints on your heart. 

I've always enjoyed Barbra Veron's Bunnykins, & Beatrice Potter's animals, the creator of Luna Lupin & Friends comes from the Lake District in England & I can see so many similarities as she brings these animals to life.

I'm enjoying creating the scenes to put them in, I know Bill is too because he has already started a poster bed for Luna to rest her head-on.

Baxter photographs so well & I was surprised with a gift from Nick & Leslie of personalized Baxter stamps, the one he is wearing his Santa Paws hat!

This is Boris Loree at 10yrs old,  his last year with us. Baxter so reminds us of him & is just a gentle & caring as Boris was.

I'm glad that I chose to have the two Boston's, each is so different in their personalities & make my heart sing with their companionship.

They adore Bill when he's home. He's trying to help me capture a good Christmas shot with them but all they want to do is please him with a shake my paw! 

They were born on Dec 19th, 2016 & have turned out to be wonderful companions for Bill & me.  

As well as being an unusual year with COVID, the weather has us breaking records for being so warm. This is our first snowfall & it's odd seeing the water open where the snow stops. It will not last as rain is now in the forecast. Very unusual indeed, the good thing with the rain is you don't have to shovel it!!

A positive thing that is finally happening here is Elon Musk's Starlink server. It has so much more to offer, we usually get 4mpds with Bell Aliant & when Starlink first plugged in for a signal it was over 150, now averaging more with 174 happening now. I'm so glad that the monopoly on us rural people is going to be over as more & more people are working from home & students are receiving class instruction online.

Wishing everyone that has stopped by for a visit a wonderful healthy week, stay safe.

One of my favourite sayings "This too will pass." Christmas is just 11 days away, stay healthy wear your mask! 

Cynthia

Getting Into The Season

 Well, the 2nd isolation of 14 days is done! We are both healthy & happy to have it over. Service New Brunswick calls the house three times a day to check up on Bill & I won't miss having that happening every day. The winds are still howling here but no snow yet, lucky us. Every time it rains both of us say "At least we don't have to shovel it!" lol

We have a new visitor to our winter feeder this year, a beautiful female cardinal. We've seen the male but not lately, I worry as the neighbourhood cats run at large & have been chased away from our feeders several times. Our cat Rexton watches from the window, she's an indoor cat.

The little red squirrel is such as cute sight, they are so small compared to the Ontario grey squirrels.

The dogs chase up the tree & they chirp away as they are high above them to keep the dogs' attention. lol

As my friend blogger Julia said, these are lovely birds but bullies! They chase everything away to get seed! I've gone out to gather their lost feathers to capture that blue, so beautiful!

The Evening Grosbeak are new to our feeders too!

We are enjoying watching what come to the feeders in the front yard, nuthatches, chickadees, morning doves. woodpeckers, & those annoying cats that we chase away. Hopefully, with the winter weather, they will want to stay indoors by the fire.

We put up the small Christmas tree this year in the great room, I do miss the huge lit tree but next year when the kids are home we will have it again.

Most everything on this tree is handmade with felted wool or fabric.

We found some older Christmas decorations from our outings when we lived in London ON. I laughed when I saw this one!

Bridget is wearing her festive collar, getting ready for our festive activities that involve food! lol

She likes to sit at the dining room bay window and look out to see what's happening in her backyard.

Of course, we had to purchase this tree decoration too! lol

This little Manx rules the house. Whoever said "Cats rule, dogs drool" had it right!

She loves wearing her collar even with the jingle bells on it! 

Now if Santa just grants me my wish...

She is wherever I work, it's like having a shadow!

Rexton will be turning 5 this year & has grown into quite the Manx personality.

Bill moved her cat tower into my sewing room & now my chair & ironing board are free to use as she supervises me from her tower. She still has her Christmas stocking from last year, I don't dare take the plastic balls out as the dogs destroy them.

I can't show you what I've been working on as it is a Christmas present & she's a blog reader, I'll show it in a later post.

I'm loving Luna & creating her outfits, this is on done in vintage fabric & her chair next to her.

I found she sat low in the chair so...

I added macrame beads to give it a bit of height. The legs were wobbly & Bill fixed that with a wire extension inside giving the chair more stability. Thank you xo

Alfie & Luna Lapin are by the Christmas tree & need new Christmas outfits, next post they will model them for you! I use scraps from the Christmas quilt to make a sleigh quilt & pillow.

The Boston's Baxter & Bridget love the morning sun as it shines in through the foyer door.

I laugh when I see their silhouettes on the door when they're on the front porch waiting to get in. I'm going to make a pattern from this & rug hook their silhouettes onto a stool this winter.

Speaking of rugs! This is the new project that I've wanted to do for a couple of years, 4 braided rug that was so popular back in the 30s' & '40s. It was done with cloth back then & Erin Halverson on YouTube has found that t-shirt fabric works very well because of the stretch going around the corners. You start with a simple braid, then ad the fourth strip.

This is my 2nd attempt, the first was smaller & placed in the bottom of a wooden quart basket for clothespins. I'm continuing with using the black, it gives me handwork whilst watching TV at night & warm under my feet when it is finished.

Remember Christmas in July's Mystery Quilt? Here it is now ready for Christmas & keeping the dining room warm & cozy as the sunporch on the other side of the garden doors is not insulted.

The quilt is made of wool on fabric & I did a quilt as you go get it done.

I was hooked by the reveal of the first block of Holly & Ivy & began the journey of making it.

If I had seen it in its entirety I would not have done it, so much work!!

It really makes the back wall in the dining area so cheerful & warm, I'm glad I did do it!

Speaking of warm...the great room window was giving off so much cold air that we came up with the idea of installing the sewing room thermal lined drapes inside the window to block out the cold air coming through the double-pane glass. The winds off the water are only going to get colder as the Atlantic Ocean cools down to the Gulf of St. Lawerance where the Miramichi Bay is.

Voila! Our winter solution is warm & cozy in the great room. We're still waiting to have our chimney cleaned before starting our firebox this year. Lucky for us winter is late this year!

The evenings come so soon now that I won't mind closing the drapes to keep the warmth in.

Here's Rexton styling another collar that was on Bridget. All three pets have the same neck measurement!

I think they all look great in red & white it really contrasts with the black & white!😊

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I hope you too are getting into the holiday season wherever you are. Please stay safe & wear your mask when you are out & about in public. 

Warmest regards,

Cynthia