Poncetastic Christmas 2024

[StiffyByngsDogBartholomew]

@vivajen hasn't posted on MN for a year so I've taken the bull by the horns. I can't wait any longer !
Wherever you are, Fellatio, here's to you. I hope you're brining a turkey and had crafting authentic organic woven tinsel somewhere.
"OK, first of all, I know it's still September by we need to start this thread now because as you all know, having a truly Poncetastic Christmas involves precision planning, strategy, bravery, heroics, and frequently martyrdom.
So, if you, like me, actually want to make the next twelve weeks of your life a misery by hand-crafting your cards, finding a huge bucket for Nigella's turkey in brine, pickling pears, shrivelling oranges in a low oven for those rustic au naturel decorations, dragging half a holly bush back from the woods, and just generally being a smug annoying jobs worth ponce, join me on this thread.
Feel free to post photos of previous tree-trimming, cake icing or table centrepiece triumphs, discuss this year's bauble colour themes, debate the merits of Delia versus Gordon, road-test a selection of canapés and cocktails, (all in the line of duty) and link to lovely inspirational photos/craft ideas for a truly Poncetastic Christmas.
Warning: If your idea of a good Christmas involves Pizza, ITV, gravy granules or anything with 'Aunt Bessie’s' on the packet, this is not the thread for you".

🎄🎄🎄🎄

I'm on holiday and it's raining so I haven't had much else to do over the past few days. Also I have a habit of becoming obsessive once I decide to do something, good job DH has been feeding me and supplying me with tea and coffee 😅

It’s beautiful @LaChatte you are right to be pleased!

That's stunning @LaChatte 😁

Ok so I had some back pieces already cut out and as I was tidying up I figured I might as well finish the back too otherwise I would know when looking at the tree all season . So yeah, even the simplified version looks OK, could do with a bit of decoration on the big points but I can live without.
Next step Xmas pudding.

That is so beautiful @LaChatte. I am in awe.

It's definitely a 'trust the process' project, I was far from convinced at several stages!

I've finished my houses! And they stand up by themselves! I am ridiculously happy with how they turned out. Like LaChatt, I don't want to think about how much they've cost me to make, but I had fun so that counts right?!

Wow @lachatte and @christingly really beautiful pieces you've done there. I am very impressed.

They look lovely!

I'm reassuring myself that I can make a few more things with the supplies I have left (although I pretty much got through a whole tube of 8€ fabric glue so I need to find a cheaper alternative).

If I had to pay for holiday activities to occupy myself it would no doubt cost a fortune, so in fact I am saving lots of money really.

When you feel you have perfected your seitan recipe would you mind sharing it? Last year I made a Wellington with something vaguely resembling beef made from gluten, it was really nice but I'd like to try an alternative this year.

Wow @LaChatte and @Christingly your poncing looks great! The houses have got me thinking about something similar for the kitchen mantle piece and I'm thinking some big stars on the beam above our inglenook might look good.

There's some seriously good pouncing going on - @LaChatte and @Christingly, the things you've made are so beautiful.

Hi @LaChatte no problem.

My starting point is this Wang everything in the breadmaker method. Original recipe far too salty as American supermarket soy sauce must be a different beast to Kikkoman. This time I omitted the soy sauce altogether and used light miso.

It freezes well sliced or cubed.

I sat down to make a shopping list for my Christmas puddings (I always make 2 medium sized ones every other year) and I'm now thinking about making several mini ones instead (and doing them in the slow cooker). I don't have any mini pudding bassins BUT I COULD MAKE SOME 😱 although this will delay things by another few weeks, ooh the dilemma.

@LaChatte and @Christingly these are beautiful makes. I have been distracted by hosting and also want to crochet some toadstalls for Halloween but also planning on buying the cracker pattern this week and making a start.

Make some as in bean tins or make some as in handmade ceramic bowls?
The latter would make you a poncetastic legend. 😉

This was my thought, too! My mind was boggling at making pudding bowls.

I was going to do small cakes, but I've just happened upon this. Moist cake using the boiled fruit method and an orange syrup glaze. I am curious enough that all of the ingredients have been added to my online shop this week.

https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/easy-moist-fruit-cake/

@RainbowZebraWarrior oh man. That orange syrup over fruit cake. I’m making a note of that.

Make make, I do pottery as a hobby. I totally forgot I was going to make pudding basins and started making a pretty mug for Xmas instead 😅

DS is coming over for DD's birthday on Friday so I'm going to make the most of it and have stir-up Sunday then so no time to make mini pudding bassins this year, but definitely being put on my things to make list.

Yowzers. That's impressive! ⭐️

@LaChatte beautiful mug. Will you paint it? It looks like the sort of mug that you'd enjoy half an hours peace & a brew with 😊 How did you get into pottery as a hobby?

I'm plodding on with the crochet I daftly agreed to do, instead of try to finish my village 🙄. The other pieces are washed now though and ready to be blocked/assembled at some point - goodness knows when. Maybe next weekend then hidden away for a while.

@lulucysmam I will undoubtedly fuck it up glaze it once it's been bisque fired. I HATE glazing, plus we do high firing so the colour choice is limited (lots of colours burn out over a certain temperature). In an ideal world I'd buy some gold luster and do a third firing for the stars, but at 80€ for a teeny tiny bottle that's not happening for now!
I got into pottery years ago after watching the first season of Great Pottery Throwdown and thinking it looked easy 😂 and such fun. I did a 3 day workshop and was hooked. Since then I've been going to my local pottery group once a week and little by little I've built up my own ''workshop'' shed at home.

Thanks for sharing the story of your pottery @LaChatte you are certainly very talented!

Hi everyone, on the topic of cake I wondered if you could help me out with cake tin sizes please?

If I'm following a Christmas cake recipe, how accurate should my cake tin be? For example I've got a 22cm round tin that's 6 inches deep, a smaller one that's 13cm and 3 inches deep

A recipe I was going to use says "This quantity will make a deep 11cm square cake or 2 small loaf tins 13cm x 6cm"

Apologies if a silly question as don't really want to buy more tins!