Twinkle Twinkle

Winter stars twinkling in the frosty sky - and fabric stars twinkling on a ribbon garland on my dresser. The ribbon here also has some little twists of red and white selvedge scraps added here and there randomly along it. The idea is to create a relaxed look, nothing too perfect - it's just for fun...

It's been rather a starry time here in other ways too. Like going to Charlie's first Nursery Nativity, where we got this song sheet (crumples thanks to little Daisy) where the words had a slight tweak on the version we normally sing. I do love how children's educators are now so creative with nursery rhymes and songs - and have sometimes added lots of new verses to ones the ones we used to sing.

 There has also been some gingerbread baking again - some of the starry kind, and some of the heart, tree, gingerbread men, holly leaf kind....

....but as this post has a starry theme I'll just show you the starry cookies for now. I iced them with my new icing pen - I was so thrilled to discover this - my drawing with it is not quite as good as with my Rotring pen but it's definately a step in the right icing direction, and much less stressful than those squidgey icing bags.

And here is another use for my little fabric sewn stars - on a twinkly lit up star and berry wreath. I love the little Christmas lights sooo much, I look forward to seeing them beaming through the darkness every day.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, and enjoying all the good things this season is bringing. Sending you lots of starry moments, cosy warmth and twinkling lights. xx

Stitching Stars

One night last week we saw the clearest skies and the most stars we've seen for ages - so sharp, bright and twinkling. Soon I'll be putting Christmas lights in all the windows. (I've already got a string of fairy lights in the kitchen to brighten up my cooking.) One of my favourite things is seeing all kinds of little lights in different houses shining through the winter darkness in such a warm, welcoming way.

 This week I've been stitching some little stuffed stars to make a decoration. I haven't decided on the final colour way yet - I might keep it all cool blues and turquoises or add in some pink and red....

 Sometimes one colour works best and looks the most stylish - but I have such a love of colours and their effect on each other I find it hard to resist combining them. I think that's why pretty floral designs work so well for me - the mixture of colours is delicious to my eye!

 It's not just been stitching stars here, but baking them too. These are Vanilla Star Cookies - which are really just the basic cookie recipe with a couple of drops of vanilla essence added. I put some in the freezer to have later in the season. I might make some more as gifts too, as they look pretty in a cellophane bag tied with ribbon or raffia, with a homemade tag.

            We did keep one or two to try - just to make sure they really were good enough to eat!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, with winter walks, sewing, and cosy family time. I hope you all have a  lovely weekend with starry nights and sunny days. x