One For Sorrow, Two For Joy...

This is the logo of The Magpies, aka Dereham Town Football Club. Norfolk boasts a number of FCs with bird nicknames [Norwich Canaries, Kings Lynn Linnets, Reepham Robins...] Founded in 1884 as Dereham FC, merging in 1986 with a Sunday league team, to become Hobbies United - in 1991 named Dereham Town FC.

This year, 2026, marks 60 years since the first name change, and our local museum is making this a year of sport [we just had the Winter Olympics] So Katie asked how we could bring the Museum Mice up to speed on this.
I said that creating sports gear for the mice was a bit of a challenge - why not dress them as footie fans, and give them all hats and scarves? And I'd got black and white wool in my stash...
Oh no I hadn't! Lots of white dk, but somehow almost all my black wool got used up when I donated it to some poppy-knitters. I bought a cheap ball of black dk and set to, producing first scarves and then hats. And the hats needed pompoms. 
"Why is there a small fork on the coffee table?" asked Bob. "It's mine, I said defensively, "my first ever fork, it used to have a little spoon with is but that got lost decades ago"
"Buy why is it on the coffee table?"  "It is perfect for making Mini PomPoms"

That really is black wool, it just looks navy in the picture! Here's a diagram.   Choose a fork the width of your finished pompom.

 Thread the ends round between central tines a few times [use a darning needle] and tie tight. Cut and trim.

The project is going very speedily, I'm making hats with both white and black pompoms. The mice should look splendid! I decided to polish up my little fork, so got out the giant tin of Brasso. Don't forget, if you polish a piece of cutlery with Brasso or Duraglit, you should wash it in regular w/u liquid afterwards before using it for food.

Have you ever made mini pompoms?

Do you support a football team? [I don't] 

Do you still use metal polish? [The National Trust polish their copper and silverware just once a year before the start of the season]

⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

Magpie began on ITV in 1968, it was intended as a rival to BBC's Blue Peter which began ten years earlier. Magpie ran for just 12 years. BP is still going, approaching its 70th birthday, it's the longest running children's TV show in the world

Eye! Eye!

Well, that will teach me! Having joked about SpecSavers and Double Vision, I ended up back at the opticians just after I posted yesterday. The left lens fell out of my glasses. It happened on Monday, then again Wednesday morning. I took them back and the manager agreed that they were rather loose in the new frames. They have gone off to be fixed. Leaving me acting like Steve Fletcher again, alternating between two pairs of specs. 
A bit frustrating as I'd set aside Wednesday as a sewing day. I got on with it as best I could.
The half duvet cover was hemmed properly to make a tablecloth. I used part of the remainder to recover the ironing board. 

Originally there were seven "Ports Of Call" in Jeff Banks' bedlinen range. But that was 30 years ago - now there are just two patterns [but not this one]
Quick tip for making a new cover for your board. Measure length, and width. Add 25 cm to each of those, and cut a rectangle that size. Fold all edges over to make a double hem approx 2 cm deep. Press firmly.  Mitre the corners as shown. Then stitch the hem all round. Close to the edge  leave the mitres unstitched. This makes it easier to thread your elastic. 

Take a length of elastic, feed it through the casing and pull it tight on the board. Those unstitched gaps at the corners will make it easier to thread. Fasten with a knot and tuck loose ends inside. My elastic is repurposed from an old anorak, and still has the retaining bobble!

I am very pleased with today's endeavours. I have also been working on two secret projects for Ro and Jess, and working on the 2x2 [ but gave up because I coulndn't handstitch as neatly as I wanted without my proper glasses.
I did at least manage to do the ironing!

Guess What We Used To Make This, Grandad?

The girls were with us Saturday afternoon. Rosie had asked me to teach her to crochet. So once she was busy making chains, and Jess has realised this was not something she had the patience for, I took her off to do a simpler craft. We made some bunting, and hung it between two chairs.

I had made these all little flags last week, but before she began decorating them, I showed Jess the technique. Its ridiculously easy but you need to prepare them at least 48 hours beforehand, and children must understand that some bits can only be done by a grown up. 

You need lots of loo rolls. Each one makes 2 flags. The instructions in Red can be done by children.  Adults should do the hot water bit!

