Cork Decorations

Every year I make gifts for the girls I work with. It usually ends up being about 30 items so I try and keep them small (and easy).

What to do with a million (well that's an exaggeration but there are LOTS) wine corks - make tree decorations.

Super simple.

Take a wine cork and poke a jewellery pin with a hook on one end through the cork. I took small deconstructed flowers and glass beads and added them at either end and then attached a "charm" at the bottom. Voila!

TOTAL TIME: About 3 hours working feverously TOTAL COST: Approx $30.00 for everything

A couple of hostess gifts!

It isn't Christmas without getting invited somewhere for dinner or drinks.  This year was no exception particularly because my daughter and husband were away.

I'm not usually a last minute person but I'm becoming one; and because I hate arriving empty handed I wondered what I could take to both a dinner and a drink party that I could do quickly but would be appreciated.  I had four pieces of Christmas fabric in the closet - how about napkins.

I cut each one 18" square and simply serged the ends.

Done

and Done (this set is wrapped with a doggie scarf for Whiskey)!

And yes, Kenzie got in on this one too (but after I finished sewing this time)

Some Orange Hats

For the past few years I've been giving hats to my brother, his wife and their five kids for Christmas (I have breakfast with them on Christmas morning).  This year Dina (my sis-in-law) called and asked if I was doing the traditional give of the hats.  Yes, I say, why?  Well she has an idea.  The older boys will participate in a ski weekend and they all want to wear the same ones, would I be interested instead of buying the hats making them something "orange".  I pause for a moment and then think . . . WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

Will she give me creative license to do what I want . . . OF COURSE she will . . . so while Anna and I are shopping for fabric for her mom's apron I come across this really funky orange winterish looking t-shirt fabric that I HOPE will be warm enough for their tender ears!

I borrowed a hat that they "kind of already like" but is a bit small and get to work.

FOR THE GIRLS:

Make a "sock" to go over a 1" elastic 3-4" in length

Serge both sides of a 20" X 9" piece of fabric (the short side is what gets sewn on to the elastic)

Run a gathering stitch on the short sides

Circle the short side AROUND the end of the elastic; pulling the running/gathering stitch and overlapping the ends

Stitch down OVER the elastic

Flip inside out (DO THE SAME FOR BOTH SIDES)

FOR THE BOYS:

Cut a piece of fabric 22.5" x 11.5"; Serge the length on both sides then sew the short side together

Flip over one end 2.5" and sew down with a straight stitch

Pin on the seam and then half way between that and the ends (you can sew these down 1" if you wish but I didn't bother

With the end facing you fold the opening in half towards the pin

Then take the second opening and fold that in half towards the centre

Do the same with the remaining two openings and pin down

Sew a 1/2 running stitch at the top

Then take two of the folds and pin them together and pin the other two together (you should have four pinned parts all together (two on each side)

Stitch down the four pinned folds

This isn't a great picture but . . . 

Turn it inside out and voila! this is the top!

Here is my awesome brother, his wife and their five kids in the hats - they LOVED them; Sam (the youngest) said he wasn't going to take his off - he was going to wear it ALL DAY!

Thank you for letting me be creative on these - one type for the boys, one type for the girls (and it won't ruin their hair) and I think everyone is happy (see their smiles)!

I made in total three girl headbands and 8 boy hats - You never know who's going to be the lucky recipients!

Christmas Dinner with Friends!

Cheryl and Dave moved here about a year ago from Toronto; Dave is from Edmonton, Cheryl is from Toronto.  He tried to live in her world but was just too sad being away from the weather here (I guess - I can't imagine what else could have brought him back here . . . oh yes, sorry I got distracted . . . he wanted his old job back) . . . and because my daughter and hubby are going to the Bahamas for Christmas, I need someone to eat with (and decorate the table for)!

Jysk here I come . . . I have a budget of $20 to decorate the table . . . can I do it . . . well OF COURSE I can . . . here's what I bought.

Four turquoise charger plates; three glass dove/pigeon candle holders; and three butterflies (that I think I can work with).

here's what I already had:  white plates (they are a must for everyone's arsenal of dishes), cutlery, napkins, napkin rings, jewels and mercury glass containers (gawd I'm having da je vous right now - I feel like I've blogged this already . . . must have done so in my sleep).

Put it all together and this is what you come up with.  Just had to purchase a couple of white flowers, severely cut them down and I think it is fantistically beautiful.

This was before dinner (Kenzie loves Dave)

This is Dave after dinner because he thought it was cold in my house (you can't see the pashmina around his neck)

This is the lovely Cheryl writing in my Guest Book!

Window and a Mirror Christmas Decore

Obviously I am not bored.  I saw this really cool idea on Pinterest where you take ripped pieces of fabric and tie them on to twinkle lights . . . four pieces of 1 yard each of fabric in all the colours of my living room, a string of lights, an hour in front on the TV and it's done!

