Keeping busy

There seemed to be rather a lot of laundry, tidying, vacuuming and re-organising of bedrooms to do after our children went back to their home in Bahrain. It kept me busy, which helped with the empty feeling inside me and the quietness of the house. In a way, it was good to have our own space back again...

I have also kept at it with my sewing, although I haven't really had a heart for it. Some orders are coming in for Christmas, though, so I've got them done and I've finished the crocheted knee rug I wrote about in an earlier blog. It will go to our local church Victorian Christmas Fair. I'm so pleased that I've used up all the wool that was left over from knitting jumpers for my granddaughter. There's still some pale pink and white wool so I'll make a little baby blanket. The weather is decidedly autumnal and I won't mind working with wool in the evenings. Here is the finished knee rug:

Oops - I meant to rotate the photograph!

A lady in the choir I sing with asked me to make a bright bag for her and this one certainly is bright! She says people comment on it whenever she uses it - I'm not surprised!

I also had an order for some bunting for someone's birthday. It looks very pretty and the person who ordered it has asked for some more, this time in shades of purple. I ordered the fabric online this morning. I make the bunting the quick way: I sew the triangles together with the right sides on the outside and then use pinking shears to neaten the edges. They look pretty and it saves the time it takes to turn the triangles right side out and press the edges.

Christmas is in the air and some people are already thinking of stocking fillers. Despite the move to reusable shopping bags (one I support!!) there are still plastic bags around and a colleague asked me for two plastic bag holders.

The criss-cross coasters are proving popular and these are orders for Christmas stockings:

The care home where I work had a table top sale yesterday. I wasn't able to go but I made four shopping bags for them to sell and these little coasters. I bought strips of little horse pictures a long time ago and thought they would make useful little coasters. I hope there were some horse lovers out shopping!

I have been offered a table at a Craft Fair on 10 November, so I need to get some bags made. I have plenty of fabric and have got started. A very generous person gave me some wonderful offcuts of curtain fabric, which I'm looking forward to making up. If only I didn't have to work and then use up valuable sewing time by sleeping in the daytime!

Golfing partners

The houseful of visitors is dwindling in number. Our son flew back to Bahrain on Saturday. The whole family left before 06.00 for the London train from Hull so I didn't see them leave as I was at work. Driving home after 07.00 I felt a bit tearful at the thought that our son wouldn't be there and I don't know when we'll see him again. Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren have gone for a final visit to friends before flying home in about ten days' time.

One of the nice things about having our son here has been that he and his father, the Great Golfer, have played golf together several times. They have partnered each other before in a very different sporting activity. During 1999 they spent hours and hours training together for a gruelling ultra canoe marathon, called the Duzi Canoe Marathon. This takes place every year over three days in January between Pietermaritzburg and Durban on the Umsunduzi and Umgeni rivers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Father and son decided to do it together in January 2000 to celebrate the new millennium and Father's 60th birthday. They survived the ordeal in extreme heat and difficult paddling conditions.

Now, in August 2013, they are older and wiser and stuck to dry ground (except for having to fish the occasional ball out of a water hazard!) and enjoyed playing golf together. Far more relaxing for the whole family!

The photographs speak for themselves!

Personally, I've found a bit of time to sew and have made three more charity tote bags for the sale table at my place of work and a set of coasters for a colleague's birthday present. These coasters are easy to make and are very popular with the recipients.

The person for whom I made these has ordered four sets as stocking fillers for Christmas!

Now I have a bag to make for my daughter-in-law before she returns to Bahrain...

Easter/Spring swap

My swap partner, Hannah of Cupcake Mumma, has received her parcel so I can post photos of the contents now.

The instructions were to put the items in a margarine or ice-cream tub and wrap it in a piece of fabric. Hannah told me that she doesn't do much sewing so I thought I would rather put the tub in a drawstring gift bag. She also told me that she likes pinks and, of course, cupcakes!

The tub contained the following:

A mug rug and four coasters made with cupcake fabric;

a shopping tote and zip-up make-up bag or bag for little odds and ends;

and four chocolate bunnies and two fluffy chicks to fit in with the Easter/Spring theme. The shopping tote can be rolled up and popped into your handbag so that it is ready for unexpected items you might just be tempted to buy!

It was fun putting the swap together so 'thank you' to Joy for organising it!

Coasting along

I've kept busy since the Christmas orders were finished. I made a tote bag with a zip closure for a friend. She ordered it at the last Craft Fair. She wanted it in the pretty batik fabric with large gold butterflies on it. I tried a different way of inserting a top closure zipper, the one from Lisa Lam's latest book, A Bag for All Reasons. I'm not sure about this method; it looked all right but the closed end of the zipper stood up rather a lot. I didn't take a photo of it, though.

I also made a tote bag for my nephew's wife. It was her daughter who received a tote bag as a wedding present and Tracy wanted one as well. The fabric is from the same range, Safari Nights, but with a different design on it. I included a small zippered purse attached to a hook. Here it is:

I receive a newsletter from Sleeping Bear Crafts and for Christmas they added a free downloadable PDF pattern for Criss-Cross Coasters. The method was different to any I had seen before so I gave one a try in some Christmas fabric I had. I was hooked! I made another five so that I had a new set of six Christmas coasters. In fact, I enjoy making them so much that I have made a set of six as a birthday present for a friend of mine. The patchwork-like effect is achieved simply by folding squares of fabric and lying them on top of each other. They are really quick and easy to make.

Sorry about the flashback but it is so dull outside that I had to use the flash on my camera.

Happy New Year to everyone! Keep crafting!