This year I'm a bit slow with getting the New Year cards mailed out. If your smailmail isn't in my address book and you don't get one of these little "origami" books in the post, you may want to fill in your answers under the headings - and perhaps act on them -
This "yule log" looked good in the magazine! I did read the whole recipe before starting, but the bit about it taking 10 minutes of beating to get the eggs and sugar trebled in volume didn't sink in. I don't have an electric beater, so it took rather longer - had to stop and rest quite often. 
After the eggs are voluminous, you carefully fold in a very little flour, some cocoa, and ground almonds. And the filling is made with mascarpone, melted chocolate, icing sugar, and liqueur. "Serves 12" - it's very rich and sweet.
The big tree set up in Queens Park -
And the little one at home, with traditional candles burning briefly -
It sent me hunting for more fabric houses.
Tonya has done a Hallowe'en quilt with various imaginative wonky houses; you can see the whole quilt on her website:
And there are all the quilt block patterns showing houses. If you google "house quilt" you'll see a huge variety; I do prefer the non-standard layouts, rather than repetitions of a block. This one by Kristin Pollen is made of Japanese fabrics:
Or how about a block of the month house sampler? Several are available here:
Schoolhouses are popular; the history of this historical "quilt of the month" is given on the Quilt Study Centre website:
Judi Gunter teaches a workshop on how to make this miniature schoolhouse quilt:
Even bird houses can be represented in fabric:
This birdhouse quilt is a jolly variation of log cabin:
When the trees first arrived, there was a heap of discarded branches waiting for the binmen - I took some home and put them on the landing
Sue said that, as the branches were salvaged and recyled, the decorations should be salvaged and recycled too. These fabric knots are made from scraps too small to use in patchwork - less than 1/2" wide - but even they have their uses!
Peel and chop the onion, potatoes, and carrots. Melt the butter in a big pan, and add the chopped veg - let it get a bit soft, giving it the occasional stir. Add the thyme (use a bit more than shown here - this was all that my windowbox could come up with!) and water to cover. Simmer till veg are cooked. Whizz it all up with a stick thing, or put it into the blender. Reheat, adding salt and pepper to taste, and enough milk to make it the consistency you like.
November's journal quilt represents a gathering of the "senoritas" - Julia did a yummy mushroom starter, the main was a vegetable gratin, Mary brought baklava and other goodies (on those fancy plastic plates the bakeries use for packing them) for dessert, and Linda brought the flowers (alstromeria that lasted for weeks). Wine and conversation flowed freely.
I pinned it up in my work space, next to the Klimt landscape torn from a calendar and a changing display of Winifred Nicholson postcards. The beloved mug came from Fenny Lodge Gallery, which is right on the canal (near Milton Keynes), and the chinese fruit bowl came to me via Rita's mother-in-law, in Halifax, NS. Everything has a story - even the stapler.
My response to marimbas (Steve Reich?)
In the second week, more and different music, trying to get textures:
I simply can't remember what the music for these was.
At the end of the class, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in blue"
One more session to come. This is so much fun!
This 12" square is called Be Like That Then! and is made from African fabric that Karol-Ann sent along a few months ago. It just fell together -- but the binding, which is floppy satiny fabric, took ages. However I did manage to figure out how to do those "perfect" mitred corners -- getting to actual perfection may take a bit of practice, but in theory....
