Deck the halls

This year I had a go at making my own Christmas wreath - it was pretty fun walking round the woods to find some bits and pieces to go on it! There seem to be so many berries around at the moment so I picked out some to weave on the bottom. The base is made from buff willow twisted into a hoop. It took a few goes to get one looking this round but actually once it is covered with greenery you can't really see it.

We don't have a tree this year so I have decorated the alcoves in our house with fairy lights and baubles - its looking pretty cosy in here. One of the things I love about this time of year is eating delicious treats like panettone - isn't the tin beautiful?! This one is a present but I like to eat it toasted with a hot chocolate :)

I'm going to make some more decorations later inspired by the sweetest occasion I can always find something in the DIY projects to try!
Jo

A little DIY

When Tom and I moved into our first flat together in Whalley Range we had VERY little furniture ... for quite some time! It was like camping, but very cosy camping, in a lovely one bedroomed ground floor flat with a pretty garden. Over time we have been given enough furniture by friends and family to fill a two bed terrace house! My mum gave us this chair which was one of the first items my parents bought for their first 'proper home'. As with most if the furniture we have been given it needed a little work to restyle it. The cushions had lost alot of stuffing and the fabric was pretty worn.
I took the chair apart and spent a couple of days sanding and stripping the wood back. Once the legs were sorted I measured the cushion seats and made new covers for them with some Harris tweed I had left from another project. I used velcro strips to secure the cushions in place as putting proper zips in seemed a wee bit fiddly - I don't think my sewing skills quite extend to upholstery yet!



I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I think I will varnish the legs with a bit more matt finish varnish in the spring but for now I have dressed it up with my red Masai blanket and a white cushion to make it look a bit festive!

Jo