the last post of the year

As Christmas is now over, I can show Jo's diary cover which I made for her this year. I embroidered the design on my embroidery machine. She actually laughed out loud on Christmas Day when she opened it. It made me smile too! This is the front:

This is the inside which, sadly, isn't seen unless you take the cover off!

And the back.

I used to have such trouble getting the covers to fit well but these days, I buy the exact same make of diary every year - obviously one year on from the previous year!! - and then I know that the cover will be the same size every time.

Our next door neighbours had a baby girl at the end of November so, naturally, I made her a quilt. I'm really happy with how it turned out. All those wonky triangles just make me smile!

The back is one side of a downie cover bought in the sales at the end of summer. That's quite a quick turnaround for me to have used it already!

My next project was to make myself a dress to wear for Christmas Day. I decided to use McCall's 8553.

I am not scared/wary/terrified of zips in the slightest but this one nearly broke me. I was so close to just throwing the whole thing in the bucket but I didn't. In the end, I decided to ignore the pattern's instructions for the zip and did it the way I thought it should be done and that made all the difference. By the way, the pattern tells you to use a metal zip and to cut off the ends to make it fit. No way was I doing that! I used a normal plastic zip and it worked just fine!

I'm so glad I persevered. I LOVE this dress! (As usual, my facial expression is just silly! 🤣)

It was so comfy to wear on Christmas Day - no tight waistbands to worry about! LOL

Jo got a kit to make a "gingerbread house" out of chocolate. We had so much fun sticking it all together with melted chocolate. We've made a few real gingerbread houses over the years and they've never gone together as well as this one did!

And demolishing it a few days later was fun too! Nom nom nom! 🤣

This was the last thing I made this year. I have so many tree wallhangings that I've decided it's my thing. You know, some people collect frogs or pigs or whatever. I make tree hangings! That's okay, I enjoy doing it and there's plenty of wall space to hang them! 🤣

So, that's 2025 nearly over. See you in 2026!

adding to my stash

At the end of October, Jo and I went to a Crafter's Destash and had the best time. I think everyone there, at one time or another, said to one of the ladies (and men) who were manning the stalls that they really didn't need to be buying more stuff. But, oh it was fun! Here's what I got:

Some fat quarters:

Some bigger pieces:

A couple of scraps bags:

This is what was in them:

and, finally, some books:

I was delighted with everything I got! If we spot it being on next year, no doubt we will be there!

I was laid up for a couple of weeks with a bad cold so I made good use of the Christmas Cheer book in the last photo and made this wreath. It's been decades since I did any hand-stitched patchwork and I was surprised how much I enjoyed doing it. It helped to while away the long hours I spent on the couch trying not to cough up a lung!!

This is what I made the wreath into - a wall-hanging - door-hanging actually!

A few weeks later, we went to a Quilter's Exhibition. The quilts were lovely and very inspiring. The best bits for us were the various sales tables dotted around the room. Needless to say we spent a little money there too! First some books:

and some fabric pieces.

Actually, I have to admit, the absolute best bit was the free coffee and home-made cakes and biscuits. Those alone were well worth the price of the ticket!

When I was finally feeling better, I made another wall-hanging. This was self-designed and I LOVE it!

Jo mentioned that she wanted a Bourbon biscuit decoration for her tree so, after a bit of searching, I found one and made it for her. She's delighted and it's hanging on her Christmas tree! This is the embroidery design I used but I changed the M to an N using my Embrilliance program.

The last two things I made were these. I have a Tiffin recipe and a Peppermint Slice recipe already but they sometimes don't work as well as I'd like - no idea why! These are both from the Baking with Granny website. Both were very easy and very delicious.

This is the tiffin:

And this is the peppermint slice:

I really should make them again! Nom nom nom!

better late than never!

I'm a bit late in getting my October makes post up but better late than never! Here's what I made:

When I made the baby quilt for Jo's neighbours, I wasn't very happy with the dinosaur. I felt it was a bit difficult to see his body details because of the fabric I'd chosen. I made another one in a plain fabric and, when I showed the abandoned one to Jo, she said she loved it. So, I framed it with an embroidery hoop and gave it to her. Can you see what I mean about the fabric? All those stars and blue spots with the lines in between them are on the fabric, not part of the dinosaur! Anyway, she now has this on her wall and is very happy with him, stars and all!

Douglas and I took a dealing with a pair of kitchen chairs and a kitchen table which I wanted to make use of in our kitchen. They had belonged to Douglas's mum and really needed updated so that's what we did. Douglas removed all the old varnish and cleaned them up and then painted them that gorgeous blue colour. I then covered the seat pads and made seat cushions to go on top all with the fabric that was left over from when I covered our dining room chairs - shown here. That is the fabric all used up so for £20, I made 8 chair pads and 5 seat cushions. Has to be the best bargain ever!!

My credit card holder finally gave up the ghost. As I'd made it in 2012, that's hardly surprising. In fact, it's amazing that it lasted that long! This is the post from way back then where I showed when I made it for the first time.

I reduced the amount of pockets as I don't carry as many cards these days. Still works beautifully!

Lastly, I made myself a new bag. This is the Bestie Bag from Blackbird Fabrics. I am so happy with it. I used the same denim I had used to make the Mia bag to take on holiday and lined it with the same fabric too. There's still some denim left and a wee bit of the lining fabric. I wonder what I'll think of to make with them next??

So, that's October's makes squeezed in just before the end of November. I wonder how long it'll take me to post my November makes??

lemon curd, sewing, dogs and a quilt

I had an urge to make some lemon curd so dug through my recipe book to find the recipe I used to make many, many years ago. Here's the result. Oh my goodness, it was delicious. I say "was" because it didn't last long. I really need to make some more!

