Madly stitching snow people

The Snow Family Christmas stockings are coming on apace.  Three of the stockings are on display at High Street Quilting, advertising a workshop on 7th December. 

The fourth stocking is still in production, although if I drop off to sleep while I'm sewing again I'll never get them finished.  One minute I was sewing, half an hour later I woke up with that sore nose feeling you get when you have been snoring, how attractive I must have looked!  

This particular one is destined for Stitchin Heaven, hopefully arriving before this Saturday.  I'm just putting the finishing touches to the instructions.  I decided to ask David to cut a wood pattern for me.  Then I thought it would be a good idea to protect it with a layer of paint.  Do you think it looks very plain?  Are you getting my drift?  It's just crying out to have the Snow Family painted on it isn't it?

Alison and I spent a happy morning on the Hill where I finished my little reindeer which is Sandra's Shape of the Month.  How cute?

I don't know how Sandra manages to come up with all these cute shapes, month after month but I love them.  Check out the little line of reindeer outside her shop.  

Mavis and Gladys were in action again last Thursday but the class was a little depleted - a couple on holiday and some at the Lumiere in Durham.  It was lovely to be able to give much more individual help to the ladies that were there though.  We still managed to polish off most of the cake.....

Toffee Pecan Cupcakes and Smartie Cookies.  They were supposed to be stem ginger cookies but I couldn't get the lid off the jar of ginger and there were no strong boys to help at the time.

I decided to run a class after school for adults, expecting half a dozen to come but fourteen were there last week.  I'm just running it until Christmas because work is so very busy. It takes a long time to prep everything for classes. I'm so looking forward to a time when stitching is my only work.

A wafting of roast pork has just come from the open kitchen door.  I better go and put the vegetables on.  I made the yorkshire pudding mix this morning so that I could settle down for a good stitch this afternoon.  Lucky I did really, considering the unplanned nap.  

So tonight I'll be finishing the blanket stitching on the stocking whilst watching the Texas Grand Prix, happy in the knowledge that I did all the ironing this morning.  It makes a pleasant change to feel a bit smug on a Sunday night rather than wondering where on earth the weekend went. Have a good week.

In my defence.....

1) I had all the ingredients;
2) I comfort eat;
3) It will last me all day;
4) It's smaller than it looks....

A stack of waffles with maple syrup and 2 rashers of smoky bacon.  Mmm.  It really will last me all day, partly because there's not much else in the fridge of course.  Do you love my plate?  It's one of the last few pieces that I got for a wedding present.  I have one bowl, some cups, two side plates and a gravy boat - how old-fashioned does that sound?. I got married in 1982 and it was our everyday china.  Sadly I saw a cookery programme a little while ago where the chef used this as 'vintage' china. Cheek.

I've had three days off work this week (it's half term), so I have been doing more sewing than usual.  A quick trip to the dentist and the hairdresser was squeezed in.  I have been making some stockings for a workshop (and patterns for sale).  I have a book with sketches in for different ideas I have.  It also has lots of loose pieces where I have picked up a scrap of paper when an idea occurs.  The stockings are a conversion of the ideas on to fabric.  Trouble is once you start you just want to keep going. I'll put the pix on next week because they are not quite finished.

One of my favourite excuses for baking is Halloween. Steph bought me a biscuit cutter the shape a pumpkin last year.  These are vanilla crisp biscuits covered with orange flavoured candy melt and decorated with some black icing.  I also made some little chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.

These were destined for the ladies at the quilt class but I saved some for the family too. When I got home from the class I had a little bit of grown up Halloween celebration-

Actually it was a bit bitter even for me so I put a splash of lemonade in. Lush.

With the housework crying out to be done, I sat down to make some little Halloween bags.

I have a very useful roll of brown paper.  I stamped some letters, 

traced some shapes on to fusible web and used a block of wood to shape the bags.  I added some ribbon handles to match and filled them with a tiny oranges (which looked like a pumpkin) some little chocolates and a recipe for pumpkin soup.

I finished them off with some labels I had painted at the Crafts House a couple of weeks ago.  These are just ordinary little white tags, painted with Antique White and aged with a greeny-brown Tim Holtz stamp brushed lightly round the edges.

The recipe for the soup was one my mother used to make for the boys with the pumpkin flesh left from the carving.  The first time she made it the top came off the salt cellar and dumped about a tablespoon of salt in to the soup. She scooped out as much as she could before it dissolved.  It was lovely in the end, despite being really salty!

