10 things

• I went to a fancy dress party with a theme of Icons from the 1980s, as a ZX Spectrum.  I like to retain an air of dignity as much as I can, so I rejected my family's suggestions that I dress up as Madonna or Anneka Rice, and went for an inanimate object instead. A black dress and a homemade badge was all I needed.

• Naturally, the children couldn't quite believe that the latest home computer thirty years ago, was lauded for games like Elite and Manic Miner.  They live in another world, and can't quite get their heads around how we moved from the ZX Spectrum to Xbox Live in one generation.
• As I applied eye-shadow for the first time in years, I realised that I didn't wear any make-up at my wedding last year.  That seems very odd, but also kind of cool.
• I have some new earrings, which are making me smile.

• My saxophone is down from the loft, so that I can accompany O on her new french horn and give her a middle C to tune to.  She has to do all the tuning with her mouth, for each note she plays, and this is by far the trickiest thing for her at the moment.
• Once I'd played a few notes, I remembered how much fun it is playing an instrument. I dug out some music, reminded myself of the fingering chart and had a play around.

• My saxophone is even louder than O's french horn.
• I've got the bug now. My saxophone is going into our local music shop for a service later this week and then I'm going to save up for some refresher lessons and investigate local orchestras and wind bands.
• Amazon sells tenor saxophone reeds, and even cork grease.  Is there anything they don't sell?
• Olympic preparations have come to our street.  Because we live so close to the Olympic Park, we are having residents' parking restrictions put in for the duration of the summer.  This is our side of the street this morning, waiting for the contractors to arrive.  I've never seen our street without cars; it looks lovely.

A handmade Christmas

I managed to sew almost all the Christmas presents I gave to my family this year.  A handmade Christmas felt good and very much in the spirit of these frugal, crafting times.  It also felt very good to reduce, though admittedly only slightly, my scarily tall pile of beautiful and unused fabrics.  Now there's some room I can buy more!  Very frugal.

I made these stationery wraps for my mother, my sister and my sister-in-law.  The pattern is a free one on Amanda Blake Soule's site - she calls it a gratitude wrap. I was appropriately grateful for the pattern.  It was straightforward and the end result looks lovely.

The wrap holds a small moleskine cahier, a packet of postcards, or other 6x4" notecards, and a book of stamps.

I made great use of the reinforcing stitch on my new machine.  Each stitch is sewn three times, making for a very strong line of stitching.  Perfect for defined folds like these.

I bought some great cards from Etsy to go in the wraps.  These knitting ones for my Mum were from Local Gringos - she has an Etsy shop full of fine and quirky knitterobilia.

I also made an adapted version of the stationery wrap for a good friend, with just two pockets - one for pencils and another for a bigger notebook.  But then I posted it without photographing it, so there is no proof of my creativity with that one. 

Next were some cushions for my niece and two nephews.  My niece, Alex, who is six, got my favourite cushion - the one I would have most liked to keep for myself!

I think this daisy fabric is so pretty, and a field of flowers would definitely have some butterflies in it.  Did you spot the secret pocket?  After making O's cushion last autumn, I decided that all cushions for small children need secret pockets in them.  And of course secret pockets need small, secret things to go in them. 

Alex got two tiny felt matryoshka dolls to hide in her cushion pocket.  Unrelated to a field full of daisies and butterflies I know, but I was in love with these little Russian dollies.  Originally I planned to make her a felt butterfly to go in the pocket, but when I made the matryoshka, their sleeping faces suggested night-time friends to me, and in they went instead.

The pattern for these matryoshka comes from Felties by Nelly Pailloux - a really lovely book full of small, quick, felt projects.

Will, who is three, had a bird cushion.  With a not-so-secret bird pocket, and a felt bird to go inside.  I hope he likes birds.

And baby brother, Ben, who is just two months old, got a cushion made from the most tactile, soft, cloud covered flannel fabric imaginable.  Ben is a happy, cuddly sort of baby, so I'm sure he will appreciate this snuggly cushion.  He didn't get a secret pocket, but did get his name embroidered on the air balloon basket instead.

For my brother and my brother-in-law I made some coasters, like the one I made for Mum when she was recuperating from her operation.

My mother-in-law's present was not a surprise.  She had asked me to make her a jewellery roll, incorporating the colour purple, and with some antique lace she had inherited.  Frankly I was terrified.  It has confirmed that I would be no good making commissions for a living - it is far too stressful.  But although it cost me many weeks of angst (which design? how to use the lace? purple - how?), I was very pleased indeed with the end result.

I decided on a simple, pocketed design in the end - a little like a knitting needle roll or a crayon roll, but with shorter, fatter pockets.  In the picture above you can see the three pockets (and the velvet ribbon for a tie - yet to be sewn on), and the picture below shows the beautiful vintage lace in more detail.  The lace was very old, very precious, very fragile, and extremely worrying to work with!

