Second Make for Christmas - Patchwork Cushion

The Back is back. Grr. Went to see the doc and he has prescribed as much bed rest as I can manage in between juggling Smalls, and some strong drugs. I have been doing exactly as I am told for 24 hours and things are looking up again. I am determined to get it properly fixed so I can go out and play, so a few more days of lying down it is. But in the mean time there are still makes to be made and posts to be blogged. Turns out you can crochet when lying flat on your back and with some cunningly placed cushions you can even blog!

So, much more interesting than the state of my back is the Second Make for Christmas:

Patchwork Cushion

I am going to show you how to make one of the little beauties we made in our little crafty group on Thursday. The front will be nine squares of pretty patchwork and the back will have a cunning envelope opening that needs no fussy zips or button holes. Make it Christmassy to decorate your home, or choose fabrics that would suit someone special.

This is for a little bird who requested a simple make involving sewing only straight lines. No curves here, oh no siree!

Difficulty: Easy peasy if you can drive a sewing machine, and the perfect project on which to have a go if you can't. You could even do without the machine but that is a lot of hand sewing and I am a bear of very little patience as you know.


You will need:
Sewing machine, good scissors, iron and board, ruler, pencil, pins, thread.
Fabric: two or more colours or patterns that complement each other. We used remnants from other projects and charity shop finds.

I will give you instructions for a 45cm cushion filler but I'll also tell you how to calculate the measurements for other sizes.


Iron all your fabric.

For the front you need nine squares. Each should end up being 1/3 of the width of the cushion (45/3=15) plus you need a 1cm seam allowance on each side (15+2=17).

Measure and cut nine 17cm x 17cm squares. You might find it helpful to make a cardboard template. Iron your squares.

Arrange the squares in a way that pleases you - regular and symmetrical or random and groovy. Pin each column of three together so right sides are facing.

Sew together on the machine leaving a 1cm seam allowance. Iron the seams open, then pin the three pieces together, right sides facing and matching up the joins as neatly as you can.

Sew together with a 1cm seam allowance then iron.

Admire how beautiful your patchwork square is. (This step is extremely important and on no account can be forgotten.)

For the back you will need two rectangles the same size. The long side will be the size of your cushion plus a 1cm seam allowance on each end (45+2=47). The short side will measure 2/3 of the size of your cushion plus 4cm (45*2/3=30 30+4=34).

Cut two rectangles 47cm x 34cm. Along one of the long sides of each piece iron down 1cm to the wrong side then another 2cm and pin to form a hem. Sew along each hem. Iron your rectangles.

Place your patchwork front right side up. Place one of the back pieces face down on top so the raw edges line up.

Place the other back piece on top, also right side down with the raw edges lined up with the opposite side. Pin together and sew all round the edge with a 1cm seam allowance.

Turn out the right way and poke the corners out with the point of your scissors. Iron your cushion cover, put the filler inside and admire.

 

If it is to be a gift, wrap with love.

 

xx

Ten lovely ladies...

Take ten lovely ladies,

 

supply them with a pile of fabric,

rulers and scissors,

add a sprinkling of pins,

and a few minutes with the sewing machine,

Fuel with a glass of wine,

a cuppa or two,

and look what you get! (These are the backs which are nearly as lovely as the fronts...)

Ta Da!

Next week - bunting.

Oh, and can you guess what the Second Make for Christmas might be?

xx

First Make for Christmas - Dance n Stars

Hello

I am super excited because here we are with the First Make for Christmas and it is not even approaching December! This is a very easy one to begin with and has a strong St Helena inspiration.

In St Helena food is definitely a big part of every festivity. If you go to a concert or a coffee morning or even a parents' evening, you will be given 'a plate of eats'. This is a paper plate crammed full of a mixture of sweet and savoury titbits - little sandwiches, jam tarts, mini quiches, cheese straws, cakes, biscuits and something called 'bread n dance' - slices of soft baguette-style bread topped with a spicy tomato paste. Not being the world's biggest tomato fan I was extremely sceptical to start with, but it is delicious - sweet and savoury all at once.

So for our first make I have combined two of these elements to make some party snacks that are extremely moreish with a festive feel. Cheese stars and dance dip...

 

Dance n Stars

(Do you like that? It's a sort of pun on dancing stars. Ooh I do amuse myself sometimes!)

Difficulty: Easy peasy. No specialist equipment or skills required.

Dance Dip

1 onion
1 tin of tomatoes
2tsp sugar
1tsp salt
1 chilli or a dash of tobasco
1tbsp oil

Chop the onion and gently fry in the oil for a few minutes until softened and transparent.

