T Stands for Happy New Year 2025!

Hi Friends!

Happy New Year! I wish you all good things for this year and of course, the traditional wish of health, wealth and happiness!  Yes I am STILL on crutches but I have hope that that might change soon (for the better!) and I am looking forward to getting back to normal.  I might have forgotten how to drive my poor neglected car lol.

My PC broke the Friday before Christmas, I fixed it but it took some time and I had to back everything up to an external HDD – nearly 2TB of data – it took a while and I wasn’t in the mood for it which made it take longer.   So then between Christmas and New Year I switched everything off! No internet, no social media, no email and no phone!  It was bliss.  I got out a pile of DVDs, my mini projector, and some festive snacks, lit the stove, propped my leg up, and snuggled up with the kitties and some crochet and enjoyed doing very little.  I have my favourites that I like to watch at Christmas, these might not be “typical” Christmas movies but they say Christmas to me LOL.  These include Die Hard 1 and 2, all the Harry Potter movies back to back, Trading Places, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Holiday, Love Actually, Lethal Weapon 1 and The Day After Tomorrow.  Yes there are some obvious and some less obvious festive movies in there haha. I also watched some of the Sister Boniface Mysteries BBC show including the movie length Christmas special.  It’s a cosy which is not really my thing, but it’s still quite enjoyable and it has its moments. (As for books, I will update that in the next post – spoiler it was a bumper year for reading!)

Today’s art is all about christmas cards received . . .

I received more Christmas cards that these but these are the only handmade cards I received.  One at the top left from Jo (let’s art journal) and one from Erika at the top right.  The others are from offline friends. Thanks to all who sent cards and a special thanks to those who sent handmade cards.

Christmas also included . . .

The kitties were very good (?) this year and Santa rewarded them accordingly with toys, treats and new cardboard scratchers.  And yes that is my completed 2024 temperature blanket they are displayed on.  I was able to catch up with my blanket and get it finished by 31st December.  (The idea of a temperature blanket is to knit or crochet a blanket choosing colours based on the daily temperatures for the year.)  Here is mine completed, it’s very long – 366 rows = approx 366cm – and about 120cm wide, as you can see in the photo below, I hung it over the door to try and show how long it is.  It goes from the floor on one side of the door, over the top and down the other side.  I am currently wrapped up in it as it is very cold today again, and it’s keeping me very warm. I also have fingerless gloves on and a hot water bottle stuffed up my jumper.  My fingers are so cold I can’t feel them hitting the keys!

Something else I made this year for the first time, was a wreath for the front door.  In all the years that I have lived in this house I have never hung a wreath on the front door as I actually thought someone might steal it.  So this year, I decided to make one that wouldn’t cost me any money, just in case someone did decide to help themselves.  All the greenery is from my garden – I have plenty of conifers, and some lovely Japanese holly that has no prickles (although prickles might have been a deterrent lol).

When I was done assembling it (using an old plastic tube, some flower sticks, and some picture wire) I thought it needed some flowers so I rummaged through the recycling and pulled out any plastic packaging that was white on one side.  I used some of the cat treat packets, some liquorice packets and some coffee packets to diecut the flowers using an old Bigz die and a gold padded post bag to cut out the gold centres.  I threaded some picture wire through them to make the flowers and added them to the wreath.  The wreath is also attached to the door with the same brass picture wire and if anyone had wanted to steal it they would have needed wire cutters to get it off the door!  So for the first time ever, my door had a pretty wreath that cost me nothing and nobody wanted to steal it anyway.

T stands for christmas drinks . . .

On Christmas Eve I left out a glass of Salted Caramel Almond Milk Cold Brew for Santa, along with a Mince Pie.  Just in case, I also left some alcohol-free Mulled Wine.

The day after Boxing Day, a friend visited, and so we had a pot of Earl Grey tea and I made a banana cake.  In the background you can also see an empty bottle of Ginger Ale. Along with my beloved Cat Mum mug you can also see the “I like cats more than people” mug that my friend chose for her tea.

I also made some very rustic looking Mince Pies which I threw together at the last moment as I’d forgotten to make some before Christmas.  These have blueberries added to the mincemeat filling which added a nice freshness.  If you are not familiar with this very British treat, they are made with spices and dried fruit, not meat, though originally they did contain both meat and dried fruits and spices.

And finally, for the new year I have started a new crochet project.  It’s going to be a cardigan made up of all these different coloured squares, a bit like a patchwork quilt.  The photo is making the colours look a lot brighter than they are, they are much more muted, and since the yarn is called “Highland Heather” they have lovely names like Thistle, Bracken, Gorse and Loch.  I only started it a few days ago and I almost have enough squares to begin putting it together, then it will require some ribbing to make it into a cardigan and I could be wearing it in a week or two.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.   As always, thanks for reading and Happy T Day!Ingredients
as above

Challenges

T Stands for – Tuesday