1. Half fill a jug with very hot water
2. Using tongs, carefully stand a loo roll in the jug
3. Count to ten [child can do that!]
4. Using tongs lift up the tube and turn it over, put it back in the jug
5. Count to five, lift out the tube, shake it a little
6. It will start to unroll, and become two separate parallelograms.
7. Do this with all the loo rolls
8. Lay the shapes on a worktop or chopping board to dry
9. Carefully fold in half to make a "pennant" shape.
10. Next day, when dry, stack them and put a weight on top to keep them flat

Now they are ready to decorate and will hang tidily over a string. You can staple near the fold to stop them coming off! The card is really good for paints or felt pens, or for sticking things on with PVA or Glusticks.
NB You can sterilise loo rolls - place 4 in a cross shape on a microwave plate, and zap on full power for 20 seconds [no longer, they may catch fire] but I reckon this total immersion in very hot water is adequate cleansing.

Watching the rolls uncurl to become diamond shapes is weirdly magical. And people are so surprised when you tell them what the bunting is made from! I shall do this one again i think.  

The Silent Stars Go By

Often I will make a special tree decoration to mark the year - the year of lockdown, the year of the Raised Bed, etc. This has been The Year Of The Kitchen. I had a whole stack of IKEA instruction booklets - every item comes with its own A4 manual, about 8 pages long with pictures of how to assemble the flatpack furniture. I had a crazy idea about some sort of paper sculpture decoration.

Using my die cut machine, I produced lots of 3" circles, and carefully folded and glued a 'honeycomb' ball. But although it was suitably round, the honeycomb turned out very uneven and I was unhappy with it. I found a pattern for folding a 5 pointed star. This proved much better.

I found an excellent online TUTORIAL , offering both words, diagrams and a video - so you could choose which instructions suited you best. You begin with some very clever folding of a square of paper, and then make one cut, which gives you a perfect pentagon. This is then folded into a pretty star. 

Whilst watching University Challenge, I folded my stars. I've given them a thin coat of PVA solution to protect and stiffen them, and help them stay folded. I have chosen the best one to hang on the tree. On some you can read the different languages, on this one you can see screwdrivers and hammers!

I may add this line to my 'reworked carol lyrics' collection

"Westward leading, still proceeding
Folding the Kitchen Star"

Teatowels, Dressing Gowns, Old Pillowcases - And A Nativity Costume Tutorial

When I was a child, I'm sure that costumes for Nativity Plays were just cobbled together from existing garments. Someone cut a head hole and armholes from a white pillowcase, and once you had a circlet of tinsel, that was your Angel's robe. And the innkeeper, Joseph, and shepherds wore their dressing gowns, with a check tea-towel tied on their head with Dad's black bootlace. Traditionally Mary had a blue shawl. Kings had cardboard crowns or Grandma's scarf wound into a turban.
Nowadays, it feels like even the preschool event requires hiring an outfit from the Royal Shakespeare Company! God bless all those teaching assistants and overworked teachers, who have assembled a class set of Nativity costumes which can be fetched out each winter and assigned to the cast. I checked back to 2014. I made 7 angel costumes, 7 shepherd outfits - and "camel humps and bodies" to go with the heads which the TAs had retrieved from the cupboard.
If you are handy with a machine, it doesn't take long to knock up an outfit though.

I found an ancient, much mended duvet cover in the loft. Bought in 1995 as a cover for a futon mattress, and patched with an old check duvet cover in 2011, and again in 2020. The fabric is so thin in parts, it is not fit for a bed anymore!

Rather than use my usual 'three rectangles' pattern I just cut out a front and back T shape with sloping shoulders. 

The neckline is a simple oval with a slit. And I put one belt loop in a side seam.  The side seams end in 10cm slits for easy movement. I used the check patch to cut two rectangles for the head-cloths and two long straps as tie belts. The waistcoat is a 45x90cm rectangle. Fold it in half at the shoulders. Cut a centre slit and curved neckline, and sew side seams to the armhole.

