Christmas Spice and all things nice.

I am spicing things up this Christmas...I made some Chilli Jam yesterday.

It's really easy to make and tastes delicious with cold meats, cheese or just about anything. I love the combination of sweetness with the fiery chilli.

I used Nigella's recipe. All you need are fresh chilli peppers, red peppers, jam sugar and cider vinegar. I like mine extra spicy so I didn't deseed all the chilli peppers.

These are the jars of gorgeousness, looking all glowing and festive! They make great gifts too.

I finally got round to making some Christmas cards. I used scraps of fabric sewed together on my sewing machine and then made into Christmas(ish) trees, using wadding and backed with calico. (I don't think I'm explaining this very well, but hopefully you'll get the idea from the photos some of which are a bit blurry because it was very late and very dark when I took them with my iphone.)

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas, filled with joy, laughter, spice and all things wonderful, glorious and nice.
With very much love,
Ayozie xxx

Christmas makings and bakings..

I find the buildup to Christmas a bit of a mixed bag of elation, excitement and overwhelm. I put myself under so much pressure to enjoy the buildup to Christmas that I end up doing too much rushing around and forgetting what this season of advent is all about. Advent is a season of preparation, but it's also one of calm and reflection. As the mayhem of Christmas commercialism whirls around me, I am battling to say true to what I think is important. I don't always win and I often get sucked into a panic that I'll run out of time and haven't bought enough presents etc etc.

I so want things to be different. I have been spending time making gifts,  It is time consuming, but I suppose the point is that it offers an opportunity to slow down and think about and appreciate the person for whom the gift is being made. The tricky part is that all my issues around being enough come to the surface when I am making a gift for someone, will they like it or just think it's rubbish?, will it be enough? Does something have more value when you spend money buying it or does a handmade gift have equal or even more value? These are all questions that I'm grappling with.

Anyway here are a few glimpses of my gift making so far...

I learnt how to make these bags in my sewing class. The patterns are in this book.

I made this bag for my daughter's friend, with a matching notebook, which I covered with fabric, felt and knitted squares.

I'm enjoying making the fabric covered notebooks. They are fun to make and are an inexpensive gift idea. The patchwork covers are a great way to use up any bits of leftover fabric from another project and of course feature one of my favourite things, crochet flowers!

It's Christmas baking time again, and I made these cakes for the Winter fair at my daughter's school. The Christmas trees are made from sugar paste with mini chocolate buttons stuck on, and the icing is vanilla buttercream.

The holly leaf is made from sugar paste and the berries from red fondant.

Hope you are enjoying this Christmas season and all the joy it brings.

With much love.

xxx

Thanksgiving, the joy of family and moving into advent...

Yesterday we had a family thanksgiving gathering. We wouldn't ordinarily celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK, but my sister and her family were visiting from the States and I thought it would be lovely to get all the family together. I got really excited about planning it. It was such a special day and I wanted to share some moments from it. The photos are courtesy of my friend Elle, who joined us and took some wonderful, precious photos. The table decoration looked wonderful, I was so pleased with how it turned out, I'd been collecting pumpkins for weeks! I also used halved pomegranates which I dried in the oven on a very low temperature and made pomanders with oranges studded with cloves (they smell divine).

For tealight holders, I used old jam jars with autumn leaves stuck on with glue. They looked so lovely when lit.

 For the actual dinner, we enjoyed roast turkey with all the trimmings, and for dessert I made an almond cake, a coffee and walnut cake and a chocolate orange cake. 

 

I am so thankful for my family. They are so wonderful. We had such a joyful day yesterday, with each other and with the friends who joined us. It was wonderful for my mother to have all of her children and most of her grandchildren together at the same table. 

Precious moments....

As we move from autumn into winter and as advent begins, I am hoping to have times of stillness and calm amidst all the hectic buildup to Christmas. I want to stay true to the things that are truly important and I want to maintain an attitude of thankfulness for all the wonderful things in life.

Wishing you all many precious moments this advent.

Much love.

xxxx