I've been so busy since I came back from London preparing for Christmas I have had no time to sort out photos or write any posts. Firstly, our Christmas was brought forwards by 2 weeks as my family gathered early due to other commitments over the Christmas holiday period. House had to be tidied & cleaned. Food had to bought & meals prepared. Presents to be made. It was all go!
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| Sewing case |
I stuffed a Sass & Belle mini suitcase with selection of sewing goodies for a friends daughter. She loves foxes so I thought this woodland inspired fabric collection called Fox and Friends by Lewis and Irene, bought from Nature's Threads quilting store, was just perfect. I used some to make a needle case, pin cushion and scissor case. Inside the needle case I added some needles, pins, safety pins & needle threader. I put in some plain natural coloured fabric, a select of felt squares, embroidery threads, a bag of fancy threads & ribbons, a card of buttons, a length of bobble trim, reel of cotton, some wadding and a tape measure. I coordinated the colours the best I could in browns, greens, oranges, yellow and russet to go with the Fox and Friends fat sixteenths.
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| Handmade needle case, scissor case & Hedgehog Pincushion |
I plan to post details on how I made the needle case, scissor case and Hedgehog pin cushion at a later date.
The recipient was really thrilled with my gift to her and said she can't wait to make something.
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| Cath Kidston and Alice in Wonderland inspired charm bracelets |
These charm bracelets were for my sons girlfriends and again, I intend to do a post showing how I put them together. They are fun to make when they are themed. The 2 chokers at the top of the picture just had a couple of star charms added to make them a little different. These were just little stocking fillers.
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| Bedding accessories for a Princess! |
A four year old little girl got a Fairytale play castle for Christmas and as the furniture looked a little uncomfortable I made mattresses for the cot and bed, a lace trimmed pillow, a knitted blanket and a quilt. I also made a baby from a wooden dolly peg.
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| Cute reindeer gift bag, tea towel apron and a little black dress |
I also made a gift bag for four year old Eva with a cute felt Rudolph reindeer appliquéd on it. This was made using the fabric from 3 Christmas tea towels bought a few years ago, some red bobble trim and 4 big black buttons. I had also promised to make her an Eva sized apron. As time was running out I made one very quickly out of flowery tea towel. A tutorial will follow shortly as it was so easy.
I will also show you in another post more about the little black dress made for my daughter for New Year's Eve.
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| Maple & Pecan & Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes and Cranberry & White Chocolate Loaf |
Finally, as well as the usual Christmas food - Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets etc,etc - I made Maple & Pecan cupcakes with butterscotch icing topped with a half a Pecan and Lemon Drizzle cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing topped with snowflakes for our first family gathering. For our second Christmas for those of us left, I made mince pies, an Orange version of the Lemon drizzle cupcakes and a Cranberry & White Chocolate loaf with vanilla buttercream topped with fondant snowflakes.
We also held our usual annual New Year's Eve gathering with friends at our house this time so the cooking didn't stop there! My "star" of a husband cooked several indian dishes whilst I was left to the tidying & cleaning, laying the table, the decorations and the desserts. I made Raspberry and Milk Chocolate Cheesecake and Chocolate Chip Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding. As so much was going on I forgot to take photos!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year
(I'm just going to put my feet up for a while! :-) )
Zx
