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 I know what's going on.


I've been really enjoying making over-sized, ridiculous buttons for Christmas. My favourite motif is the gingerbread man, and he's been making appearance all over the place (did you notice the ribbon above?). I particularly enjoy these because they really do look like real-life honest-to-goodness I-want-to-eat-them gingerbread cookies. But they're not. They're polymer clay.


Once they're iced, they look a little like this. This happens to be in a neater, more organised corner of my sewing table where bobbins, paintbrushes, buttons and fabrics congregate to be admired.


I've also been sorting through my knitting needles as I'm about to cast on for another small knitted gift. This time, it's for a little boy. We're having our monthly Knit & Natter tonight, so hopefully there will be some progress on this after this evening.


This is an oh-so-secret close-up of a gift I've made for my very lovely friend in New Zealand. This one took ages to make. I'll show you all once I've posted it so it won't spoil the surprise. I finally finished it this week and it's ready to pack up and travel East.

With all these gingerbread men running about the house, I'm definitely going to have to make a batch this week! I also bought the Great British Bake Off book this week (Christmas sale, who could resist?) and there are promises of amazing gingerbread results from a recipe therein. Watch. This. Space.

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 a coffee and watch the world go by. It's a rare treat at the end of a busy month, and I look forward to this little "time out" as my once a month treat.



This month we met at Larder, a little restaurant on Globe Road in Bethnal Green. It's very pretty inside, the staff are welcoming, and the toast is delicious. You can always judge a restaurant or café by the quality of its toast, I think.

I find good toast is deeply satisfying, and is even better with a knob of butter and a small pot of home-made jam. I rather like that Larder serves their toast only with a knife, forcing you to use your hands to eat and enjoy a quintessential toast tradition on your quiet Friday morning.

Larder filled up rather quickly, and the lovely Colleen and Janet joined me for slow Friday morning musings on poetry, the seaside, and overlockers.

And who can resist a trip to Prick Your Finger when visiting Globe Road?


Shelves and shelves of beautiful yarn, each with its own story. Ask and ye shall receive, as Rachel, Prick Your Finger proprietor, tells you the history of each shade, each ball, each sheep.


With varying weights, colours and wool mixes, the Prick Your Finger yarn collection is like a treasure trove of texture. And they don't mind at all if you touch everything in the shop.


I bought this. It's a collection of (approximately) metre-lengths of yarny oddments. There's some ribbon, some ric-rac and some pearls. The colours all coordinate perfectly. They hang rather beautifully as a decoration, I'd imagine, or you can knit them up into something a little mad. You could also knit something sensible in a coordinating colour and weave through the various bits of treasure in a fit of imaginative creativity.

As much as I'd love to keep it, I bought this perfectly pink bundle for somebody special who loves pink almost as much as she loves cupcakes. I hope she'll love it.

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 the side panels : brilliant! I sewed the side panels to the bottom : brilliant! And then I realised that I would have to do some sneaky seam stitching on the top of the cushion where it would be visible to all : not brilliant. I tried it out though, and sure enough, I didn't love it. It had to come out.

So, I ripped it all out and sewed it all up again - even the side panels.



You can see it's not over-stuffed and presses down quite easily, and I think I learnt a valuable lesson about stuffing this week. Stuff it until you think you have enough and then check that the seams line up. If they do, then stuff it some more. After sewing this up the first time, I realised straight away that it was too soft and definitely needed more stuffing. I'm pressing down on the top of the cushion in the photo above, and I really want it to provide some resistance...

So, after re-stuffing and re-sewing the cushion, I'm about to add about half a bag more of stuffing and then whip the side seams closed. It has already found a use in it's half-done state: it currently is a beautiful pedestal for our TV remote control. The Mister has dedicated this Moroccan Cross Stitch Cushion as an intricately detailed shrine to the TV gods. Sigh.

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 be one of my Christmas presents this year: a Whirligig Shrug. It's for a little girl I haven't met yet. No pressure.

I'm knitting it in Sirdar Snuggly Kisses in the Twinkle colourway, which is a sort of light grey, slightly blue and white variegated yarn that is oh so soft, and an absolute dream to knit with. I picked it up at the Knitting and Stitching Show last month (definitely a good purchase!).

I think the shrug is going to need something girly to finish it off - a ribbon to tie the fronts together, perhaps? Or, maybe just a little crochet flower on the front. I'll come up with something.


