Bye Bye January 2010

Bye bye January 2010, how you have flown by! Usually I find January the slowest month and then by mid February time speeds up to start whizzing through March, April ,May as Spring takes hold and then gallops through the summer months to slow down again in October....

Not so this year! JJ set up his own business and my business: Thame Marketing has a website that sells IT equipment: www.itvaluewarehouse.com
OK that's IT for the advertising, all this had kept us very busy! Then there was all that SNOW!
But also I want to remember that this month I did quite a bit of SEWING again!
The little bag above was a birthday present for a friend and took about 6-8 hours to make.
The green approach was adopted in that 3 out of 4 fabrics came from dresses we have enjoyed wearing in the past! 2 from toddler dresses and one from a sundress of mine. Sewn together and quilted , the far left one in a free maching way.
The lining,batting and zipper were ''new'', the lining was a present very many years- at least a decade- ago.

I just LOVE love love the folded ends! Such fun and such a discovery in a quilting book from the library: ''A PASSION FOR PATCHWORK''by Lise Bergene.

First I had made a try out one for myself: from the sleeve of a machine knitted jumper that had gone ''wrong'' and had lived in my attic since the early 1980's....

VOILA!

This now houses a small portable crochet project. Like the donkey I had been planning to make....

This is the underside. January also saw me do much DE-CLUTTERING'' in the home and I cleared especially the ''prosperity corner according to the Feng Shui Bagua theory; which just happens to be Miss Y's room......and this is usually a mess with no floor visible!

A triumph I feel and well worth the many hours spent.

Long may it look like this!

Also in January I sewed Miss E some new pyamas from scratch in a lovely cotton lawn using a Burda pattern, it turned out a bit on the big ( not to say huge) side but she's chuffed to bits and declared they are the comfiest PJ'S EVER! So eventually she will grow entirely into them....

( even with an 11cm hem in the legs!)

Tomorrow will be February and who knows what adventures and creations lie ahead?!!!

PS There are a few recipes due in February blogland and a crochet cardigan is almost finished!

Also working on more patterns for Inside Crochet and looking forward to seeing- 2?!!!_ of my designs in issue 6!!!

Have fun and see you soon, work,children,dogs and home permitting....

SNOW on the last- and thus cancelled- day of school in 2009

SNOW!!!There's LOTS of SNOW!!!!! ... is the cry that awoke us this morning: VERY excited children dancing around in PJ's. Here is the table ''laid'' with a snowy tablecloth ....

Oooooooooh I'm sooo excited says Miss E ready to go outside to play: we just heard her school is closed on the radio...Santa let her have her new down gilet early and I made the hat, pattern will follow soon!

Too cold for the fingerless gloves today.... no good for making snowballs!!!

Miss Y in her Santa down gilet too, hers was chocolate brown, very cosy. So cosy she didn't feel the cold while making a Snow Angel....

Can we come in now? Time for HOT CHOCOLATE!!! And daddy made a lovely log fire too: Bliss!

TA DAH! This is the finished tote or bag for Miss E, she is sooo pleased with it, it almost got hi-jacked to go to school yesterday!!! Oh no! Santa said you have just a week more to wait!

Santa merrystitcher is not sure if it should have been 6 cupcakes, in 3 tiers? a 3 THEN 2 THEN 1 arrangement? or should I have added some words? Like YUMMY?

Not sure , I have my doubts but not too bad for a first effort? I do like it?

Definitely the fish are OK! Much better with BUBBLES!

And inside we have a large zippered pocket, a ring with tab for keys and a mobile phone/sunglasses pouch all sewn into the lining.....PHEW! It closes totally with velcro.
One happy present finished and many more to go! Bag, stocking, scarves,oooh too much to mention I'd better get on with it.

Bye for now, Pippa checking progress of the postman in the snow. Been baking so will share a recipe tomorrow: savoury oatcake bites!

A home-made Christmas

We're in the Christmas mood: ooh yes indeedy! Been wearing this ol' jumper all day now, a wonderfully warm garment made by yours truly some 20 odd years ago....

It's my own design, a patchwork of assorted traditional Scandinavian fair -isle motifs and an exceedingly comfy baggy A-line cut. Purwool mostlyYeoman yarn:4 ply with some chenille which isn't lasting so well: there are quite a few bare patches....
Don't you just LOVE luv luv the dancing reindeer???!!!LOL

This was an early present from my mum: a new sewing machine to use for my course as my old 1471 Pfaff had met with an accident- a running child knocked it onto a concrete floor and the floor won- and was no longer safe or reliable alas.

This is a very basic machine and I miss my needle threader, ''my needle down'' button and the warning light when the bobbin is about to run out but other than that this one sews like a dream!

Bought for free machining of course so there was no need for any fancy stitches.

The anniversary bouquet 5 days later and still not yet sketched!!! Ooops. We haven't celebrated yet as JJ is still very up and mostly VERY DOWN about the business and what we are going to live on in January..... Last proper paypacket as an employee: 28 December 2009.

It is therefor to be a HAND MADE Christmas : starting with these window decorations: part star and part snowflake they come from a post at attic 24 see sidebar for the link. I have made over 24 of these now, I prefer them in the cotton and have been stiffening them with 50/50 PVA/H2O overnight in the airing cuoboard neatly stretched and pinned out on the styrofoam that came in the box of the new sewing machine.... Wrapped in clingfilm of course in case of sticking....oh no that would never do!

From my stash of white craft cotton and red 4 ply or chenille and using PVA from my course materials stash: these have cost us nothing, nada, NJET nad YET..... they are so PRETTY!!!

AND FESTIVE!

i like them best against the green hedges and ivy... Against a grey sky is not so goood.

Then the last 2 days I have been crocheting a scarf/shawl for one miss and making a bag for the other....

Here's a peek at the progress:

Applique fishes on one side: I loved doing the bubbles!

and CUPCAKES on the other side!!! YUMMY, I just want to pluck a cherry and EAT it!!!

Talking of eating: I personally do not care so much for mince pies... BUT give me some STOLLEN and I'm in HEAVEN!!!

Thus far I have tried and tested a small one OELEN STOLLEN from W'rose and it was sooo DELISH it lasted less than an hour!!! Rum soaked and just the right amount of marzipan......

And then there were these ''stollen bites'' : 12 I thought would last a wee while but no!

All gone same day: both JJ and Miss E helped on that though.

I even made a proper lining !!! With a zippered pocket and a tab/ring for keys AND a sunglasses/ mobile phone pocket too. Never did that before so although it was a bit stressy and a bit boooring ( unlike applique which is FUN) i PERSISTED and it's turned out OK!

Got to do the tah dah tomorrow as the camera battery is flat again.

Oh deary me past midnight again, must go! Will turn into pumpkin very shortly.

Miss E missed bus Monday and almost missed it Tuesday as both days JJ said he's take her, so I set my alarm a bit later than usual: turns out I'm the only one who can HEAR an alarm.

Everyone else needs to be woken up by ME!!!

Back to waking at 6.30 am then, roll on Christmas holidays!! Only 2 sleeps to go.


Hope your Christmas/ Festive Season preparations and decorations are going well? Come see me tomorrow and I'll show the bag and the stocking I'm making?