Beginnings and Endings

Posts here have been non-existent since I told you at the end of 2018 that we were awaiting the arrival of a new grandson. So, I am pleased to be able to tell you that our gorgeous new grandson finally arrived on Christmas Day!!

Now, isn't that just the best Christmas present ever :)

Needless to say the birth of a new grandson meant tangling with the scary serger again, these are just a couple of the items that I managed to rustle up when we returned home after Christmas.

Sadly, the joy of seeing a new life begin was overtaken at the beginning of the year when my Mum was rushed to hospital for a serious operation which unfortunately proved to be unsuccessful. Sewing and blogging made way for twice daily trips to hospital. Just as we were coming to terms with the imminent passing of my Mum, my Dad was rushed to the same hospital with what turned out to be severe pneumonia. In the end they passed away within days of each other.

They were married for just over 64 years and, I am sure, if given the choice would not have wanted either of them to be left for any length of time without the other, but it was a tough time for the family they left behind.

I have my Mum to thank for my love of all things crafty although her particular expertise in knitting is yet to manifest itself in me, and my Dad to thank for my love of crosswords although, again, his capacity for unravelling cryptic clues remains beyond me.

I am sure you will understand why my New to Me link party has yet to appear this year, but, hopefully normal service will resume next month.

Special Delivery

Merry Christmas wherever you are and welcome to the last New to Me link party of 2018.

New to Me is a place to share the highs and lows of new experiences and this month I have a very special New to Me to share.

By the time that you read this I will, hopefully, have met the newest addition to our family, a new grandson! His due date was December 16th but as I write this on December 21st there is no sign of him yet, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will arrive soon. Our son and daughter-in-law moved house this week which we were all convinced would be the catalyst for his birth but he would appear to be quite comfortable where he is thank you very much :)

So, that is my New to Me this month now it is over to you to share what you have tried or experienced for the first time this month. As ever the Link Party will remain open until the end of the month, so I might have an update for you on the boy before it closes, fingers crossed!

An InLinkz Link-up

Burning the (scented) oil

Welcome to November's New to Me link party!

As you know the New to Me link party is our chance to celebrate our attempts to move out of that comfort zone and have a go at something new.

Until yesterday I had nothing New to Me to show you but, fortunately, I had booked places for myself and my son's girlfriend to go on a candle making workshop whilst the men in our lives attended the international rugby match up the road.

These lovely candles were the results of our labours!

The workshop was run by Kerry at Can to Candle and was a great experience from beginning to end.

We were provided with all of the materials to make our own hand poured scented candle. We selected a fragrance from the extensive collection shown above and mixed that with our melted soy wax before pouring it into the glass and leaving it on the windowsill to set.

Then, we set about creating our own bespoke fragrance oil.

We had all of these different fragrances to select from so it was a slow process! We were advised to daub the fragrances on a paper taper and choose no more than three in combination to create our blend. It was much harder than it sounds, but after much deliberation I eventually decided on a combination of Frangipane, Fig and Cedarwood for my fragrance oil. The blended oil has to sit for several days before being used to scent wax, so we purchased two of the starter kits that you can see in the bags above to make our own bespoke scented candles in the next week or so. Along the way we were given all sorts of insights into candle creation and use, so smoky candles and burned out middles will be a thing of the past in the Celtic Thistle household!

So, that is my New to Me for this month now it is your turn to link up anything that you have tried for the first time in November. It doesn't matter whether your attempt was successful or not, as we are all about keeping it real here so successes and failures are treated equally here!

As ever the link up will remain open until the end of the month, so if you have been thinking of trying something new but just haven't managed to get around to it here is the gentle nudge that you need :)

An InLinkz Link-up