Sew Christmassy, Sew Sparkly...

 

This is Kirsten's December patch. She used a piece of Christmas print fabric [I am sure I had a scrap like this, years ago] 
Each little rectangle has been overstitched with backstitch, running stitch, satin stitch etc. It has given this small square a wonderful dimensional quality, it is like a miniature quilt!
Wisely she avoided trying to stitch metallic threads, and worked around the parts of the design printed in gold, which emphasises their sheen. 
Having made so many attempts with metallic thread on my snowflakes, I think that was sensible. It does twist and knot alarmingly.
It is very Christmassy, what with the star, the tree, the gifts, a snowy windowpane and the conifers - as well as the hints of snowflakes, holly, a cracker, a crown, bunting and an elf's hat. So much detail in a piece no bigger than the palm of my hand. 

My flat gift for December was a lovely rust silhouette which may be hung in the greenhouse pro tem whilst I consider a permanent home for it
This is about 15cm high. It reminded me of the wonderful art work of Rob Ryan, which often features birds. 
Rob has recently published a book about his work, entitled "I thought about it in my head, and I felt it in my heart, but I made it with my hands" which ought to be a motto for handcrafters everywhere! 

Here's a lovely Rob bird design for Kirsten as we work at our collaborative stitching.
We are both late finishing the December piece- so our next 'swap date' will be Valentine's day. But I am not doing anything 'hearty' I have another idea which I need to work on...

Cut the Mustard!

Question -What foodstuff does this remind you of?
Answer- Pigs in Blankets!
A huge thankyou to Jean in France for sharing her recipe for cassoulet made with leftover Pigs In Blankets.

Mine looked pleasantly similar to the photo on J's blog, but a bit more orange! But it tasted really good - and the quantities for four served us two good meals. My Le Creuset was the right pan in which to cook and serve this hearty dish.

Yes Jean, as you warned, the bacon does unwrap itself from the chipolatas, but a genuine cassoulet will often have sausages plus separate chunks of pork. I put some carrot chunks in mine, and served with hearty slices of brown bread for 'mopping up' 
Warm and filling on a cold day. 

WARNING I checked out Mary Berry's original recipe [here] from which Jean adapted hers. MB adds a Dijon mustard and sage garnish to stir in at the end. As the sage is still growing happily outside, I decided to make some. Onto each bowl, I put a dollop of the golden sauce, flecked with chopped green leaves, and vivid lemon zest. "You are supposed to stir it in" I explained. It looked pretty. But it was way too mustardy, even for Bob! Next time, I shall be sure to cut [out] the mustard.
Allegedly, mustard crops in East Anglia used to grow to 6 feet high, and had to be scythed. If the blades were not sharp enough, then they wouldn't cut the mustard - not sure if I believe this explanation of the phrase, but I love the Norfolk connection

I picked up this little white beauty in the 50p bin in a CS on Monday.
I already have a blue Colman's jar for my English mustard, but I thought this white one from Essex would do beautifully for my French mustard. Liz gave me the tiny wooden spoon some years ago, hand carved by one of her friends.

Sadly Colman's, having been bought out by Unilever, stopped producing mustard in Norwich 6 years ago [after over 150 years] but the Wilkin family in Essex continue producing their preserves [the family have been farming there since 1757, selling preserves since 1885] 

Darned Good Inspiration At My Fingertips

During those cold days when I could not find my better, black gloves, I wore my old blue ones. They are cheap Poundshop 'Magic' gloves. I think I bought them one day when a visiting grandchild had cold hands. They fit either hand - but unfortunately the tips of the index fingers have worn through, and the thumbs are wearing thin. 

At first I thought I would just darn the fingertips, then it occurred to me - if I left them 'open' I would be able to unlock my phone and use it without removing my gloves. So I strengthened the thumbs, but stitched round the edge of the top of the fingers. Success!

Unlike the youngsters I know who type phone messages with their thumbs, I am very old fashioned and use my right index finger, for typing and biometric access. As both gloves have holey fingers, I don't need to worry when I put them on. You can probably buy access gloves like this premade on the internet somewhere. 

