Honey, I'm home

Yes, I'm back. It's been a while but here I am whipping off the dust sheets, blowing away the cobwebs and throwing open the windows. The musty smell of an unlived in house is heavy in the air and the colour seems to have ebbed out while I was away.

Now there is loud music pushing away echoes and colour splodges return as I unload great boxes of craftiness all over the place.

To sum up: I have much to show you.

But not all at once because you might all pass out with excitement!

But for now  Cute Coffee Cozies

Yes I am a tiny bit addicted to coffee.

I'm not unemployed...

Nope I'm not. I'm a struggling author :p

This struggling author thing would work a bit better should I have a rich father or maybe if I didn't need to pay bills or anything and didn't need to get a job. But struggling author sounds better than unemployed. I decided a few nights ago to seriously get down to some writing and actually get some stuff finished. I have lots of short stories but have rarely finished anything longer which I have been happy with. I've had an idea whizzing about my brain for ages and so I decided to go with that.

The only downfall is an aching arm. Unfortunately when I decided to become a struggling author it was the middle of the night and pen and paper were closer to hand that the laptop. I've filled a whole notebook so far and have made the possibly crazy decision to continue on paper. It gives me more freedom to lug it around places and gives the long suffering Daisy (the laptop) some rest. After all she has done a degree; three years of being on all day every day and now being needed for several hours a day to apply for jobs. The poor things has been run ragged. 

I've also been meaning to do some new years resolutions so in honour of Chinese New Year here they are. (And doing them now also means I can give progress reports).

1. Get a job (see above)

2. Diet. After a slight hiccup called Xmas I am now well back on track. I even still managed to shed some pounds despite indulging in a bag of minstrels whilst wallowing in self pity last week. 

3. At Christmas I cleared out our recipe book cupboard which was bulging at the seams. I weeded out books we don't use or only use one or two recipes from (the recipes we use have been typed up and are nice and neat in a folder) and even found a few duplicates. The cupboard is now full rather than overfall and I made the decision that as we have so many recipe books I have to choose a book to try a new recipe from each week. This seems to be going well and everyone seems pleased at the discovery of some new recipes. 

4. Start writing again. (See above).

Xmas Crafts

So this should be the post where I belatedly talk about my new years resolutions but have instead decided to focus today on the belated photos of all my Xmas makings.

First of all it wouldn't be Xmas without all the presents. So here is a round up of all the ones that I managed to get photo's of (with all the excitement I completely forgot to take a few snaps!)

First of I made this Picture/ Notice Boards:

Two like this for my sister and a third for my best friend made from sewn together scraps of some very pretty Chinese fabrics. These were all my own design and I'm really quite proud of them although the rubbish picture quality (there hasn't been any good photographing light in a while) doesn't really do it justice.

Next, for my Mum, I made oven gloves as like me she likes to bake. 

The inside of the pockets is line with a pink spotty material which you shall see later.

Next was a peg bag for my Grandma made from some awesome fabric that my mum picked up cheaply at a market in Mallorca. 

Both of these creations have been adapted from patterns found in this Cath Kidston book.

It also wouldn't be Xmas without all the cooking and me and my Mum decided to cook in style this year and we both made aprons!

Mine is on the right! I also made one for my Gran's Xmas present - it was made from the same fabric as the oven gloves with the pink spotty fabric as the contrast and together we made one for my Aunt exactly like my Mum's but with pink edging instead of green. The pattern is from this awesome book.

And now some actual baking. Back in October I cooked three Christmas cakes (1 big and 2 small) and here they are all decorated.

The small ones were presents for the grandparents but the big one was all for us greedy lot!

Snowed In

Ok so maybe snowed in is a bit of OTT but we did have quite a few inches of the white stuff yesterday. Enough to put a halt to all public transport going anywhere near the homestead and for both my mum and my sister to be sent home. However my dad's boss decided that the office should clearly stay open as the buses were still going passed the office window (he works in the city centre) and she didn't see what everyone was worrying about which meant we had to launch a rescue mission to fetch him.

The snow stopped yesterday evening and public transport seems to have got itself going to an extent. So, fingers crossed, I will make it to the jobcentre in a bit.

On a happier note - the prospect of being snowed in led too much baking. We stocked up by making food supplies including ginger cupcakes, welsh cakes and strudel. So we're in no danger of having a low food supply.

Just Hanging Around

So after illness put a stop to my productivity for a day (unless watching Real Rescues and eating cake counts as productive) I have doubled my productivity today and finished my commission for some fabric wall art.

My parents recently decorated our living room so I made them something to hang on the walls and jolly the place up.

(I apologise for the awful pictures - the lights not the best plus they were hanging on the wall and I wasn't feeling up to fussing around to get better shots)

Anywho, back to the point. My grandparents have also decorated their hall recently in and have asked me to make some for them and they'll pay me. They are my grandparents but selling something is selling something.

So now my fingers are covered in glue (which reminds me I need yet more fabric glue!) but my 'to do' list is steadily growing smaller although not to worry there is plenty of things on the 'things to go on my to do list' list! 

Deck the Halls

It's nearly Christmas!!! And yes I'm getting a little bit excited. Three more presents finished yesterday, cakes need to be decorated and delivered and my wall hangings need to be finished and delivered.

And now to get you in the Christmas Spirit: A Christmas Tree!

Snowed Under

This blog was not running for a while because of the snow. Ok, Ok so we didn't really have that much snow. Not even enough to justify a snow day unless you are First Bus that is. The lack of snow seemed to be sufficient reasoning for me to be left stood at the side of a busy road in the middle of the countryside where there is no pavement for over an hour and a half.

We did have snow though so I took the opportunity to take a few snaps.

It was very pretty but actually only lasted a couple of days and even when it was at its worst the roads were clear 

Regrettably I am still unemployed and attempting to decide what to do with my life after the rise in uni fees have put a stop to any plans to further my education and get the job I actually want. However this has meant that I have been incredibly productive in the crafting business. This year I have made 80% of my Xmas pressies and now only have a couple more to finish. Pictures will be put up after Xmas so as not to spoil the surprise for the receivers of my crafty creations. 

But I do have some craftyness to show off. First off my best friend, Maddy, got me this for my birthday and it came free with all the bits and bobs to make a bag: 

So way back here I was making a bag that looked a bit like a Chinese boat (or at least I thought it did). Well a couple of months ago I finally finished it and it still holds the award for being the most labour intensive thing I have ever made. I used four and a half reels of thread as there were so many bits of stitching!