Extreme makeover

After a hearty Sunday breakfast inspired by Nigella, (strips of tortilla wraps fried with spring onion and mixed with scrambled eggs, served with baby tomatoes - mmm!) I decided it was time to get my act together and get started on that Christmas sewing. First of all I grabbed that thing that has been weighing on my conscience for a while now - the granny mousie! I keep saying that I wont take on any commissions, and only make what I want to make, and then if somebody wants it after I have finished, we can discuss it. hat sounds great in theory, but sometimes it is almost impossible to say no. A co-worker mentioned that she had this mouse somebody had made for her years ago and she wanted it redressed in more Christmas-like colours. I told her I don't usually do things like that, preferring to quilt, but she said: "I'll take it to work anyway and you can have a look and tell me what you think".

Well, what can you do? Before I knew it I had agreed to make a new outfit for mousie, and despite assurances that there was no rush, I have been thinking about it ever since. So today was the day. Better get this out of the way before I start what I really want to do. I haven't really bought much holiday fabric in recent years, apart from some with snowman motifs, and they weren't really appropriate for this. But eventually I managed to find some pieces among my scraps that were just about big enough. I spent the better part of the morning constructing, testing and resewing, but eventually I got it right.

I changed the style of the apron - no ruffles this time, just a simple lined piece with rounded cutouts on the sides to accommodate the arms. And that's where the title comes in - the arms were originally stitched on to the apron, but it made more sense to me to attach them to the body itself and adjust the clothes accordingly. And if moving the arms to a new position doesn't constitute an extreme makeover, I don't know what does! So there Granny Mouse is in her new Christmas finery. Let's hope my co-worker likes it!

No for some dinner, and then I'll get started on some place mats. Better stitch while the iron is hot, so to speak ;-)