I was inspired by Kate from TwoLittleBanshees who has been knitting up plenty of cute Whirligig Shrugs for her little Olive (a new addition to the family). I'm convinced it looks far too small - who could fit into that, anyway?


I was suspicious of the "U Cable" at first, but it turned out really nice. Altogether, quite pleased.

Things have been quiet here at Bakercourt, but with good reason: we were in Paris.

Paris!


Our long-awaited first trip was fabulous. Even though it was cold. Even though I lost my passport just before we left (and found it again down the side of my desk). Even though we had to catch a night bus at 3am to get to the train station. Fabulous.

I'm going to give you ample warning: there are going to be a lot of photos in this post. Just so you know. You might need a cup of tea before you carry on scrolling. This is the highlights tour.


We walked a lot. From one end of the Sienne to the other, from top to bottom, around markets, and up and down Butte Montmarte.


We walked past the many stalls along the Sienne selling vintage Playboy Magazines, past the postcard sellers, and through the pretty narrow streets.


We happened upon the padlock bridge. The story goes that you lock in your love as you secure your padlock to the bridge, and it'll stay there - sealed and safe. Nearby vendors were selling tiny "love locks" for a whopping €5. I was happy enough with the photo.


We went up the Eiffel Tower. Determined to add to our growing collection of self-portrait photographs, we took every opportunity to capture ourselves in front of important monuments and in great locations. That's a teeny bit of the Eiffel Tower's second platform you can see there. We'll know that in case anyone asks if we're in a factory.


The weather was cold but clear, except for one night where it started to pour down with rain as the sun was setting. We took shelter under a bridge on the Sienne where we drank €3 coffee (we were given only half a cup!) and tried to decide on the most sheltered route to the nearest metro. It was a sign: go back to your hotel and enjoy a night off.


We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral too. It's dark and magical inside, and light and beautiful outside. They're rebuilding the bells for next year so that the sound is authentic when they ring them - that would be amazing to hear!

We were exceptionally fortunate for our entire trip: the queues weren't very long, and the tour groups were completely manageable if you got in front of them. We were in a lot of tourist photos, but that's okay. Sometimes you just have to let go.


... and sometimes you have to join them.


Visiting the Louvre was like walking in a dream. I spent much of my school years with my nose buried in art history books - and this week (this week!) I went to the Louvre. And, I saw the artworks I had previously read about, written about, composed essays about, been marked on.


The experience was all quite surreal. One minute you're walking through the streets of Paris with a very real, very "now" concern of being quite cold and a bit a tired, and the next minute you're walking through the vast marble halls of the Louvre and being transported back hundreds of years to a time and place where your real concerns aren't that important anymore.


It's a place where everything is so much more beautiful than you had imagined it could be.


After three hours of zooming up stairs, down lifts, and trying to figure out where I wanted to go - we agreed on a truce: coffee, and a return trip at a later date dedicated specifically to art appreciation at the Louvre.


There's something very satisfying about having a pâtisserie on every street. There's nothing quite like the smell of warm croissants in the morning as you walk about. I think most people think that - the croissants were always sold out well before 10am.



There's always a sweet treat at the end of a long walk in Paris. And, oh! The colours.


We stayed in Montmarte, and used the spires of the Sacre-Coeur to navigate our way to and from the hotel. Convenient.


It just so happened to be one of the nicest parts of town, too.


Also, it has a train. That's just in case you can't face the bazillion steps that lead up and down Butte Montmarte. I was tempted, but we carried on walking and exploring.


Where else could you find a square filled with artists? Many of them were wearing berets, too. Ha.


We walked around a few food markets all around Paris. They were amazing. The produce was fresh, the fruit was delicious, and the locals were perfectly happy to communicate in hand signals with us as we carefully chose apples and oranges for lunch. We came up against some grumpy French people in other shops (who absolutely refused to listen to us in English), but generally the people who spoke no English were more than happy to communicate using broken French and hand signals.


And so. Our whirlwind trip was over almost as soon as it began. Here we are at Gare du Nord train station, ready to head back on the Eurostar with all of the other English folk. They were grouping around the coffee shops and buying baguettes en masse.


The one thing that I absolutely loved was this: a giant clacker-board of notifications. Forget about digital; this sign was all about clickity-clacking its way through the letters to make up the right displays. The noise was incredible. Every few minutes you'd hear a whir, and then the clackers would wake up and start spinning, making their way down the board to update the departure times. I tried to take a photo of it in action - you can see the turning letters about half way down (where some of them are red). Proof. We'll always have Paris.

