A Sewing Kit

I spent today making the pincushion, sewing roll and needle case for the project bag I made a while ago.  There is also a scissor fob to go with it.  I feel quite happy with what I've made today.  When I'm doing embroidery or cross stitch there is never much to show for each days work but when I make things like the sewing kit it always feels as though the day has been productive.

The snow has disappeared now and it has rained a lot today, it's a bit milder and I have been able to open a window to get a bit of fresh air into the house without freezing to death!  I meant to buy some vegetable seeds while I was shopping the other day.  I like to buy seeds from Wilkinsons but I couldn't remember why I was going into the shop, then when I got home I remembered - oh dear!!!

The Last Few Days

If you want to make a quick card the ones shown above will only take a few minutes.  You'd think I'd have more to show for the last few days but I've done a lot of procrastinating.  Anyway, these cards are made using die-cut flowers and backgrounds from a cheap kit I had hanging about.  All you do is pop out the flower shapes, assemble them then stick them to your prepared card.  I want to get all the die-cuts used up then I will have plenty of cards in stock.  Another reason I want to get them used up is because I sometimes worry about the amount of craft stuff that is waiting to be used.

On a completely different subject - I was watching a repeat of The War Time Kitchen & Garden, I remember watching it in the early '90s, I loved it, well, on Friday there is a programme called Ration Book Britain, that should be interesting.  I was born shortly after the war and I do remember a few things being rationed but I was too young to appreciate how difficult it must have been for housewives in those days.  When I was first married I didn't know a lot about cooking but gradually over the years I think I'm a lot more of an economical cook.  One tip I saw on the programme yesterday was to replace half the fat with grated potato when making pastry.  I'm going to give this a try, it not only sounds economical but also healthier.  I wonder what other tips I'll pick up from this programme!

Card Making

Today I have got to spend time making cards.  It's my DS's birthday soon and he likes me to make a card for him.  Luckily it doesn't have to be a masculine themed card, which I don't make.  It's difficult to buy nice cards for men as well, so even the professional designers must find it difficult to come up with decent men's cards.

All the stuff in the above picture has been waiting in a drawer for me to get round to using for ages.  I love doing 3d decoupage cards.  I do them the proper way, cut them out, mold the shape, build up the image with silicone glue and then varnish them.  It takes ages but looks lovely.  When I saw these papers and matching paper punches in a craft catalogue I thought it would save me a bit of time having the paper punches to cut out the flower shapes.  However, when it all arrived it seems that I needed more punches than were with the set.  I looked everywhere to try and find the ones I needed but didn't have any luck.  But when I thought about it I realised that this was going to be a rather expensive way of doing decoupage, I'll stick with my scissors in future!

So, these will be part punched and part hand cut, we'll see how I get on.

I don't know about everyone else but this cold weather is making me crave stodgy food, the day before yesterday we had stew and dumplings, yesterday we had rhubarb crumble.  DH is talking about having dumplings again today and there is enough rhubarb crumble left to have for pudding.  I can see me putting loads of weight on round my waist, I really dislike having a fat stomach and not being able to fasten my trousers properly!

Yet Another Bag

Before spending time putting away my Christmas decorations I got round to finishing this bag.  It turned out a lot fancier than I thought it would!  I couldn't think of any embroidery design to put on it so decided to see what yo-yos (Suffolk puffs) would look like.  It's different anyway!

When I got up this morning it had been snowing again and it has snowed on and off all day.  It must be a bit warmer though, because the snow on the roof keeps sliding off and frightening me to death.  It really rumbles down the roof then makes quite a noise as it hits the ground.  I worried that my little dog would be stepping outside as it happened but he's been ok so far.

Yesterday I visited Myra's blog and she mentioned that one of her goals for this year was to do a Christmas ornament each month.  What a good idea, I'll be joining Myra in this and have just ordered a couple of charts from Sew and So.  I've chosen Prairie Schooler charts, one is the Kris Kringle Chart Leaflet and the other is Old World Santas II Chart Leaflet.  We'll see how I get on with this.

Projects So Far

This year I want to keep a proper record of everything I make.  I have a little black book that I jot down ideas and instructions in so I will use this to also jot down what I've made.  Here's what I've been doing so far.

These are the project bags I enjoy making, they measure about 7 inches x 9 inches and are just right for keeping 'bits' together.  I've made two the same because I want one to keep and one to give/swap.  This is another thing I want to do, if I make something that will be given away I want to make another one for myself.

I also want to do some applique this year and I've started off with this heart shape.  It's stuck to the background with Bondaweb and I will blanket stitch around the edge and maybe add a bit of redwork to the blank area.  It will then be made into another project bag.

I also like to stitch a few small designs, then if I'm in a swap I have something ready to use.  This one will be a scissor fob.

 Lately I've been stitching on evenweave/linen fabric but, for a change, I decided to have a go at this initial on Aida.  Aida is much easier on the eyes than evenweave and so is quite quick to stitch.

I have two other pieces of stitching started, just small designs like the above ones.  Considering it's only the fourth day of the new year I think I've got quite a bit made already!

Meet Ben

Before Christmas my DIL and I have a day doing a bit of Christmas crafting of some sort.  In 2008 we spent a day making linings for baskets.  The baskets were for putting things like sweets in but this Christmas Ben, (DIL and DS cat), had other ideas for one of them.

Silly old Ben!!!

Happy New Year...........

......................I hope this year is a good year for everyone, I hope this year is a better year for me than the last few years!!!

Remember these?  Well, they are these..............

When I opened the package from Nyperosa I was a bit puzzled myself but then I had one of those moments "Of course!!!"  and it became obvious that they were the slippers that she makes.  What a clever bit of knitting!!!  I think they are a really lovely gift for knitters to make, I don't know where she got the pattern, maybe you could visit Nyperosa's blog and ask her.

Something else I got for Christmas was this basket, well actually I got two, this is the smaller one.  Once again they are from Dunelm Mill.  I knew I was getting them because I chose them myself, that's how we do it, choose what you want yourself, then it's hidden until Christmas day.  The best way to do it I think, then everyone gets exactly what they want.  Though it is nice to get a bit of a surprise present I know.  I'll use the baskets for ongoing project storage or for displaying finished projects, maybe I'll line them too.