time to admit.

[wonky doodle]

I'm not a fan of ginger, but being the kind hearted soul that I am, I'm more than willing to taste test any of your baking and give a totally unbiased review.

Ha ha thx Sam, you would be welcome to anytime.xx

[wonky doodle]

The home baked hampers are a great idea, it must be delightful to receive one.

Having said that, I don't think anyone would appreciate my baking efforts, so I'll stick to the cards! Thankfully, my daughters are great cooks having spent so much time with my late MIL.

the hampers will have chocolate truffles, Viennese biscuits, shortbread, a jar of sweet chilli jam, strawberry jam, and
Orange marmalade, have "test baked the biscuits, and made all the preserves,
have never done this before, usually make treasure boxes,bird houses that sort of thing, one year bought dolls house cabinets and decorated them with plates, cups, vases etc and in the cupboards put memories from my children's childhood, I.e. kites, a frog lol, bible, mini bags of sweets etc Etc. They were thrilled, and couldn't top that.
Also in the middle of handwriting recipe books with all my Mums recipes and some of my own, so a bit different this year.x

[Victoria]

the hampers will have chocolate truffles, Viennese biscuits, shortbread, a jar of sweet chilli jam, strawberry jam, and
Orange marmalade, have "test baked the biscuits, and made all the preserves,
have never done this before, usually make treasure boxes,bird houses that sort of thing, one year bought dolls house cabinets and decorated them with plates, cups, vases etc and in the cupboards put memories from my children's childhood, I.e. kites, a frog lol, bible, mini bags of sweets etc Etc. They were thrilled, and couldn't top that.
Also in the middle of handwriting recipe books with all my Mums recipes and some of my own, so a bit different this year.x

I'm drooling here! Sounds divine.

[RozMinis]

Not sure about the chilli jam, sweet ot otherwise, and I don't like marmalade, but the rest do sound good. I will be more than happy to do an unbiased test as well. ;)

Finished the knitted snowmen today. Actually with the fur yarn around the bottom of the hats they look more like snow ladies than men. No matter, I am sure they will sell. Also stitched the two reindeer that came with a copy of Prima that I bought for two squid from the market. Didn't like the stuffing, so used my own. Not that the felt was all that great either. I added a couple of little jingle bells to make them a bit different, and stitched the heart at an angle as I thought it looked better that way.

Not sure if I should finish off the November and December Just Cross Stitch Challenge ornaments tomorrow, or get on with Kate's birthday prezzie. Not that it is her birthday until the 29th, so I dare say I could leave that until Wednesday and Friday. I won't be at home on Thursday(Harrogate), and will be too busy Saturday/Sunday/Monday to work on anything, so I don't really have that much time to finish any of them.

Roz

[Little Jan]

the hampers will have chocolate truffles, Viennese biscuits, shortbread, a jar of sweet chilli jam, strawberry jam, and
Orange marmalade, have "test baked the biscuits, and made all the preserves,
have never done this before, usually make treasure boxes,bird houses that sort of thing, one year bought dolls house cabinets and decorated them with plates, cups, vases etc and in the cupboards put memories from my children's childhood, I.e. kites, a frog lol, bible, mini bags of sweets etc Etc. They were thrilled, and couldn't top that.
Also in the middle of handwriting recipe books with all my Mums recipes and some of my own, so a bit different this year.x

The hampers sound lovely

Better then the annual one we get from hubbys mum and dad which they used to pop into
BHS late Christmas Eve to get at bottom price
How they price these hampers amazes me
start at £60 and knock them down to £15
Which is worth it for the wicker hamper but the contents are terrible
Mini jam ,mini marmalade mini cranberry sauce 20 dust bags (tea bags)
Five fingers of short bread some cheap truffles that I can get from the pound shop
Mini xmas pud and a tiny bottle of c..p wine
Total rip off

[wonky doodle]

The hampers sound lovely

Better then the annual one we get from hubbys mum and dad which they used to pop into
BHS late Christmas Eve to get at bottom price
How they price these hampers amazes me
start at £60 and knock them down to £15
Which is worth it for the wicker hamper but the contents are terrible
Mini jam ,mini marmalade mini cranberry sauce 20 dust bags (tea bags)
Five fingers of short bread some cheap truffles that I can get from the pound shop
Mini xmas pud and a tiny bottle of c..p wine
Total rip off

have really enjoyed the change, normally I am up to my eyeballs in paint and mdf at this time of year, one of my daughters has obtained a few baskets and cellophane bags so a bit of ribbon or lace and should look ok, ( she doesn't know one of them is for her family,) she was saying what a nice idea, thank you for the lovely comments chuffed! Xx

[wonky doodle]

Not sure about the chilli jam, sweet ot otherwise, and I don't like marmalade, but the rest do sound good. I will be more than happy to do an unbiased test as well. ;)

Finished the knitted snowmen today. Actually with the fur yarn around the bottom of the hats they look more like snow ladies than men. No matter, I am sure they will sell. Also stitched the two reindeer that came with a copy of Prima that I bought for two squid from the market. Didn't like the stuffing, so used my own. Not that the felt was all that great either. I added a couple of little jingle bells to make them a bit different, and stitched the heart at an angle as I thought it looked better that way.

Not sure if I should finish off the November and December Just Cross Stitch Challenge ornaments tomorrow, or get on with Kate's birthday prezzie. Not that it is her birthday until the 29th, so I dare say I could leave that until Wednesday and Friday. I won't be at home on Thursday(Harrogate), and will be too busy Saturday/Sunday/Monday to work on anything, so I don't really have that much time to finish any of them.

Roz

if we lived lived a bit nearer Roz would have made you one without the chilli and marmalade,
You always seem so busy with your needlework, this is something I am not confident with, have seen some of your beautiful work on this forum,
one of our grandchildren has special needs and has just spent 6 weeks on the ECMO intensive care ward at Leicester glenfield hospital, we stayed with our daughter and Son in Law in a premier inn nearby, saw a crewel kit for sale, Animal Blessings, it is a tree with all sorts of animals in amongst the branches, and an animal blessing text. Perfect I thought, how wrong was I, looks awful and very childish. So to get to the point I am very envious. Xx

[RozMinis]

Aw bless you Wonky. It really is kind of you to say such nice things. :)

Finished both the ornaments this afternoon, and made a start on the rice bag. Will post photos of the ornaments when I have edited them. Toiletry stuff has already been bought to go in the rice bag, but I now want to make another one to give to Naomi for Christmas. I will buy the goodies for that one tomorrow.

Finished knitting the socks for 'himself' that were started a couple of weeks ago. Was only s'posed to be knitting them at the Needle/Natter group, but sort of got carried away. The lighting isn't really 'up to snuff' at Aroma for me to do any proper stitching, although I might give my crewel work kit a lash after C********* :) It is years since I did any crewel work, but as I have had this kit, plus a booklet and enough fabric/wools to make four more designs, I reckon it is high time I had another go. Maybe make it one of my weekend thingies, along with the gold work, Rowandean, and various other projects I have never done.

I wish I knew where to get the 'stuff' needed for Carrickmacross lace. I tried it years ago, not very sucessfully, but I wasn't 'up to challenges' in those days, which I am now.

Roz