taking a break

I am taking a break from blogging ... again. Everything is fine with me, I just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm for blogging these days. Whether I return any time - soon or otherwise - remains to be seen. In the meantime, take care of yourselves!

quilt, skirts and snow

Last week I finished off a quilt which I had started last August. It might have taken me a while to get it done but, oh my goodness, I am so happy with it!

Next, I made a pair of oven gloves for myself. They are already in the rotation and the ones that they replaced because I noticed they had a melted bit on them are now in the bucket!

I made a couple of skirts for the wee girlies. I made Emily's one first - the front:

And the back:

And Isla's - front:

And back:

I've been keeping the Christmas stocking sewing ticking over. I now have 4 with the squares all sewn together and ready to quilt and another 6 already quilted ready to be made into stockings.

And lastly, we have had a huge amount of snow here. Our shopping delivery was cancelled on Tuesday. It was due between 6pm and 7pm but it didn't come and it didn't come. It was blizzarding outside and I was worried he had got stuck somewhere but we finally got an email just after 10pm saying that the van had been in an accident and that the delivery wouldn't be coming. I do hope the delivery man is okay! I managed to order a food box from Morrison's and it's coming this evening - hopefully!! That will tide us over (and then some) until next week's delivery comes.

Anyway, this was the view out of my favourite window on Tuesday - nothing to see here!!

This was halfway through - it was deeper than this later that day!

And this is the view across the fields this morning.

Douglas and I are going for our Covid jags next week. I don't think I've ever been pleased about getting a jag before but I'm really hoping that this is the light at the end of the Covid tunnel for all of us. In the meantime, stay safe out there!

some sewing and the ones that got away!

I haven't been sewing much recently - or at least not as much as I usually do. Let me show you what I've made.

First of all, I made a topper for Debbie's sewing box. I used bits of all (or most of) the sewing-related fabrics I had. I'm really chuffed with the way it turned out. Here's the front:

And the back:

My next project was a laptop bag for Debbie. She'd seen the one I made for Joanna - in 2014! - and wanted one like it. She asked me to use denim on the outside and chose the lining fabric from my stash of fat quarters. I made it the same size as Jo's one even though it'll be bigger than Deb's laptop but she told me she'll probably put other stuff in it too so better to be bigger. I put pockets on one side only:

Quilted the whole thing:

This is the inside:

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Just have to say that sewing a zip around corners is hard when you're sewing quilted denim!!

Jo asked me if I'd make a runner for her new hall table. This is what I came up with. I LOVE it! The top:

And the bottom:

Debbie facetimed me one day last week while Emily and Isla were painting. Emily already has a painting pinny but Isla was wearing an old tee-shirt and, boy, she was messy. She didn't quite get that she was supposed to keep the paintbrush on the paper - she is only 15 months, after all! Needless to say, she now has a new painting pinny the same as Emily's except it's a wee bit smaller and has different coloured straps.

I decided to top up my Christmas fabric squares which I use to make the patchwork stockings I sell in the tartan bee. (No direct link to them as there are none loaded at the moment.) I need 45 different squares for each stocking so this has helped to fill the Christmas squares box considerably!

Lastly, I found the ones that got away! Isn't there always something that you miss when you clear away the Christmas decorations?

In fairness to myself, these were underneath this quilt so they weren't exactly visible. If I hadn't decided to tidy the quilt, they'd probably still be there! LOL

filling in the blanks and other things

Happy New Year! I'm not sure it's going to be much better than last year but, at least there's a vaccine now which gives us hope for better days. Soon. Fingers crossed! 🤞

Time to fill in the "blanks" which I had made before Christmas but couldn't show on here as the recipients read my blog.

First of all, Joanna asked me if I could make a round patchwork mat to fit a basket she was giving Debbie for her Christmas. We discussed measurements and fabric choices and this is what I came up with.

Front:

And back:

Thankfully, both girls loved it so we were all happy!

Next I made a cover for Joanna's diary. This is something I do every year and sometimes struggle to get the size right. This year I bought the same kind of diary as I had used a couple of years ago when the cover fit well. I used those measurements again and, yes, it fitted beautifully. I hope I remember to do that next year!

This is the front:

And this is the back:

A few days before Christmas, Debbie said to me " Mum, you know what I don't have? Christmas oven gloves!". Needless to say, that was remedied very easily!

