From snow to sun...

Winter has finally arrived in Britain - after such a mild (and wet) December, yesterday was our first properly snowy day of the winter. We did have snow on Monday, but not the sort to lie once it hit the ground (in London at least).

About 8.30am yesterday the snow front hit London and proceeded to snow consistently for a good six hours.

This was my walk home from the station last night (albeit a slow one as my footwear was definitely not suited to the conditions!).

There is the odd snow flurry this morning, but nothing like yesterday. I am spending today packing and getting organised to fly to Australia tonight, but I did walk up to the village this morning to return some library books.

 I made sure I was properly attired footwear-wise today!

My little apartment complex looking quite picturesque

And pretty Edwardian villas in the village looking even prettier with their dusting of snow.

So, even though Heathrow cancelled about 30% of their flights yesterday, I am heading to the airport later today for my flight to Sydney. The airport authorities tend to prioritise long-haul flights, so am feeling positive that we will get to depart, albeit a little delayed. The incoming flight from Sydney has arrived this morning (about 4 hours late), so at least there is a plane to board - even if we do sit on the tarmac for a while before being able to take off.

Packing has been interesting. The weather in London yesterday was minus one degree (though with the wind chill factor the actual feel was minus 7 degrees). The weather in Sydney was 45 degrees.

Definitely one extreme to the other...

A sewing month...

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Week two of the new year and time is already flying past! The last two weeks have seen me spending quite a bit of time at the sewing machine. A friend of mine is in the midst of exploring some new business ideas - one of which is to develop a retail product line (bags/accessories etc). I've been doing some work for her, sewing up some of her ideas as prototype designs for her to try and refine before she starts sourcing potential production sources. As I've never made bags before, I've been learning some new skills and have been enjoying the challenge. She is also using this as an opportunity to develop her own skills so we have also included a few sewing lessons for her.

 

Given the continued wet weather in London it has been an enjoyable way to while away a few hours on the weekends. It has also inspired me to complete some long-planned sewing projects of my own - there is now a new summer skirt and shell top completed and ready to be packed for my trip to Sydney next weekend!

The year ahead...

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As seems to happen each year 2012 feels like it has passed in the blink of an eye - was it already 6 months ago that we were enjoying the fun and frolics of the Olympics here in London? But, at the turning of the year my thoughts always move towards what the next will have in store.

 

2013 will bring some lovely opportunities...

 

A milestone birthday in January

My first home purchase and my opportunity to start putting all of those pinterest inspiration pictures into action (all being well, and unless the London property market starts behaving very oddly in the next six months!)

Some extended travel for work thanks to being awarded a travel scholarship

Two trips to Sydney to see family (one thanks to that aforementioned scholarship!)

 

Wishing everyone a lovely new year, and some equally lovely things ahead in 2013.

Merry Christmas...

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Presents wrapped, mince pies made, work finished (until Thursday), and my advent candle is on the home stretch...all that is left to do tonight is enjoy the broadcast of Carols from Kings.

London is forecasting a mild though wet Christmas Day...off to church in the morning, followed by a non-traditional (vegan) lunch with friends.

Wishing you all a lovely and peaceful Christmas...

A Handmade Christmas (part two)...

I'm spending Christmas Day with friends who have two little girls (3 years and 18 months old) - so I spent some time this weekend making little Christmas gifts for them both...I've discovered that clothing is a much safer option, as I am never sure what they already have toy wise...

I'm sure I've posted about this technique before, but here is a quick re-cap.

I printed out their initials using a large, simple font - something without too much detail is ideal.

I then traced their initials onto vlisofix/bondaweb (double-sided fusible interfacing) - making sure to mirror-reverse their initials during the tracing stage.

Iron the vlisofix onto the wrong side if your fabric...

...and then cut around each letter.

Remove the paper backing, position them on the shirt where you wish, and then iron to secure.

Using a toning embroidery thread, use a blanket stitch and work around each of the letters.

And the finished product, ready to wrap and place under the tree.

I managed to retain my industrious-ness and finally spent some time this afternoon making a new bed valance and pillow covers to go with the the new bed quilt that I purchased back in January (shameful I know!)...but at least I managed to complete them within the calendar year (just). Now I just need to decide on what I'd like to do for bedside lamps and the bedroom mini-makeover will be complete.

Handmade Christmas...

You may remember that last year I was very industrious in making Christmas ornaments for a group of old-school friends. Well, I'm afraid I was a bit of a failure this year and had to resort to purchasing...a combination of delayed inspiration of what to make, and then running out of time to actually make anything.

However, I have still kept some elements of a handmade Christmas alive this year. Earlier in the year I gave my friend C some knitting lessons, so I decided that it would be nice to make her a scarf for her gift.

I toyed with the idea of a chunky wool ribbed scarf, but when I was browsing ideas on Ravelry, I was swayed by the idea of a pretty lace-knit version. I'm popping the finished product in the post on Monday, and I hope she likes it...

Advent candles...

Last month, my friend C and I went to the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Kensington. It was a fabulous event, and I will definitely go again next year. While we were there, we stopped by the Suzie Watson Designs stand and C gifted me this lovely hand-painted advent candle.

The candles are decorated so prettily, with handpainted hearts, stars and christmas ivy. As I was away in Australia for a few days, I have been a little late in getting the Christmas tree decorated. Whilst I was fighting jet lag on Friday night, I decided to tackle the tree and get up to date with burning my candle.

There are some lovely things on the website, but I think an advent candle is going to become an annual tradition for me.

As is my custom, I have continued with my favourite blue and silver theme this year. A new addition to the tree is this lovely little wedgewood teapot which was a gift from my mother last Christmas...and given that I was just on Sydney recently, there are also now a lovely little selection of gifts under the tree...