Notes From My Office: The Advent Edition

Cecy

Dec 2

Advent is a time of anticipation. Of waiting for Christmas. For the festivities. For the joy to be found even in the darkest depths of winter. And of snuggling up warm by the fire with blankets and joyous films or books. Of baking and making yummy treats.

It turns out that trying to write two posts a week is harder than I thought. Or, indeed, getting into the craft room for crafting and not just reading scholarly essays or attempting to write my own. Or writing more generally. It was a good thought, but I need to get better at the planning, and executing said plan. Failure to plan is planning to fail, or some such. I'm usually much better at planning than executing.

Image shows a linen stocking topped with red fabric with a reindeer pattern on it. Behind the stocking is a line of bags attached to bunting.

However.

In the meantime, with Advent begun, the Advent calendar is strung across the wall. This year, it is a line of little bags, each containing one cross-stitch patch, one jigsaw-piece, and one or two chocolate coins. I'll number the bags for next year.

The Christmas cake, too, has been made. I found a slow cooker cake recipe, and it only took twice as long as stated to bake. It's currently wrapped in baking paper and tin foil and hidden out of Tiny's sight. It will be marzipanned and iced in the week before Christmas. And I have a long list of other festive treats to be made: fudge, truffles, dammsugare, and rice krispie "Christmas puds". And gingerbread houses (finally: I've had the moulds for years). We've already tested several gingerbread recipes.

I've also, finally, begun Tiny's stocking. We bought the fat quarters a while back, in October, I think, and I drew around ours on some Amazon packing paper (it makes good sewing patterns). And then I discovered a minor flaw in the fabric-pattern. It went the wrong way, so I had only just enough fabric.

So, naturally, I put it aside while I thought what to do.

I did consider quilting pieces together, but I don't have enough brain-space to work out which way each piece should go.

Instead, we simply returned to Hobbycraft for one of their plain linen stockings, and I shall stitch patches of the fat quarters to it. Eventually, probably after Christmas, I shall neaten the edges up with ribbon to divide the patches. I'm not actually sure if this was any easier or faster than my normal way of sewing stockings, but there. I'm committed now.