The rod is still here

Gah.  Should I or shouldn't I?  Will it be a roaring success to validate my craftiness or will it be a miserable afternoon where nobody buys anything?  So far I have noted a clear inverse correlation between how long I spend making these Christmas Fair whatnots and my mood:

However, after a bit of advice from the wise woman Charlotte, I think I am going to stick at this and give it a pop.  Otherwise I will never know and it will rattle around as a "what if" forever.  Although listen to yourself, Gertie.  This is about an afternoon selling Christmas decorations, not a move to Patagonia or a decision to change gender.  Perhaps I should stop worrying so much.

Anyhow, here's what I have made since my last post / grumble:

.... some more mini-stockings - I have about 20 in total now:

 ....some scented sachets - but not lavender as it reminds me of my dead grandmother.  Instead I bought some scented beads from eBay, although they are not as potent as I expected.  I put a load in each sachet to compensate but even then the scent is not that obvious.  But they are supposed to be Jasmine, Green Apple, and Dewberry:

...not sure why these photos are coming out sideways, but hey.  FQR veterans may recognise the Robert Kaufman London fabric as the freebie FQs in our goodie bags.  I am making big stockings out of the dark blue and the light blue too - they are quilted but not made up yet.

Next I am going to sew some more tree decorations - I think perhaps some mini trees and some baubles.  There are also another 6 large stockings in progress, and I really enjoyed quilting 3 of them this morning, so perhaps variety is key to keeping this project fun.

I have also started work on my LMQG Christmas decoration (or ornament if you are Canadian) swap.  I think this was another thing that I felt was hanging over me, but now I have made a start I am feeling much happier about it.  There isn't much to show yet but I will make sure I take a photo when it is looking half decent.

G x

Making a rod for my own back

One of the things that has been on my list forever is to make a Christmas stocking out of some leftover Flurry fabric that I have.  I bought the pdf of this Merry pattern many moons ago from Camille's shop:

Earlier this year I dutifully cut out the stocking shape on tracing paper, then balanced it on my knicker drawer for a few months before deciding that really that wasn't the best use for it.

Because of the Q3 Finish-a-Long, I have motored through quite a few of my older projects, and I felt this one was glaring at me for not having even started it.  So, in my quest for efficiency, I thought - if I am going to make one stocking, why don't I make more?  Why don't I make 2?  Or 4? 

Or .... 8?

Then I thought ... maybe I could make some little stockings!  So after a disastrous prototype, I made a few of these tree decorations:

... and even found a possible use for this dreadful fabric I inherited:

Wow! I thought.  I could open a shop.  Maybe I could sell these at the school Christmas fair.  Yes, I will!  I will book a table now!  They might all get booked up if I dilly dally.  No time like the present!

So now I have made myself the ultimate rod for my own back.  I am going to have to make as many fairly simple crafty whatnots as possible so as to not have an embarrassingly empty table whilst also not ruining my life via Christmas stocking overload.  My housework status will inevitably decline from mild chaos to total calamity.

What have I done?!

G x
Disclaimer: only after uploading the photos did I realise that there was a big fuzzy smudge in the middle of each.  It seems the baby may have been manhandling the camera.  I have now cleaned the lens so hopefully all future photos will be smudge-free.

WIP ... er ... Thursday

Sorry this is late ... I plead Harvest Festival for Girl #1 and cough & temperature for my perpetually snotty Girl #2.  We also have birthday party prep coming up, so I am going to blog now while I have the chance.

This week I finished the last of the 36 blocks for Girl #1's Dolce quilt:

So hopefully these will go together quite quickly.  And I need to get them off the spare bed before someone drops a pair of trousers on them.

I don't know what it is about prepping the backing for a big quilt - maybe just that it is so big - but I have a tendency to put it off even though I can't finish the quilt without it.  As someone pointed out the other week, it's just one seam!  But I also have a terrible habit of choosing backings with a repeating motif that has to line up.  Like this:

I shall make a mental note that in future I should select small ditsy prints with no obvious repeat.

Anyway, backing for Apple Crisp is all done and I just need to finalise the quilting design with the long armer and we're away!  I love that bit because when it comes back it is ready for binding - my favourite part, second only to chopping up fabric :)

Im other happy news, look what the sewing fairy brought for me today:

I have been coveting this for ages and am very excited to have my own copy to pore over with a nice cup of tea.

And finally, something mildly alarming - a prototype board game drawn by my 5-year-old inside an old shoe box.  I am very unsure what is happening on that second line down.

I think Mattel might want to edit this before they release it.

G x