Christmas baker

I spent the whole day in the kitchen yesteday making Christmas treats. I was so tired afterwards I couldn't post anything about it! I didn't stop from 630am to 630pm (although that included 50 minutes stuck in the car in the snow).


The list of goodies is:
Marshmallows
Coconut ice
Gingerbread - a house and other shapes
A French yule log
Chocolate truffles with three toppings
Chocolate fruit & nut bark
Chocolate Christmas shapes

Phew!!!! I hope everyone appreciates them!

Final stockings

I finished our stockings! One has a cream heart, quilt wadding, and a green heart on top, the other has a quilted cream heart and a plain green one. The cream heart went a bit wonky, so that one's mine. I'm so pleased with them, and it's a wonderful thing to make such a special thing for each other that we can keep for years (hopefully!). 

Stocks of stockings

The stockings have been made! Christmas is officially on the way. 

I made them with red fleece material, with a cream thick sock edging around the top. They're massive - but that means all the more presents to be stuffed inside!! 

Am planning to stitch on a couple of hearts in green fabric. We discussed adding one element every year - awww!

Mini Christmas cakes

I have a terrible cold so no sewing or being creative today, just curling up with a blanket...and dreaming about cupcakes. So poorly I don't think I can even bake anything myself - it must be bad.

But I did get two elves on my advent calendar, so it's not all bad. Merry elves!

A sewing machine around my neck?!

Yes, I would like to wear a sewing machine around my neck! Another beautiful necklace from www.folksy.com

Folksy loveliness

Check out this website: www.folksy.com/

It has lots of lovely handmade things - supplies and gifts - and jewellery. Including this gem:

Teapot thatched cottage necklace!!

What's the time Mr Teapot?

How gorgeous is this necklace!!! It's a necklace, a teapot, and a clock, all in one go. 

I love it!!

It might be too late to add it to my Christmas list, but maybe Father Christmas reads my blog....

The day before advent...

....and the stockings are nearly done. There may have been a minor mishap which has left the Boyf's stocking with a blood-soaked spot on it, but I'm pretending it's just a red bit of decoration.

I tried a green velvet edging on mine, but that really didn't work. We have matching red stockings with cream tops - very stylish.

But right now it's so cold in my little flat that I can't thread a needle. I'm curled up underneath the duvet on the sofa, waiting for a suitable bed time!

Lonely apostrophe

Buying Christmas presents for the Boyfriend today, I stumbled across this mug. Completely perfect for him as he does slurp his tea, and I'm always mentioning it...

However. This mug upsets me. I was in a quandry over whether to buy it.

"Do ahhh' after every slurp."

What the heck is that apostrophe doing?!?!????!!!

It's obviously supposed to be 'ahhh' and they dropped the first one by accident. It can't have been on purpose. It traumatises me. I bought it as I know Boyfriend will love it, and he won't be upset at all by the missing apostrophe - but I might look at it every time he has a cuppa and want to break it!!!

What a Christmas quandry...

Stockings in suspense

The Boyf and I are going to make our own Christmas stockings, as we're so underwhelmed by the selection in the shops. Seems if you don't want a garish cheap felt stocking then you're not allowed to indulge in one of the best Christmas traditions!

I've got a design in mind. It requires cream wool fabric, with red thread. I now need to find some nice cream wool, that doesn't cost £30 per metre...

I haven't done any proper sewing for the last few days. Having the sewing machine on my coffee table while I sit on the sofa to use it means I've developed a terrible back ache. I feel so old! But it means the sewing machine is resting, and I'll consider doing some hand sewing instead once it's eased a bit.

In the mean time I'm reading 'No and Me', about a French teenage genius who befriends a homeless girl.

Time has come to gift my little quilt to my friend Ian, whose son Sam has finally arrived. I personalised it yesterday with a tag for his name and birth date. Hopefully they'll all love it.


I experimented with a few triangles on this one, and also a natty little area of half- and third-sized patches - some on purpose, but the dotty part was perhaps due to a useless bit of measuring. I ended up cutting the blue dotted piece in half and inserting the red dots - covering up a deliberate mistake!

Tonight's project was quilting my teapot and cake quilt. It went quite well until I ran out of red thread, which was a pain.

However, I eased that pain with a batch of scones. Brilliant.

I'm off to sample my scones with a cup of tea. It's Assam, with a dash of milk, and a good book.

Bringing up the Bobbin Thread

Do you know how long it's taken me to figure out how to bring up the bobbin thread?!?

A long time! Longer than I should have spent thinking about this!!

Thank you to this brilliantly helpful video on YouTube that's made my life a whole lot easier now - and my quilts a whole lot neater.




Phew!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's in the eyes

Sock money has eyes, originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

The monkey sock Sock Monkey has got eyes! I sewed these on last night, as he was sitting on the bookshelf eerily watching me, or rather not watching me due to his lack of buttons. I thought about omitting the buttons altogether, as the bananas on the pattern made him look asleep.

I must get back to quilting - too many sock monkeys does not a teapot quilt finish....

Fluff on the needle

Fluff on the needle, originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

My first official needle fluffing! I feel like a proper quilter...

