Hello all,
Commiserations to you if today is the first day back to work; bigger commiserations if you have already been back for days/was never really off. As I’m in the post Christmas tidying everything away phase I thought I would share with you some of the lovely gifts I received and show you what I made.
First up – some ties.
I have made ties before using a pattern I got at a Cloth Kits tie making workshop a year ago. The pattern is for a structured tie that has a separate piece of fabric in the middle – I thought it was called chad but I might be wrong. Anyway, although I really like that pattern I noticed that in Love Sewing magazine they had a pattern to make a Liberty tie which was actually much slimmer and used interfacing rather than a separate piece of fabric. This style seemed a bit younger/more trendy. I bought some lovely Liberty fabric (from Cloth Kits); .70m is enough to make two ties. The paisley I made for my husband and brother-in-law and the speckled one for my son and a friend. I really like using a fun fabric for a surprise lining – Queue for the Zoo anyone?
My sister-in-law came to spend the day with us on the 27th. She is the one who made my Shetland Tam which I am so happy with. We had a lovely time together which included a walk around the Wetlands. She had knitted for me some beautiful mittens with the flip back top to reveal fingerless gloves – very useful when you need to get things out of your purse. It was her husband who I had made the tie for. He was really chuffed and put it on immediately and wore it for the rest of the day. Surprisingly it goes well with his checked shirt!
For my sister-in-law I made a little tote bag out of the wool fabric I used to make my daisy coat; I lined it with bird fabric. It was my intention that it be used as an on-the-go knitting bag so I included four lovely balls of Rowan Merino Alpaca so that she can do a little bit of selfish knitting for herself.
By coincidence I also received a bag as a present from my friend and neighbour who is also a talented seamstress. It is made from a lovely thick tapestry style fabric and it is the perfect size for my (almost daily) trips to the Co-op.
Sorry this picture is a little dark – we haven’t had decent light for what seems like days
Another neighbour doesn’t sew but she cooks! We share a side entrance and I found a whole pile of food goodies which she had pushed through the cat flap! Over a period of a few days I received cranberry sauce – gorgeous with sausages; mincemeat; rough puff pastry; a Christmas pud. Can you see the little rabbit decoration on my mince pies? I bought crackers from Joules last year and this pasty cutter was one of the gifts – incredibly I didn’t lose it and was able to use it this year. I love food gifts – did you receive any?
Finally to show you is a gold sequinned Grainline Scouttee I made for my daughter – she has promised me a photo WHEN she wears it so you might be waiting quite a while for an addendum to this post! I do really love the ease of this pattern. A couple of days ago I used it to make one for myself for my walking holiday – I go on Friday and am getting rather excited about it.
I also received a new camera – a wifi camera no less. I haven’t yet used it to take any photos (as you have probably guessed from the rather dreadful quality of today’s pictures – sorry about that) or worked out how to use the wifi but it is on my list of Things to Do… soon.
Well that’s it for now my lovelies,
Toodle pip,
Clarinda x
clarinda kaleidoscope 
Fabulous gifts, given and received! Your daughter’s sequin top is to die for. I caved and bought one from H&M!!
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I would definitely wear it but she is quite reserved so I am not sure if we will ever get to see it on. I don’t think we should feel quilty about buying clothes – I bought the Brora jacket and have loved wearing it – I can actually now appreciate the tailoring that has gone into it!
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True, but Brora is in a slightly different league to H&M 😉
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With those ties you’d want them to flap about to see the underside! Lovely presents! And that’s the second time I’ve heard about wifi cameras this week… you know once you hear about something you keep hearing it?! Lucky you!! 🙂
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I thought originally you could take photos and upload them directly to your site (just like an IPAD) but I have now realised it just means you can download them from the camera to you laptop without all of the leads etc.
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Oh well that’s just lazy haha, maybe it’s another one but I’ve heard you can upload straight to Facebook!
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Gorgeous presents – I especially love that bird print tee, such a lovely gift
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Love the cat flap delivery method! The tops are both so cute, and oh those mince pies look amazing! Neat idea, the little rabbits, must try that next time. [ Love your dressmakers labels, a dream of mine….. 🙂 ]
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I have to say that the labels make me fee very proud when I sew them in. Get some – mine were a gift so I don’t know which website they came from but I am sure you could find lots of providers on-line.
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I’m going to check into that! 🙂
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Brilliant selection of handmade gifts – and I absolutely love the bird fabric top! As for food arriving through the cat flap – that has to be a first!!
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Thanks – it makes a change for it to be used as we are kittiless here at the mo
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Sounds like a fabulous Christmas. The sparkly sequin top is wonderful, hope your daughter enjoys wearing it. Love the idea of people delivering food parcels through the catflap such a funny image!
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I should have taken a quick IG shot when I found the food delivery!
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How fab! We love getting and giving food gifts to our neighbours too. Love the little bird blouse. Have a splendid walking holiday!~cheers
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What a lucky lady you are! Particularly liking the ties and that fab lining but a great way to use up your lovely coat fabric on those bags too. The personalised tags really elevate them, don’t they? I have some for knitting, but not for sewing despite hinting heavily to my husband… Love the sparkly t-shirt too, looks a really easy piece to wear 🙂
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Thank you – yes I do know that I am lucky. Really looking forward to being able to post a photo of the sequinned t-shirt in use.
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What lucky gift recipients you had and what lovely handmade gifts you got! I bet the camera will get lots of use on your holiday! Have fun and enjoy!
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Thanks Su – I am hoping to take much brighter pictures with it. Plan to do daily IG posting whilst away so you’ll see how I am faring!
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I love that you use a cheeky bit of fun secret fabric- those guys are all lucky! 🙂
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Of the four I have only seen one on – hopefully there will be more pic at some stage!
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The wifi camera sounds great! I bought my DSLR just before they turned wifi and I can’t justify upgrading for several more years yet. Love all your gifts received and gifted. I would be very happy with any of them;)
I need to make some more supermarket bags.
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I think since the introduction of the 5p carrier lots more bags will be made!
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