books read in 2016

revealing all

Time to reveal the sewing I was doing but couldn't show before Christmas. First of all, I put some of my Christmas embroideries into plastic hoops and hung them on the walls. They looked fab!

I made a diary cover for Joanna. Honestly, this diary cover was such a pain in the neck to make. I had to take it apart twice because I just couldn't seem to make it fit! Aaaaargh! Och well, it fits now and Joanna loves it which is all that matters!

The front:

The back:

The inside - where the diary fits so only the flaps are seen.

I made Joanna another pinafore dress using McCall's 7241. This time it's back to view C.

Again, I had to use the flash - blech - but the pinafore's black and so it was hard to get a decent photo of it in our dull winter light.

I made a couple of bookmarks on my embroidery machine for the girls. This one is Joanna's -

And this one is Debbie's -

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And now all I have to do is wish you all a ...

Merry Christmas!

I don't have any sewing or embroidering to show as everything I've been making recently are secret things. I'll show them off after the big day!

In the meantime, let me wish you all a very merry Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful time.

a miscellany of things

I've got a real mix of photos to show today. First, the last cushion cover. This one sits on the chair in the dining room which is why I missed it in my original count of Christmas cushion covers I needed to make.

Last weekend - or maybe it was the one before that?? - we went to visit Debbie and Jason. I did take lots of photos but most of them are out of focus or not worth sharing for some reason or another. Here's Molly wearing her antler headband - for all of about 5 seconds!

And this is Tilly wearing her Santa hat headband - for less than 5 seconds!

This is what can be done with a Tunnock's teacake, some icing and holly leaves and berries decorations. I admit it looks like I just threw the leaves and berries on - that's because I did! LOL

This was a wondrous thing. Joanna was helping Debbie to decorate her tree and she put her hand into the box of hanger things and didn't manage to grab one - she managed to grab a hundred and one!! It actually looked like it could be used as a decoration on its own.

Joanna asked me if I would make her a flower brooch for her to give as part of her Secret Santa gift at work. She asked for a dark tartan so I used Black Watch. I embroidered the design on my embroidery machine, cut around it then attached it to felt and sewed on a brooch pin on the back. We'll find out tomorrow how the recipient liked it!

I made another couple of owl keyrings - one of these will be in that same Secret Santa package.

I've actually done some dressmaking this week - but not for me. This is - believe it or not! - a brown pinafore dress for Joanna. The winter light does not make it easy to take photos of brown things!

This is a wee bit better but I have a deep dislike of using the flash. Blech! Anyway, this is the stripey bias binding - home-made, of course - that I used to bind the neck and armholes.

I used this pattern again - view A this time, all in one colour in case that's not obvious!

And then this afternoon, I made 2 batches of tablet - well, 3 if you count the stupidity that was my first attempt. No, Anne. 1 cup of sugar is NOT the same as 1lb of sugar so your tablet will NOT turn out right! Aaaargh!

Anyway, I made a batch of the usual recipe (no photo as Joanna took it all away before I thought of it but the recipe is here) for Joanna to take to the Secret Santa gift-giving party tomorrow and I also made this lot.

I have no idea where the recipe came from but it's made in the microwave. Very easy and very tasty - although I've found I can't eat more than one piece at a time. Maybe that's a good thing!

Here's my version of the recipe - I changed it around a bit.

1 tin of condensed milk (mine was 397g)
100g butter cut into smallish pieces
500g caster sugar

Put everything in a microwavable bowl with highish sides and stir.
Cook on high for 2 - 2½ minutes to melt the butter. Stir again.
Cook on high for 10 minutes in total stirring regularly. I stirred at 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes and 2 minutes.
Pour into a lined swiss roll tin.
Cut into squares before it's fully set.
Eat.

One word of warning. Don't use a plastic spatula to stir the end result. Ask me how I know! :oD

Christmas cushion covers

Here are some of the other things I've been making recently. Christmas cushion covers!

I didn't buy new cushions - I just re-covered the ones we already had. The best thing about that was I didn't need to work out what sizes I needed - I just measured the covers that were already on the cushions and duplicated those sizes.

I used embroideries and appliqués on the fronts and used red or green polycotton on the backs. The stag's head is an appliqué I did on my "normal" sewing machine. I'd prefer it to be a bit bigger so I might unpick that one and do it again. Or I might just leave it alone!

I love them all but I have to make a special mention of the tree in the following one. This one is especially for Douglas. It's called "moustachemas tree". Yes, Douglas has a moustache - has had it since I met him all those years ago. The moustachemas tree makes me smile every time I see it!

I have another cushion cover up in the sewing room waiting for its back to be sewn on. Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow. :o)