GaGa about tea

http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/31615/Brits-going-Lady-Gaga-for-afternoon-tea

This news story suggests Lady GaGa is the reason behind Debenhams' increased sales of teapots and other tea-related accessories, due to her penchant for carrying around a teacup.

Is the UK public that see-through?

And can we really justify a rise in such a social trend as tea drinking to the preferences of one slightly batty pop singer?

Tea drinking and appreciation has been around for hundreds of years and I refuse to lay its apparent resurrection at the feet of Lady GaGa. Perhaps its social importance and ability to bring together friends and family is more to blame. We live in such a contactless society that it's brilliant to see individuals rebel against only communicating via facebook or twitter and actually getting together with acquaintances for tea, biscuits, and cake. It's the best way to catch up with people, share stories, laughter, and sadness, while being refreshed and satisfied by a naughty sugary treat.

I've always been a lover of afternoon tea parties and will continue this favourite pastime irrelevant of what 'celebrities' get up to or indeed carry around with them!

Mocha fairy cakes

Chocolate cakes with coffee buttercream, originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

Nom nom - chocolate fairy cakes with coffee buttercream. They might look a bit like they've been decorated with worm poo, but they taste lovely!

Monkey around

Monkey around, originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

Today's project - another sock monkey, for a friend's friend's Christmas present (maybe she'll claim my glory and say she created it herself).

I used some new stuffing, and it was so gorgeously soft I wanted to use it as a pillow.

Minor error in the way the pattern worked on the sock - needing to have the toe as the head meant the monkeys are upside-down, but never mind. He's still a good sock monkey.

And yes, I know he doesn't have eyes yet - although the bananas do look good - but my friend has to choose the buttons yet.

Bird cushions

Two bird cushions - done! At last - this has been a project I've wanted to finish for weeks, and they're all complete. Lovely fabric (from IKEA of all places!). My friend has a penchant for birds lately and wanted some new cushions for her new house - and only a week after she moved in, they're finished. Not the best cushions in the world, but she'll love them - I hope...

Ginger biscuits

I love ginger biscuits, and I've just found a brilliant recipe for the best ever ginger cookies. They're chewy and brilliant with a cup of tea (what I'm enjoying at the moment). It's just plain ol' Tetley tonight, I was too desperate for a cuppa to choose any other leaves. But hits the spot all the same.

Sock monkey!

Introducing.... The Sock Monkey!!

So easy to make and everyone seems really impressed with them - it's amazing what a bit of thread and some socks can do.

Sew beautiful!

The perfect necklace for a quilter - a bobbin and scissors!! So cute, I can't resist. This might just go on my Christmas list (which I admit is quilt, sewing, teapot, and baking obsessed at the mo)...

It's available from Galibardy (www.galibardy.co.uk) which is a brilliantly quirky and cute jewellery website.

Frangipane

Not technically a teapot or a quilt, but mmmm lovely! Frangipane tart, from Jamie Oliver's recipes on his '30 minute meals' programme on channel 4. Very tasty. Even if I forgot to blind bake the pastry so they pooofed up a little too much...

Beautiful colours

Unfortunate bag placement...

Also known as Phoebe's husband Mike's alternative name in Friends!

I found a group!

The Crafty Patchers meet just a couple of miles down the road from me, one Saturday a month (which tends to be workshops or charity things), Monday evenings once a month, and Wednesday mornings (which obviously I can't go to as I work). I'll be going to a Saturday charity meet in a couple of weeks, hopefully it'll be good. Everyone takes their own sewing machine, which might be a bit tricky seeing as at the moment I'm just borrowing the Boyfriend's mother's machine, and she keeps wanting it back. But, we'll see. The nice lady on the phone said they do have a spare couple of machines in the hall, so maybe on the first time I go I'll just borrow one of theirs.

I can't wait!

In the meantime, I'm checking out some lovely photos on flickr to get inspiration...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirnabucevic/5116918119/in/faves-sophiedouglas/ I love the cupcake detail.


A Tokyo subway quilt - looks brilliant

And some brilliant mushrooms! http://www.flickr.com/photos/erleperle/5107039979/in/faves-sophiedouglas/

Ungrouped!

I'd love to join a quilting group nearby, to hear others' experiences and maybe borrow some of their knowledge. I'm such a beginner and would love to know more about everything. Can I find a group nearby? No chance! There's a woman who sells fabric about 8 miles away, but she hasn't a clue about anything other than making money out of the hobby, and couldn't suggest any groups at all. I've tried google and facebook to no avail. I can't be the only person in these parts who enjoys quilting! If I lived in the USA there'd be a quilter on every corner. Yet another reason to emigrate....

Waiting for the machine...

I don't currently have my own sewing machine, but I'm borrowing my boyfriend's mother's, which is a brilliant machine. Only problem being, she keeps wanting it back, so I have to go days without doing any sewing. So frustrating when you've got a project on the go and can't get on with it!

At the moment I'm halfway through a quilt with teapot and cake material. It's going to be lovely, just for my own amusement. It'll be the first time I attempt binding, and I'll be doing straight line quilting too. But for now, it's just sitting, waiting....

I also have two cushion covers I want to complete, for a friend's moving in present. I could hand-sew them, but I want them to be just right. She moves in next week, but she'll just have to be patient - something I'm having trouble with!