Online Festivities

It's less than a week until Christmas, and the festivities have begun. In keeping with the theme of the year, they've all been online. I've had my works night in (another one in keeping with the year, it was a quiz! ) and then Friday we saw one set of friends virtually and then I had my Christmas Dinner (virtually) with another set of friends Saturday.

Whilst everyone is trying to remain upbeat, it's clear that this year has started to wear folk down. Hopefully the winter is kind and quick and with Spring we'll get back to something akin to normal again. I'm not asking for my much, I'd just like to go out on a walk and stop at a cafe to have cake and tea with friends and family. Nothing much. 

Missy is doing well with her exploring with Dogfuriendly - we got the Honourary Hound accolade in November and the new badge arrived in the post. I'd hoped to get out and photograph her outside with her sash, but the weather has been far too grim for that kind of nonsense! 

Sewing wise, that's the last of the big projects out the way. I am rather pleased with this Wonder Woman quilt for the brother in law, I finally braved pinwheels and was surprised that they weren't nearly as bad as I expected them to be! More shots, as always, on the insta @missdaisysewing 

Just started on a new cross-stitch, although I will confess in that my sewing break has lasted all of three days - I've just purchased the the Hamilton Spencer Jacket which is definitely going to be my New Year project for myself!

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas, no matter what you do!

A Struggle to Find Santa Paws

Well, last week was a disaster. The boiler broke Friday and it wasn't until Tuesday that I had any hot water or heating. So I was far too cold and in an absolute humbug to write up a blog post.

The week had started off really well, despite experimenting with a veggie diet for a month (more to see if we could manage it, the hubby being the kinda guy that doesn't view a meal complete unless something dead is on the plate) my iron levels were good enough to let me give blood. (I always coast about the 125mg/l limit, so was shocked to get 150mg/l, albeit from the arm after failing the finger prick). So I got my twice yearly tunnocks teacake, got the house dressed for Christmas in our usual low-key kinda way, played my new Dolly Jolly Christmas CD and the three of us cuddled up on the sofa to watch Dolly's Christmas on the Square (if you need some warm hearted Christmas themed cheese, I recommend it). 

Then, prepped for a weekend of fun and adventure, the heating went. 

And we had snow. 

Thunder snow. 

Engineer was to come out Sunday, got cancelled as someone decided not to reveal they were covid positive until after they had been visited, so my engineer had to self isolate for the rest of the day. 

They came out Monday, the propeller had gone, so the part wouldn't arrive by Tuesday. All this time I couldn't have Missy sleeping in the hall (which at best we could warm to 12C with an oil heater) so she was in with us, meaning all three of us were under slept, tired and cold in the bones. 

Humbug to all those seasons greetings. 

Then heat returned, and we could have hot baths. I don't think the poor boiler engineer had ever been thanked so enthusiastically as the radiators hummed to life!

This weekend we moved out from teir 4 and down to teir three (which really, apart from the shops opening, has changed nothing) and I was determined to get myself feeling Christmassy again. I was two weeks into December and felt less Christmassy than I had last month, that needed fixed. 

So off to Santa Paws. 

We had planned on coupling the visit with a walk round Beecraigs, but it's rained all day and I've gotten a terrible cold from my chill last week, so hubby insisted on cream scones and tea and then for me to get back inside and warm and he'd do the afternoon walk. 

Honestly, I don't deserve him sometimes. 

In bake off news, it's been gingerbread men and pupperoni pizza - the later of which turned out perfect and Missy was very pleased with! Here's a recap of our bake off adventure, and my absolute low key trolling in trying to get Missy to pose exactly the same for every shot! 

Craft wise I haven't been idle. I lost a lot of sewing time last week on the account of it being too cold (trying to thread a needle with raynauds is absolutely impossible) bu I was pleased to complete my eldest neices stocking:

It is quite possible that she is more obsessed with backpacks than I am, so I know she'll love it. I wanted to do something fun and bright, but she's moved to that phase where it's all pretentious pouting and black.

Here's a sneak peek of my current, very bright and loud project:

One more post until Christmas! 

Seeking O in the Frost

It's still lockdown so it's been another quiet week in the household. Lots of cuddles on the sofa, listening to books or podcasts whilst sewing away the dark evenings. It's gotten pretty cold too, but thankfully some frost never stopped Missy from enjoying herself. 

Todays #leadthewayatoz was the letter O. It's a hard letter at the best of times, and being unable to leave the council area, we ended up coping out and going with Orange leaves:

Perhaps they're more accurately described as copper, but needs must! 

All these quiet evenings have allowed me to really tank through some of the big projects on the to-do list, including (but not limited to):

A super king quilt for the in laws. The wings were originally flappy, but I had a panic about Ruby chewing them off, so went back and tacked them down so they are less tempting to a 1 year old vizla pup! 

Something super tempting for my pup was the peanut butter and popcorn flapjacks for this weeks #greatdoggybakeoff. I'm resigned to the fact that we won't win, but it's all about participation for us, and Missy loves it regardless of how it looks!

Christmas plans are afoot and I'm starting to feel a bit less stressed about it - I suffer from chronic over-organisation, so having to wing things gets me very anxious. Needless to say, that sums up this year for me, but we're getting somewhere, so I'm starting to look forward to the festive season. 

Here We Go Again

It's beginning to feel a lot like Lockdown...