I have been making cinnamon buttons for one of my projects. I bought the little cutters ages ago at a show but this is the first time I have made them. They need to dry for 48 hours so I will report on how they are faring.

 Strange ingredients - apples, glue and cinnamon

 Mixed like scones

 rolled out and stamped

Drying on waxed paper.

Last thing on the agenda this weekend was a firework party - I walked down to John's house - fell over a paving stone, twisted my shoulder and bruised my knee.  I thought I had broken the camera but it still works! here are some sparkler displays.

I had to scrape the first frost of the year from my windscreen on Saturday. Hey ho. Whatever the weather I hope your week ahead is a good one.

Turn on the broadband Gladys

Couldn't get to blog last week but I didn't notice straight away that Ben had switched off the router. It took so long to reset it was past my bedtime so apologies to those who checked by and found no news.

We had a lovely time at the quilt class last Thursday. Everyone was working away at their chosen blocks and it was good to see some ladies tweaking the designs to suit themselves. Quilting is about what you like and what you find enjoyable after all.  

Sometimes basic techniques come first and sometimes the design is more important and the techniques are perfected later.  There is no right or wrong way - some things work better than others - it's all part of the journey.

We had Lemon Yoghurt Bars by Donna Hay at the break and my favourite standby for busy times - palmiers.  

A sheet of puff pastry covered in sugar, rolled up then sliced and baked.  If you get fresh puff pastry you can bake half and freeze some for later. Sometimes I substitute grated parmesan for the sugar for a lovely savoury bikkie.

A lovely parcel was waiting for me on Thursday - a Knit Pro Symfonie circular needle.  I started the collar but it looks quite a bit smaller than the picture.

I didn't discover until I finished it this afternoon that the cast on edge is the bit that sits round your neck so is the smaller opening. 

I hope you can see the lovely nuances of colour, from soft hyacinth blue through jade green and purple.  It's beautifully soft too. I'll post a pic when I have blocked it.

Bernice - you asked about binding.  I did a reply on my phone but it didn't publish so I'll point you towards the tab at the top called Square in a Square where I have put a photo tutorial with instructions for binding at the end.  If I want to make a wide binding I usually cut a 3" strip and fold it in half with the wrong sides together then sew it on to the quilt front (in your case the blanket) front with a generous half inch seam, possibly three quarter inch seam depending on the thickness of the blanket. You can also use wide satin ribbon which is lovely for a baby - they seem to like the feel of satin.

When I was reading the Little Cotton Rabbits Blog I noticed Julie has a little block with 'Knit' on the top bar.  I painted a block a little while ago with a beehive on but I thought it would be nice to do something like Julie's. So these two are on their way.

Can you see the little tiny pair of knitting needles that Sandra gave me? I am going to do a tiny piece of knitting and a tiny little quilt to put on the blocks.  They are only about 10cm square though so they really will have to be small.  I need to do another two now for crochet and painting, I suppose I should do one for baking too!  How many blocks would you need?

Now though my thoughts are turning to Christmas designs.  Hilary has booked us for a Christmas stocking workshop at High Street Quilting on 7th December.  I will be finishing the designs this week as I have a couple of days off.

I'll be doing a couple of traditional Christmas colours and a couple of lighter colours. I have also got some sketches ready for a Cookie Cutter Swag.  First there is the small matter of Halloween this Thursday which happens to coincide with our next quilt class - so what do you reckon - should it be trick or treat?

Tea - the great reviver

It's been a long week at work and I've had a stinking cold.  I get them about once every five or six years so I shouldn't complain. I used to think I would volunteer for those research thingies because I so rarely get colds.  I've had flu once - when I was about 20.  All I can remember is my mother lifting a cup of water to my lips - I think I lost about 3 or 4 days. Trouble is you just keep going when you should really give in. I hate it when you feel like your eyes are going to pop out of their sockets every time you cough.  I gave in yesterday afternoon and slept for about four hours.  On Thursday my uncle rang to say he would be passing our house on the way to Edinburgh.  He had dinner with my brother on Friday and then came over on Saturday morning. Here are my two lovely boys, pumpkin Ben and Steph with Ben's Great Great Uncle Greg.

