Christmas gifts and making a start with the Christmas Mosaic

 The clocks have gone back and I can feel myself slipping into hibernation mode, although I do love long Summer days I quite enjoy the cosiness of winter evenings as well, the ritual of locking the doors, closing the curtains and lighting soft lamps and candles, sitting in my favorite chair with my cuppa and a warm crocheted throw over my lap.  Then whatever project I'm working on sitting at arms reach along with TV remote and audio book close by. I am quite content sitting there in my little world and have to make myself get up and move around but to be honest it's usually just as far as the kitchen to get another warm drink.

What about you lovely people? I would love to know your evening ritual.  I live alone so I'm lucky in that I have no one else to please but myself.

I'm also lucky because I love to crochet with a passion and if it's a new pattern even better.  I have started not one but two Mosaic crochet CALS and to be honest I'm wishing that I had two pairs of hands.

The first is the one I told you about in my last post Sonia's Holiday Mosaic, it runs over six weeks it's amazing to think that if all goes well I'll have a beautiful blanket in less that two months just in time to be gifted for Christmas.

Christmas Crackers

Then quite by chance I came across yet another beautiful CAL for a Christmas blanket on Facebook and it's free which is very generous of the designer because there's a lot of work goes into designing any pattern but Mosaic especially because of the charts and in this case there are written instructions too.

This one is called Cosy Christmas and this the start..

The designer is Fiona Kirk and you can find the pattern here  However if you join her Funky Loops community on Facebook the pattern can be found there for free. The pattern is released over six weeks.  I would like to donate this one to be sold or raffled for a charity but I'm not confident that I will have it finished in time, if that's the case then I will put it away until next year.  I wish they would release the new Christmas patterns just that bit earlier.

Along with the crochet there has been quite a bit of sewing going on I am a member of the u3a sewing group and we brainstorm for little gift idea's for Christmas well in advance, we usually start sewing them in September, we had lots of idea's this year, just for small things to be gifted to friends who appreciate a little handmade something, this week I have made these..

Little lavender bonnets very easy to make, in fact quite addictive but I had to stop at five as I had run out of fresh lavender, they really do smell divine. 😊

Do you gift little handmade items and are they appreciated? I plan to make more little sewn gifts this afternoon the sun is actually shining and my conservatory beckons so I will say bye for now and I hope you all have a peaceful Sunday. 😘😘  

Linking with the ladies at Slow Stitching Sunday