 |
| A Pastel Christmas |
Today Mr BB and I went to the local nursery to buy our Christmas tree. I think it is my favourite Christmas tradition, and certainly begins the whole of the Christmas season. Having decorated the house now, I just want to cosy indoors, bake Christmas goodies and enjoy the warmth. Although it is always lovely to then contrast that with visits out into the chill to visit friends and family.
Our tree wasn't very large this year, as we only had a small space for it, but it was a lovely Fraser Fir. I relish having a real tree at Christmas - it is not a tradition from my youth, as the heat made it impractical. When I came to England I was keen to adopt the British/Germanic tradition of having a real tree, which had been started by Queen Victoria's husband in 1841 when he introduced the traditions of his German childhood to his children.
To me decorating a tree is as much about the accompaniments as what goes on the tree. To Mr BB, it wasn't Christmas without Brazil Nuts. While he did the preparation, I cooked a batch of mince pies with some homemade mincemeat I had made last year - a Delia recipe - and ready made pastry. The finishing touch was to use a minature Christmas tree pastry cutter to make the lids. They took 15 minutes to make and bake, were utterly lovely to look at and delicious as well. We also made Snowballs - a kitsch Christmas drink popular in the 70s and facing a recent revival thanks to Nigella's championing several years ago. It is made with 2 measures of Advocaat, topped up with lemonade and a dash of lime juice, and for the purists served with a cherry on a stick. We also decided to try it with Cream Soda, which was utterly divine - I nicknamed it a 'Fluffy Snowball' and personally prefered it.
As Christmas music played we sipped Snowballs and munched on mince pies while we decorated the tree with some some lovely silver bauble lights, pastel glittery baubles and tinsel (Mr BB believes it isn't a Christmas Tree without some). Our tree was a bit understated as most of our decorations are in storage and with Pompey and Moscow, our two young cats, we thought it possible the tree may become a bit tousled - so we went for that look to begin with. We had forgotten to get an appropriate topping for our tree, but I feel that the wrens are an unusual but sweet touch, gifted to us from the nursery where we bought our tree.
Our tree wasn't very large this year, as we only had a small space for it, but it was a lovely Fraser Fir. I relish having a real tree at Christmas - it is not a tradition from my youth, as the heat made it impractical. When I came to England I was keen to adopt the British/Germanic tradition of having a real tree, which had been started by Queen Victoria's husband in 1841 when he introduced the traditions of his German childhood to his children.
To me decorating a tree is as much about the accompaniments as what goes on the tree. To Mr BB, it wasn't Christmas without Brazil Nuts. While he did the preparation, I cooked a batch of mince pies with some homemade mincemeat I had made last year - a Delia recipe - and ready made pastry. The finishing touch was to use a minature Christmas tree pastry cutter to make the lids. They took 15 minutes to make and bake, were utterly lovely to look at and delicious as well. We also made Snowballs - a kitsch Christmas drink popular in the 70s and facing a recent revival thanks to Nigella's championing several years ago. It is made with 2 measures of Advocaat, topped up with lemonade and a dash of lime juice, and for the purists served with a cherry on a stick. We also decided to try it with Cream Soda, which was utterly divine - I nicknamed it a 'Fluffy Snowball' and personally prefered it.
 |
| Drinking a Snowball for Christmas - delicious! |
 |
To make envelope cushions, all you need to do is to:
1. Measure your cushion.
2. Allowing for a seam allowance of about 1/4 inch, cut a front piece of your fabric.
3. When measuring the back piece of your fabric, add about 3 extra inches to the length of the cushion.
4. Cut the back panel in half on the long edge.
5. Along the cut edges of the 2 back panels, turn under about half an inch and sew a quarter inch seam, catching both sides of the fabric.
6. Pin the right sides of the fabrics together - the front panel to the two back panels. At this point the back 2 panels of fabric will overlap - make sure the sewn edges are in the middle and overlap. This will form the opening when the cushion is sewn together.
7. Sew your quarter inch seam all around the four sides and then turn your cushion right side out through the centre parting at the back.
8. Stuff your cushion into your cushion cover and plump.
Since one of the fabrics I fell in love with didn't fit with the other fabrics above, I decided to make something for the bedroom with it. I loved the name of the fabric 'Enchanted Winter' as much as I loved the white sparkling winter roses on a midnight blue background. Therefore I made it into a Bed Runner. This was done with a couple of metres of fabric, and an equal lengh of calico (for a cheap backing) and wadding. With right sides of the calico and chosen fabric together, sew around the edges with a quarter inch seam. Leave a 40cm gap to turn the fabric through and insert the wadding. Turn the raw edges under and sew a scant seam along the turned edges in order to close the gap (don't worry as it will be barely noticeable).
I made the bed with white bedding and draped 'Enchanted Winter' at the end, and finished the look by winding snowflake lights around the bedsted. The photo didn't quite capture how gorgeous it looked, but with the cat cosied at the end I think it couldn't have looked more enchanting.
 |
| Decorations in the bedroom - an Enchanting Christmas |
No comments:
Post a Comment