I made a whimpering phone call to John who made some lovely butternut squash soup with a chestnut and bacon garnish.  We had walnut bread with that and a Tarte Tatin with vanilla yoghurt for pud.  Very autumnal and a bit like the leaves - splendour for such a short time.

We have decided to spend Uncle Greg's 80th birthday next May in Ireland.  We have spent many a happy holiday celebrating family birthdays in big rented houses - mostly in France and usually a dozen or so of us.  It's been a while since we last celebrated someone's big birthday so I'm really looking forward to that.

There was nothing on the agenda today so I settled down for a nice quiet time.  I watched the Japanese Grand Prix.  John came round for quiet brunch and I got my wool out ready to knit. They hadn't got much sleep last night so they dispersed to their Mammy's houses for rest and recuperation.

Unfortunately my 4.50mm circular needle is 80cm and the pattern called for a 60cm. Poop. It seems I have every size of double pointed needle from 2.00mm to 6.00mm except 4.50mm. Deep frustration. Double poop. It will have to wait until I can borrow or buy the right size.

 

Half way through the afternoon Steph rang to say that Ben had taken his first steps!  They came round but he wouldn't perform again.  Her little brother Matthew came with them and asked if he could make cakes.  It was like Armegeddon in the kitchen and he ate about a quarter of the mix before we could get it in the tins.  Ben switched the washing machine off half way through a cycle and the tumble dryer is on the blink.  The condenser is leaking. It has actually stopped raining but it's too late to hang anything out now.  I still have four loads of washing and it's nearly 6pm.

There has been no sewing or painting this weekend so I have nothing to show and I find myself wondering just what happened to the past two days. So I have done what any good Brit would do under the circumstances - made a cup of tea. So here I am just about to tuck into Matthew's chocolate cake.  

Can you see the reflection of the vertical blinds in in tea?  I love pictures inside pictures. The dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer (with a bucket underneath) are all working their little socks off.  There's a chicken roasting in the oven (together with potatoes, carrots and broccoli - only two tins to wash).  Another sip of tea and I'll be revived and ready to start the ironing. In twelve hours I'll be getting up for another week at work.  Let's hope it's a bit quieter!  Whatever your week brings I hope it's a good one.

Roses again-but I just love them

Ben was one year old on Tuesday - I can hardly believe it.  The house was full of noise - I wonder why?  It was also jammed to the rafters with toys and clothes for him.  Steph's little brother (aged 6) and cousin (aged 3) wanted to play with everything and insisted on helping him undo all the wrapping paper.

A little music

and some art

We had our first session of Mavis and Gladys at High Street Quilting on Thursday.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the lovely stitching the ladies produce.  There was quite a mixture of abilities, from the complete beginner to some more experienced stitchers. Lovely Karen had brought some designs. She scanned the fabric and printed a little sample so that she could see what the finished blocks would look like.  I always want to be that organised but never quite manage.

I made two dozen cupcakes but left a few for the boys.  It was dark when I iced them so I decided to wait until the lighter morning but there wasn't much left to photo.

Mmm raspberry vanilla and triple choc.

I'm afraid I've been a bit of an idle girl this weekend so don't have much to show.  I had bought some little bottles in a basket from Laura Ashley last week.  I went to the shop next door early last Sunday thinking I would be safe because Laura Ashley wouldn't be open but,  as I walked past - swish - the doors opened and my feet marched in.  I came out with a duvet cover, pillow cases and a little basket with three bottles.  I actually needed the duvet cover but probably not right now.

Anyhoo. I was going to put some lavender in the little bottles but the urge to do some more roses overcame me this morning. I spent most of the Korean Grand Prix trying to wind the yarn into a ball. Got a bit tangled. 

It was a good race though, interesting and full of goings on. Apart from Vettel leading most of the way of course. Luckily the TV company didn't focus on him at all. I stopped watching F1 when Michael Schumaker dominated. It was so boring. It's a bit like deja vu with Vettel.

The roses I have made previously were a bit too small so I added some stitches  to the design to make them bigger. 

They don't take long - about 20-30 minutes. It always amazes me how beautiful they look. (I know - I'm easily pleased)

 I added some leaves and a stem,

 And then used some florist's wire to stiffen the stem.

I made three and put them in the bottles. Maybe not high end interior design but they make me smile when I look at them.  

Apart from that I haven't done much - just the essentials, cleaned and fed the hens although I left the weeds in my leeks and onions.  My purple carrots got an attack of root fly which is very sad because they look so pretty.  If there's any decent ones left I will photo them for a future post. 