And because I have some left over strips of fabric I decide to wrap it around a foam wreath and wrap that with a piece of left over pom pom and bell string from last year's gift wrap!

I think it's complete now!

Can't wait to decorate the table for Christmas Dinner with friends!

And the tree is up!

Last year I didn't even put the tree up . . . I was a little embarrased that I hadn't but no one seemed to mind the two dishes full of decorations just to TRY and be festive.

This year (and I never decorate until after I celebrate my birthday) I was gung-ho.

Four things - the tree, a few odd trees I've collected over the past three years, a dish with all of the decorations that couldn't fit on the tree, and another LARGE vase full of some more decorations and twinkle lights - I think it's enough (for now)!

And another apron . . .

You know  how much I love Auntie Day . . . Anna and I do spend as much time together as our schedules allow . . . and she wanted to make her Mom an apron for Christmas this year.  We managed to get the fabric shopping done (only $1.00 over her budget) but it took some doing.

Schedule on . . . Anna is picked up . . . and we're off to my favourite fabric store.  She has an idea in mind (warm/earth colours) and we pick up what we think are the three best pieces and get to the cutting table.  We get the BEST sales person E V E R and she says . . . you know the other cottons are only $5.00 a metre right now . . . and we both look at one another and say . . . "ya we should go back and look at them" and giggle . . . and we get three OTHER pieces that we think are WAY better than the first choices and the bill comes to $11.00 - YIPPEE

Now to schedule a day to sew . . . what pattern to pick . . . what piece to make what colour and it's cut and ready for my best friend ( Bertha ) . . . now you might think setting a 12 year old down at a conventional sewing machine that has a LOT of power a dumb idea but she did fantastic! I would start a piece off and she'd finish it . . . then I'd do the difficult "turns" and she'd do all of the ironing (with a steam iron) . . . NOTE:  We set the ironing board to her height and she did a fantastic job . . . I only had to show her once what to do and she DID IT!

Here she is ironing!

All of the pictures I took of her sewing you can't see her . . . but I promise you she did MOST of the sewing - I just did the curvy parts!

Here is the finished product!



That's the third apron this year and one more on the way but that one is a bit of a surprise and a bit outside the box - I'll show you that one when it's done!

Last Blogs of the Year

Well, I promised 52 blogs in 52 weeks and while I haven't always done a blog a week, I've managed to post more than 80! Pretty surprising given the fact I work a full time job and had surgery during the summer (which put me a bit behind).

My promise for the end of this year (the last two weeks anyways) is that I will post everything I'm doing from  now until the end of the year . . . and there's going to be quite a bit because I'm behind again and have lots to do.

I hope you enjoy the last few blogs of the year and hope that you'll read on next year when I change it up a bit.

For now Merry Christmas (yes not Happy Holidays) and thanks for taking me in thus far.

Hugs
Lynne

A Bag of Letters

Well not the kind you think . . . these are letters of hope . . . they are letters I hope to give to my future grandchild. We had a rough year last year; my daughter lost two pregnancies in the early stages. One just a week prior to finishing her first trimester; and the second about six weeks in. It was devestating. I was crushed. I was already buying stuff to "house" the baby at my place for sleep overs. It's all I've dreamed about for as long as I can remember . . . I just want to be a g'ma! Maybe its not in the cards; but the prayer is, and my hopes and dreams are that one day I will welcome a beautiful baby boy or girl into my senior years and I can hug and kiss and love that baby just like I've always dreamed. Here is my little bag of "hope"!

Aprons Galore

Both last year and this year I have made aprons for the hosts of the Gerwing Family Christmas.


What I have learned that it costs a WHOLE lot less to buy them, I love doing something personal for the host and hostess!


Here are pics of both years!

Last Year's Host & Hostess

This Year's Host & Hostess

Pattern is a McCalls Time: approximately 1.5 hours per Apron The baby's apron was custom designed with sleeves to keep messes on Christmas clothing at bay!

Special Request

I had a special request a couple of weeks ago to make an "Oilers" hat for a friend whose nephew was having a baby boy but they wouldn't have the shower until after he was born. His Dad is a HUGE Edmonton Oilers fan and it wouldn't have been right that his future offspring didn't follow suit. I started pursuing making a simple beanie and was going to affix an Oiler crest on it there were none to be found (on the internet which is usually my first resource). And you would think that would be an easy task but it wasn't. After a visit to the Oilers Store in the nearest mall I discovered I was wasting my time due to coyright infringement and you cannot BUY any such thing. So I decided to do something a bit more creative... Plan B ... I knew the colours were navy/royal blue, white and orange. So I purchased just enough jersey material closest to the navy/royal blue colour and made two orange pompoms and ironed on his last name with iron on stickers. Let it be known that you can't find the exact colour of jerseys either likely due to copyright issues . . . I used the same pattern I did for the "Apple Hat" except I cut the "small" down just a bit because I found that one just a tad big for a newborn. Here's the end result. My friend was so excited (well she actually cried) so I just gave it to her . . . payment enough!

