AWOL

Well I disappeared for a while there. I got swept up in the frantic rush of late November and December, a busy time of year at work as well as at home. I did keep thinking of my little blog but somehow couldn't get it together enough to write anything.

But it's a new year and a fresh start, so, keeping in the spirit of January, I'm going to do one quick, whizzy rundown of what I've been up to for the last few weeks and then move on with 2012.
There was a shopping and sightseeing trip to beautiful New York City. A treat for me from City Boy after struggling through a rubbish year health-wise.

There was lots of knitting and making ahead of the 25th of course, much of which was wrapped up and handed over in far too much of a rush to photograph. One such present comes immediately to mind - a reverse appliqué quilted table runner for my mum. I'd spent hours on it, and was finally sewing on the binding on Christmas Eve when I noticed a few red marks on it. On further inspection there were red smears all over it. Panicking now, and fearing the worst, I was trying to work out when it would have come into contact with red ink when I noticed that one of my fingers was also covered in red ink. Of course, I'd stabbed myself with a pin, which I'd not really registered in the frantic rush to get it finished and bled profusely all over natural linen. An unscheduled wash was required, and it was only just dry in time to wrap on Christmas morning.

There were a host of knitted gifts as well, including this lovely little cowl made out of some DK silk and merino, sent off to warm the neck of one of my grandmothers. This was actually for a birthday, of which we had two to celebrate in December. Really, it's quite inconvenient of people to be having birthdays when I'm trying to prepare for Christmas!

 

There were many, many shopping trips, often on two wheels with a laden basket, wobbling through the park.

There was decorating and a trip to three different places to hunt down that elusive perfect tree.

I didn't get many decorations made this year despite my intentions and the beginning of a Christmas quilt. I had imagined a quilt that could be brought out for snuggling in front of the fire in Decembers to come, but it currently consists of two star blocks.

Lots of baking (and eating), including a wonderfully sticky, spicy gingerbread loaf that I made (and ate) over and over again.

And there were lots and lots of lovely presents - I was thoroughly spoilt this year, including a present that I'd been dropping lots of hints for...

Except for leaving the house for a New Year's Eve party, in the period between Christmas and New Year we could, furry housemates included, normally be found on the sofa in front of a film with the fire on, all wrapped up and keeping warm.

Missing all the Fun?

I’ve been reading about how much everyone enjoyed the Royal Wedding. The stunning dresses, the moving ceremony, the incredible community spirit. I’m afraid to say that City Boy and I were not imbued with this sense of community spirit and national pride, and instead fled the country. We decided to get out of London for the week immediately preceding the wedding, thus escaping all the mayhem, and hopped on a ferry over to France.

It was just what I needed after working since January. Pain au chocolat and cafe au lait sitting outside on a pavement every morning, baguettes and brie on a picnic blanket in the sun for lunch and delicious bistro meals with plenty of wine every evening. But it wasn’t just about eating – honest! We stayed in the Loire valley for four days, and visited fairytale chateaux, wandered through local markets and cycled down the Loire river through the beautiful countryside.

We then stopped over in Burgundy for one night, staying on a working vineyard by a canal and tasting their delicious wine, before heading up to Champagne via Chablis (my favourite. The wine I mean, although the place is nice too). Yes, we did indeed partake of the regional drink whilst staying in Champagne– would have been rude not to!

We brought approximately seventy-six various bottles home with us from the various vineyards we visited and tastings we did throughout the week, and I’m now struggling with where to put them in the Littlest House. The wine rack is full and the rest are currently sitting on top of the dishwasher and in boxes under the kitchen table.  I think the simplest solution is probably to get drinking.