Angel Delight!

Among my boxes and bags of Christmas stuff being put away is a black binbag full of white strips. It is being very carefully labelled . I knew a woman once who wrapped all the Christmas presents in November and hid them in four knotted black bin bags at the back of the garage, without telling her husband. Yes, he did put them out for the refuse collection. Oops!

Bob is aware of this bag. It is a set of new wings for our Tableau Angel. In early December, we were walking through Dereham, and I noticed a stunning window display in the BigC charity shop. This is a Norfolk based charity, established 45 years ago, who do some great work, supporting people affected by cancer [patients and their families]

The display was an angel, in a fabulous cream silk gown with wings and a halo, and all beautifully lit up. I went straight into the shop and asked what would happen to her wings after Christmas. The manager asked why I was interested, and I showed her a picture of our tableau, and explained I was interested in getting better wings for the angel. She took my details, and left a message at the end of the year on our answerphone saying the display had been taken down, and the wings were packed up and ready to be collected! 

I went in with the girls on Saturday and she gave them to me. She was so pleased that we'd raised so much for the Hospice...and glad the wings were going to a good home, and not filling up her tiny store room. I made a donation to BigC and came home very happy. 

At last I can dispense with that curtain track/net curtain arrangement for something properly wing-like! Maybe I should think about upgrading the seraph's robe too [perhaps adding some lace trim?] That task can wait till November...

Zipping Along...

 
This is how a zip [zipper] works. Such a simple idea, developed at the start of the 20th century by Gideon Sundbach, a Swedish-American engineer. We have been using them on our clothes, boots, furniture and purses ever since. In 1937, French fashion designers raved about the use of zips in men's trousers, and declared the zip had beaten the button in "The Battle of The Fly".

Zips are splendid, when they work properly. They save time, they help in the process of teaching small children to dress themselves, and they reduce time spent fumbling with buttons. But when they go wrong...Here is the one I removed from Rosie's jacket last Friday night. As she zipped it up, the coil of nylon teeth came completely adrift. "Can you fix it? Should we chuck it?" asked Liz.

I checked the Great Stash, and I did have a nylon open ended zipper of the correct length, but it was navy. I carefully unpicked the damaged zip, pinned the replacement in place, and then tacked it carefully. It is a Mountain Warehouse coat, with lots of inner layers and flaps etc. It took ages to get it all correctly aligned. I went to bed at 10.30, and got up early.

My sewing machine, with its walking foot made short work on stitching it down. One line of stitches close to the edge, another strengthening line 5mm in. It all went smoothly. I was a bit bothered about not having a matching colour zip, but the family liked the contrast and it was declared "a statement zip". Best of all, it was done without buying a new one and Rosie was only briefly without the jacket. They have all gone back to London now, term starts on Monday. 
This was my first sewing project of the year, definitely a Restoration, and in keeping with my #word365. Now back to that overdue-two-by-two!

Love Your Leftovers

There is not much Christmas cake left.  So the little resin figures have been carefully washed and dried and replaced in the box till next year. After the near disaster 4 years ago I don't soak Pauline's angel anymore [*she is sugar not resin]

How have we been managing our leftovers? I had bought a chicken which didn't get served as a roast dinner, so Bob put that with leftover ham** and veg into a splendid pie. That was served up on New Year's Day to Liz and family, along with lots of veg. We all like mash, so we had sweet potato mash, celeriac mash, and regular mash, alongside roast pots and parsnips, plus carrot coins and Yorkshires. 
The pie made 10 servings so kept us going for a few days. 

Bob mixed the various leftover mashes together. I took eight scoops, and some breadcrumbs [leftover crusts] to make a tray of croquettes for the freezer. 

Meanwhile Bob blitzed the remaining mash along with a can of chopped tomatoes, and we have plenty of delicious soup in the freezer. We had a bowl each on Sunday evening with homemade whole meal bread. Very warming!

As we were away for 6 days, I have fewer Christmas leftovers this year. All there is now are a few mince pies. I might make this recipe later. * the angel, not Pauline! **Liz took the final piece of ham to add to a rice based meal.

How have you managed with your leftovers? 
Do you have a favourite 'leftover' dish?