After Christmas, Debbie asked me if I'd make a few pencil cases and pouches for Emily's new felt pens and other wee things. I first of all made a prototype of a pencils pencil case. I wasn't entirely happy with it - I know! I am way too critical of my own work! It wasn't a problem, though, as Joanna kindly offered to take it off my hands! 🤣

I re-made it changing a few things here and there. I am much happier with this version.

Then I made another 3 which I hope will store all sorts of wee things for the wee girlies!

This next one is the last of the fabric I got from Jo's blog giveaway. Thanks again, Jo.

The best thing about all of these pencil cases is that they're all made from scraps. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have reduced said scraps! Honestly, when I'm not paying attention, I'm positive that fabric scraps breed! 🤣

Take care out there. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

lots of stuffs!

I thought I'd better write a blog post but didn't think I'd have much to show. How wrong was I? I'll show you!

First of all, I made a couple of dressing gowns for Emily and Isla for Christmas. (I'm showing them on here because neither Emily nor Isla read my blog! 🤣) This one is Emily's:

And this one is Isla's.

As I was cutting them out, I remembered when my girls were wee, I would usually make their dollies a similar garment with the leftover pieces. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of either of the fleeces to make a dolly dressing gown but I had some fleece in my stash that I used instead. Grace kindly offered to model them.

Then it was back to making more Christmas stockings for the tartan bee. These all sold within days of me listing them.

I've now closed the tartan bee for a well-earned break over Christmas and New Year.

Next I made Molly and Tilly - my girls' dogs - each a monster for their Christmas. (I'm showing them on here because neither Molly nor Tilly read my blog! 🤣)

My original idea was to do these on my embroidery machine but, when I printed out the template, it was barely bigger than my hand which I felt would be too small so I needed a change of plan. I enlarged the template on the printer, cut out pieces of fleece and then just cut out bits of felt for the eyes and mouth, sewed them on, sewed the fleece bits together leaving a gap for stuffing, stuffed them, sewed the gap shut and called them done. To be honest, they could have been bigger but the dogs will love them and probably have them covered in spit within minutes of opening them!

On one of the many days I walked to the post office with Christmas stockings to post, I took photos of skeins of geese flying south for the winter. The noise was amazing!

When I got home, I showed Douglas the photos and he said he'd been talking to an old man when he was out for a walk who said that, when there are so many birds like that, it means we'd be in for snow. I just rolled my eyes thinking "yeah right!". Well, turns out the old man was right as this was what we woke up to the next day!

On that same walk, I passed these lovely beasts. I so wanted to stroke them but didn't think it would be wise considering the top wire of the inner fence between us is electrified!

And finally, I dug out an old image I made way back in my signature making days. I still love it as much as I did back then!

Please be safe! See you in 2021!

mostly stockings ... and blanks

I've been really busy lately trying to keep up with the sales of the Christmas stockings in the tartan bee. The following three photos were taken on the 9th, 12th and 13th of November.

After I made those batches, I had to make some more tartan bee labels. I get 32 out of a page and I printed off 4 pages so that's 128 labels made. They take quite a while to make but hopefully that'll keep me going for a while!

I had to let down a couple of Emily's pinafore dresses last week. She's growing like a weed!! The corduroy one - which I didn't take a photo of for some reason - left no mark where the hem had been but the denim one left a definite white line. I decided to use one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to disguise the line.

Talking of taking quite a while - it took a good half hour to sew those bees around the pinafore! But well worth it, methinks!

I then made her a plastic pinny to wear when she's doing glueies. Debbie always loved making glueies when she was wee - looks like she's passed that love on to Emily! Anyway, this pinny will at least keep her clothes clean - if she remembers to roll up her sleeves!

I've made a couple of "blanks" for Christmas so can't show those yet. I've got photos of them so will try to remember to show them after they've been given and received.

Then it was back to more stocking sewing. These photos are dated for yesterday and today which must mean I haven't photographed all the stockings I've made as there's no way I had a 15 day break from sewing stockings. No way at all!

It feels like as soon as I load more stockings into the tartan bee, they sell. Not a bad "problem" to have! It's a good job I enjoy making Christmas stockings! LOL 🎄🎅🏻