Goodbye and Hello

Well, it's over.

Goodbye to Christmas, goodbye to 2014, and goodbye to the Christmas holidays.

But hello to a touch of domesticity on blogger! I haven't seen you for quite a while. But it's a new year, a new page turned, and golly if I don't just feel like writing again.

So let's start with a list shall we? A Nine Things list, in a blast from this blog's past.

1. My eldest is now sixteen. And I feel, as a result, ancient and inconsequential in his life. I wish I knew more of him and saw more of him, but he's ploughing his own field now and I know he'll grow best out of the shadow of my tree (mixed metaphor alert).
2. My youngest two are really growing up. There are lots of numbers and counting in our days, reading and pretending to read, and asking profound questions. I love to watch their minds and intellects grow.
3. I have started my new business, Sparrow Stitch, making bespoke curtains, blinds and soft furnishings. I've started very small but it feels really good to be working and learning how to run a business. The website is in its infancy but you can find me over here:  http://sparrowstitch.co.uk/
4. This has been the first year in a long, long time that I haven't been ready to say goodbye to Christmas come the start of the new year. I love new beginnings, and from 1st December I go so crazy on Christmas that I'm ready for it to end five weeks later. But I don't know, this year I've sunk into the Christmas limbo and loved having the family around with our lazy days, and I'm struggling to get back into the fast lane again.
5. My husband and I have now been together for 11 years. And it sure feels good. We are such a partnership that I do not know how I'd ever manage without him (and hope I never have to). And I still get slightly giddy about him all these years later. That's nice, right?
6. We went to my parents for Christmas and it was lovely. But my dad's been ill a lot in the last few months and he's getting older. I found it so strange spending six days with him, because the him that he once was wasn't fully there, and most of the time I found myself missing him.
7. I have plans for this new year. They start with me going in for the 'one little word' and choosing (or, in reality, finding it chose me) strive. Nothing feels more apt right now. My next job is to dig my December 'to do' list out and make a new one for January. I always feel better with a direction to go in and a set of jobs to complete. Yes, you can call me Monica (overused Friends reference).
8. I also have plans for the house and the garden. You're going to see me in paint-splattered jeans a lot over the January weekends. I may even share a bit of it here. There's only so much staring at other people's impossibly perfect rooms on pinterest before you start thinking "just start" (or other suitable pinterest quote).
9. And I have plans for this blog. I'm starting by committing to two posts a week. Come back on Thursday to find out more. You'll be very welcome.

Sewing: looking back at Christmas: home-made advent calendar

I sewed a few gifts for Christmas but didn't take any photos. No idea why. I guess I was focused on the giving rather than recording. But I did photograph the new advent calendar I made for the boys. I used a beautiful, Scandinavian-style reindeer decor-weight fabric made by Tiviot Mill. After hemming it and adding a long pocket for the dowel at the top, I cut 24 red felt rectangles and set to work on the pockets.

 

Oh the pockets! This is what I should've done, to spare a lot of time: cut white felt numbers, glue on white felt numbers, done. But I sewed them all on with a zig-zag stitch, used a needle to send all the thread ends to the back, tied and trimmed them. I really like the rustic look of it but, goodness, it was a faff! Each pocket had a Smartie for each boy and a card with a fun 'to do' for the day, such as drink hot chocolate, make a Christmas decoration, visit the Christmas lights, or put up the tree. I'll put up a full list at the end of November 2014 if I remember! The Tiny One, who ought to be called the cheeky one, managed on several occasions to find a chair, drag it to the calendar, and stuff his face with the bottom row of pocket's Smarties. Like mother like son!

Sewing: tool roll

Let's unwrap this and have a look, shall we?

I made my dad and brother a tool roll each from a thick, brushed cotton. They're narrower at one end than the other, allowing for the tools to be placed in according to length. Each tool loop is slightly different in width and tightness. The top and bottom of the roll fold over the tools so they don't fall out when wrapped and carried. The central tool store are has medium-weight interfacing inside.

