Do you remember these?
Our American friends (and these pieces did indeed come from the good ole' US of A) call it chenille, we Brits call it candlewick. I've always loved this stuff. Had one on my bed for years and I still do, sleep with one every night, to this day. There's something about their cosy furriness, ooh just scrumptious. Of course, my mum was never impressed with the amount of fluff they shed; what with the leaking eidy feathers and the candlewicks, no wonder she was wedded to the hoover! The furry friends love them too. And so indeed, does that impish little person, the Munchkin. I beheld that folks on the crafty www were making patchwork quilts from a myriad of these divine furry patches. I'll do that too, I thought.
I decided the Munchkin might like a quilt with reds and blues, quite cowboyish, Christmassy and a bit boyish, too. I spent an inordinate amount of time on Etsy agonising over patterns and colours. I was not disappointed when they arrived (despite the HUUUGE customs fee, grrrrr).
It seems there is a bit of history to these bed covers and the sellers often describe them as by "Cabin Crafts", "Hoffman" and so on, and the designs have names, too: popcorn, stars and the like. Some are deemed "rare", my faves are deemed "fluffy". The prize, of course, is the very furry bit culminating in pretty fat flumpy flowers which beg you to fussy cut them, thus destroying most of the rest of the piece and your hard fought calculations of the number of squares you can cut, along with it!
Snow? We haven't had snow in London, I must confess. I am not disappointed as I am a practical type and I do so detest slush which of course, always goes hand in hand with the pretty fluffy white stuff. But there is snow here. Aaaargghh, have you ever tried cutting that lovely and oh so fluffy candlewick? My home is covered with teeny bits of red, blue and white fluff. Most patriotic. I haven't seen so much of my hoover in a long while.
Having cut the squares last week, I grappled with sewing them together this afternoon. As you may have guessed, that is far from easy. I rarely pin very much when I patchwork but with this, I am pinning everything in sight. I am using my beast of a machine up in my quilting den, I have no doubt a regular machine would not cut it. Will it be done in time? Oh well, there are plenty of other things if not. Any expert chenille/candlewick patchworkers out there? I am all ears!
Time to repair downstairs to the sanctuary that is our newly decorated sitting room and put my feet up. A few refreshments perhaps, yes I definitely need refreshing.
A trip to the kitchen reminds me that I have at least made some progress with the Christmas cakes.
I've had fun decorating the kitchen, taking all the things down from the shelves and walls and going all vintage-Christmassy. Want to see?
Time to light a candle, atop its new (old) cross-stitched cloth. I LOVE my cloth, (a purchase from Lewes on Saturday, along with the sideboard actually, and the lantern for that matter). Gotta love thrifting. And Mr HenHouse for strapping the sideboard to the roof of the car in the dark and pouring rain. Reader, he's a keeper.
I'll listen to some tunes.
Mr HenHouse has thoughtfully loaded some seasonal faves and printed proper Christmassy labels.
And I'll savour the scent of my delicious "Winter" candle in its nest of vintage tinsel and mini crackers.
I'll do all this from my new favourite spot. That sofa is too darned comfy. Normally, I am not a sitter, definitely not on a sofa in the daytime, anyhow. I whiled away the whole of Tuesday afternoon watching "Goodnight Mister Tom" which I discovered on an obscure cable channel quite by chance. You know how it is, "I'll just sit down with Jacky Ginge for five minutes". Zonk!
The poor new sofa will be having an identity crisis. It's already had a festive make over. There are red and white cushion covers and I even re-discovered a vintage red flowery cover for Charlie Boy's eidy (bought at a "vide grenier" or car boot if you will, back in France in the Summer for mere pence/cents). I've a little seasonal sewing project to sit and finish hand sewing, which I'll show you soon.
Ahh, that's better and the view is pretty good, too.
I hope your preparations and celebrations are going well...
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