Christmas Stockings Disaster

Christmas Stockings

Just how hard can it be?


I cut a template ...





Template cut from card





Looks slightly odd because of the angle I photographed it!   It seemed HUGE. I allowed a good inch all around additionally for hems ....

I then crazy quilted lots of off cuts onto a wadding and backing fabric one metre square and then cut some shapes using the template (foolishly forgot to turn for front and back and ended up with far too many 'fronts' and not enough 'backs')!   This is what they looked like at this point ...

Patched and quilted

At this point the pieces still looked HUGE.



Lots of ribbon and trimming later



For reasons of far too much fabric and wadding they were impossible to shape and ended up looking quite ridiculous. After two hours work I was determined to try and make the best of them.



Back



The back was sadly as bad as the front.



And so on ...



The second was no better!

And so on  ...



And so on ...



Until three badly shaped stockings!



The back just as bad!!!

I have decided to fit the 'loops' and fill them with sweets and The Little Fairy People will probably not even notice how weird they are. Tomorrow I shall buy some more appropriate fabric and try again!

Tips badly needed from all you professionals out there.

Colour

I Love Colour

 

I am pretty bad in choosing and matching colours and fabrics. A friend suggested I use a colour wheel and I must say that my results do seem to have improved a little and do not jar the eye quite so much. I love zingy colours and this makes my choices not to everyone's taste, hopefully now things will improve! Here are some of the colourful things that have caught my eye today:-

This freaky car cover for sale on Etsy  ... all the fabrics have been donated by celebrities and the proceeds to go to Breast Awareness Charity.

This amazing Kitchen Aid to cheer up any kitchen. I want one, I want one!

     Lovely green kale in the garden.

      Perfect blue sky today.












Hand made tiles from Le Terre Colourate on Etsy.

Heather Bailey's zingy Pink Peony fabric.


Now that's enough colour for one day ... now to  get back to making my Christmas stockings!

Rememberance Day

Poppies For Rememberance Day

NOVEMBER

There is wind where the rose was,
Cold rain where sweet grass was,
And clouds like sheep
Stream o'er the steep
Grey skies where the lark was.

Nought warm where your hand was,
Nought gold where your hair was,
But phantom, forlorn,
Beneath the thorn,
Your ghost where your face was.

Cold wind where your voice was,
Tears, tears where my heart was,
And ever with me,
Child, ever with me,
Silence where hope was.

Walter de la Mare

1878 - 1953

 

This poem was written to commemorate the death of a child.

In the UK, The Royal British Legion holds a poppy appeal each November when poppy lapel buttons, made by ex-armed forces, are sold to raise money to support the armed forces and their families through difficult times. Poppies were chosen as a symbol because in the Fields of Flanders, during the First World War, the blood of the fallen appeared to onlookers like a field of blood red poppies. On Rememberance Day (November 11th) a service is held yearly at The Cenotaph in Whitehall,  London, to honour the dead from all wars. There is also a two minute silence on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which is participated in by the majority of the country to commemorate the war dead.

 

Hasty, Tasty Vegetable Pie

Lunch In Thirty Minutes

Root Vegetable Pie

This morning we awoke in London to drizzle and grey skies. The trees have shed their leaves and the air has turned cold and crisp ... winter is definately on its way.

Today I have a vegetarian coming for lunch and with just thirty minutes warning I managed to put together a winter vegetable pie. With just a few carrots, a leek, a parsnip, a red onion, a white onion and a stock cube and a few cauliflower florets a very tasty pie later went down well with a glass of red wine.

Found in the fridge

I always keep some instant pastry in the fridge too so it took no big effort to cook all the vegetables quickly in the microwave immersed in the vegetable stock while rolling the pastry and preparing the tin.

Thirty Minutes In The Oven

Glass of Merlot

Tasted very good!

Needlecase

Needlecase In Fifteen Minutes

Today I had just fifteen minutes to kill and decided on a hasty needle case. I always have trouble finding my needles - they disappear down into my pin cushion (tip here would be not to make pin cushions too deep). I had a few scraps of felt and this is what I made ... I shall try a more professional one when I have more time to spare but for now this will just have to do!

 

Now to find the rest of my needles.

The Postman Called Twice!

Amy Butler Fabric From Gone To Earth

I was dying for these lovely new fabrics from  Gone To Earth  to arrive and I was so disappointed to be out when they came. Today I have them courtesy of Mr Whizz Kid, along with four new cushion inserts - I am so excited - watch this space!

Green and Blue shades

Green and Peach shades

Amy Butler Fabric

These lovely fabrics from  Gone To Earth

Christmas Gift Packaging

Pretty Christmas Gift Bags

I came across some pretty gift bags for small presents on a blog recently and thought how charming they were. With a little effort I found they took little more than an hour to design and cut the fabric and a similar time to sew together - and these were my first two attempts ...

Moda Chez Moi and Laura Gunn Santorini

The bags are so simple to make (I will try and post a tutorial later) and  they measure just 8" x 8" x 4" and are perfect to fill with goodies for the little (or big) girls in your life. They are reversible with a smooth patched inside and a scrappy raggedy patch outside (well - that is how I like to see them!)

To make these you will need:-

14 x 5" squares for outside

14 x 5" squares for inside

14 x 4" squares of wadding

2   20" x  3" strips for handles

2   20" x 1" strip of wadding for handles

1  10" x 1 strip for closure loop

1 button

I cut all the fabric with pinking shears and used scraps of Moda Chez Moi for one bag and the second bag was made from Laura Gunn Santorini fabrics (which I so love) and lined with Heather Bailey Pop Garden.

They are so cute!

Halloween Gifts

Scary Pillowslips

Last year I bought some lovely 'Day Of The Dead' fabric from Alexander Henry, which unfortunately never got used until this week. I thought it would make some scary pillowslips for children at Halloween ... and here they are ...

I mixed the bright skull fabric with some soft Moda spots and some fancy red ribbons and was really pleased with the results -  do you like them?

Note to myself : get the iron out!

Back In Blogland

Small Steps

Strip Quilts

It has been almost a year since I was fit and able to be back crafting but after much slow progress I am ready to try and go about my life once more. I read back my previous posts and realized I had said 'see you all in two or three weeks' - how wrong I was!

I have spent the past month or two doing some very simple craft work - mostly presents for my lovely family and grandchildren. Here are some of the things I have made ...

A pretty strip quilt with a light wadding - perfect for wrapping around a child to watch TV!

The back is almost as pretty as the front.

A second 'strip quilt' in wonderful shades of red giving it a lovely 'Christmas' feel.

Again the back is almost as pretty as the front.

This third one is probably my favourite with lots of pinks and turquoise for the girls!

The lovely rosy red fabric from Lecien make for a lovely reversible backing.

I chose strip quilts as my first bit of crafting as they are so very quick and easy to make and have a very cheerful effect on all who receive them. I also like the fact that you can 'quilt as you go', which is perfect for when you are in a hurry. It is also possible to get jelly rolls fairly easily if I am not up to fussy cutting. (The nerves in my hands and feet have been damaged by excessive doses of chemo and consequently I find too much cutting rather difficult at the moment). The good news is that these effects are supposed to fade over time ... and even better news is that I now have hair!!

This last quilt was made from a jelly roll by Robert Kauffmann and backed with a fabric designed by Kaffe Fassett. It is eye popping colourful, which really cheered me up. I do hope 'K' liked it as much as I did.

After these four quilts I got rather bored with simple quilts so tried some other little gifts.

So now I am back - and again - thank you for all the kind messages and emails I have received - I have soooooo appreciated them all.