looking back, looking forward

 Projects finished in 2010

Not very impressive compared to what other people have achieved, but then I've moved house twice this year, had 15 house guests staying, and and and....I'll think of another excuse in a minute ;).

Works in progress

I hope to finish these in 2011! I just need to sit less in front of the computer and more at the sewing machine! It's as easy as that. Maybe that should be my New Year's resolution, but I have actually given up making them a long time ago, as they don't work for me.

A very Happy New Year to all of you with hopefully lots of time to be creative.

All best wishes

Vreni

Merry Christmas

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  

Roy L. Smith


Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
Thanks for all your support and encouragement.

Vreni

Don't miss this great Give Away!

(click on the picture for details)

Good Luck!

I need your vote, please!

I have submitted another quilt to the Weekly Themed Quilt Contest at the Quilting Gallery.

It's called "On the look out for Santa". I made this little quilt a few years ago for a Quilt Challenge here in Singapore.  If you like, you can vote here. 

Thanks and I hope you all have a good weekend.

Cheers
Vreni

The cookies are in the bags!

and on plates

From top, left to right:

 Basler Brunsli (chocolate, spices and almonds)

Biberli (gingerbread with marzipan filling)

Anisbroetli (anise seeds and Kirsch)

Laeckerli (see recipe here)

Mailaenderli (butter and lemon)

Schoggichugele (chocolate and hazelnuts)

If you would like any of the recipes, please let me know and I'll email them to you. 

And I managed to make another one of these for a Christmas gift.

We made them with my sewing group. Don't they look great all together?

Now I'm going to finish "streamlining" my home for the packers tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. I will see you on the "other side".

I hope you are enjoying the Advent.

Take care

Vreni

What's up with orange?

It's rather weird but it seems I have a penchant for orange at the moment. Weird because until recently I hardly ever gave that colour a second look.

 It started with this:

Then came this: 

Now I'm working on this:

And in the kitchen this is going on: 

resulting in this

It's a trial run for Christmas and  I found the recipe here.

Speaking of Christmas. There I was at the beginning of last week, secretly congratulating myself on how well I was doing with the preparations; made or bought most gifts, some already sent, some ready to go to the post office, All of the one hundred Christmas card envelopes have been addressed and some of the cards even written, the baking has commenced!

Then a spanner was smartly chucked into my works. It turns out that we have to move house before the end of the year. It's a long story and a treacherous one at that, so I won't bore you with it. We have been frantically looking and it seems we have found a very nice place just next door from where we are now. Instead of  waking up to this view

I'm going to look at this in a couple of weeks. Yes, a couple of weeks!

We better get a wiggle on as the first guest will arrive on the 11th of December, followed by my mum and DS a week later. Sadly, this is going to be our first Christmas where we won't be all together as a family. My DD and her young man have to work and won't be able to join us :(.

I hope your weekend is going well.

Vreni

Here it is, at last:

The Fabric Covered Box

(The Art of French Cartonnage)

Materials needed: 

Grey card board 2.5 mm thick (1/10 inch)

Book Cloth (sometimes called Book Linen)*

Fabric

Batting (optional)

Decorative paper for lining the box

Opening Tassle or Ribbon

PVA Glue (white glue)

Ruler

Pencil

Cutting Knives and/or Rotary Cutter

Scissors

Bone Folder*

Glue Brush

Cloth pegs or small clamps

*Can be found in good craft/paper or bookbinding shops.

First decide on the size of your box: width, depth, height. Then measure and draw out the lines on cardboard.

You will need:

 2  pieces for the lid and base (width by depth)

 2 pieces for front and back (width by height)

 2 pieces for sides (height by depth (depth minus 0.5 cm)

Cut the cardboard pieces . Note that I use the rotary cutter instead of the cutting knive as I find it easier. Take care to cut precisely.

When all the pieces are cut, they should look something like this.

Now glue your box with PVA (or any clear drying glue). First the front and back onto the base

then the sides in between.

Cut a piece of batting the size of the lid and lightly glue in place (optional).

Lay your piece of fabric, face down, on the table. By moving the box step-wise over the fabric, mark out with a pencil the outline of the box. Make sure to leave a 4 mm space in between the back of the box and the lid.

Now add a "tab" of about 2.5 cm around the whole outline of the box and then cut out on that line.

Now your piece of fabric should look something like this.

Cover the base of the box with a thin but even layer of glue and wait a short while until the glue doesn't feel wet but slightly sticky.

Now stick it precisely onto the outline of the base on your fabric.

Cut 45 degree darts into all for corners.

Then apply glue to the front and back and stick fabric to the box.

Now tip the box so it is standing on its front wall and cut and remove a rectangles at both corners. Then make additional cuts as shown.

Then glue these two small tabs onto the edge of the side walls

and the large tab into the box.

Now stand your box on its back wall and cut a dart parallel to the edge of the back wall on both sides.

Then glue these side tabs to both sides of the box.

Now fold in and "finger press" the extra fabric tabs, making sure they are straight, then glue in place. Do the same for the other side of the box.

Apply glue to both side walls, the edge and a bit along the inside of the box and then stick the fabric on and into the box.

With the box still standing on its back wall align the lid now with the box, making sure you leave a small gap for the hinge.

Then apply glue to the sides, fold the tabs over the edge as shown and stick down.

The front edge is then trimmed by cutting a triangle as shown then folded in, then glued lightly. Now fold over and glue this tab to the inside of the lid.

Cut a hinge from bookbinder's linen; lenth of spine by 4 cm. Draw a line 1.5 cm from  long side and trim about 1.5 mm (the thickens of the card board) on each side so that the cloth fits perfectly inside the box.

Glue out the hinge and stick it down. Immediately force the cloth into the joint with a bone folder. Rub vigorously until the cloth is well adhered to all surfaces.

Now let the box sit open for a few minutes to let the hinge dry.

Lining of the Box:

Measure the inside of the base adding 0.5 cm all around. Then measure the front and back (height minus 0.5 cm, width plus 0.5 cm on both sides. The sides are measured minus 0.5 cm for the height.

Now draw the cutting lines on the wrong side of the lining paper and cut out. 

You will need these five pieces of paper.

Score lines 5 mm from the edge all around then cut and remove the small squares in the corners.

Now fold the sides up.

Apply glue to the bottom of the box and carefully stick the paper in, making sure you don't get any blisters.

Then score and fold the front an back papers at the narrow ends and glue into place. Note how the papers cover all the corners.

Lastly glue the side papers in.

In order to be able to close the box, we need to attach an inner lid to the box lid. First measure the inside of the box and cut a piece of card board very slightly smaller (about 1 to 2 mm). Cover this inner lid with either the lining paper or as shown here with the fabric.

Find the middle of the box lid, mark it and fix a tassle or ribbon with the help of a piece of double sided tape.

Apply glue to the inner lid and carefully glue the inner lid onto the box lid, making sure that it is placed so that the box can be shut.

Clamp in place until the glue is dry.

If you like, you can now make partitions for your box. Cover some cardboard strips (height of box minus 1 cm) and cut into partitions, making sure they fit exactly wall to wall.

First glue in the longer partitions, then measure and cut the small ones in between.

The inside of the finished Tea Box!

Admire and enjoy your Box!

If you need help with this or need clarification on anything, please don't hesitate to contact me. See email address on side bar.

Have a great weekend.

Vreni