Making Christmas - Week 9

I finally managed to get my Act together to post my updated list on the same day as the next post for Making Christmas is due.

That in itself is a minor miracle!

This week Making Christmas is being hosted by the lovely Lucy at Charm About You she has been cross-stitching up some festive ornaments and has the charts free to download on her blog, so don't forget to check out her post and link up your own updated list whilst you are there too.

It's my youngest son's birthday tomorrow, which is a sure indication that I don't have a lot of time left!

Fortunately I have a couple more finishes to tick off the list, I bought a plain t-shirt in my local Tesco store and appliqued a black felt moose to the front for a matching top for the moose pyjamas.

When I showed them to my middle son, he put in a request for a pair of his own! Anyone know of a source for rabbit-themed flannel that isn't pink or babyish??

I also bought a plain wooden board to go with the relish and chutney with plans to decorate it somehow :) It might just stay a plain wooden board though if I run out of time!

There will be three jars of accompaniments with it though. My neighbour's apple trees produced an amazing amount of apples this year, so she was handing out bags of apples to all-comers. When I discovered a recipe for Winter Spice Jelly on the Good Food website, I knew exactly what to do with my bag of apples.

I have never made jelly before so invested in a jelly bag to strain the mixture. There was some inventiveness required to rig up a system to allow the jelly to strain overnight, fortunately my middle son came to the rescue with a Heath Robinsonesque contraption involving sinks, string and laundry baskets! The kitchen smelt gorgeous whilst all this was going on :)

Testing for the setting was a bit nerve-wracking and at one point I thought that I would have virtually no jelly left, but it all worked out in the end. The recipe states that it should yield two jars of jelly but I only had one full jar and a 1/4 filled jar in the end, so I think if I make it again I would use smaller jars.

There were more spices involved in the Spiced Meat Rub which is going to go with the BBQ Apron that is another finish this week.

I haven't yet decided whether to cut my losses with the Oven Gauntlet and downscale to a potholder or hang on in there and go for broke with the gauntlet:) Next week will be the crunch time with this as it needs to be all done and dusted and in the post soon! 

So here's how my list is looking now -

• A Christmas Table Runner for our new dining table MADE
• Two Pleated Pouches to fill with make-up/nail polishes for my daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law to be
• Two One Liberty and linen jewellery roll for my sister-in-law
• One Triple Zip pouch for my sister-in-law MADE
• A Knotwork Christmas cushion - for me!
• A Fairytale Cushion for my grandniece using one of Quiet Play's Happily Ever After paper-pieced patterns
• Homemade chutney for my brother and son MADE
• Homemade relish for my brother MADE
• More dishwasher vodka!
• Biscuits for cheese for my brother SCRAPPED!
• Something to go with cheese! - A Cheeseboard :)
• Meat rub, BBQ apron MADE and oven glove for my b-in-law ?
• Pyjama trousers for my youngest son - MADE
• Appliqued pyjama top for youngest son MADE

Looking forward to seeing everyone else's progress.