Gloves from sleeve off cuts.

Remember I had a cardigan with sleeves that were too long and had to be chopped off?

Well, this is the end of one chopped-off sleeve - now worn the wrong way - that I decided was too lovely  to waste.

It isn't quite the right shape for gloves but I think will work.

So I found out some oddments of matching yarn and picked up the stitches.

It's slightly baggy round the wrist so I may add either a cord or some coloured elastic.

Home made Christmas

 It's Christmas - and the Advent tree is now fully decorated.

 My new twiggy wreaths have ribbons and 'berries' attached to finish them. Hung in a corner with two older home-made bird hangings.

....and a special Christmas angel - a joint effort between me and my youngest daughter when she was 4.

Take One Pumpkin #3

If you've been following the adventures of this pumpkin, you'll know I'm only about half way through it, so it seemed time to use up a lot in one go - for pumpkin and lemon marmalade.

3lb of pumpkin made 5 jars.












and there was still enough left for....
spicy tomato, chickpea and pumpkin stew...

....curried pumpkin and baked bean soup...













and with the very last piece....

pumpkin chilli - not quite a proper chilli as half way through I realised there weren't any tine of red kidney beans and had to substitute borlottis.

New Peg-bag

 

 My old home-made peg-bag has been getting a bit worse for wear so after putting it off as long as possible, it was time to make a new one.

I had a length of nice checked material cut off an overlong IKEA tablecloth and looking for a use -and being able to make of the ready hemmed edges speeded things up. Using the old peg bag as template I cut the pieces out - making a minor change of adding extra material to the lower front section.

There was a ready made turning - the tablecloth hem - through which I threaded elastic....

...to even out the front and back.

The surplus on the lower edge was tucked into a lazy pleat - not pinned or tacked but just folded as I sewed the edge.

Ta da!! Finished bag!

Just one problem - what to do with this time's leftovers?

The only question now is - can I find a use for the left-overs?

Advent Tree

I'm not sure how long ago we swapped from shop-bought chocolate filled calendars to our home made version but here it is again for another year. Each night I pop something into the next day's felt bag. The tray at the bottom holds decorations to replace the emptied bag on by Christmas it's totally decorated.