Wrapping Up December

It is the second last day of the year and time to do a recap of the rest of December. Firstly, I will start with my stitching.

There isn't a lot to report, but I have completed a further four blocks of my Spiked Granny Rug.  This has been a great project to pick up at a moment's notice and do a little on.  I threaded in the ends this morning on yet another Zoom get together with the Chookshed Stitchers.  

It was a lovely sunny morning, so I set myself up on the little verandah outside the sewing room.  I didn't realise, but Mick snuck a couple of photos.  Joey was settled in his favourite morning spot.

Once the threads were tidied I picked up my ongoing stitchery.  I am finally starting to see some progress with this one.  I stitched most of the leaves today.  I now feel a little more enthused to finish it off.

This isn't my stitching, but my Christmas ornament from Lou arrived in the mail, just a tad late for this Christmas, thanks to the slow mail.  Isn't he a cutey.  He will be put away, ready to hang on my handmade ornament tree next year.

I will do my final report on my Fifteen Minutes a Day and make the assumption that I will work on something tomorrow.

15 Minutes/December = 27/31 - I think that is about my worst month.

15 Minutes/2023 = 341/365

Success Rate = 93.42%

That is so much better than I had expected.  The challenge really keeps me motivated and if I haven’t done anything during the day, Mick will also remind me to do my 15 minutes.  I’m looking forward to keeping this going next year.

What else did we get up to that I haven't reported?

Not very exciting, but we have had our internet connection updated so that we have fibre to the house rather than copper.  It was only connected yesterday and we can really see the improvement in speed.  

With my little goals, I actually found time to read a book.  It was a very quick and easy read.

I did make two new recipes, but forgot to take a photo of both of them.  Firstly, I found a recipe in the paper for a Pineapple and Coconut cake which used a can of crushed pineapple, juice and all.  It turned out fine, but did make a rather large cake, so ended up being a cake and a few muffins.

Secondly, I made some chicken meatballs from a new recipe for our neighbourhood Christmas party.  Some of the mix was saved and used as chicken rissoles.  They were very tasty.

There was a local hotrod display as a fund raiser at the start of the month, so we had a little look.

I joined a couple of friends for lunch at O'Connell and the village had a lot of gingerbread men decorating the fences beside the road.  They were each sponsored and were a fund raiser for the local primary school.  It was so bright and cheery.

Mick is really enjoying playing lawn bowls and has started to volunteer looking after the gardens.  As a part of that he has offered to restore and repair the fountain out the front of the clubhouse.  He is enjoying the challenge.

Some friends, knowing how Mick likes to watch the Boxing Day Test cricket match sent us a gnome for a Christmas present.  Mick loves it.  He looks so sweet and innocent here, as if he wouldn’t tell anyone to go away. Well, just try interrupting his cricket and you may get told.

Here it is, doing a fine job.

While Mick was watching the cricket I finally got out a jigsaw to work on.  This one came from the white elephant stall last year.  I knew it was a stack of quilts, but didn't realise until I got it out that they are actually Christmas quilts.  How appropriate.

Mum has never been a sporty person, but during the summer she liked nothing better than watching the test cricket and tennis and doing a large jigsaw.  When working on them, she always spread the pieces out on several trays.  Those trays now live here, so I used them for this puzzle.  I can't really remember them being used for anything other than jigsaws, so it was a nice trip down memory lane.  I don't think I realised that the two top trays actually have the same decal on them.  The roses on the beige one are hand painted.  The draught horses were always my favourites.

This is where I am up to now.  The easier parts are completed and I have to concentrate a bit more.  Hopefully, I will have it finished in the next few days.

Lots has been happening in the garden, but I will leave that for another time.

That just about wraps up December’s going ons.  Tomorrow, I will do a post looking back over the year, which I always find interesting to prepare.