Finally stitch a loop of elastic or stretchy fabric 55cm long, and attach to front centre of the head cloth [75x45 - like a teatowel!] Tutorial HERE. All done and dusted. Ready to go off to Manchester

TOP TIPs

1. Aim to make costumes easy to put on, and generously sized to fit over regular clothes. If it is cold, children may want to wear tshirt and jogging bottoms underneath.
2. Are you dressing the child, or will the TA have half a dozen tots to get sorted? Make it easier for the dressers - the loop means you can ensure belt doesn't get separated from the robe, and Leo doesn't get Theo's sash. 
3. Likewise, the attached strap makes the headcloth easy to pull on, and shouldn't come adrift mid production
4. Shepherds are pretty rustic characters- so don't fuss too much about hemming and use non fray jersey
5. If anybody complains that your angel does not have wings, explain politely that in the Bible they are never mentioned as having wings - it is cherubim and seraphim who have them. [Exodus 25, Isaiah 6] 

THANK YOU to everyone who has made a donation to our Cornerstones Christmas Tableau-  either cash in the pink pot hanging by the display, or online. We have raised around £200 thus far, which is truly wonderful!

I'll Dye For You

From the sublime to the slime
Here's an exceedingly long and beautiful prom dress spread out on my bed. The owner is about my height. I have just shortened the frock by about 9". I will be vacuuming tiny blue sparkly sequins from the carpet for months. Really tiny, here are two beside a 20p piece.

She's my GSCE student, and it is her 16th birthday this week. It has been fun working with her, I hope she enjoys her prom. Meanwhile her younger brother is in the school play. He came home with a list of requirements for his costume - which included "Two tan shirts, one must be covered in slime"
Mum asked if I had any ideas - the price of tan shirts is too much - so I suggested getting a twinpack of white school shirts and dyeing them. Where do I get the dye? she asked. I said it could be done with a pot of coffee. "I'll dye for you!" I said. Here's A Quick Tutorial

Take the new shirts and wash them [to remove any 'dressing' in the fabric] Whilst still wet immerse them in a large pan containing 1 strong pot of coffee, one pot of stewed tea [2 tea bags] a tbsp salt and a tbsp vinegar. Bring to boil, simmer 20 minutes stirring constantly. Allow to cool, then transfer to smaller pan or bowl, and pour liquid over shirts. Put a plate or pan lid on top, weigh it down [eg 2 cans tomatoes!] to keep shirts submerged. Leave to soak overnight. Remove, rinse and spin [you can do that in your machine] Hang to dry.

One can go back in the packet, prepare the 'slime' for the other. Find some plastic bags, preferably grey, green, black. 

I used a heavyish grey refuse sack, and some 'parcel' bags [M&S dark green] and lighter green compost caddy sacks. And a blue latex glove. Cut out a 'waistcoat' from strongest bag, and lots of 'slimy dribbles' from the other bags.
Stick the dribbles down with appropriate adhesive - along the top edges so the garment does not become too stiff.
Wrap this round the shirt and stitch down the front and round the neckline. If necessary, cut the armhole slot a little bigger to allow for movement!

Christmas Creations

First of all, thanks for all your wonderful memories of retro foods. I have visions of CS up and down the land being overwhelmed by donations of your long forgotten fondue pots! I found a blogpost from 2017 with some retro recipes including prawn cocktail.
I have been busy with the littl'uns this week. After Ro and Jess went home on Sunday afternoon, I got busy preparing for Brownies [Monday] and Little Acorns Toddler Group [Tuesday]
With the Brownie I did two tried and tested crafts - 'baubles' and 'Napkin Santas' - with the Toddlers, we were using this year's Bible Society toddler materials - and they suggested the little party hats for the children.

If you want to make the baubles, my tutorial is here
I made the santa napkins half size using cocktail napkins, and fixed a hanging loop to the top so they could be hung on the tree. Full size ones can be used as part of your Christmas place setting. My tutorial for them is here
I recycled last year's Gardener's World Calendar to make the strips for the baubles, they were very colourful and these KS1 children made them with minimal help.

Bob and I are now turning our attention to ensuring we have enough stuff to sell at the Charity Craft Fair on Saturday.

Girl Bands [A DIY Tutorial]

Rose went to a craft fair and tried on a headband. It was an animal print fabric, with a little knot on the top. She looked gorgeous, and she really wanted it. But it cost £14. Mummy Liz suggested she should see what Grandma could do. I searched on line, and found a number of video tutorials and DIY patterns. I bought a pack of simple hairbands, and a pack of 6 polycotton squares. Here is my template, cut from a cereal packet.

The tie is a strip 1½" x 8" cut to a point at each end.