Tomorrow I am going to a conference in London.  I leave on the 5.38am train from Durham and get back about 9pm. Oh joy.  I think I'll take a little something to pass away the six hours I will be spending on the train. A sleeping tablet maybe!

Now I'm going to see if there is anything lurking in the fridge for tea. I'm not holding out a great deal of hope though.

The whole world was at Yarndale

Mavis and Gladys changed their usual Saturday morning trip to the Hill for a little trip to Skipton. The first Yarndale (first of many I hope) was being held at the Auction Mart.  We really weren't sure what to expect but, as the day wore on we realised we were seeing a lot of unexpected things. The first was the queue of traffic about two miles out.  Actually there were other things going on in Skipton but there were still huge quantities of (mostly women) heading, with magnetic force to the beautifully situated Auction Mart.  It was quite easy to park although there were loads of cars. First unexpected - we were in the overflow car park and had to walk half a mile to get to the door - it was a lovely stroll downhill, which of course means uphill on the way back! Following the bunting we found the route to the entrance easily enough. People from all over the world had crocheted bunting triangles - 6000 in all.

Could I just apologise for the pictures which are poor and very few.  Firstly I forgot to pack my camera so had to use my phone and secondly there were so many people there you couldn't get a picture of anything except, well, people.

Ah and there were some animals - alpaca and rabbits.  They calmly watched the huge throng of ladies and the odd husband pushing by.  They probably wondered what on earth we strange humans were doing.  They must have been bored with being stared at because they had turned their backs on their audience by the time I had wrestled my way to the front. 

 

So what did I buy?  Fortunately none of the credit card machines seemed to be working in the great metal building so I had to content myself with spending only what was in my purse.  (I had been to the cashpoint before we left - ha!)

A little gallery of beauty:

 A Calico Bag for my purchases;

Some paper yarn - yes paper! and some monster rick rack;

Possibly for swags;

 Some hand dyed merino wool and a pattern for a neck warmer;

 Some silk blend for wristwarmers

 Some pink cotton and viscose for something I haven't thought of yet (at £2.50 a ball I will think of something)

Another unexpected - yarn made from sugar cane.  I love the ice cream parlour colours.

Some bamboo needles with beads on the top - I was brought up on metal needles so all the beautiful wood needles you can get now are sheer joy for me.

I have added these lovely purchases to my little basket of goodies waiting to be turned into something gorgeous.

I couldn't really take any pictures of another unexpected thing - it was the number of people whose hair resembled knitted items or un-spun wool. Some people had yarn and fabric woven into their hair. Some looked like they had plonked a bag of roving on top of their heads (we had to look to make sure it was actually hair - it was green too).  That was one of the men on the stalls. 

I'm not a great one for crowds - especially when you have to queue for hours for the loo but Yarndale was certainly a fantastic experience.  Lucy from Attic24 was mobbed every time I saw her, she'll be shattered.

We passed a sign saying Great Yorkshire Ice Cream Farm on the way there so we decided to call in on the way back.  Little farm shop, home-made ice cream? That was the last 'unexpected' of the trip.  It was a huge building with a wrap-around porch.  There was a massive playground and outdoor tables, heaving with families.  Inside there was an American Diner, again heaving with people.  The ice-cream was home-made and utterly delicious.  We each had a three scoop sundae and to wash it all down I had a cloudy ginger beer and Alison had a sarsaparilla.

The food looked delicious - the menu choice was huge and very USA Diner (lush and high calorie).  The sugar rush only lasted a short while and then we yawned all the way back up the A1.

Our first Stitchin' Friends class for some time is on Thursday at High Street Quilting in Birtley so I've been busy checking through the teaching materials. I also made a pattern for the bag I originally made last year called Autumn Glow.   We have had a lovely Harvest Moon this month so I adapted it slightly to celebrate this.  I painted some more pumpkin buttons and will print out the patterns ready to pack up and take with me.

The bag under construction.  

I cut out the purple fabric in the wrong order and didn't have enough to make a back in one piece - hence the striped back which I think is really nice - I made a good mistake for once!

The finished article - a lovely size for knitting and other projects.

It's 9.30 in the morning and I'm going to steel myself to go shopping.  I try to avoid Sundays but needs must.  Then I'm going to come home and finish Ben's First Year book.  Oh and housework, don't forget the housework.....