Four Candles?

Happy New Year! I’d hardly got used to writing 2022 and here we are already in 2023.  How time flies!  I hope that you had a peaceful time over the festive period.  Ours was railroaded by the lurgy – I had a cold and Mr L is still suffering with the flu.  As I’ve not been feeling very creative, I thought I’d share the makes I gave away for Christmas.

Earlier last year, Mr L commissioned me to make a housewarming present for his friend.  I’d just bought the Animal Heads to Crochet book by Vanessa Mooncie and he wanted me to make the stag.  Talk about in at the deep end!  The pattern is quite easy to follow although making the antlers was a bit of a challenge.  It was great watching him come to life as the various bits were stitched into place.  Here’s Dermot.

My sister was leafing through the book and said she liked the zebra so I decided to make one for her for Christmas.  Meet Zander.

My sister and I also have a great love of the Two Ronnies’ Fork Handles sketch - a throw back to evening TV entertainment when we were kids.  My father-in-law recently bought a 3D printer so I commissioned him to print some fork handles that could hold four candles.  I finished them with some acrylic paint and lacquer, before mounting them on a lovely plinth fashioned by my Dad.  It was a real family effort!

Lastly, here are more felt decorations and, again, the patterns are from mmmcrafts.  The Santa Claus was made for my friend.  She has a black and white theme on her tree so I didn’t want to make the Santa red, but neither did I want him black so I opted for a Scandi colour scheme that hopefully coordinates well with her tree.

Finally, the Calling Bird from the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments that I’m gradually gifting to my friend.  She gets one a year!  However, she’s not got this one yet as we were supposed to get together with them for a games evening a few nights ago but we had to postpone due to our being ill.  The best laid plans….

Anyway, here’s to a healthy, creative 2023!