The main band - 16" long, 1½" at each end, and 3" in the middle. You will see the pattern is half length, you need to place it on the folded fabric. Cut two pieces of each shape

Right sides together, sew round the edge of the tie.
Turn out and press. Sew up the gap neatly

On the band, right sides together, sew just along the LONG edges. Turn out, press. Now slide the band through the tube, and tuck in the raw ends at each end. make pleats to gather up spare fabric.Sew across neatly by hand.

Now tie the tie round the centre, pull tight  [Fold in spare fabric on the top of the band - this loose fabric adds to the effect] Hold tie in place with a few stitches on the underside.

I polished off half a dozen in an afternoon. The girls were delighted, and took the spares back for their friends.

If the fabric is fine and floppy, the use iron on lightweight interfacing on just one of the two tie pieces, and on one piece of the band strips[the upper strip] Total cost about £1 per band, and I have lots of fabric, and a loads of bands leftover.

The Milk Of Human Kindness - A Yogurt Tutorial

Lady Macbeth uses this phrase - concerned that her husband's compassion will get in the way of her ruthless plans for his future kingship. Milk is an important part of our diet - certainly at birth, and "mother's milk" is a term meaning something very necessary for life. As we grow older, things change - many nations drink a lot of cow's milk. In Finland the average is 2 pints per day, in the UK just over a pint. But in some countries there is widespread lactose intolerance [e.g. Yemen and South Korea] and some religious groups have rules about milk [Jews do not eat meat and milk together, or cook meat in milk]

Before the advent of fridges, people were concerned to ensure their milk was fit to drink - hence the development of things like kefir and yogurt- both fermented products, and clotted cream, which is heat treated, and can last up to 14 days. I like yogurt, and for years have been making my own. Anne asked for a tutorial. I use an electric yogurt maker like this. Sadly they are no longer made!

The basic principle of home made yogurt is this - take a pint of milk, warm it to 'blood heat' , stir in a tablespoon full of natural yogurt, and leave in a warm place overnight.  And in the morning, voila! yogurt.

You can use an electric model - they use less energy than leaving a light on overnight - or simply put the warmed milk into an insulated flask [this Kilner system is good]  Here is a simple recipe from Tesco

Over the years I have modified my system

• I use UHT milk - because that way I can make it as and when I need it, without using up our 'everyday' milk from the fridge
• I add a heaped tablespoon of dried milk powder to give a richer yogurt
• I've discovered that using whole UHT milk gives a really lovely creamy texture, more like Greek yogurt
• Once made I use the yogurt as is - perhaps adding fruit, nuts, a spoonful of honey/maple syrup/jam as a sweeter.
• If I am almost at the end of a jar of jam, I will mix it in with a stick blender to make pink yogurt!
• I use it as a topping for desserts in place of cream or custard [sometimes sweetening with a teaspoon of icing sugar]
• I use it in recipes, often in place of buttermilk, eg in scones or soda bread - or spoon a little on top of a bowl of thick soup.
• I blend yogurt into smoothies and milk shakes [and this summer I plan to make frozen yogurt ice creams as an alternative to shop-bought UPF ices]
• Strained [through coffee filter, kitchen paper or muslin cloth] it makes a soft cheese, lovely with a little salt and chopped fresh herbs. Keep the whey and use in scones, or as stock in soup.
• Make a pancake batter with eggs, yogurt and a banana.

DO keep everything spotlessly clean, or the yogurt will spoil quickly.

DO remember to keep back a spoonful to start your next batch

IF it starts to taste acidic, then buy a small pot of yogurt and use that as a fresh 'starter'

QUICK IDEAS

layer up granola, yogurt and fruit in sundae dishes for a quick dessert

add chopped cucumber and mint to yogurt for raita to serve with curry

mix yogurt 50/50 with mayo for a lighter coleslaw dressing, or for Coronation Chicken

In my teens, I was staying overnight with a friend. She said yogurt was supposed to make a good facemask for purifying the complexion. We bought a pot from the co-op. At 9.30pm [after her brother had gone to bed] we smeared it on, and left it to dry, then around midnight, sleepily rinsed it off and went to bed. We awoke with smelly yellow streaks on our necks and ears. Since then I have eaten yogurt but not used it as a cosmetic!