 

I made them for Christmas! There was neither time nor brain cells left to photograph them at the time, so my brother took these photos of his tool wrap for me to show you.

 

(I can't tell you how good it feels to sew something for a man that he actually wants, he really needs and is genuinely useful.)

Making: Felt stars and circles garland

Do you find that there's always one Christmas decoration that you can't bear to put away and end up keeping all year round? I do. This year, this was it.





I just cut out, free-hand, lots and lots of circles and stars from thick, quality felt. Then, being Christmassy, I threaded my needle with green thread and my bobbin with red, and began sewing through them all. I just fancied a bit of colour in the windows and now that Christmas is but a memory, that colour gilds the back wall of our playroom/sewing room instead.

 

I couldn't live without it now.

 

PS It's been a little quiet around here lately. I'm feeling a little pffed (make the sound, go on, then you'll know what I mean), a little lacking in inspiration. The days keep passing and they're dragging me by. I hope to take up the reins again some day very soon.

Making: Christmas presents for children

Hello friends.

Christmas is very over. So over that the decorations are boxed up, the tree keeps staring at me from the ginnel* and making me feel guilty (I feel like I have 'tree murderer' tattooed on my forehead), and I've started thinking about next Christmas! Oh, you don't do that too? Time to bow my head in shame and skulk into the corner.

 

But if you do think of the next Christmas to come, and all the things you meant to do this year and didn't get around to, then I'll show you some of the childrens' presents I made. In fact, they're great things to make for birthdays all year round, so let's forget the embarrassing pre-pre-Christmas planning and show you some pictures...

 

I made this monster drawing tote for a friend's little boy. Don't you just love the crayon teeth?! Sadly, I can't take the credit as I saw a similar bag on pinterest and decided to make my own version. Here's the original, made by Marigold of Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!

But then, feeling pretty inspired, I decided to make a monster-less pretty bag as well. I used some lovely Jemima Puddle-Duck fabric. All the bags I made have a sketchbook inside that I made just the way you did back in primary school - thick thread, running stitch down the spine to hold the pages together, hey presto!



The totes are fully lined (in a brushed-cotton baby blanket that once wrapped all three of my boys in turn) and came together in an hour or two. The felt crayon pockets took quite a while on top of that though, although annoyingly I've now seen that the original monster bag tutorial (which I hadn't seen at the time) has a much easier and quicker way to sew them. File that for next time!

 

I have more pictures to show you (the Christmas that keeps on giving) but they can wait until next time. 

 

*Ginnel: northern term meaning a passageway between houses

Making: Christmas presents for friends

I thought I'd divide my Christmas making up into three posts: for friends, for children, and for family. I'd love to say I had a clever reason why. I just don't have photos of the family gifts yet, so I'm stalling.

 

Firstly, I know this is slightly bonkers in a 'I'm Pretending I'm a Perfect Mamma' kind of way, but we made our own wrapping paper. Kraft paper (cheap! tasteful! rare combination!), green paint, a big potato and two very messy kids. That's the Tiny One's hands there (not so tiny any more). And mine. I was going for the nice geometric tree print. The Tiny One was going for the wahey-let's-rub-that-green-potato-tree-everywhere look. He won.

Secondly, here are the bags I made for three special chums. I'd like to point out that this was my first time using a zip and it was just the same experience as my first time making souffle - came out fine, couldn't work out what the fuss is about. I think it was more luck than skill. But I love them. That mauve bottom left is from a corduroy dress from Clothkits that I wore at about age 6. I'm a sentimentalist, I know it.

I asked my friends for their favourite colours, which is how I ended up with these prints. All the bags were made using this pattern from Noodlehead. The blue print is from Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms range - Temple Tulips in azure. The whole sheet of fabric looked beautiful draped over my sewing chair. I think it would be fabulous in a large-scale upholstery project. The yellow fabric is one I've used before for a hanging wall pocket, but I can't find a photo of the project or a picture of the fabric online, so it'll have to remain mysterious. I love how autumnal it is and the contrast of such a spring-like interior.

