Just a Quick Post ....

Because I should be somewhere else really ....
A couple of crochet bits - Owl Keyrings ....

They are slightly stuffed with toy polyester filling and using all the ends that weren't darned in - a tedious job at the best of times - lol....

Some Market Bags - a posh name for String Bags really.  Whether I would put a boat load of shopping in them I don't know - but they are sooooooo stretchy and I'm thinking of storage for balls of wood, soft toys, kids socks, loo rolls etc etc ......

Next is hats and neck wear ....

Hello Peeps - I'm Back ....

It's been soooooooooooooooo long since I've been here but so much has changed and happened in my life and crafting has taken a bit of a back seat.  Anyways - that's enough of that and more to the point for here I've recently been doing 'stuff' again.

I did finish the Christmas Village (see the last post), which I called Christmas Lane and it took pride of place in my hall this Christmas just gone.  It looked very pretty with some sparkly battery operated LED lights.  I keep looking at it where it's currently living - upstairs in the craft room (it's a bit too big to fit in the top of the wardrobe) and I'm thinking it would benefit from some little flower pots outside the houses and maybe some people - will have to have a look round on t'internet.  I'll post a photo of the finished article in the next couple of days ....

The current thing is that No. 1 daughter is going to try and arrange for a stall at the grandchildrens' new School Christmas Fete (yes, I know it's only April - lol).  I'm still very much wanting to sell something I make...  

The first thing I've made is these knitted owls.  They're made from King Cole Tinsel chunky yarn with the eyes, feet and beak from a matching or contrasting DK yarn.  They are nice and squishy and everyone who has seen them have ooohed and ahhhed over them.  There's still some more colours to go in the bag - including a lovely emerald green .....

What do you think ....

At the moment I'm knitting Market Bags (string bags really - lol) and 'Pots for Stuff'; and thinking of dressed 5" dolls - but more of that later - promise ...

Christmas in January ....

Well, well, well - who would have thought it - lol.  I'm not the biggest fan of the season and as the CEO of the West Midlands hub put it - 'you can't be bah humbug' - and that was only on Boxing Day!  

Moving on ... At the beginning of December, while journeying through blogland as you do, I came across a beautiful project of a Christmas Village which was absolutely stunning.    It was a big piece - three foot long and was made of twelve houses (representing the twelve days of Christmas), with trees and was lit.  It was made by a very clever lady, Anita, and you can see it here ... 

I kept going back to Anita's blog and decided that I simply had to make me my own Christmas village.  So I emailed Anita to ask if she would mind me using her village as the inspiration for mine (which she didn't) and here's where I am so far ...

Nos 1 and 2, Christmas Lane ...

All of the houses are based on the Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings Die. Each one is cut from grunge board, a heavy weight cardboard and whichever decorative paper I'm using.  For the project I'm using TH Holidays Past paper stash and Christmas Emporium by Graphic 45 and a pad of Papermania Kraft Ledger type papers, plus making inroads into my box of Bazzill off cuts.
Love the cross on top of the Church (from the TH Mini Ornate Crosses Movers and Shapers die).  The heart on the door was on the string that a tied up a parcel from Art from the Heart (hands up everyone who is loving her new stamps being launched this week - waving hand vigorously in the air, while typing with the other one - lol)
No 2 was bigger than this - but I have deconstructed it and the other half will become No. 8.  The tinsel created a bit of a quandry and then on one of three trips to The Glitter Pot over the Christmas break - there it was - TH Tinsel Twine - love it.

Here's No. 3 Christmas Lane ...

This is the biggest house so far and is based n the biggest size of the Church.  As I don't have any of the Christmas Mini TH stamp sets this proved a bit of a dilemma 'cos the snowman on the stamp set that I do have didn't look right in scale, nor did the size of the TH Holiday Snowman die that I had - but like everything else the solution came at the oddest time.  I'd gone to bed to have an early night and only been there 20 minutes and bingo - lol.  So there I am up again and destroying one of TH's Christmas Tags from a couple of years ago - that snowman is so cute.  Just love the windows too - made with cocktail sticks - and that snowflake, made from the Mini Snowflake Rosette die ....

And Nos 4 and 5, Christmas Lane ...

The eaves of the roof of both of these were made with the TH Vintage Lane strip die. The holly wreath, which was cut from the TH Mini Wreath and Bow Movers and and Shapers die on the door looks a bit big but I used the holly leaves and berries from the Holiday Lamp Post die to give it some height.  I even had a rummage around and found a tiny star punch and then added some star shaped self adhesive gems.

Here they all are together (at the moment) ....

I have it in my head as to how the final project is going to look and I've had a chat with my employer's preferred carpenter who's going to make the base for me; and I'm looking at forms of non-electrical lighting. I think this would be really cool on a sideboard (do people have those nowadays - lol) or on a windowsill. 

Before I saw Anita's village, I was in the garden centre looking for possible suitable decorations for the Christmas cake (which was yummy by the way) and saw some trees.  Then I had to go back and get some more - aren't they fabulous ....

Then I found these dinky and gorgeous Christmas lights on the Calico Crafts site ....

