Saturday, January 4, 2025

Welcome to 2025

Welcome back, friends, and welcome to a brand new year. If you are visiting for the first time, thank you for stopping by and visiting this small corner.


Firstly, how did your Christmas festivities go? Hopefully, you all had a wonderful few days with family/friends celebrating in your special way. 

After attending the Christmas Day church service, hubby, D and myself had Christmas dinner at our son's house. Everyone bought something for the meal, and we sat down to enjoy eating it. It was a lovely afternoon and far more relaxed than in past years. Usually, I would be chasing around until the very last minute, but with other events this year, I couldn't contemplate Christmas until halfway through the month. 


Poor hubby was most disappointed that there was no homemade Christmas cake, and the shop-bought ones were hardly large enough for one who loves his fruit cake! A few days before Christmas, I found a simple fruit cake recipe and thoroughly adapted it to the existing ingredients in my cupboard. It has turned out to be one of the best fruit cakes I have ever made. 




Ingredients

140g raisins

140g sultanas

200g glace cherries

several tbsp rum, brandy or sherry for soaking fruit

225g butter

225g caster sugar

275gpl flour

1tsp baking powder

Method

1. soak the sultanas,raisins and cherries in the alcohol over night.

2. Grease and line a 20cm/8" tin

3. Preheat oven to 160c/140c for fan/gas 3

4. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the  eggs, one at a time.

5. Mix in the soaked fruit and liquid remains. Add the flour to make a soft dropping consistancy. Spoon in to baking tin and lightly level the top.

6. Bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake can be cleanly removed. 

I have already promised another cake before too long, and hubby can share it with our son, who also loves fruit cake.


As many of you know from the few pictures I posted last year, I started a cross-stitch project as a surprise gift for my son and new wife to celebrate their August wedding. I foolishly believed that I would finish it quickly. If you are a fan of this type of crafting, then you will likely be laughing uncontrollably by now. I have asked D to remind me of the reality of how long these projects actually take when I have my next big project idea.





Despite finishing it just before Christmas, I am super happy with the design. I changed some of the details to make it more personal to C and J.


The wedding was at Clearwell Castle, near Monmouth, so this is their special place. I used the picture from their wedding invite to make up a castle motif.



The groom's suit was a very pale green/grey, which I changed from the navy one in the original pattern. I also changed the bride's hair colour and style to more accurately reflect the day.




I had to change one row entirely as it wasn't right for the personalities and style of the day. C and J are adventurous people, so I kept the hot air balloon but not the Cinderella coach. I made up a sparkles motif because we enjoyed those in the evening and added the words 'New Adventure' and 'Sparklers'.





I can breathe a sigh of relief now that I have finished the project and know, most importantly, that C and J loved the Christmas gift.


Now, I'm looking for a new 2025 project!


The days between Christmas and New Year seemed to pass very slowly here, but D busied herself in the kitchen with more baking, and we both continued with some decluttering jobs. The biggest job for D was all the old paperwork she no longer needed. What a paper mountain that was- but it's all done now! ðŸ˜Š

The New Year was a quiet affair, apart from the fireworks at midnight, as it rolled into 2025. Can you believe we are starting the year that marks a quarter of this century? It only seems a short while since the new century began!

Have a great week, everyone. 

x

18 comments:

  1. There's a lot of work in that sampler! I have one to start for a new great-granddaughter due in March - I don't know what my grandson and his wife are intending to call her, something unusual and pretty, no doubt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. It took many long days and evenings to finish but it was so worth the effort. Good luck with your sampler, Janice. How lovely to hear about a new baby arriving in March. Wishing you and the family a great year ahead.

      Delete
  2. What a beautifully stitched sampler. I used to do a lot of cross stitch and I know how long it takes, especially outlining letters. I'm sure they will treasure it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did enjoy stitching the sampler even if at times my eyes complained a little. I'll leave it a while before I do another one though. C and J loved it and have already put the sampler up on the wall which makes me very happy.

      Delete
  3. Lots of hard work and patience have gone into your wedding sampler project, it's lovely. The cake looks very tempting, thank you for sharing the recipe:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Rosie. I think my patience was sorely tested at times with the sampler but C and J loved it. Glad you liked the cake recipe and I know it won't be long before another cake is made for hubby. Happy 2025.

      Delete
  4. Happy New Year, that's such a beautiful sampler. Your fruit cake looks delicious, always nice when baking is enjoyed x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy New Year to you too. Thank you for your kind comment about the sampler. I enjoyed making it for C and J. The cake was very easy to prepare especially as I had left things to the last minute but I will certainly be using the recipe again.

      Delete
  5. Welcome back, so pleased to read you enjoyed a good Christmas.

    I think the stitched sampler looks beautiful.
    I like your design, no wonder it was well received by C and J.

    Your fruit cake looks delicious, many thanks for including the recipe.

    Enjoy this weekend and keep safe and warm, it's not a good weather forecast.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Jan. The cake was lovely and moist and much enjoyed by hubby and myself.
      Hope you didn't get too much snow where you are. We only had a little amount here and the rain is now washing it away. We are all staying cosy and warm inside though.
      Wishing you many good things for 2025 x

      Delete
  6. Your cross-stitch sampler is just gorgeous, and I can't imagine how many hours must have gone into creating this work of art. It's such a thoughtful and personal gift, they're bound to love it.
    I'm so pleased you managed to enjoy a more calm and relaxed Christmas. Wishing you and your family good health and happiness in 2025. Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I don't want to think about how many hours it actually took but a project done for people you love is always worth the effort. C and J loved the gift when they opened it on Christmas day.
      Everything seemed very relaxed this year and I think that is a new tradition I want to continue. I hope you had a more relaxing time this year as well. I do hope that 2025 is a good year for you and Lily x

      Delete
  7. I had a lovely Christmas, thank you, and that fruit cake looks amazing. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you had a good time, Joy. I'm looking ahead to this year with lots of excitement for what might be in store. I'm feeling so much better after the last few weeks.
      The cake disappeared down several tummies very quickly, which is just as I like it. Popping over to catch up with you now x

      Delete
  8. All the best wishes for the New Year to all of you.
    I'm absolutely thrilled with your "Mamut" embroidery work, Beverely... I'm not quite sure how you did it (Cross stitch and small stitches with thin thread?)... it's wonderful and I'd love to see it in person. My mother had something similar from her school days.
    Thank you for your photos. It's a great piece of work... congratulations to you... and to the couple too.
    Best wishes from Viola
    p.s. I'm looking forward to the blog year and I'm looking forward to new projects :-))
    Hug

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Viola. I don't think it will be too long before I find another cross stitch project to get started on. I do enjoy the stitching. I have a cross stitch family heirloom from the 1800's which I have displayed with a few projects of my own.
      Looking forward to sharing a new blogging year with you. Take care and be happy x

      Delete
  9. The cross stitch is fabulous, how lovely that you've personalised it to fit better with the recipients, I'm sure it's something they'll treasure, definitely worth all that work. I'm only just starting to feel better after having a virus throughout the festive period, I didn't have much of an appetite at all so I had my first slice of Christmas cake yesterday. It definitely won't go to waste now I'm feeling a bit better. Wishing you and your family a happy new year and all the best for 2025.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Jo. I do hope that you are feeling more yourself after being poorly over Christmas.
      The Christmas cake will be something delicious to enjoy now. Healthy New year wishes to you x

      Delete