A New Word For A New Year

Last years #word365, proved a good choice - there were things which had a real impact on our world, and on our communities, as well as on ourselves.
And there were certainly many times where I was aware that my choices were making an impact on myself, my loved ones - and other people, and the planet. I was stuck for a word for 2026, and I had the germ of an idea, so I asked Bob. His suggestion chimed perfectly with my thoughts [which had been something about "putting things right"] He said "What about RESTORATION?" Perfect! thank you

There are lots of aspects of this - the dictionary offers these ideas

1. the act or process of returning something to its original condition [by repairing, cleaning etc]
2. the act of bringing back something that existed before [eg peace, a monarchy, a relationship, good health, animals in a habitat]
3. the act of returning something that was stolen or taken
4. [theological] the act of bringing a soul back to God

And so there seems plenty of scope here - I love The Repair Shop - the way things are restored 'to their former glory'."Please can you make it as it was when my Grandad first saw it?" they say, as they hand over the shabby cap, damaged instrument, smashed pot or filthy, painting. Sometimes just a little TLC, more often, hours of painstaking craftsmanship - but the team do create remarkable restorations. Mending, fixing, making things useful again - these are skills I enjoy practising.
Things that existed before - I am sure every one of you longs for peace in Ukraine. But there are other things to try and bring back. Four weeks ago, people in Norfolk were celebrating the sighting of a wild beaver for the first time in 500 years!

Personally I would like to restore my body to a slimmer, fitter state than it is right now. 
I'm not too sure how restoring 'something stolen or taken' fits in with my personal blog. But I know issues will arise this year on that one.
The theological one - as a preacher, I love the opportunity to point people to Jesus - but also know that I must keep my own 'spiritual walk' moving in a good direction too.

Restoration is such a positive word! In what way does "restoration" resonate with you?

Inspiration From The Bible

My dear friend Clare has just started an instagram page where she shares her artwork alongside Bible verses. She's a very talented woman, and I look forward to reading the words, listening to the music, and seeing her pictures. Check it out for yourself, and maybe you will want to 'follow' too. [link HERE]

Save String When You Are Young...

And When You Are Older...

You Will Have A Ball!

This maxim always amused me as a child. When I got to Uni, my lovely landlady had a huge ball of string in the cupboard. If any string-tied parcel or package arrived,  she would carefully unravel it, and knot the end on and make the ball larger. 

That meant that whenever you needed a long piece of string, it might be a knotty mixture of smooth white cotton string, green garden twine, and hairy jute yarn!

But for years I've followed her example - and at Christmas,  the bundles of branches from the tree, the boxes holding the baubles and much else gets tied with assorted random lengths. Definitely ZeroWaste!

All the decorations are down, the tree is dismantled, lights are neatly wound up. The Christmas towels and linens are washed, the mugs are wrapped and packed safely. The tableau costumes folded, the frames disassembled, the polystyrene heads removed. 

All the boxes are waiting to go back up into the loft. 

And me?

I've saved any and all leftover string, and now I'm wondering when I get to have that ball I dreamed of years ago...

Not complaining though... after all, I did end up with my handsome prince.

A Good Beginning

 The New Year started well. We looked after Ro and Jess on Thursday. At the start of the month Jess had been at Cornerstones reading this excellent book. I got it in 2020 [the Covid Summer of Grandma's Nursery] and have done a lot of the activities with the grandchildren.

Jess had asked to make the dancing ribbons. So when she arrived I had everything ready. I copied Janet's idea, and cut two rings from the bottom of my scarf tidy on Wednesday afternoon [and organised my scarves neatly afterwards] This was a good lesson in counting, measuring and learning to make loops. Plus using adjectives- wide, narrow stiff, floaty, silky...as well as colour names.

Meanwhile Bob and Rosie dismantled the Nativity Tableau. 

Here they are adding up the donations [cash plus onoine]. Note how she's checking carefully using her fingers digital calculator. 

£275 - thank you!

Our new neighbours are getting their bungalow straight. They brought us some chocolates. The girls made them a thank you card whilst I prepared lunch . Liz and Jon came back, we exchanged gifts, and ate Bob's splendid Christmas pie. 

The end of all our family events. Time to start un-decking...