Christmas is experiencing some delay…

I would have shared all the wonderful Christmas things I have made by now, but I am still trying to get the rest of the photos from Robert(‘s camera). He says things like “what do you think I get paid for” and goes back to work. Hmmph. However I am sure that he will soon have 5 minutes to call his own (or mine) and will get them to me.

In the meantime we have started the next lot of birthday celebrations. My little boy turned 6 a couple of weeks ago (and frankly isn’t that little either). However because his birthday is on New Year’s Eve we had a quiet celebration with family.

Then we had our first “Birthday Party” the following weekend. It was an experience to say the least! We have given ourselves a vague theme of Knights (and not Nights as Matthew initially thought). So we had knightish cakes, bunting and pin the tail on the noble steed (thank you Cathy!)

Nine 5/6 year olds plus two 3 year olds quite filled the house, and apparently the favourite game was either running around in circles (lounge/hall/kitchen/back porch/lounge) screaming a lot, or climbing into Matthew’s ceiling high bed and filling it with every toy in the house. We also played pass the parcel.

They played, we fed them, they played some more and then went home and the whirlwind stopped. I think they had fun – Matthew said he did. And we didn’t hate it, so maybe we’ll try again next year.

PS – you will have to imagine the photo of the “castle” cake for the moment – it turns out that photo is on Robert’s camera too!

Multi-tasking

This week has been a mish-mash of tasks. While still frantically sewing for Christmas (no worries, I still have another week, right?), actually playing with my children, keeping on top of the laundry, feeding my family and generally keeping everything ticking over, I also offered to make cakes for my son’s Year 1 Christmas party. After realising that I was genuinely offering to make enough cakes for 75 children they said “yes”. So here they are (a small selection)!

It seems the Reception Year staff were a bit disappointed I couldn’t make another 75 for them, having tried them last year when Matthew was still in Reception.

Back to the sewing machine now! Oh, and vacuuming, and laundry, and I think the girls are hungry again….

Sew busy!

Still sewing like crazy. So much so that at one point I emptied my pin cushion which inspired a small moment of pin art.

Well, it’s not like I can show you what I am actually making.

Advent-ures

Gotta love a bad pun!
Having been following various other blogs recently I was inspired to create my own advent calendar for the children. I started with the large collection of small boxes I acquired after my sister-in-law’s wedding (they were favour boxes at the reception). Having been hoarding them for over 3 years now I was glad to find a use for them.

Add some string (to hold them closed properly), a nearly empty can of silver spray, and lots of bling we achieved something approaching what I intended (the children like it anyway) and I filled it with mini pyramid bags with jelly beans inside.

In the post

Following on from my previous post I have actually made something I am allowed to blog about. Unfortunately I was so eager to get it in the post in time (birthday present) I forgot to photograph it.
Hmmph.
However, if you can use your imagination it looked like this:








but in this fabric:









and trimmed with giant yellow ric-rac.

And because I can (and because I had a small remnant left over) it was dispatched in a matching drawstring bag. (I remember reading somewhere that drawstring bags were addictive, and it turns out to be true!)

No spoilers please!!

I am beginning to find this pre-Christmas blogging a little tricky. I have been working hard (if intermittently) on various projects for the last couple of weeks and, with the exception of a new beanbag lining for one of our very old beanbags, they are secret!
So it is probably a little dull (if not downright frustrating) to be told that I have made a pair of lovely ***** for *****, and in a similar vein a really funky **** for both **** and ****.







In the new year I may offer a small Christmas catch-up with photos if my photographer obliges; we’ll have to see. As a sop, here are a couple of photos of small children (mine) wearing their Cathy Birthday finery (mostly not made by me).

Too hot to handle

In amongst all that bean bag making and birthday caking we had a few other birthday presents to give out; two in particular featuring more items handmade byGaenor (or me).
They were actually both pot holders, but were probably as different as two insulated fabric squares could be…
Article 1: Floral pot holder for my mother-in-law, made of vintage floral fabric with blue gingham trim, quilted in a geometric pattern.
Article 2: A more masculine pot holder for my step-dad to use with his new toasting fork. A bit quilted, but mostly so it all stayed together.
Mum wants them now (mainly because of the fabrics).
Inspiration for both of these came from this site, but don’t look too closely – they have lots of interesting ideas which I plan to adapt, perhaps for you!