Merry Christmas from Brentwood Bay, BC on beautiful Vancouver Island. It's a sunshiney Christmas day rather than a white one but no complaints from me.
Our humble little Christmas tree.
I am thankful to have had Christmas week off from work which has meant getting some last minute gifts made and lots of yummy eats for our extended family get together last night. It's our Christmas Eve tradition to gather with my sister and her family and we switch up the food every year to keep it interesting. Last night we had a buffet of appetizers. I've been trolling Pinterest plus enjoying all the suggestions posted to Facebook and here are a few of our choices:
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Mozza stuffed meatballs |
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Proscuitto wrapped asparagus |
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Blackberry Brie Bites |
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Chorizo sausage bites with arugula pesto |
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Yam Tartin on the left, pulled pork crostinis, devilled eggs, chunky avocado dip |
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Yummy treats..now just waiting for the family to arrive |
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My kitchen is one of my happy places and although it was almost a solid three days of preparing all these yummy treats, it was a fun three days. The family appreciated the effort and the selection of tasty morsels. And yes there are leftovers. For the first time ever, we decided to delay Christmas turkey dinner until Boxing Day. We are all still full from Christmas Eve!
My other happy place is of course my sewing room. I didn't make a lot of gifts this year but I was anxious to try out my new Accuquilt Orange Peel die. I decided some tablerunners might be nice so I gathered some Christmas fabrics from my stash and purchased a few more and then put these together. There was no pattern but I may do a tutorial at a later date.
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This one was made with assorted Christmas fabrics and gifted to a friend at work. |
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Simple stitch in the ditch quilting plus some arcs quilted in the border. |
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For my dear daughter |
I did some outline quilting of the orange peel shapes, stitched in the ditch for the borders and then did some stippling all over so that the orange peels pop. This fabric matches the decor in her apartment. She loves it and that makes her momma very happy.
I also made a pair of Snappy Slippers for a dear friend who is also a quilter. It was my first attempt at this pattern and in hindsight I should have made a test pair first before the Christmas crunch. There was some unpicking and frustration with the pattern but I got them done...and then forgot to photograph them. Here is a picture of them in progress. They look like canoes before you sew them together:
And here is the pattern:
I am actually going to get some sewing time today (unheard of on Christmas Day), but my daughter bought tickets to the new Star Wars movies for herself, her Dad and brother (not my thing) so they've headed to the theatre to enjoy that. Me and the doggies are content to stay at home in the peace and quiet and now that all the dishes are done, I will see what kind of mischief I can get into in my sewing room.
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Sophie |
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Cooper |
It's a wonderful life! Blessings to you and yours on this Christmas Day 2015.
Until next time,
Mavis