More Christmas gifts made by me…

Peppermint Lip Balm & Lavender with Tea Tree Oil Hand Salve. I will post the recipe another day.

Toddler Ribbed Scarf

Double Seed Neck Warmer

As soon as the snow came down and began to lay, Joe and I were outside!  Joe was excited and I have to admit that I was too – I grew up in the North East, where snow was snow and I recall some years when I was living in County Durham where the snow came half way up the door and if you banged the back door too hard you ended up with snow on your head and everywhere else for that matter.  So yes, I was very excited too.  I eventually talked Joe back in doors and this is what we saw when we woke up the next day…

After breakfast we wrapped up warm and went out to play!  Chris couldnt get to work because of the snow so he was home too.

and 5 days later, the snow is still here!  However, as much as I love it, it does need to be gone by 28th which is when we will be travelling up North to see my family!

Now that Christmas part 1 is over, I can post a few of the things that I have been making which is fantastic because I have been dying to put them on the blog!

Firstly, we had a gift giving type thing at work where we had to spend £1.50 on something for each person in the office – we did it with £1 last year and it was lots of fun.  This year, I stumbled across a bargain on eBay, where I got 6 or 7 fat quarters of fabric for £4 including postage so took my gifts from that.  Being the utter novice seamstress that I am, I needed to make easy stuff!

I work with a bunch of beading addicts, and two of them in particular often bring in their work in little plastic bags and boxes so I wanted to make them something to transport their makes in.  I did a bit of research and found bead mats, which hold the tiny beads without them rolling around everywhere but they are pretty big so I thought maybe I could make a smaller version with a carry handle and Velcro or buttons and after more Google searching I saw a few things that I thought would suit.  I would love to link them but I cant for the life of me find them again so if you have already made something like I have made here, please feel free to tell me so I can link you!

Anyway, what a nightmare!  I set up the machine, prepared my practice, sewed it to perfection – tension and everything was all set, put the real thing in and the bleeding tension went to pot!  The fabric was exactly the same thickness, same thread, same everything! Bah!  So I got my scraps out again and got it all sorted, put the real thing back in (after unpicking the crap attempt) and off I went.  Half way through one side, the bloody needle snapped!  Changed the needle, sorted the tensions again ( I wasn’t sure if the needles were the same or not as Ive lost the cover and the accessory bag!) got halfway through again and the needle snapped again.  So in a fit of anger I gave up on the machine and used good old craft glue and hand stitched it, so it looks a bit cack and not at all as fantastic as I had imagined.

I also made 2 of the ladies fabric brooches, I’ve seen them in our local craft market on sale for almost £14!

Scary Fat Cat

Fudge, made with condensed milk.

A neck warmer – knitted in Herringbone stitch with Manos Del Uruguay Wool Classica on 8mm needles.

It looks a lot brighter than it actually is.

The neck warmer pattern came from Loop Knits.

And finally (for now!) some Jerk Sauce in nice jars.. trust me, its a nice gift!