2010 - a year in stitches...

1. Another X-block quilt, 2. getalife, 3. Authentic 2x4, 4. Happy Days quilt, 5. The blue quilt, 6. Edges, 7. harvest2, 8. harvestback2, 9. Placemats - set, 10. Shoulderbag, 11. gothic bag, 12. granny square bag, 13. Woman with Dog Kite, 14. Woo hoo, 15. coasters, 16. Austen angel

Holiday update

I left you with an image of burnt cookies and a rather minimalist Christmas vignette, but rest assured that the holiday has been a warm and happy one. Everything went by the same procedure as every year, what with family get-togethers, Christmas dinner, presents and all. It just went all too fast, and I have had two days back at work already, but now there's no more work until next year... Yay!
This is the bag I made for my middle sister. She had made more granny squares than she needed for an afghan, and handed me the remaining six a while back, hinting that they would look great on a white linen bag. I feigned indifference and promptly forgot about it. It resurfaced a while before Christmas and I set to work. I stitched the panel to a piece of linen and added a heavy interfacing to the back. I didn't use a pattern, just gave the bag pieces a bit of shape with my rotary cutter, tapering the sides and rounding the corners before stitching it together.

I had this sweet cat print in my stash and it worked out great for the lining and an inner pocket. I was going to add a magnet button, but it mysteriously disappeared before I got to sew it on. It has not resurfaced yet, so what ever happened to it, I don't know - and no, it is not trapped between the bag and lining!
Anyway - there were tears on Christmas eve, and not because she hated it - my sweet sis claimed to be the luckiest girl in the world, so it seems she liked it!
And by the way, I got the same reaction to the Austen angel, so yes, Christmas was a success as far as I'm concerned!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

Progress

Well, it didn't seem so at first - I managed to burn my first batch of gingerbread cookies. I blame the timer. I have never before managed to fill two trays with dough shapes while the first one was still baking, and it suddenly occured to me that something was wrong. I had to go by the wall clock for the next two trays or they would have been burnt too. So what's a girl to do? I called my mum. And told her I want a new timer for Christmas ;-)

The rest were better though, and the taste is just right.

There was also time for a bit of sewing. If all goes according to plan I'll have all the presents finished by the end of tomorrow. Not too bad...

Angelic

Meet Mary Bennet, one of the younger Bennet sisters... I have made an attempt to make a Jane Austen angel from the Tilda book Sew Sunny Homestyle. I have been wanting to make this for a while, and when my little sis said she wanted one, I thought it would make a nice Christmas present for her.
I didn't have time to order fabric for her skin and used some pale pink cotton I had in my stash instead of the tan fabric Tilda uses. Combined with white for the dress, she became rather pale and listless, and my choice of yarn for her hair makes her look a bit dishevelled. Well, she is very bright, and plays the piano beautifully, although she is a bit of a show-off. She might be joined by one of her prettier sisters at a later date, but not in time for Christmas, though.
I didn't mean to be too harsh with poor Mary - being breathtakingly beautiful isn't all it's cracked up to be, and she is a strong and handsome young woman with a lot going for her.
And she has very pretty purple wings.

Birthday cape

The pre-holiday calm is still here, and I have spent most of my time this weekend doing chores, hanging out with friends and reading instead of getting ready for Christmas. So the panic might yet strike and send me into a frenzy of shopping and baking, but so far so good!
It probably helps that I haven't planned on making a lot of homemade presents this year, so there's no stressing by the sewing machine. In fact it has been so cold lately that spending time in my sewing area (which is in a corner of my bedroom and hence not too warm) is not very tempting. I might have to set up a work station in the kitchen to get anything done.
I have managed to sew this cape though. When my sweet little sis asks, I find I cave in every time and make whatever she wants. She works in a kindergarten, and this time the request was for a cape for the kids to wear when it's their birthday. I didn't have a pattern, so I just winged it, adding darts at the shoulders and back to avoid a lot of fabric bunching up at the neck. I wanted something that would work for both boys and girls, so I made it reversible. The blue fabric with silver stars adds enough magic for it to double as a magician's cape for playtime as well, and the red and white hippo fabric (Ikea)adds a bit of fun. I just hope they can use it! (They'd better...LOL).