And below is another picture (after so much fretting, this jewellery roll had MANY photos taken of it once it was finished).  You can see the lace peeking out, even when the top is folded over.  I sewed the ribbon onto one side so the whole thing can be rolled up and secured with a bow.

And finally, on my last, quiet sewing day alone (the final day of term), I made G and the children house trousers or pyjama pants (you can read my discussion of what to call them here).

G's were made from some William Morris fabric (and in the picture above you can see my masking tape temporary labels saying 'front' and 'back', 'left' and 'right' - it's very difficult to tell with these trousers until you sew the label in).  The children's were made from some Amy Butler fabric.  I think I love C's acid blue ones the most.

The children's are made from Simplicity pattern 3669 and G's are the pyjama pants pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. 

Next Christmas I'll throw in a soft white t-shirt with each pair to make a complete lounging about outfit.  For more inspiration on handmade pyjama pants from wonderfully eccentric fabrics have a look here and here.  It seems to be an American Christmas tradition that I was not aware of.

I really should have made myself some as well for the full Von Trapp family, weird trousers look, but I ran out of time.  I think that was enough sewing.  Even for me.

What's beside the bedside?

So Ali asked me what was on my bedside table. Jewellery mostly.

There are pots, dishes, bowls, boxes and all sorts of proper places to leave my jewellery at the end of the day, but I never do.

In this picture I can count 10 pairs of earrings, 2 bracelets, one necklace and a brooch. There is another whole part of my bedside table that I didn't photograph.

The little pot of cream is Jasmine Enriching Cream from Neal's Yard and it is the nicest cream in the whole world. It soothes hands, faces, cuts, scrapes, bruises, toes - anything you like. Love it. I have little pots of it scattered around the house, the office and various handbags, so that I am never without.

I don't yet scatter my glasses about - I always have a pair on, or on my bedside table, but judging from my track record with jewellery and Neal's Yard cream, its only a matter of time, surely?

Other people's cleverness

There has been no time recently to do anything creative. I am so looking forward to a day in the kitchen, at the sewing machine, or in the garden. Without the doing of nice things, everything feels a bit pointless and drab.

But there is not much longer to go - the worst of the work is coming to an end, I finally have a weekend off coming up, and there is a whole pile of fabric pieces cut out and waiting to be stitched into a quilt.

In the meantime, there are very many creative people around me, whose works of art are keeping me happy and inspired.

Anna made me this beautiful necklace for Christmas. It is strung on magic wire (there may be a more technical term for it...) that will let you twist it around your neck - it doesn't have any fasteners. Blue is my favourite colour so it goes with almost everything in my wardrobe. I've been wearing it to work a lot this month, and am getting plenty of admiring comments about it. Isn't it pretty?

Then my friend Ann - whom I rarely get to see because she lives in America, but whose friendship I treasure so much - put together this fantastic digital scrapbook page of all my feet photos from 2007. I love it! You can see more of her scrapbook pictures in her online gallery. Thank you Ann!

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After a day round at Gill's before the start of term, O decided to spend the last of her Christmas money on this kit to make your own fairy people. With only very minimal help from me with the wire cutters, she made four wonderful fairies last week. I think Gill must have taught her well. Here they are in the fruit bowl. They tend to make random appearances around the house - like proper fairies possibly?

And then most excitingly, since our trip to Liberty's fabric and wool department in December, I have been egging my mother on to knit some socks. Everyone seems to be at it lately - these blogs have been particularly inspiring. Mum bought two lots of sock wool and has just finished the first pair for herself - aren't they wonderful? They look so warm and soft, and the self patterning wool is extremely clever. She has now made a start on a pair for me....

Keep up the good work, chaps! I will post some pictures of the quilt once it is underway.

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As if the necklace wasn't enough, last night Anna gave me this blog award - thank you!

I am meant to nominate people in turn and then write seven surprising things about myself. All the people I would want to nominate have been given the award already; but as I can't resist a list, here are seven surprising (possibly) things about me:

• I love eating offal - kidney, liver, tongue, sweetbreads. Most people clap their hands over their mouths in horror when I tell them this.
• Both my children were born at home rather than in hospital. Both times the registrar at the town hall didn't believe me and had to cross out their entries in the birth register and start again.
• I have never been to Spain.
• I can ring Church bells.
• I still occasionally get G and his twin brother muddled up. As do the children.
• There was once a warrant issued for my arrest by the American immigration service. On returning to Canada after a day trip to America I forgot to hand in an apparently vital, but completely forgettable small square of paper. The next time I arrived in America there was quite some excitement, I can tell you.
• My secret crush is on Bruce Parry from the BBC series, Tribe. I am quite a fan.