I'm really pleased with those interiors. They really take the bags up a notch. I used the same prints for the zip tags. I keep having to remind myself to say 'zip' - I read so many American sewing blogs that I keep starting to say 'zipper'.

I also made this fabric necklace, inspired by this pin of a // Between the Lines // project. Hers is much better though. I planned to make one for each of my friends but ran out of time - sorry ladies, IOU!

Inside each bag was a felt single-string Christmas mobile in the colours of their Christmas decorations. Here are two. I really like them, even though they're simple. They looked lovely hung from my front window while they waited gifting, and I could quite happily have kept them.

That's me done for now. I had a sore throat yesterday, a terribly sore neck today, and I think a lurgy may be lurking. My mum and auntie are coming tomorrow (hooray!) so now I need to go and finish up some sewing and clean the bathrooms (not hooray).

 

PS I'm thinking of redesigning my blog again and going back to the old-school, scroll-down-for-each-post look. What do you think?

 

Motherhood and me-hood

Gosh, isn't this frosty photo just beautiful? My lovely husband took it. I think he's all kinds of talented.

 

It's kind of unrelated to this post, because I am going to have a grumble. Well, not a grumble per se, more a rambling, complaining bit of verbal vomit at the computer page, and then leave it there for all to read. Because sometimes it's better to spew it out and then just get on with things.

 

What I really love to do, wanted to do, revel in, is be a stay-at-home-mum. Oh I wish there was a better, grander name for it because however you word it, it always sounds a bit like that box you tick on a career list - at the end - that says 'none of the above'. But it's the biggest, greatest, most important job on the planet. Think how many grown-ups ruin their lives or other peoples' because of how their mind was messed with in childhood. Think of all your happiest, largest memories from childhood and how your parents helped make them.

 

Once upon a time I was a stay-at-home single mum to a lovely little boy. Then he went to nursery and I went to university, and fast-forward a few years and I was the full-time working single mum of said boy. He had a lot of family around and he didn't miss out too much but I dreamt and dreamt of being able to take and collect him from school every day. I dreamt of more children, happy families and a life spent immersed in the joy and wonder of their childhood. I knew there would be tough days, exasperated days, but I knew it would be the greatest pleasure of my life to be there with them as they grew, and one of the greatest pleasures of their little lives too.

 

Here I am living it. Husband, two little ones, and the big one too. We moved away from the big smoke in part so that we could live our dream of me bringing up our babies. I love it just as I thought I would. I am fulfilled by it just as I thought I would be.

 

There's a but. Oh, you just knew there would be a but, didn't you?!... In the time I had to stay at home with these little marvels, I knew I had to search for the vocation that would fulfil me once they head on to school and don't need me at home as much. I'm just not going to be one of those ladies who lunch while their primary children are being schooled elsewhere, even if it wasn't for the fact that I need to earn my keep.

 

I found it. It's sewing and writing. Ta-dah! But I found it too early, as I'm still three or so years away from my youngest going to school. And I still love the mothering just as much. I don't want to stop doing it in order to sew or write. I want to do it all! Oh, frustration!

 

I'm not sure how some of these other bloggers out there, mothering and crafting away, are doing it. I'm pretty sure a number of them have children who don't wake until at least 7am and they get up at 5 for a good bit of sewing first. Well, my boys wake around 6 and I need my sleep. I've tried the 5am thing. Within two days I'm running on empty. Some of them have children who are all tucked up in bed by 7pm and then spend their evenings stitching. Well, my boys are usually settled by 7.30 but then I'm really tired and my husband wants to actually see and interact with me, and I'm lucky if I have the time and motivation to spend more than two evenings a week sewing. I get some sewing done in the day most days, but I'm forever stopping to soothe arguments, put visors on toy firemen, remove toy horses from the sewing machine or, usually and eventually, resorting to sewing with a child on my lap who really likes the look of that sharp, sharp needle.

