7

Last one of 2012! The Christmas feeling started to melt a little too soon for me this year, brought on by the pelting rain and everyone being ill. So here's a last blast, courtesy of the ever-delightful Little Grey Rabbit. Motto to take us into the next year: 'Never go hedging with a sledghog'. Have a happy one!

6

This year I had a first real go at patchwork, which I've been meaning to try out since the lovely quilting exhibition at the V&A in 2010. When this is eventually finished (still working on the hand quilting at the moment) I'll post a making journal, but for now here it is partway through. The reason it looks like a stained glass window is that it is taped up to the light. Quilting turns out to be really hard work, although it's quite satisfying -- a mix of accurate cutting and machining, and then relaxing hand quilting. However, I turn out also to be very wibbly about the accurate cutting bit, so my triangles and squares are frankly all over the shop. To be continued.

5

To mark the 'five gold rings' of the fifth day of Christmas, these remember my sister's wedding early this year, for which I painted these cake toppers to look like her, her husband and the tiny one. They sat on the top of a very indulgent and gorgeous pile of fruit cake and cheeses. Lush.

4

Felled by noro virus, so missed another day... Very miserable, and still feel weak. The rain has been pretty relentless, I'm afraid, making for a strange Christmas, as you can see. I've never seen a rainbow on Christmas day before. 2 years ago, this lake was deeply frozen, but this year it was warm and even muggy.