Merry Christmas!

It seems to come faster every year, but a big merry Christmas from the Alviti household. 

We've enjoyed a very chilled out few days, I'm not great at stopping, but have managed to slow right down. 

Christmas day was spent with just the five of us, and boxing day was with my wife's family, we still have my family to go and a evening at the theatre to see the BFG.

I've been given lots of nice presents, a new mic for my camera (need to get back int he habit of more videos), lots of lovely books, nice dairy free chocolates, some hobby stuff (warhammer modelling stuff and a nice light for painting) and some nice clothes (and socks). 

Hope you've had a great break as well. I will try to blog a bit more in the new year, this year has been extra busy and I got put off social media a bit earlier in the year and left one platform completely, but I still think it's important to maintain my blog and document what we get up to for us all to look back on one day. 

So Merry Christmas one and all! I will do my usual yearly round up in the next few days plus a few goals for the new year. 

Now I Can Feel Christmassy

Having created a business that runs right up to Christmas to provide gifts for people to buy, certainly makes me see the Christmas build up in a different light - for me it's become a very busy time of year. I'm lucky that I can still swing things around and make it all fit around the children, but I have put in some late nights lately! 

She's not too big to lift up to put the angel on top of the tree!

 But the rush is over, no orders at all this weekend, which I'm thankful for (really, although I'd be happy to sell a bit more...) as I hate the idea of someone not getting something they've ordered by the time they want it. Everything gets delivered a bit slower now as they must have mountains of parcels to deal with.

I'm very thankful I can work from home (well workshop) like I do, and be around my children so much. It enables me to mess about here and still do lots of other things I enjoy. Having travelled for work for so many years, walking across to my workshop is still something I pinch myself about. I'm never going to be rich doing what I do, but I do enjoy it, and for now it's ideal for family life, maybe I should push to earn more money, but balance is always tricky to find.

I'm going to make a bit more stock now, to top back up, and have a few more products I'd like to design and make, as well as some magazine articles due in fairly soon. But I'm also going to take a bit of time for myself and try to do a few other things I enjoy. In the new year I really want to lay some hedges, and sort out chicken pens, and get the garden back in order! There's always a list as long as my arm! 

An Afternoon At My Wife's School

So it really doesn't feel like I've stepped out the workshop much over the last month. I have been having a good month of sales, and I have been putting in the hours to try and keep up! I'm looking forward to that say when the last posting date is done. 

Yesterday I did take a bit of time though. My wife was doing DT with the children in key stage 2 and asked if I would come and give her a hand.

I aways find something like this fascinating, how some children will listen and just get what they're being told, how others need to be shown and how some won't get it this time! I managed to have about 4 sawing at a time, and it was running pretty safely. 

 I did think her school needed a bit of an upgrade with some of the equipment, I'm going to make them some new bench hooks, as these were just too small and not up to the job. The grove in the top was to put the wood in, but it meant that you couldn't hold it very well. I think it was trying to be too clever, and I encourage the children to cut up the side of it. the bottom of the hook was also really small so it slipped off the table. 

An interesting afternoon and always interesting to see your partner at work (although I doubt my wife would say that as I work in a workshop 20 yards from the house!). 

A Patch On My Work Trousers

 Make do and mend. Something I try and live by, there's plenty of appliances and household items here that I've fixed, alerted and maintained.

I was really pleased the other day when our eldest said she was bored and wanted some crafting to do. I suggested she mend my work trousers and she jumped at the chance. Later I walked in and saw her sat stitching it by hand, listening to an audio book. 

The trousers were near new, but I caught them on a fence, be such a shame if they were to be wasted over that instead of repaired. 

She handed them back to me, she was worried it wouldn't last, but I was so happy she gave it a go, and so far so good. 

She's been going to a sewing club at school and looks forward to it all week, coming back really fired up about it. 

I often say that crafts and producing something (anything) is one of the keys to being happy, and she embodies that, always making (all three are to be honest). 

Sweet Chestnut Laptop Stand

 As you know, I'm always making something! This was a project for a magazine article (in Woodworking Crafts soon), but also was something we needed. 

I managed to find a nice piece of sweet chestnut for the project and thought it would work well for what was in my head for a simple stand for my wife. 

I'm quite pleased with it. Looks modern and fits in nice with other stuff we have in the house.