 

I've written about this before - I'm getting déjà vu - but with Christmas approaching and a mountain (I am not kidding you) of sewn gifts to complete by then, while the ironing pile becomes its own mountain and the children bounce off the walls... well, it's really coming back into focus.

 

This is all very ironic as I'm spending what could be a sewing evening writing on the computer, but sometimes you just have to spew it out before you can get on with things.

 

And look at lovely photos your husband shot in order to remind yourself of what really matters in life, of the simple beauty of it all, and of the outdoors you're missing while revelling in that sharp, sharp needle working its magic.

 

And hope that someone out there has some fabulous advice to impart that doesn't involve a lifetime of exhausting 5am starts or never seeing your husband. (Shameless plea for useful comments)

Merry Stitchmas

Time to show you some sewn presents...

I made these cushions for my parents who live on a river and love to sail. They are for their boat or garden. I love them! Is that too effusive a comment for my own work? Well it's probably more due to the fabric anyway. Having never made a cushion cover before, I used dottie angel's post on Christmas cushions as a rough guide.

The picture to the left shows a front and back, and below you can see how I've wrapped the fabric round the side of the cushion so there's no obvious edge to it, and then added a pillowcase-style opening at the back. I know it's probably a dull point to make, but to me I'm a little bit in love with those details.

I made my brother an apron. Sorry for the very unprofessional wrinkles in the picture. They're very professional shots from the husband but I was sewing the gifts up to the last minute and didn't have time for photographs before wrapping and running. Hence these are the dishevelled unwrapped shots... But I do so love this apron, in lovely traditional Ikea apron fabric. It's the least amateurish thing I've ever sewn. Proper straight lines, parallel sewing, equidistant pocket and nice hems! Needless to say, my brother didn't quiet appreciate all this, but I made my mum listen to me go on about it instead!

I also made these place mats and pot holder with beautiful fabric from John Lewis, using patterns in Lotta Jansdotter's lovely book. The place mats have little pockets for chopsticks, and as I had bought my brother a Thai cookery book, it seemed apt.

Lastly, I'm quickly going to show you the make-up brush tidy that I made back in July for my sister-in-law. I forgot to photograph it at the time, but my beautiful sister-in-law was staying at my parents for Christmas and when I spotted it in the bathroom I sent my husband up for a stealthy photography session! I think the fabrics look beautiful together. I still have some - I think I'll have to make something for myself too!

The ghost of Christmas past

I thought you'd like to see what we ate over Christmas! Well, to be fair, I'm sure very few people would be interested in what we ate, but I got my amateur photographer husband to photograph it so I'm going to bore you all with it anyway. Ho ho ho.

Breakfast muffins! They were an optional extra, depending on whether I had time to knock them up. I woke up at 6am too excited to go back to sleep, but my husband wouldn't let me wake the boys up. They woke at 7.30. Breakfast muffins made! They were flavoured with cranberries & clementines and were delicious. We also had a late-morning brunch of home-made American pancakes with scrambled egg, bacon and maple syrup but we ate them too quickly to catch on camera!

The big meal... clockwise from top: roast potatoes; maple roast parsnips; spiced & super-juicy turkey (having relaxed in its bath for 24hrs); sprouts with pancetta, parsley & chestnuts; chestnut stuffing (made the day before, minus the egg); cranberry sauce (made two days before and still deliciously giving by new year's); pigs in blankets. And there's allspice turkey giblet gravy on top. I made everything from scratch, and even allowed myself a bit of smugness! It was many, many times yum. I expected to get stressed but instead I found the whole thing - from turkey bathing to plating up - such fun. But then I was only catering for three adults and 2.5 children. If we'd had my side of the family here instead of my husband's it would have been seven adults (three of whom have huge appetites), 2.5 children and a mutt. Maybe next year!