In case anyone's interested, this is the recipe.

Lemon Curd
Makes 2 x 250 ml jars.

4 lemons
200g granulated sugar
100g unsalted butter cut into cubes
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

Method
Zest and juice the lemons and put into a heatproof bowl along with the sugar and the butter.

Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir now and again until all the butter has melted.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk. Add to the lemon mixture and stir until everything is combined. Leave to cook for about 12 minutes stirring every now and again.

When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat and pass it through a plastic sieve to remove the zest and any egg white that hasn't mixed in. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

Once cooled, spoon into sterilised jars and seal.

Keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks if it lasts that long!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I made myself some trousers. I used the old faithful pattern which I've used many times before - the Jalie pull-on pants. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! I forgot to take a photo of them before I wore them so took one after I'd taken them off hence all the creases! LOL They are black, by the way. It doesn't look like black in the photo, but they are black!

Next, let me show you what we did with the frame for our old swing which finally gave up the ghost. Well, the swing part did. The cover needed replacing - it would have been the third time I'd recovered it - but, before I even got the idea in my head to make another one, Douglas sat on the swing and one of the metal parts holding the seat part together sheared off making it unsittable-on. (I'm sure that's not a word, but you get the idea!)

We had put it beside the side gate with the intention of taking it to the tip when our big bird feeding station bent over in one of the storms we've had recently depositing all the bird feeders and seed and suet balls all over the grass. I wondered if we could re-use the frame of the swing as a bird feeder thingy. It's not perfect but it works. The birds don't care what it looks like - in fact, I think they like it!!

Next, let me introduce you to Maisie. Debbie (and her family) got a new puppy. She's a Cavapoo and a wee terror by all accounts but then she is a puppy so that's her job! Isn't she adorable?

I was chatting on FaceTime the other day with both Joanna and Debbie and both their dogs put in an appearance. I suspect Tilly was quite glad that Maisie was in Canada. She really isn't sure what those funny little squeaking noises are. We're just telling her it's Maisie's Canadian accent! LOL

Lastly, Jo's neighbour is expecting her first baby so I offered to make them a baby quilt with all the appliquéed squares like one I made before shown here. This is the pile of all 49 appliqués. It took me nearly 2 weeks to make them all!

Here's the quilt all finished.

And here's the fleece on the back and the label.

If I make this again, I need to remember that it takes a l-o-n-g time to make all the squares but that it's worth it in the end. I just LOVE this quilt and hope Jo's neighbours and their baby will too!

fabrics bought and makes for August

When we were in Canada, we went to the fabric shop. Twice. The first time, Debbie and I went with the girls and, although they were very well-behaved, they did get a bit bored. The second time, Debbie and I went alone and had the best time. I spent quite a lot of money but, because of all the stuff we had brought to Canada, we had practically a whole suitcase available and I did my very best to fill it with fabric! LOL

When we got home, the first thing I did - after washing the clothes, of course - was to wash all the fabrics. Luckily the weather was perfect for me to be able to get it all dried outside. Naturally I had to take photos of it all on the line. I love every single piece I bought and don't regret buying any of it!!

There is a definite blue theme going on! The first photo is a bit in the shade but the colours are still amazing!

I decided I was going to make something out of the pile so decided on the Monty shirt from StyleArc which I have made before. I looked for a link to the pattern but it's no longer available, apparently! I love this shirt and the fabric is fabulous! Very happy with this one!

I then made another one. This fabric was a bit odd in that the stripes were horizontal across the fabric on the bolt. No problem for this shirt, though, as I just turned the pieces around to make the lower part have vertical stripes. I love this one too! (What is with the funny face??)

I'm thinking I might leave the rest of the fabric for now - no point in making more summer clothes when autumn is fast approaching!

When buying all that dressmaking fabric, I had also bought a couple of Christmas panels from the sale table. I decided I would make those - one for Jo and one for us. (I did ask Debbie in the shop if she wanted one too but she said she didn't.)

I made both quilts the same - cutting the panels apart, adding sashing and cornerstones and sewing them back together. These are the results - they're the same quilt but the panels are in different (random) places. Jo's has already gone to her house and ours is on the spare bed waiting for December so it can come out to be enjoyed!

Christmas is coming! 🎅🏻 🎄

sewing in Canada

You'd think, when I was on holiday, I'd get a rest from sewing. Nothing could be further from the truth! I did a ton of mending for Debbie which I didn't take photos of.

The biggest thing I mended was Emily's old rocking horse - Mayo-neighs. You would think by looking at this photo, that he looked perfectly healthy but his frame (inside) was broken and unfixable so we decided the best thing to do was to "just" take him apart and sew him up like a toy.

We had to cut his feet off to get him off the frame and we couldn't undo the fixings so had to think of how to deal with that.

We got his feet off the frame as best we could but he needed new soles so I used some blue fleece that Debbie had in her stash to make those.

I covered the holes where the handles had been with some felt.

Debbie, Emily and Isla stuffed him and I sewed him back together. I said that in 4 words but it took me a whole morning to do!

Here he is all fixed and admiring the girls' Lego boxes!

He looks fabulous now. The girls have been told he is not to be sat upon as he's not strong enough for that but he is strong enough for lots of hugs!

On my last day in Canada, I made nighties for the girls teddies - Howard and Albert.

We had a lovely holiday in Canada spending lots of fun time with Debbie and Emily and Isla. I was sad to leave them but I was also ready to come home. We flew back overnight and I didn't sleep for long on the plane - 2 hours if that! So, by the time Jo picked us up at the airport, we were fuzzy-brained and exhausted. It took a couple of days to get into our old routine again. No doubt the sewing will start up again soon - after all, I brought back a TON of fabric! LOL