Well, we've been moved into Tier 4 lockdown which means that everything is closed and no one is quite sure what's going on. Despite being furloughed previously, hubby is working through this time as his store is trialing a click and collect service. No one is very sure if it'll take off, so we're waiting to see what happens. 

For today's #leadthewayatoz, we got the letter D and, bearing in mind we are not allowed to leave our council area, I went with Door and we visited the Herman's Beechwood. It was nice to have something to distract us from the lockdown, and I enjoyed brainstorming an idea to get today's letter. 

The weather has been pretty grim, so we timed it well between rain showers. It's a nice little woods, but is more of an add on than a walk in and off itself. 

In craft news, I decided to get creative with my Enter/Do Not Enter sign on my office door. Hubby is generally rather good at not wondering in when I have a meeting, but you can never be too careful! 

Just a short post today, I'm wrapping up on a rather large project to share next week.

Excited to announce E

This week on the #leadthewayatoz, Missy was in charge of the takeover. 15 weeks ago when the Dog Furiendly was setting up behind the scenes, they asked for volunteers to do weekly take overs with their assigned letter. I signed up and, with the caveat that I couldn't do Armistice, was assigned the 15th November and the letter E.

Hubby is way better at this than me and I was dumbfounded. E...? An Egg maybe? Eldritch horror - no, no, no, that won't fly. It was pointed out to me, somewhat slowly, that we live in Edinburgh. Known for its world class Educational institutes. And year round Entertainment. We could Explore something touristy. He was very Easy-going on the whole suggestion and I decided, 15 weeks ago, we would do the Camera Obscura and bag a unique word of "Eye-popping Illusions". 

15 weeks. It all started hunky dory. Then Wales went into lockdown. Then England brought in the teirs system. Ireland into lockdown. Scotland went into tiers, Lothian at teir 3. England went into lockdown and now the West of Scotland is being threatened with one.

I panicked and we filmed last week. 

Turns out I didn't need to panic, but seeing as it's likely the central belts going into lockdown very soon, I'm pleased I did.

We had an Excellent day (OK, OK, I'll stop now). We got there just before opening, did all the filming, and patiently queued for the door to open. Missy, in her usual Excited way (last one, promise) skipped in and was met with a wall of "aww". I genuinely heard someone say "my day just got even better!" as I followed behind Missy and someone had already produced a bag of dog treats. Missy knows what Pedigree looks like so ensured that was our first stop before we signed in at the till and we got the full covid health brief.

Then we were on our way. In the whole time we were there, we saw two other families, it was like a ghost town which was brilliant. We finally got to play on the things that always have tons of kids about them (cleaning wipes were provided) and just took our time to enjoy the day. 

So that was E. I spent the mid morning online today posting photos and chatting with folk asking about the Obscura and I'm pleased it's all gone so well. I hated the filming bit, but despite obvious nerves, was happy with the outcome.

I've managed to raise the stakes on the crazy dog parent this week by joining in the Great Doggy Bake off - this week was banana pancakes. Hint, these are more banana omelettes, you'd not going to toss these! 

Missy loves banana, so these were met with great enthusiasm. So much so that it was a real struggle to get a photo with her! 

I'm hoping for a biscuit next, we might do a bit better with that! I've managed to talk Rens mum into joining the contest so I have some friendly rivalry! 

This weeks sewing is part of the ongoing Christmas makes - who wants an oversized sock when you can have a Marvel backbag as a stocking instead? For my oldest nephew - I've got a few wee bits to go in it and some sweeties too. I only have 2 more things left on my to make list (although I am forever adding to that list, so that's subject to change!).

Until next week! 

A Quick Week

It's been one of those weeks where I'm not very sure where it went! It's been productive though, I've managed lots of dog walks and ploughed through my craft to do list.

My brother has had the week off work, so has met me after work twice this week for a dog walk as Maisie has needed the distraction from the fireworks. It's worked quite well and we've abided by the rules (although Missy and Maisie certainly didn't!) Unfortunately Missy had started to limp a little so we put her on short walks and some pain killers and, four days later, she's as right as rain. 

I also managed to catch up with a friend at the weekend and we revisited Laurieston Castle (well, being honest, we humans wanted to revisit the Mimis!) Missy got a black pudding pupcake and loved it. 

I then managed to swing round and see my mum and we spent a nice half hour in the garden catching up. The weather hasn't been great with a heavy mist that has covered the Lothians pretty much since Friday!

 

On a crafting front, keeping in mind the date, I made a new wreath for the window. I've mentioned previously that the purple poppies represent animals who served during wartime, so I used both on the wreath. Missy too has been wearing her poppies and I've had a few queries on the purple ones. 

I'll leave you all there - next week has the promise of some very interesting adventures! 

it's beginning to look a lot like... Halloween?

Well, after last week's adventure at the pet cemetery, I thought we had done pretty well for festive fun, but we managed to squeeze in a trip to a Maize Maze and see my older sister and her family at the same time. 

Ordinarily, Cairnie Fruit Farm doesn't allow dogs in the maze itself, but with it due to be cut tomorrow (and the fact we were about the only ones there) they let us go in with Missy and Wee Ben.

We had all dressed up for the event to inch out the very last of the Halloween theme before November takes hold, and despite some rain and the wind, all had a nice time. Missy was best at leading us through the maze and we're all very tired now.

On a craft front, it's not sewing! I bought myself a little wooden advent house and did it up as a House of Mouse themed jewellery box. Very pleased with it, but I can't pick a favourite door!