So that's where I am so far - and I'm already thinking I could make a seaside town next - I have the cutest wooden lighthouse and a couple of beach huts upstairs which would make a good focal point - lol!

Off to make more houses ....

A Bit About The Weather ...

It's either tipping it down with rain and or blowing a gale - and it's getting colder.  But this is taken from my back door step five minutes ago ...

Blue Sky - whatever next - lol ...

More Things Christmassy ....

Well - I had to show the results of the baking event that seemed to be taking place on a daily basis in my kitchen.  Here is THE CAKE - which even though no-one else has tasted it, I think is absolutely gorgeous, even though I say so myself.  It goes down really well with a nice cup of tea ....

Had a ball making the icing in my Kitchen Aid - not in a million would I have attempted that by hand - 10 minutes beating egg whites and sugar - I don't think so.  I had to settle for a 'snow scene' with the icing but I did attempt snowflakes with the Lakeland push out snow flake cutter - you can just about see them (but only 'cos there's a silver ball in the middle of each of them - lol).  In the Spring, I'm going to take myself off to the Excel Centre in London for the Baking Show and might even see if there's some evening classes going - this is becoming a bit of a serious obsession - lol

I also made these - Mini Christmas Cakes ....

The picture of said Mini Cakes is sort of like the one in the magazine apart from the extremely wonky middle layer of marzipan.  These went down well and I will slowly munch my way through the rest.  In these the dried fruit was steeped in Cointreau while I was at work - you should have smelled the kitchen when I came home - lol.  You can see the push out snowflake cutter efforts more clearly here ...

Away from the baking front, I also made this as a gift for my partner in crime, CEO of the West Midlands hub and all round good mate who has helped me through some tough times this past year.  She was telling me about table presents for her family at Christmas Day lunch - and when I said 'what's yours', she said 'oh, I will be too busy'.  That's not right I thought - so I made her this ....

This is a Christmas Survival Kit - based on the Survival Kits made for the wedding earlier this year (it also used up another of the large quantity of paper bags that were purchased at that time - there's still loads left - lol).

Here's a list of what was in the Kit ....

And with a label ...

I've been catching up on my W.I.P. Knitting Projects over the last few days - in between munching Christmas Cake and watching 'Feel Good Rom-Com DVD's - lol - the needles have been flying, I can tell you .... 

So - that's Christmas almost over for another year but saying that I've been out today over to The Glitter Pot, who very kindly assisted in helping me part with quite a lot of money for my next project - which is totally to do with Christmas.  What am I like - lol - but more about that another time .... 

A Present For the Beautiful One ...

Whether it's because this is something that I never had anything like as a child or what - but I'm soooooo in love with this .....

This is for Charlotte Kaylet aka The Beautiful One.  When I asked her what she wanted Father Christmas to bring her she rambled on about Hello Kitty but last week at PreSchool when they wrote their Dear Santa letters she put down a doll's cot.  Well done Nanny I say - lol.

Yesterday I made some bedding - a mattress, a pillow and a quilt; and then sewed up some crochet squares made yonks ago.

Much as I love my grandchildren - Nanny will not be wrapping this one up (after all, where would you start - lol) - nor the enormous box with The Gorgeous One aka Finley William's goal post in - he has a big red bow, kindly made by the florist over the road from work.

Right off to ice THE CAKE ..... wish me luck !!!!!!!

And Then There Was One ... (And a Bit)

I started off the day full of 'I'm going to do this' and 'I'm going to do that' and you know what happens when you have high expectations - you either get let down or things go dramatically wrong.

In my case I did the first two jobs on my list and thought Job No. 3 - putting a Christmas tree up.  The first part was OK - said Christmas tree is in a wardrobe upstairs - so no problem.  The next part was OK too - lights, which are in a small box under the stairs.  It was after that things went downhill.  The rest of the decorations are in a humungous box under the stairs.  So there I am - hunched double, puffing and panting, pulling and tugging to get said box out into the hall.  Then - 

Crash ... One of these which were residing in a cool dark place (cupboard under the stairs) fell to the floor ...

And no - it didn't bounce.  The pudding basin broke and there I am in the kitchen trying to salvage my prized Christmas pudding.  I could have cried.  The basin had two clean breaks but there were bits of china on the outside of the pudding.  So I hacked and sliced getting all the chipped bits off- swearing like a navvy all the while.  Then I thought hey ho - and toddled off to the village shop to get a pot of double cream.  I will eat the remains of this one with lashings of whipped up cream - it had better taste good is all I can say - lol.

Anyways - at least the Tree is up ...

Bad photo - looks much better now it's getting dark and the lights are on - lol.
And I've got my 'Christmas Family' out ....

Off to get fat - ter - lol

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit ...

And about time too, the CEO of the West Midlands Christmas Hub - Mother Christmas aka my Sous Chef, having imparted pearls of wisdom last night, regarding the impending icing of THE CAKE; would say - lol.