Winter Wonderland

Just after Christmas, I was going out in my car. It was completely frosted up. I sat in the driver's seat, and marvelled at the morning sun shining through the patterns on the windscreen. Isn't this lovely? I cleared it all away, then drove safely to the Supermarket. I decided my much delayed December TwoByTwo should be a snowflake pattern. I had some lovely deep blue satiny lining fabric on hand [I'd made Nick a Magician's Waistcoat] So I found some silver thread - thick and thin, beads and sequins, and some ice-blue embroidery floss.
I couched the thick threads into a 6 pointed star then added other stitches plus beads and sequins to give sparkle.
There are many types of snowflakes - mine are stellar dendrites, which means they are star shaped with tree like branches. 

I had started working on them before the snow came at the weekend. I went out to the bin on Monday and realised how cute my footprints were. I stomped around for a while making pretty patterns.

How crazy am I? But sometimes nature is amazing, isn't it? 
I could have used my embroidery machine, as I bought a set of snowflake patterns when I made my neighbour's Elsa dress three years ago ... The snowflake shapes were machined, but then over three hundred beads and sequins stitched on.  
But our TwoByTwo is strictly a hand sewn 'slow stitching' enterprise.
And as we are producing the patches two at a time, we will be finished double-quick!

Thank You Christine!

I met my best friend Chris in town last week, we had a cuppa and a chat. She gave my Christmas gift - another lovely Painted Bear calendar. I get so much pleasure from this gift, all through the year. The January picture is a good reminder to stop prevaricating!

I'm really looking forward to church this morning, Bob will be preaching on our "Verse for the Year" Romans 15:13 - all about overflowing with hope. 

They Once Were Lost, But Now They're Found

I freely admit to putting up lots of decorations at Christmas. And that means that regular everyday things get moved to unfamiliar places.  Extra foodstuffs mean the fridge and freezer get cluttered too. It is not surprising that somethings get misplaced during the festive season. 

It started with my gloves. I was going out to church and looked in my coat pockets and bags for these. I found just one. I hoped I hadn't lost the other, I am fond of them, they are smart. I put the solitary glove on top of a basket of Christmas cards. On Tuesday I was in the bedroom, and picked up the glove, resting on top of my library books ...hang on, I thought, I saw this in a basket on the coffee table earlier. Yes, for a whole week the two gloves had been languishing in plain sight, in separate rooms. They are happily reunited, and in the 'hat, scarf, glove basket' where they belong.

Then the eight 'everyday' mugs went missing. I have a dozen John Lewis Christmas Mugs, which I have been collecting since 2008 - enough for all the family to have one. At the start of Advent I put the everyday mugs away, and got out my JL ones. Last week I packed away the Xmas ones - 

then realised I could not find the others anywhere. I looked in the loft, in the sideboard, in the kitchen cupboards, even out in the old garage. It was three days before I found them - in the basket with the summer BBQ stuff! What on earth was I thinking to put them in there? The final lost items were the weirdest of the lot. 

Prior to going to Manchester I prepared a tray of Pigs In Blankets.

These were to accompany the Roast Chicken. Except it was a disrupted morning, I'd halved the chipolatas and wrapped them in bacon, and put them on the tray, all ready for the freezer. The doorbell went. A delivery guy, something to be signed for...as he left, Bob came home, and then we had lunch. Around 2pm, I said "where did I put those pigs in blankets?" A serious hunt ensued - but there was no sign of them anywhere. Then I found them - in the bottom of the garage freezer. I'd been so sure the doorbell rang before I put them away. Off to Manchester, Christmas, return ... and a decision not to roast the chicken. "We can serve the PIBs with the Christmas Pie instead". I said. And then I forgot. Jean mentioned putting her leftover PIBs in a cassoulet. Neither of us could remember where ours were, or whether we had in fact eaten them. At last I tracked them down - in the very shallow top drawer of the freezer - relocated when I was putting other foods away.

Finally there were the nuts I purchased as Christmas gifts at the showground. I'd hidden them and forgot where. They were delivered somewhat belatedly! The gloves are found, the mugs and  PIBs are found, and the nuts are rediscovered. I suspect I may be losing my marbles though..

Dry January?

Just before I went shopping on Tuesday, I nipped to the bathroom. As I dried my hands I observed that the blue towel was so thin you could hold it up to the window and see daylight, and the edges were faded and almost fraying. The nametag, sewn in place by my MIL in 1974 when Bob went up to Oxford was fading too.

I succumbed to a sale bargain in Sainsbury's! Most of my towels are blue or white, so I treated myself to this gorgeous habitat/Morris "Tulip" handtowel, half price in the sale, just £5. It is thick, and soft, and rather lovely imho. In January, my hands will be properly dry.

52 years is not bad going for a towel though, is it?