As a plaque says hanging in our dining room, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”

I’ve had a lovely time this weekend arranging our Christmas decorations, I love getting the Christmas boxes out, there’s so many memories in there, where we bought decorations, who chose them, things we’ve made, some go back to the late 1980’s when I bought my first home, a little cottage in Silsden.

There’s a bellpull dated 1989 to hang with the Father Christmas I made this year, little cross-stitch pictures from around the same time.

I try to have a vague theme in the rooms, so Father Christmas’s go in the lounge, Christmas trees in the conservatory, stars in the hall….

There’s a gorgeous little cross-stitch Santa done on a type of paper, I love him but I haven’t quite decided what to do with him yet so he gets propped up on the mantelpiece every year!

My Christmas Wish Santa is happily ensconced in the lounge, the cloved orange next to him is another tradition I try to keep up to, I then store them in through the year with the Christmas fabric decorations so the scent permeates through. They are very easy to make, just choose an orange that’s not too big (or it will be expensive in cloves!) wrap a ribbon round from top to bottom, twist underneath then bring it back up to tie with a bow at the top, dividing the orange into 4. I usually put a pin underneath to secure it. Then just carefully push the cloves into the orange, I usually space them just under a clove width apart, filling each quarter. Next year the ribbon will need adjusting as it will have shrunk down.

Last year I made a Christmas tablecloth, I’d had a Christmas alphabet panel in my stash for a while but the way it was cut made it difficult to use as a single panel. I suddenly had a brain wave, I pieced the letters into 4 strips with coordinating strips in-between and used them to edge a table cloth. I backed it with calico which did give it a nice weight…unfortunately it wasn’t pre-washed, the first time I washed it (luckily after Christmas!) it shrank. I couldn’t face sorting it straight away so it was packed away with everything else. When I got it out last week I unpicked the backing and replaced it with a length of Rose and Hubble Christmas cotton from Otley market, it had the advantage that it is 60″ wide so it didn’t need piecing!

I had made some matching napkins from the left overs, I had just discovered Bondaweb at the time so each one has a Christmas tree appliqued on. The napkins vary in design depending on the size of the offcut!

The Partridge in a Pear Tree wall hanging is looking good on the stairs, nearby are two mini Christmas quilts of Father Christmas I made probably about 15 years ago!

Whereas the fabric partridge is in the conservatory with the other trees, wooden ones, gold ones, all sorts of sizes, one in each window.

The Christmas wreath was made years ago, it was very simple but effective, I made some holly leaves with Christmas fabric and interfacing, I stitched round with a close zig-zag and then stitched them onto a wreath together with some red wooden beads.

Decorating the Christmas cake has become a big tradition in our household, I have a book of Christmas cakes and the children would choose a design each year for me to make, their favourite was definitely Santa flying off in his sleigh over a midnight blue sky, the one disadvantage to this cake was that everyone’s tongue ended up a shade of midnight blue too! This year I’ve done a simple design I saw in a magazine, a Christmas tree made from holly leaves, I added a bit of silver paint, big silver draghees and a silver bow.

All that was left was a swag for the front door and we’re ready for Christmas 🙂