Liz had this lovely book for Christmas and she has sent me Olia's recipe for drop scones, which uses kefir [usual method]

• 150ml kefir
• 1 egg
• 100gm flour
• ½tsp baking powder

Do you make your own yogurt?

Do you have a favourite recipe which uses yogurt?

Sew Very Christmassy

Dereham Library has been closed for building work - but it has re-opened so we went in to change books. It was remarkably noisy, somewhere behind the wall we could hear power drills "This is Very Noisy for a LIBRARY!!" shouted another woman. I grabbed three books from the Christmas Craft display which caught my eye. All very different, with some clever ideas [for 2023 - I don't have time now to produce anything!]

Christmas Crafts Scandinavian Style by Tone Merete Stenkløv and Miriam Nilsen Morken was exactly that. If you like Tilda's World, you will be right at home here. Slim hearts, long-legged angels, quirky snowmen, and patchwork. 50+ projects. Unlike the British fondness for red and green, the colour palette is red, white and brown. 

Clear instructions, good templates *****

Craft it Up Christmas, Around the World is an excellent book for children's craft. Fun projects 'inspired by travelling' Libby Abadee and Cath Armstrong have ideas from 35 countries - each has clear instructions, good photographs, and a 'fun fact' about Christmas in each of the countries visited.[in the Philippines, they hang star shaped lanterns called paról] Sweets, gifts and decorations. "for all ages and abilities" says the blurb, and I would agree. Its publised by Cico press, and their craft books are usually very reliable [good index, plus lists of Craft Suppliers in USA, UK and Oz] I may have to renew this one, so I can look through it with Rosie *****

And finally Sew Advent Calendars by Debbie Shore. From SearchPress, another great source of craft books - you may know DS's "Half Yard" series. I'd read the other two and already rated them ***** for their ideas, instructions, illustrations and indexes - but this one is so innovative, it gets *****too. I'm a little sad that none of the 20 projects is a countdown to the birth of Jesus - no manger, kings or even angels in evidence - but the different suggestions are really interesting. 

Two thirds of the projects have 24 pockets/pouches/pyramids/whatever but there are a load more intriguing 'countdown' items - A 'Calendar Girl' with a chalkboard for writing 'how many sleeps till Christmas, two number cubes, and a [slightly less interesting] calendar to count down the weeks [only four pages] Debbie includes two "Twelve Days of Christmas" projects - which is odd, as they are supposed to follow the Big Day, not be in the run-up...But her white towelling snowman has twelve bright pockets [ and she suggests if you made them half the size then you could fit 24 on his tum] And her 12 cones are a very clever idea. Here's her video [be warned - it lasts 20 minutes!]

I like her Christmas Cottages bunting - and am contemplating making a row of houses in Bethlehem, with a stable for the last one...[middle picture on left hand side of book cover] Not altogether convinced by the dog biscuit calendar for pets though!

So there you have three Christmas Craft Book Reviews. Apologies that it is too late for this year but file the ideas away till next autumn. 

Do you have an Advent Calendar? Home made or bought?

Does your contain chocolates [or make-up, seeds, jam or tea-bags...the choice of gifts gets more random each year]

Jigs And Jumpers [And A FREE Pattern}

Years ago when I belonged to a knitting group, I made a few mini Christmas sweaters to hang on the tree. I decided to make some for the pop-up shop this year. But I simplified the pattern so I could knit one up in half an hour. Having sorted out some oddments of wool in white, red, green and cream [suitably Christmassy colours] I made a whole batch. 

Bob, who is a very clever chap, made some mini coat hangers with 1mm² copper wire. He created a jig with three screws in a piece of wood, and wrapped the wire around. I think they finish off the decorations beautifully.

For some of the jumpers, I knitted 2 colours into  the pattern as I went along - but for most I stitched it afterwards and added beads or sequins for festive sparkle.

Here is the pattern - using DK wool and size 2.75 needles [old UK 12 or US 2] You need just a few grams.