I don't celebrate Christmas, but I do love this time of year. Everybody gets festive, the twinkling Christmas lights come out and the snow starts to fall (unless you're in South Africa, where Christmases are spent around the swimming pool).

It's also a good opportunity to buy things that you've spent the year saving up for. We don't buy "big things" very often (except craft things, and they don't count - right?) so if there's something you've had in mind for a while, it's a good time of year to look out for it because it's likely to be on sale. I've never seen anything quite like the Christmas buying frenzy you get in the UK - people really do camp outside shops here, they buy things online en masse, and they flock to the shops like mobile sardines in a great big shopping mall can.

And so, we come to the (ahem) problem of Christmas gifts for those members of our family who do celebrate Christmas. This year, like most, we're going hand-made. Maybe it's just my experience of Christmas here in the UK, or maybe it's universal: Christmas gifts pile up and becoming an overwhelming collection of things that you really don't need. Wouldn't it be nice to receive things that you want? Things that somebody cared about, and lovingly put together through hours of effort? We've carefully chosen some things we're going to make together (he volunteered, I didn't say anything) and some other things we're going to buy (mostly for the kids) but I'm still on the lookout for small "stocking fillers" that we can add to the gifts to make them extra nice.

Aside from some sewn gifts like pouches and other goodies, I've also spied a few other crafts that I really quite like. Thanks to the magic of the internet, inspiration strikes when you'd least expect it - and is swiftly followed by a "now why didn't I think of that?" moment. Here are some of my favourite stocking fillers from this year's crafty internet inspiration hunt.

1. Bakerella's Cowgirl Cookies



4. Shrimp Salad Circus's Wooden Buttons


I have a thing for wood buttons. I seem to buy a lot of them from here and they seem to make their way onto almost all of my knitted items. Shrimp Salad Circus (aka Lindsay) wrote up a tutorial on how to make them. It's not rocket science, but I wasn't sure how to finish them off to make them safe for washing, so it's really handy! I'd definitely sand them down a bit better so they don't catch on the yarn or other fabrics. This may not make it on the Christmas Makes list, but it's definitely on my To Do List for the new year. I suppose we'll see...

5. Hair clips for little girls (and big ones too)



I'm suddenly surrounded by lots of little girls (and some big ones too) who need pretty things in their Christmas stockings. I found some great images for inspiration on Pinterest, so here's a quick round-up of my favourite ones (which translates to: easiest ones to make).

A few months ago I spied this cotton fabric in IKEA. I picked it up, loved it, and thought that I didn't need it just yet. It is 100% cotton, but has a lovely linen weave look to it. Also, there are sketched ink ships. Everything is better with ships.



If there's anything I've learnt about shopping for fabric, it's this: if you really, really want it, buy it now. It won't be there again. And in fact, even though more than a few months had passed since we last popped in - there were still a few metres left on the roll. What luck! I could only justify buying one metre, but it was enough.



This fabric was destined to be a bag. I paired it up with an unbleached cotton for the lining, and I used VeryPurplePerson's reversible bag pattern. It looks a lot like my favourite cross-body bag, but with shorter shoulder straps so it looks much neater. It's a great pattern!


I sewed it all up on Saturday while the rain was pouring, and I was enjoying some me-time listening to Lenka waxing lyrical about being everything at once. Ha, you can see my messy dining room table here. It's currently being used for many projects at once, including providing a home for my little sewing machine.

Can't. Wait. To. Move.



I included a little interior pocket (I have no intention of turning this bag inside out at any time) with an added keyring because I am so bad at losing my keys in my bag. They have a clip on them, and now I can just attach them to the same spot. Problem solved.


There's something so very satisfying about top-stitching. It means that you've done all the hard work, that the project in question has worked, everything lines up, and that you're putting the final touches on it.


And then you have a finished bag! Just like that. Top-stitched, made out of your favourite fabric, ready to use. Ha.



I rather like my new little bag. I added in a giant button and a flap to keep it all closed.


Ready to go!

Okay, to be honest, I made the bag and just hang it up on the back of my chair so I can admire it every time I walk past my desk. I haven't used it yet.

Sometimes cutting up nice fabrics is quite daunting - but sometimes,when you have something in mind for it, it all turns out quite a lot better.

If you want to make your own one, pop over to VeryPurplePerson's reversible bag pattern on her blog and download a copy of the pattern. Happy sewing!