Happy New Year, Stitching Friends!My how time flies. I kept thinking I would have a finish to share by Christmas, but I'm not QUITE there. I have been working on the Jane Austen Christmas Stocking, and thought I should at least share my progress. Here I was last time I wrote, in November:

and here I am now - almost there:




We had a lovely visit from my sister-in-law and her boyfriend, and did indeed "think little of even the worst weather" when Christmas brought record-breaking snows to Philadelphia. We stayed indoors, mostly, sleeping in and having cozy breakfasts in the afternoon, but ventured out for a walk from time to time:

(we have a Danish tradition of making Aebleskivers at Christmastime)

(My DH enjoyed torturing his sister with giant snowballs)
One of the highlights of our Christmas was the cooking. We made a fabulous "Julie and Julia" inspired French feast thanks to my mother-in-law's generous gift of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and some gift certificates to Trader Joe's. On the menu, we had ... bacon-wrapped dates and ratatouille to start, roast duck, chestnut and sausage stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon (bacon makes everything better), arugala with green apple, dried cherries, and candied pecans in a white balsamic vinaigrette, and from scratch walnut fougasse (a gorgeous leaf-shaped flat bread). The meal took about 10 hours to make on Christmas Eve and I did it at 8 1/2 months preggers - woot!
Walnut Fougasse
And of course Philo enjoyed the ribbons and paper.I have a few January goals... will be back soon to post about those.
Hoping you are all happy and well -- Blessings for 2010!