2014 in pictures

Finished quilts and tops

Bags and pouches

Boxes

Christmas crafts

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and interesting New Year.

Vreni xx

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope you'll enjoy this beautifully animated Russian Christmas story.

Vreni x

A couple more Christmas gifts

Two pouches made with Cotton & Steel fabrics. I especially love the stripy tigers.

Isn't the lacy zipper cute? I just had to get my head around the fact, that the lace had to be on the  outside tough, but managed it after a "false start". 

                                                 

My daughter wanted a grocery bag dispenser like I have so I made her this. Only when it was finished did I realize that the flowers are upside down. Oh well! 

And the cookies are bagged and mostly handed out already. 

My next task is to decorate the Christmas tree. We got a live one as always but had a bit of trouble as apparently a strike in the US ports delayed their arrival.

I hope you are also enjoying the season.
Cheers
Vreni x

And now I can't stop....

..... making these little spice filled house and tree ornaments, instead of doing some more pressing things like writing my Christmas cards. But they really are addictive and I love how my sewing room smells.

I've also been playing with gift tags; aren't they cute? Sort of like mini post cards. I made the fabric stamps the same way as I did for my Christmas cards.

Then I made one more tea box for the charity fair which went off to a good start as a lot of my things were snapped up right away. I was planning to recycled whatever wasn't sold as Christmas gifts, but apparently there's nothing left to recycle!

I've made more Christmas cookies too and I'm sharing another of our favourites:

Spitzbuebe which means "Rascals" in Swiss German (don't ask me why they are called that)

250 g (8 oz) butter
125 g (4 oz) powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp water
350 g (2 cups plus 3 Tbsp) flour
1/2 cup of red current jelly

Cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, pinch of salt and water and mix well. Add the flour and bring together into a dough. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Roll out very thin (2 mm, 1/8 of an inch) and cut out circles. For half the cookie circles cut small holes or stars. Refrigerate again for half an hour, so the cookies will keep their shape.

Bake 8 to 10 min in the middle of the preheated oven (200 C, 400 F).

Cool on a wire rack, then assemble cookies with red current jelly. Keep in an airtight container in a cool place

Enjoy

Vreni xx

I think I need my head examined!

When I first came across pictures of "The Aunts' Quilt" on Instagram I knew I had to make it one day. At the time it was a BOM run by Amitie in Melbourne and not available as a pattern yet. When I visited Amitie in June the quilt was in the shop window but the pattern still wasn't ready. Luckily my Aussie friend went back home a little while ago and brought me back a copy. When Thimbleanna announced a QAL for this quilt all my good intentions to focus on my current quilt went out the window. 

So here's my first block, a few days late. I should also have made two pieced blocks at this stage but decided to do all the pieced blocks together at a later date (definitely after Christmas). 

As I'm needle turning My Auntie Green's Garden quilt  I decided to try another method. I've been following Esther Aliu's progress with her Love Entwined quilt and was intrigued by her method of using wash away applique paper. So that's what I'm doing with this quilt. It's quite a bit more preparation work, but then the appliqueing goes quite fast and the results are very sharp and crisp edges. I've also use the Apliquick tools for the first time and love them.

And since Anna has a "cookie of the month" program I'm copying her and share a cookie recipe here too. I've started my traditional Christmas baking this week with one of our favorite: Basler Brunsli which translates into something like Brownies from Basel (Basel being my hometown).

Basler Brunsli

250 gr (1 1/2 cups) sugar

250 g (8 oz)  ground almonds (not peeled)       mix all dry ingredients

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons flour

  

2 egg whites                                                      whisk until stiff and fold dry mixture into egg whites

100 g  (6 oz) good dark eating chocolate          melt either in a double boiler on in the microwave and                                                                            blend with the mixture until it comes together.                                                                                                            

                            

Roll out dough to about ¼ inch between two pieces of cling film and cut different shapes with the help of cookie cutters.  Transfer to a baking paper lined baking sheet and leave for a few hours before baking for 6 min by 200 C degree (400 F). Cool on a wire rack then store in an airtight container.

Enjoy.

Vreni x

A Christmas Village

After my first Christmas house ornament turned out slightly too big I found a tutorial here and had another go. They are much more suited to hang on a Christmas tree and they also smell heavenly as I filled them with cinnamon sticks and star anise as well as the normal filling material of course.

While trawling Pinterest I came across these lovely cinnamon Christmas tree ornaments and had to make some as well. They too are filled with star anise seeds. 

Now I have sewn myself a proper little Christmas village. They will  be for sale at the charity fair later this month. 

Cheers
Vreni x

Checking in!

I can't believe a whole month went by since my last post. How did that happen? I guess I've been busy and trying to make the best of what's left of this year. I want to be super organised this year (don't I say that every year?) and have already started to "stockpile" Christmas gifts and bought Christmas cards as well as made a few for special people who appreciate a hand made card.

I found a tutorial here of how to make fabric stamps and made some with Christmas fabric. Aren't they cute?

Here are a few more things I made for the Christmas charity fair:

Coasters with coordinated boxes

A couple of tea boxes with  glass lids

a Singapore photo box

I've seen these Christmas house ornaments on Pinterest and was dying to try to make them myself. Here's the first attempt. It turned out a bit too big, it's almost a small pillow so I will have to give it another go!

Last week our group made sewing kits to sell

and since they they are great for travelling, I made one for myself as well.

Then I made  another sewing box and if you are wondering how many sewing boxes one person needs, well this one is much bigger and can hold all my Auntie Green Quilt paraphernalia which is great when I work on it away form home. 

And talking about my Auntie Green Quilt; I have to be careful not to let that fall by the wayside and have decided to work on it each day for as little or long as I have time for. Here's a progress photo.

Till next time, take care everybody.

Cheers

Vreni x