Another Handmade Christmas

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I've started with some delicious Christmas cakes (OK, they're made, not bought) that are now doused in brandy and rather delicious and not-too-fruity. Or for something much more heavy and long-lasting, try Delia's Classic Christmas Cake - if you've got a spare 5 hours (or make it as cup cakes, as I do, and it's a much more reasonable 1-2 hours!) You might need four mixing bowls and a bit of time up your sleeve, but they're worth it - insanely fruity and delicious (see below). Yep, I've gone cake-making mad.

Stitching

The other day I realised how long it had been since I'd done any follow-up stitching since my attempt at a Mike's craft night ages back ... and in the same thought an idea for what I could stitch popped into my head. So with my Clover iron-on transfer pencil in hand, I got to work and days later here it is. Do you think I've been spending too much time in the kitchen? Hmm.

Think I've said this too many times before, but when you work on computer it's sometimes difficult to adjust to the fact that things in "real life" can't be undone so easily, but that's part of the charm of handmade stuff, of course. Therefore wonkiness=charming.

Speaking of wonky, here's my final batch of pottery (for now at least), fresh from the kiln. Not that you can tell from this snap, but the one on the far left is a jug and the rest are about the size of a mug.

Pottery

A month or two back a friend and I took a wheel-throwing pottery class, after talking about it for ages. It was a short course - just four classes (and I missed one) but it was enough to remind us of the tricks and techniques we learnt in high school, back in the day.

Man, it can be frustrating trying to get it all working (keeping a piece centred can be a challenge) but when it works/nearly works you get quite a feeling of achievement. Actually, the pieces I like the most so far are wonky, in a quirky kind of way.

I've got various mug-type objects at different stages of completeness (just turned; bisque fired; glazed, ready for final firing) but none are done yet. The suspense of waiting until next week is gonna get me, oh yes.

Elephant #31

Welcomed into the world this morning, and going to his new home this afternoon ... finally.



Will he be the last elephant made with one of various borrowed sewing machines, before I finally get my own? Possibly not, as sewing maching-buying is a rather involving (and overwhelming) task - where to start and stop? How many stitches could I possibly use? Which brand is better than the other? And do I really need a computer to sew? Argh!

Necklace, anyone

One of the other things I made on the weekend is this necklace. I've made a few other jewellery pieces out of coloured clay, but this is my first necklace. It's got a gloss finish on top and has a bit of weight, but I kinda like that.


Also made a mini batch of chutney (toms all chopped up, above) from a Stephanie Alexander recipe, with CERES tomatoes that a friend gave me. It's nice, but I really love the stuff my mum & dad make, so I went back yesterday and bought my own box full. Tomorrow will be fun!

It's a clock

I had a rather crafty weekend, and even got to (nearly) finish everything I started, which is great. There's nothing worse than the project that is started - with enthusiasm and the best of intentions - only to find you've run out of time near the end. And then the project sits, unfinished, until there's time to look at it again, and that can sometimes take months.

Anyway, a friend and I decided to go to Spotlight on Saturday and pick up some fabric, just in case we felt like making something. While wandering the many many aisles just looking at stuff, we discovered clock parts - hands, motors, numbers etc. This sparked an idea that we had discussed previously - "We can make clocks!" And so we did.

They're pretty simple to make (although we managed to stretch it out over hours) and rather fun. I bought some wooden numbers which I then painted white, but I ended up leaving them off mine as they seemed a bit big and clumsy.

Anyway, here's how mine turned out.

The clock hands were originally gold (ick) so I painted the big and little hand with a glossy white enamel, and painted the second hand red.

And the best big - it actually works! Quite a fun project for a 40-ish degree day.

Elephant #30

Finished another elephant this morning, and from my very rough calculations, it's #30. I love this fabric and found it hard to chop up (a beautiful soft thick cottton), but now that it's all done I'm quite happy with how she turned out. And she's on her way to her new home today!

My Fabric

Photo © Aunty Cookie.

OK, so it's kinda small, but that's my Akzidenz fabric (ABC etc) in the front cushion, made by Aunty Cookie - how exciting! And how great are her fabrics (pretty much all the other fabric). It's the first time (I think) that mine's been used by someone else to make something. It could be enough to motivate me to get onto making more of the above, and the new idea I've got that I've been procrastinating about for ages.

Oh, and these are for sale in Aunty Cookie's Etsy shop, but most of them are already sold.

Blossom Bunny

There's nothing like the arrival of a friend's baby to inspire a bit of sewing. So thanks for that Scarlett, and hope you like this Blossum Bunny I made for you. I surely do. (Pattern from Softies, a book I got for Christmas). Lots of hand sewing and learning of new stitches (Hello, French knot, you are my new friend) and very fun to make.

Earrings

How nice is it to spend a whole day pottering around, listening to music and making things (and having cups of tea and flicking through books/magazines etc). Today I finally got time for earring- and jewellery-making. Have been trying a few combinations of hanging this from that with this or that, some of which I'm not 100% convinced of, but these earrings - the most simple and quick to make - are my favourites.

Also made a necklace out of some lovely heavy, chunky, wood-like rectangular beads, strung on a simple silver chain. It's an odd combination, and I'll possibly hate it tomorrow, but for now I'm happy.


Looking forward to seeing this guy perform tomorrow night (Rufus, that is), although secretly wish it was his sister...maybe she will be there too.)

More elephants & some earrings

Slowly more elephants are popping up around the place. This one's Alfie, to go to his new home tomorrow.


No time for much more fun stuff at the moment, except for a bit of jewellery making.

These earings are made with the old old old buttons I picked up a while back. They hang pretty freely as there's just a bit of wire holding them together, and I don't think they're too heavy, but will see how they go next time I'm riding on my bicycle in the wind - always a good test! Kinda like the hanging wire bits at the bottom but that'll have to go - too scratchy. Earrings are sooo hard to photograph well (like any small detailed thing, I guess) and the fact that this is the best shot is saying a lot, as they're kind of hard to see.

And oh how I want some of these - a Camilla Engman Chuck, brilliant - but are they available in Australia???

Merry New Year (and Christmas!)

Where did December go and how is it now 2-0-0-8? Crazy how fast time flies. But here it is, so...



Have just had an rather long unintentional computer/blogging/craft break after an overdose of all in the lead-up to Christmas (whew, handmade Christmas was exhausting! Made a bunch more things that I never got time to photograph, including tea towels - will have to make more!) but time to get back into it, I say. Starting with the first batch of elephants for all the babies who've arrived recently. Here are their ears -



And I'm looking forward to putting one of my Christmas presents through its paces - especially Fiona Dalton's Albert Monkey (monkeys are THE best animal!) and Carly Schwerdt's Beetle Bug - so cute!



And speaking of Christmas, here's just some of the baking a friend and I did in the lead up - no, we definitely didn't go overboard (and these photos don't show the huge batch of gingerbread) as it's all gone now!