Boston Baked Beans

OK so I started cooking at home again. I've found that since my surgery in the summer nothing tastes right and it's all frankly getting a bit boring. I got it in my head I needed more fibre in my diet and the first thing that came to mind was Boston Baked Beans . . . yum yum . . . LOVE them . . . but I don't really have a recipe any more so I search the "net" and find a couple I think I can use. Now I'm not the best at remembering recipies but I had a pretty good idea what I needed (because I'd printed the recipe twice and lost it both times) so while shopping for some other groceries I picked up some navy beans, molasses, brown sugar and some white onion . . . knowing I had dry mustard at home and the rest I would just wing it. Got home and still couldn't find the recipe - but I knew I had to soak the beans overnight covering them with 2 inches of water. What do they know . . . so I put two BAGS (not 2 1/2 cups as the recipe said - remember I still couldn't find it) of beans in a roasting pan at about 6:30 p.m. and by 10:00 p.m. (bed time) the beans were popping all over the countertop out of the roasting pan so the mad panic was on to get them put into a different container - It didn't seem to matter what I did - even moving them slightly - sent them popping all over the floor and the dog was having a hayday! Finally I got them into the LARGE canning container and left them overnight . . . covered with two inches of water . . . Little did I know I was going to have beans until the cows came home NEXT December. I had to triplicate the recipe (because of how many beans I'd soaked) and lifting them in and out of the oven for 5 hours made my right hand completely fall asleep in the middle of the night so bad I thought it had fallen off! Here's the recipe I used: 2 1/2 cups navy beans 1/2 pound pork bacon (cut into about 1" pieces) 1 medium sized white onion (coursely chopped) 1/3 cup molasses 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 1/2 tablespoon cloves 1 bablespoon worstershire sauce 3 cups hot water (or water from boiling the beans) Soak the beans overnight; Boil at low boil for one hour; drain liquid (reserving the 3 cups) Put 1/2 of the bacon and 1/2 of the onions at the bottom of the container you are going to use to put everything in the oven); Place 1/2 of the beans in the container; add the balance of the bacon and onion; Combine all other ingredients (including the 3 cups of liquid from the boiled beans) and pour over beans, bacon and onions (do NOT stir); Place in an oven container at 325 for 5-6 hours (until you think they are the colour and consistency to where you think they are totally cooked); If you feel that the liquid is not enough you can add water as required until cooked. And here's the finished product - LOVE LOVE LOVE TOTAL TIME: 6-7 HOURS TOTAL COST: About $14.00 YIELD: 6 - 1 LITRE JARS

Gorgeous or Goth - you decide!

New season, new headboard - once the fall rolls around (usually towards the end of September) I put away the summer bedding and bring out the winter stock. I was so thrilled with the slipcovered headboard I'd sewn for the summer bedding I decided I needed something equally as spectacular for winter. Sequins came to mind - they would be blingy and kind of "me"!

Because I've been so busy sewing for my nieces wedding and had to alter another gown for another I didn't have time to get the bling I wanted as quickly as I wanted so I got up Sunday morning and set out to purchase just the "right thing".

And it's almost Halloween - am I crazy to be in my favourite fabric store the Sunday before Halloween . . . maybe not . . . every table had a cutter on it so I was in luck . . . more than once . . . I looked at the bling, oh yes I did, but couldn't find anything that was the colour I wanted, a raspberry red, so ventured into the "special events" fabric area. It was like OMG THERE IT IS . . . a gorgeous rosette covered raspberry red fabric - just PERFECT . . . to the cutting table I go. She cuts the fabric, and dammit I need lining . . . so I purchase the same amount of lining (.7M) and I don't know what made me do it . . . but I threw the lining on the table and then threw the rosette fabric over it and it was cut SO crooked I went back to the first cutter and asked her to cut it again . . . and she screws it up AGAIN . . . she gives me enough though (.8M) so I can at least have "enough". . .  and I purchase 4M of blanket trim (and it matches perfectly might I add).

Easy sewing; straighten out the fabric; place the rosette over the lining (which is three inches shorter so the rosettes wrap around the back) and sew three loops on the top (one in the centre and one on either side). Here is the finished product.

TOTAL COST: $28.00
TOTAL TIME: Less than 1 hour

Burlap and Lace Wedding

The bride setting up!

As I mentioned in a previous blog I made the burlap runners and some paper products for my niece's wedding.  Here are a couple of pics showing the runners and some really cute ideas they used for the vintage tea cups!  All of the doillies, teacups and saucers and candle holders were purchased from Value Village or second hand stores for pennies a piece!  It was stunningly gorgeous when everything was lit!

 Burlap flowers; wax and wicks

Large and tiny roses with baby's breath

Burlap flower, some deconstructed petals and a lace hankie

Table shot (before any glassware was placed)

Everyone received two Truffles in a box and the name cards had tiny birds on the top right hand corner

One of my favourite shots!