Lead Up to Christmas

You might be able to guess from the absolute lack of posts that I haven't had much time for creative things. At the start of the school year I had surgery on my lower back so sitting up right was difficult then the new National Curriculum hit wis with a bang (I am a Maths teacher) and every spare minute was spend developing the course, materials and assessments.

It is now time to try me and dad's cider and it is very nice, dry but I like that.

I have managed to potter with peerie things over the year but disappointed that I still haven't finished my Aztec blanket (goal to finish that by end of January).

I have done another 4 rows but must finish it soon

 

For a few weeks me and the lasses would meet up on a Sunday morning and knit, I made a tea cosy from Smith & Jamieson's book... All that's left is to add a pom pom to the top.

As you may have guessed by now I feel strongly about homemade christmas gifts. I feel that now days people just give gifts because they feel they ought to but I like popping past a friend hoose with a peerie something and knowing that they'll get some joy oot of something I have spent time making. I definately do not do it just to get something back. When I wis a teenager whenever my mam and dad asked me what I wanted for christmas I would say a book, perfume or Lego... And I still do.

Festive fireplace, West End Hotel in Kirkwall

This year I had big plans for the peerie boys gifts (there are 4 of them now this year - congratulations to Gina & Robert on peerie Josie) but time ran away with me and then will be next years plan. Instead I made them some sock toys to keep their zebra's company.

Josie's first christmas gift from me ... A peerie sock teddy

 

Oliver's dad has a farm and on that farm they have a collie, so I made him a sock puppy

I also made Lucas a puppy as they have a beagle called Spencer and thought he'd like another.

Last time at was at Ryan's hoose there cat had gone missing so I made them a sock kitten

I made some christmas vodka for the man who started this craze in my flat, Murray my old flatmate, he would always make raspberry gin and something equally as tasty in the festive season so I thought he would appreciate this.

Making Christmas Pudding Vodka at the same time I made a pumpkin pie

Playing on Pinterest I found instructions for making candles which sounded straight forward and original so I made the lasses cinnamon candles in some beautiful glass tumbler I found. [In my excitement I forgot to take a photo of these so plan to beg one of the girls after Christmas Day]

What do you do in the lead up to Christmas?

Emma's Random Blanket

I have started to pay more attention to other people's quilts on twitter and Pinterest and idea was starting to build, web I started to gather fabric for it I decided it was going to be a gift for my sister, as her and her boyfriend are planning to buy their first home and I thought it would be right up her street.

 

Fabric wise I went for a mixture plain, striped, novelty and floral. I also included camouflage as Emma like camouflage.

 

I cut the fabrics into right angle isosceles triangles with the identical sides being 13 cm. then I randomly paired up 2 prices of fabric to make a square then used 4 of them to make a bigger square. I used 5 of these to determine the width then continued like this until I have the required length. I used the fleece backing to determine these measurements, since it was a random pattern this was easy to do.

Once I have the cover sewn together I put it on top of the fleece, right sides together then put the wadding on the back of the sewn fabric.

 

After pinning the materials together i sewed (1.5 cm from the edge) around them leaving a 4 inch gap so that I could turn the fabric inside out, I then turned in a edges where I had not seen and I sewed around the fabric (1 cm from the edge) securing the hem.

Wee Trip to Stromness

 

Yesterday I went through to Stromness for a peerie nosey and a change of scenery.

Main aim of the trip was to go to the Bayleaf Delicatessen and get some loose tea I had seen the last time I was there and more popcorn.

Black Olives, Pickeled Figs, Loose Tea, Popcorn & Manchego Cheese

The deli has lots of nice things in it and displayed a local artist sketches, John Cumming (my uncle) and Yvonne Grays's book.

I got a little carried away but made lots of yummy things out of my purchases.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Vodka, looked super festive from day dot

 

Christmas this year seemed to appear from no where. I started to panic when I realised I had very little time to make the gifts that I wanted to give folks but I am happy with what I finally produced.

I first started knitting these gloves for my friend Gemma

 as she had said how much she had liked mine the year before

Then I found a recipe for a Spiced Aarancello (Christmas Spiced Vodka) from BBC Good Food App and thought that it would make a nice gift for some of my friends

- My flatmate makes amazing fruit liquors so it was nice to try my hand at something similar

 

As I mentioned back in October, I got a kindle pattern from a craft fair during Wool Week and was keen to make one for my Mam, Ii am really chuffed with the colours etc.

although it is a little on the large side

After the success of last years Christmas Jam I thought I would try my hand at my own recipe, Mulled Pear Jam, I liked how subtle all the flavours were although I would maybe put a little less

 sugar in it next time as it was super sweet.

I know that some people make/sell Christmas Pudding Hats but I thought I would try my own version. My own pattern so, again, proud of the outcome (would also make awesome tea cosies) can't wait to see pictures of the boys in them.

Ii also followed a Kate Davis pattern and knitted this hat for my Dad, thinking to make a girlie one for myself, once I have tackled the socks and jumper.

 

I really recommend homemade gifts, I got one this year (Blackberry Gin from Lynn) and I really appreciated that she has put time and effort into a gift that was for me.

 

Happy Holiday xxx

Christmas Pudding Hats

I was really struggling with what to make for my friends' peerie boys this year, they are between 1 and 2, I couldn't come up with something exciting that would beat the sock zebras from last year.

 

First I cut out the fleece, I wanted a rounded hat that wasn't pointy so I made a template by card, there wasn't much thought that went into it I just made sure it was symmetrical and the correct size.

 

Then I used the same template to make the cream topping, making sure that the edges matched up.

 

I sewed the cream on around the bottom then matched 2 parts together and used my sewing machine to sew round one of the long sides

 

Sorry for the picture quality I didn't notice it till it was too late

Once all the pairs were sewn together i opened them up and sewed them together, then I created a hem.

The cream and holly leaves are made form felt and just hand sewn.

 

My favourite part of this process was learning how to make the pom poms, I had never done them before and it was made even more fun by watching Elf while I did them.

 

I attached the pom pom and tah dah!!!

I canna wait to see photos of the boys wearing them, I plan to make a tea cosy in a similar way and possibly some adult hats.

 

 

If anyone is interested in try it please let me know and I'll upload a template and more detailed instructions ... Merry Christmas!!!