Mini Christmas Sweater Pattern

• Leave 20 cm of yarn at the cast on/ cast off for sewing up.
• Cast on 13sts
• Knit 4 rows in K1P1 rib OR knit 4 rows in moss stitch.
• Working in stocking stitch from here on
• Knit 10 rows 
• Knit 1 row, cast on 6 sts [19sts]
• Purl 1 row, cast on 6 sts [25 sts] 
• in st st work 5 rows.
• Purl 10 sts, cast off 5 sts, P to end [20sts]
• Knit 10 sts, cast on 5 sts, K to end
• st st 5 rows
• cast off 6 work to end [19 St's] 
• cast off 6 st work to end [13sts]
• st st 10 rows
• work 4 rows in K1P1 rib, OR moss stitch
• Cast off.

Add contrast stitching and trimmings before sewing up side and underarm seams. The neckline looks neater with a row of blanket stitch round it

Note 1; These are ornaments NOT toys [small beads, sharp wire] and will not fit dolls [neckline way too small to go over head.

Note 2; This is MY pattern, I made it up - and it is free to anyone to copy and use. [But please acknowledge that you found it on this blog]

I think they are rather cute. Thank you Bob for the hangers!

A Morning Of Making

Another project underway, details to follow. But I spent an hour and a half on my knees yesterday in front of the coffee table in the lounge.

Using some coloured card from my stash, and my WRMK Envelope Maker I made a couple of dozen envelopes.

A number of blogs I have read recently have mentioned making envelopes. Either for 'orphaned' greetings cards, or because folk are starting to make seasonal greetings.

I had not heard of WRMK till 3 years ago, when I started finding their punch boards at yard sales and in CS.

They are not cheap to buy new- but I have certainly had my money's worth from my bargain buys.

You can make your own envelopes without such gadgets - I have been doing so ever since my Dad taught me when I was at school. And when life is less full, I will try and post a tutorial. 

But if you need a lot of envelopes, and you have a stack of scrap paper/thin card to hand, these nifty bits of kit save hours, and produce good results.

UPDATE  here's a video of the WRMK board being used

Give Us Today - A New Craft Idea...

 We have been studying the Lord's Prayer at Café Church, and on Sunday we reached "Give us today our daily bread". But what could I do with the children? They sit round a table at the side of the chapel, and we cannot make too much noise. We began by talking about food - why is it important?

• It gives us energy
• It helps us grow
• It keeps us healthy
• It makes us happy

I expanded the last point, and talked about 

1. eating favourite foods, and certain tastes giving pleasure. 
2. We discussed the fact that sharing food makes us happy [family Sunday Roasts, birthday parties- and sharing the food we have with others who do not have any]
3. Food makes us happy because it reminds us that God provides for our needs, and he cares for us.

We had a worksheet to colour in. But before we did the sheet, I wanted to do some sort of different craft. I have a handful of children, all under 7 [and some adult help!] but we do not have very long - and we cannot make a lot of mess.

After some internet trawling I came up with the idea of a stained glass window. This meant preparation on Saturday evening.

First I printed off a picture of a child kneeling in prayer. I typed "Give us today" and "our daily bread" using WordArt. That meant I could curve the words, and  flip them to mirror image. Then I took a lamintor sheet, and opened it up. I put the template underneath and traced the words and picture with a Sharpie onto the inner, matte side of the 'top' sheet,

I folded an A3 sheet of paper round the sheet, and folded the other blank sheet over it, and paperclipped it all round. Then I cut lots of squares of tissue into 4 [random quadrilaterals, not perfect squares] On Sunday I gave each child a bowl of tissue shapes and a glustick and encouraged them to cover the plastic sheet with squares, overlapping to leave no spaces.

They all enjoyed this, and it was relatively mess free! Whilst the other adults supervised colouring the worksheet, I took the tissued sheets across to the laminator. I removed the protective paper, flipped the 'picture' sheet over and put the whole thing through the machine.

Voila! a stained glass window. The children were really pleased with them, and I suggested they could tape them to a window when they got home to let the sunshine through.

At the end of the service, Pastor Nick invited them to come to the front and show their work to everyone - and for once, they actually shared the all key teaching points!

I think this craft could be developed in all sorts of ways - you could put any picture or wording on the top sheet, and maybe use different tissue shapes or set colourways for other lessons - not just Bible themes

Leaves and flowers [nature stuff] Red/orange/yellow flame shapes [Pentecost - or great fire of London]

Blue and green waves...etc etc

Because the Sharpie is on the inside, it cant get washed off. You do not need to stick every piece of tissue down completely - just a tiny dab in the centre will hold it in place till lamination 'fixes' it.