Add the tomatoes, sugar and salt. Add the finely chopped chilli or tobasco to taste.

Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Allow to cool then blitz in a food processor or with a blender to form a smooth paste.

 

Cheese Stars

6oz/150g plain flour
1 1/2oz/40g butter or margerine
1 1/2oz/40g cream cheese
cold water
3oz/75g mature cheddar or similar hard cheese
milk to glaze
paprika to decorate

This makes three trays of about 24 stars  - a good big bowlful, but you could halve the recipe...

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.

Rub the butter and cream cheese into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Add cold water a splash at a time until the mixture forms a soft dough.

Roll out onto a floured work surface. Sprinkle with a third of the cheese. Fold in half and roll out again. Sprinkle with another third of the cheese. Fold, roll, sprinkle and fold again.

Roll out to 1/2 cm think and cut into star shapes.
(At this point I had a minor panic when I could not find the star cutter - for a moment we were going to have christmas flowers or dinosaurs or something but then the star cutter was located in the play dough box, scrubbed and stars were on the menu again!).

Put the shapes onto a floured baking tray, brush with milk and sprinkle with a little paprika.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Attempt not to eat the lot before your guests arrive.

Now, I know what you are going to say: Rolling pins and star cutters, I thought we didn't need specialist equipment. Well, use a bottle to roll and a knife to cut out diamonds - et voila!

I hope you have as much fun with this little make as I am having putting them together.

xx

Two Extremely Exciting Things

Hello hello hello!

 

Firstly, an update on the pesky back. It is better, not better better, but better than it was and I am in much better spirits as a result. What is more, I have two extremely exciting things to tell you about today:

 

 

Extremely Exciting Thing Number One

 

My little crafty group and I have a Plan. We have had plans before and a plan is always a good thing. Usually, when in our planless state, we rock up on a Thursday evening, some of us crochet a few rounds or roll a few beads or knit a few rows, but mostly we natter (which is good), drink tea and/or wine (which is good) and eat cake (which is good). BUT when we have a plan we do all of those things and are Extremely Productive.

 

A couple of weeks ago one of the ladies (I really hope they don't mind being referred to as ladies, it has certain connotations to do with age and stage of life but I can't think of a better word so for now we will go with ladies...) came to us with a true tale of woe. She had, in the course of her work, visited a local home for people with disabilities who cannot live independently. She described it as one of the most depressing places she had ever been. She said it was like living in a doctor's waiting room - all utility furniture and utility paint colours and lacking in homely touches.

 

Now, we may not be able to change the world with a sewing machine, but we can do homely touches! Accordingly I have bought up almost the entire stock of cushion fillers on the island, I have raided the charity shop and my own stash for suitable fabrics and I have bought a LOT of ribbon.

 

The Plan is to gather on Thursday evening and natter and drink tea and/or wine and eat cake and cut out squares and triangles and rectangles and iron and pin and sew, and to make a pile of patchwork cushion covers and a substantial quantity of bunting. These will then be wrapped up and taken to the resident's Christmas party which is run by the good souls of the Salvation Army.

 

That is the Plan and the Extremely Exciting Thing Number One, and here is Clara guarding the fabric stash. (Not to self: Must work on folding things beautifully for the photos)



 

Extremely Exciting Thing Number Two

What with my back being knackered and what not, I have spent rather a lot of time sitting and thinking recently rather than doing. This is a dangerous thing - sitting and thinking breeds Ideas for Things To Do. And I have had a little bloggy idea that I am working on. I am going to call it:

Over the next few weeks I am going to post 12 mini tutorials for fun things to make for Christmas. I hope you will enjoy them. I may even manage the first one this week so keep your eyes peeled.

So, that is Extremely Exciting Thing Number Two and I am extremely excited about it. In fact, it is almost like having a Plan...

xx

Introducing Clara



Hello

 

My back is still horrible and it is making it very hard to do anything much. Blogging is feeling very hard indeed - it is hard to type and hard to think and hard to be chatty.

 

 

But but but, I wanted to tell you properly about Clara. She was supposed to arrive before we went back to England and to travel back with us but she must have missed the boat because she arrived while we were away. 

 

She belongs to Susi from Lilla Luise and is having a fine old time travelling around the world visiting all manner of crafty types.

She has her own travel diary which all her new friends have contributed to. She was last with Jess at Betty Octopus and arrived with a lovely little note on a Dotty Angel card. Completely gorgeous.

Now I just need to get my back better enough for us to go on some crafty adventures together...

xx