Anyways - having decided to take a big chunk of leave from work - spent yesterday shopping. I got all the 'stocking' pressies, some rather delicious looking baking chocolate, a really dinky mini grater, some tights and knickers, a red cabbage to braise ahead of the big day, a new balloon whisk - all the staple things of life - lol.

In the garden centre on the way home, I lost the plot even more and bought these - 

They are all sooooooo cute - the three characters sitting on the bench cost under twenty quid - bargain, I thought, you couldn't make it for that.  Here's a close up of the faces of the three ....

And now the Snowman - love him/her ....

Right, got to stop playing around here and get a move on.  Soon I'll be off to deepest Hampshire for a sleep over at my son's new house, with him and the Lovely Rachel.  I say sleepover - because I don't want to drive home in the dark - it's going to be tough enough driving there - especially as I haven't a clue where I'm going and No. 1 daughter didn't bring the Sat Nav over - lol.  Just think you might not hear from me from a month - I could end up anywhere - but if I can see the sea, then I know I am well and truly lost - lol.

I am so looking forward to this - just getting up from the table and leaving my plate, not helping with the washing up, leaving my shoes right in the doorway, not making the bed, leaving a half opened packet of biscuits under the bed (have a packet of very crumbly shortbread just for this event) and generally acting in a very slobby, untidy and unhelpful manner.  I wonder if my behaviour will ring any bells with him - probably not - but it'll be fun ....

Bags, Bags And More Bags ....

No. 1 daughter asked me if I'd make some bags for Teacher pressies - and I think at one stage I said on here about giving her a fiver to buy some but then I thought that would be daft - seeing as there are many, many Bags left over from The Wedding - lol.  I seem to remember saying then that they would come in handy - lol.

Anyways, I set too and using only stuff that I already had (apart from the new Woodware stamps - the snowman, the Christmas tree and the baubles - lol) I came up with these ...

So - let's hear it for the Snowmen ....

And now for the Christmas Trees ....

And last, but not least, the Baubles ....

There was one minor (almost) mishap - and that was with self adhesive gems - of which a huge amount has been used (click on the photos and you'll see - lol).  I had various types in my stash - those that you pick up individually with a pokey tool - and those that I tried to, only to realise that they were on a strip of double sided adhesive.  After much bad language and soothing noises over the airwaves from Mrs Crafter Extraordinaire at the West Midlands hub, I was sitting there cutting them off one by one and getting me and the scissors all gunked up.  Still - I got there in the end.

Off to think up my next crafty project or kitchen antic - lol

More Kitchen Antics ....

Yesterday morning, I decided that yes - I would make Christmas Puddings.  According to Delia, I'm way behind schedule but hey ho. So there I am yesterday, dutifully following dear Delia's recipe (having had to nip up to the Village Shop for an apple and a bottle of stout - and deciding to forgo the barley wine and add more brandy instead - lol) and putting all the ingredients in the order she prescribed into a big 5 litre mixing bowl.  I didn't use the Kitchen Aid this time and something tells me this was a good move because the pile of dry ingredients in said mixing bowl was mountainous.

Then I got to the stage where you added the eggs and the alcohol - and just like that the liquid started to be absorbed.  After much stirring and huffing and puffing, this was what was in the bowl ....

Once again, it smelt delicious - all that dried fruit, orange and lemon zest, apple and alcohol.  Here I have to say that the stout I bought was made locally and was stunning - in fact I felt a bit 'wey hey' after I finished what was left in the bottle - lol.

Before I went to work this morning, I visited the local hardware store which opens really early.  The visit being necessary to buy 'proper' pudding basins.  Basins purchased and home at lunchtime to steam the puddings for eight hours ...

Then the fun started - which pudding basin was which size.  I say this because they are of a certain make which only measures them in diameter - not literage.  I don't care how wide they are - I need to know how much they hold.  So there I am washing up said bowls and mucking about with a measuring jug - it was like being at playschool - lol.

Having established which ones I was using, I set to - greasing them and spooning yummy mixture in.  I laid buttered greaseproof circles on the top and made a pleated foil covering and then on to the next drama - the string.  I used yards and yards - could I get it right - could I hell.  I sort of did the first one and then promptly forgot how I'd done it when it came to the second.  For someone who is reasonably intelligent, I was a total idiot about this.  One ball of string later and feeling quite bad tempered, I ended up with these ....

They both now look pretty much the same.

Then came the final drama of the evening - saucepan.  I have one really, really big pan with steam holes and a locking lid - ideal.  The next biggest one I have is just a bit to small - not a lot of room to put water in.  So the steaming will have to take place over two days - which is a bit of a pain cos' the kitchen windows are all steamed up and I've had to open one just a fraction - and it's getting cold - lol.  

So I ended up almost two hours behind schedule and won't be going to bed until midnight to give Pudding One Delia's preferred time - 8 hours - and up early to do Pudding Two 'cos I'm off to see The Gorgeous One aka Finly William in his Nativity tomorrow afternoon - Delia might have to make do with what all the other recipes say - six hours - lol.  And now I'm thinking - how do I know if it's cooked?

I phoned my mate from work to share my adventure - and he said 'Wouldn't it have been easier to buy one' - NOT the right answer - lol ....