It's all very festive in London at this time of year. There are lights, there are trees, there are giant baubles. There are even reindeer, if you know where to look. And so, with Liberty's gold paperchains, and a bevvy of festivity, we say goodbye to 2012. It's been real, yo. And next year is going to be amazing. 2013 is a year...
Christmas is a great time of year. Far-flung family members come together once a year and we're spoilt with hugs, gifts and well wishes. We spend far too much time making models, building toys, and playing children's games, and we watch bad TV. There's turkey, gravy and roast potatoes. We eat just enough - and then some. We have trifle. And while Grandad...
I've been spoilt. Miriam invited me to make Gingerbread Houses with her. There was a table full of sweets and edible construction materials. And, Miriam + Mum had made 20 beautiful gingerbread houses all ready for guests to arrive and start decorating. The houses were beautifully made too - with boiled sweet windows, little doorways for candles, and plenty of open space on which...
Nothing says "hello" like a friendly EEWI name-tag. Thanks to Colleen for the pic x ...
This week I've been doing some intensive crafting for the Christmas Market. Many of my WIPS became finished projects (hurray!) and I sewed, stitched, folded, pressed, ironed, labelled, packaged and tagged. I decided that I would double my efforts for the market because anything that's left over is going to go straight towards stocking my Etsy shop which is due to be opened...
The Christmas Market is almost upon us, we've been crafting. We had a little East End Women's Institute gathering to make up Christmas goodies. We cut and sewed and stuffed and ribboned and threaded and decorated a collection of Christmas decorations and lavender bags to sell for U-Turn. There was also home-made soup with crusty bread, a snuggly kitty, and a lot of...
Christmas is coming, and the geese are getting fat. It's less than two weeks away, and there's a lot of crafting to be done. I've been making gifts - and also, goodies for the Christmas Market. Will you join us for some mulled wine and a night of crafty goodness? Here's what I made this week for the market: Why yes. They are...
Sometimes you just need to spoil yourself. Especially at the end of a hard weekend of Christmas Market Crafting. I love these traybake bars. Love, love, love. They're just too sweet. They're the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate. They're oh-so-small bite-sized chunks of coconut happiness. Also, they're easy to make. What more could you want? The recipe for these Peanut Butter...
Egad, how did it suddenly become Friday? I've just realised that I've missed Wednesday WIPs. Here's something I worked on this week: designs for blog stickers. They're going on the back of some goodies I've been preparing for Christmas Market. The last week has just flown by. This week we've had Christmas parties, work events, conferences, social engagements, knitting and last night we...
A screenshot of my phone's home screen, this morning. Ah. ...
I've entered this week's Spoonflower design competition. We were given the blue-print of the Riviera Tee for Storey Publishing's new book. The theme was "underwater," and we had to colour the design in using our favourite underwater designs. I just so happened to be working on an underwater design at the time - it was fate. The design is printed on fabric, so...
Sometimes it's really hard to let go of things you've had for a really long time. I've had this blog for two years, now. Even before that, I was running bakercourt on another server run by Vox who sadly had to close down their blog service unexpectedly over night. Our entire Vox community was without home. So, we packed up our bags, made our way...
First, a confession: I haven't stitched a single stitch on any of my "ongoing" long-term works in progress. But, I have been busy. You see, there are two Christmas markets just around the corner, and a whole heap of Christmas Presents that need to be made. Yes, still. This is my sewing table at the moment. It all looks a bit chaotic, but...
Sometimes, it makes the world of difference to just take time off. It doesn't have to be a lot of time. It can simply an hour to yourself, in a quiet little spot with breakfast. The EEWI coffee mornings are my favourite time of the month. I always arrive at least half an hour too early, and I get to sit down with...
I've been doing a lot of Christmas Crafting (pictures to follow) - and I don't know how, but I also managed to find time to stitch up my Moroccan Cross-Stitch Cushion. It's not quite done. In fact, this is the second time I have stitched it up this week. I wasn't paying a lot of attention the first time around. I sewed up...
Tonight, Aneeta Patel of Knitty Gritty fame (she wrote the book) is coming to talk to the East End WI ladies. So, in the spirit of things, I'm going to be taking along my current knitting project so I can also get into the knitty gritty of things. I know, it's likely to be a day full of puns. This is going to...