We finished with this: a home-made chocolate log. Swiss rolls are supposed to be a nightmare to roll up but mine was fine - did I do something wrong? I often think recipes that are supposed to be difficult often aren't if you don't know about it beforehand. It's the confidence of the ignorant. I have been similarly ignorant about whisking egg whites and making risottos. Yet I can't make Bird's custard without it going lumpy or staying runny. Oh the peculiarities of the kitchen.

And this was Boxing Day, for those who care to know. The Fully Festive Ham from Nigella's Feast, which we ate with more roasts, peas and red cabbage cooked in pomegranate (Nigella again). We then ate mince pies and too many cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies. The day after, I made a ham and turkey pie from the leftovers of both meals and froze enough for at least three more pies in January. This Christmas ghost just keeps on giving.

1 day til Christmas

Christmas Eve!!...

Here was the table for a lovely lunch with soup, salad, cheeses and some seasonal fare. Yes, that is a full wine glass you spotted. Having spent three years either pregnant or breastfeeding, we decided to enjoy my first Christmas of neither!

And here was the turkey in its aromatic bath (Nigella's Spiced & Superjuicy Turkey), where it wallowed for 24hours (and yes, it was worth it). And the last of the Christmas sewing ready for gifting away.

And here is the Christmas window at the front of our house: birds, pears, and homemade decorations in a nudge towards 'My True Love Gave to Me'. It went up a week ago but I did say I'd show it to you.

And of course there was more Christmas baking from Nigella's bible... here are the lovely geometric lines of her cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies that were baked on Christmas eve, a few gifted later that day, and the rest kept for Boxing Day pudding. Oh. My. Goodness. Too delicious to only make at Christmas: I think they'll have another outing soon. And we ate Jamie's fish pie with hard-boiled eggs hidden within like the coins in a Christmas pudding (which I didn't make this year - only I like it). It was the perfect fishy Christmas Eve supper.

And before I go, here are the Little One's glittery decorations, made with a kind friend, and now adorning our back door. He has embellished his decoration corner considerably. With the help of a ladder (one of his favourite things) he's sellotaped all manner of bits of plastic, bubble wrap, and even hangers to the door. He is yet to discover the true meaning of decorations but, despite all my hard work at tastefully decorating the house, this little corner is my favourite spot of all.

2 days til Christmas

More chutney was made. This time mostly by the Big One, and it was Nigella's Christmas Chutney to be gifted as Christmas presents. I was told I had to help, and that one of the jars would be his present to me. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right! But I like chutney making, so I went with it.

The Cranberry Sauce (another Nigella Christmas recipe - we are having a Nigella Christmas) was made. How easy, how much, how yum! And it sang Jingle Bells to me in a Scandinavian accent, since it perfectly hit my red-and-white Christmas notes.

I made Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread Cake. It was a) huge; b) impressive; and c) delicious. And I can tell you, after the fact, that it improved with age. Despite being a gingerbread cake, I earned major brownie points with it. And my mother-in-law, the daughter of professional bakers, said my Christmas baking was worthy of her parents. Which made me prouder than a peacock.

There has also been a lot of last-minute Christmas sewing going on, but I can't show it to you until the presents have all been given out. Oh how I do like the secrets of the season!

3 days til Christmas

I made chutney with the Big One. The family recipe, 14 jars, and they will go in a flash as always. But it felt good to get it done, as we're scraping the bottom of our penultimate jar. I felt normal and I felt successful, and there's not much more I can hope for right now. Christmas is coming.

4 days til Christmas



Lovely picture courtesy of talented Husband

I have been inspired by Dottie Angel's 12 Days of Joyfulness. In particular, her post about Christmas mobiles. I didn't make one, but what I did do, in a few minutes, was tie some string from one light to the other in the kitchen, hang several bird decorations from it, then wrap ribbon round, tied in bows at the ends. It was completely spontaneous and utterly satisfying. Thank you to the lovely friend who gifted the birds! It was though, I confess, another 6am job. That is it for now - I cannot get up early any longer!