The time has come...

For me to admit that I really do need a new cooker. At present the only part of my cooker that works properly is the hob...for a main oven I am using a mini grill oven which is far from ideal and means that I can't really bake cakes etc.

With the festive season on the horizon I realise that I can't go any longer without a proper oven and the sooner I get one the quicker I can get used to it so hopefully will be au fait with it by Christmas when I will need it for social evenings.

This of course means that I will have to make room to bring a new one through the hall...ho hum, lots of sorting on the horizon.

Doxie

October's posts are not what they seem

Okay I still need to learn alot about this blogging lark. I tried to import my old blog and thought that my drafted posts would stay in order and dated as they were when I first wrote them...and of course they didn't!!!! So it may seem like I have been super busy crafting in October which I have not, they are mainly from the last six months and jumbled like nothing you've seen before...that said, hopefully the sentiment and content will still come across as intended.

Ho hum, learning all the time.

Doxie

Something I made for MIL

Here are some pics of my attempt at a tutorial Pink Penquin kindly shared with us,

Thankyou Pink Penquin for putting your tutorial up. Your instructions were clear and the images very useful... an enjoyable project.

It has a nice boxy bottom, this is before I ironed it.

Waiting for the top stitching.


I think this was before I put the lining in, it is a bit floppy but I interfaced the back of both lining and outer.

The finished product with a little tissue pouch I made.

...can you believe it, I cut the patchwork out the night before and started the next day at about 7am and it took me until 3pm!!!! Okay so I did have a few frantic phone calls in between from Hagatha who was trying to get to a duckling and her wellie boots but was being kept at bay by a vicious cockerel ( don't ask )...I'm not sure why she rings me at these key moments, maybe it is so someone can tell the authorities how she met her grisly and bizarre end...or maybe it is just because it makes me laugh...okay I know you shouldn't... but it is amusing listening to someone shrieking as they scrabble up on to a trampoline for safety with an earful of barnyard noises in the background...I am quite used to the cry of "It's coming to get me!" by now.

Anyway enough of these oddities and back to crafting. I found I didn't have any batting so I opted for a lightweight interfacing...didn't fancy the idea of trying to get anything stifffer through the 2" opening you have to turn it the right way around...It seems to have worked okay.

Things I would do differently: Put co-ordinating thread in the bobin so the stitching around the top of the lining didn't jump out at you so much, maybe embroider the plain squares a little before I sewed it together. Apart from that I am very happy. It took longer than I thought, but that may be the distraction of the phone calls and a very lively Sharp End...now he is on anti-inflammatories he is like a puppy again, I have lost count of the number of times I got up to retrieve either the contents of the bin, a pin cushion or some other thing out of his mouth. Oh the trials of a crafter's life. ;o)

MIL now has her little basket,it co-ordinates perfectly with her bedroom decor...it was the minty green that did it. What pleased me is that she saw the patchwork and said...

"Nice fabric, where did you get that?"

This pleased me no end because the fact that it was stitched together in squares had not been obvious, meaning I hope, that my patchwork skills are improving. :o) I gave her the little tissue cozy that is in the picture too and I made another for my friend Line.

Doxie wondering what colour combo to do for her own bedroom :o)

A minute's silence...

Could we just take a few moments to honour my dear crafting friend who left us forever yesterday. He was a great help in many projects and no other came close. We spent many an hour in each other's company and without him my projects would not have taken on such a finished and crisp/fresh look. He could seem a bit heavy at times but I think ultimately that was where his strength was... I liked it best when he really let off steam, it was then that we did our best work together...He will be missed, and yesterday I just could not do any crafting knowing that he was not there to aid me.

Goodbye my Rowenta iron...I am sure your replacement will do it's best, but you will take some beating.

XXX

Washing Grains

Here is an amazingly quick tutorial for washing grains. Firstly I'll tell you how this came about...Years ago we used to buy Japanese washing grains from The Body Shop in a cute little cannister. They were horrendously pricey for what they were, but DH loved them so we always had some in the bathroom. It really used to bug me as the smell reminded me of something but I couldn't think what...then one day it struck me...they smell like freshly cut runner beans! I looked on the container and they did indeed contain beans...Aduki beans. This sounded very exotic and I decided it must be something very special because of the price we were paying. Anyway like it always seems to happen, they stopped selling them, I do not know why.

Fast forward a few years when I was in a health food shop and there I spied the allusive ( to me ) Aduki beans. After whizzing the creative cogs in my brain for 10 seconds, I decided to buy some. They were inexpensive, in fact, cheap as any other dried beans.

By that evening DH was scrubbing himself away in the bathroom with our version of the bean scrub. Now as I said before I do not know the reason they stop selling them, but I do know that ingesting raw beans is a big no no...maybe it was a health and safety issue ( yawn ) maybe even if you didn't get them in your mouth you could absorb the toxins through your skin, perhaps there was a danger of scratching your eyeballs, who knows? Whatever the reason please be aware that these MAY NOT BE SAFE TO USE...I have had no trouble after using them for years and will continue to, but it doesn't mean that you won't...there, that was your health and safety warning. Also I would not let small children anywhere near them in the same way that you shouldn't let them play with talcum powder etc, you don't want any inhaling or choking accidents!!!!

If you still want to know how I made them this is how...

You need 1 coffee grinder ( that you will not be using again for coffee...don't want any raw bean toxins in your morning cuppa )

A packet of Aduki beans, also called Adzuki beans

A pretty jar to keep it in

Chuck beans in grinder and grind until fairly fine, like granulated sugar is a good starter. Be careful not to breath in the dust...pour them into a pretty jar. You can see how fine/coarse I grind mine below...and that is that!



We use ours by taking a teaspoon sized amount adding a few drops of water to make a paste and then we rub it on wet skin. DH uses it on his face, but that's because he is a big roughtie toughtie man... I wouldn't dare as it is too coarse for my delicate skin LOL ...I love this stuff, and it is soooo much cheaper than the bought stuff was...I am talking several hundred percent cheaper! Until I find a reason why I shouldn't be using it, it will be a part of our bathroom "spell" cabinet ( I am in the hope that one day I will mix the right things and hey presto the elixir of youth LOL ).

BTW, we keep it in the glass jar you see in the first pic but not next to the bath...we decant a small amount into a PLASTIC LIDDED container about once a fortnight. You really need a lid or the damp will get in, and please don't have glass near your hands when you are all wet, slippery and possibly naked, lets not even go there!!!

Doxie the exfolliated

Inspiring site

I came across this great resource to use in creative stuff.

Little token gift

I often struggle to decide what is and what isn't appropriate as a token gift for someone you don't know well. DS is coming to the end of a course of night classes and I wanted to give a little something to the teacher...last year we gave a flowering plant...this year he is going to give a pocket tissue cozy. My sister gave me one of these a few years ago and I was delighted ( mine has a cross stitch top with my name and flowers embroidered on it) so I am hoping the teacher will be too even though it will not be as fancy as the one I recieved.

I am not entirely happy with the one I have made as the interfacing has creased when I turned it right way out, even ironing didn't totally remedy this ( I think I may have used too heavy a weight/thickness for the job in hand )...if I can find a suitable lining I will run another up omitting the iron-on interfacing.

If I have time I plan to make a matching fabric covered notebook for her too...this will be a first so I either have to find a blooming good tutorial or do some crazy quick pattern making in the short space of time I have.

Edited to say...I made quite a few of these and kept one for myself. :o) They really are better at keeping your tissues decent in your handbag or pocket. :o) so tried and tested 10/10

Doxie :o)