Sewchet

Sewing, crochet, crafts, accessories, baking, tutorials,


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Sunday Sevens #71

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series started by Nat from Threads & Bobbins. Why not pop over and see how you can join in?

  1. Disaster – my hand knitted socks have a hole in them! My big toe is so much longer than any of the others that all my socks get thrown away eventually because they get holes in them. There’s no way I’m throwing these away a) because I made them b) because I invested a considerable amount of time in their creation c) because they are quite simply the most comfortable socks I have ever worn.

Guess I’ll have to buy a darning mushroom:(

socks

2. We had some late Christmas presents in the post all the way from America (thanks Robin!) – The Boys were thrilled as you can see from their expressions.

The Boys

3. This beautiful pheasant has decided it’s safer in our garden than in the fields beyond. I managed to snap it on my iPhone on full zoom, hence the poor quality.

pheasant

4. I’ve started another bobble hat for a cousin who saw it on Facebook and fancied a pink one.

Bobble hat

5. Mr H-L’s father died on Friday. He waited until we popped out for lunch and we got the call whilst we were eating pudding. We toasted his memory with a glass of his favourite whisky.

Holbrook

6. I’ve got a bit behind with my sewing so spent all weekend up in my sewing room trying to catch up. It’s good therapy, too.

sewing room

7. No, it’s not a dress, it’s the lining to my new green velvet coat!

lining

8. Mr H-L has been keeping me supplied with refreshments. Not sure that red wine, Pringles and sewing are a good combination…

refreshments

9. The hens decided that it was far nicer to be inside than wading around in acres of mud outside. They loathe the wind and rain and, if the door is left open for a millisecond, they’ll sneak in.

hens

10. The dogs detest aren’t that keen on sharing their food with the girls so, as soon as they see a hen in the house, they race to their bowls and down the lot as fast as they can.

Sometimes not fast enough.

Amber

Right, back to the sewing room for me – just the hem and buttonholes to do!

 


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Sunday Sevens #70

Linking up with Nat over at Threads & Bobbins for another #sundaysevens – a blog post containing seven (in theory) photos of your life outside the blog.

1. Had a cosy breakfast with No.1 Son who was working from home.

 2. This utterly gorgeous alpaca fur Pom Pom arrived from Toft….  3…….and this is the hat that it will sit on.

4. I like to make samples in advance of a project for my students to show them what they will be making next and how they can make it individual to themselves. I chose a patchwork cotton and trimmed it with some vintage lace from my stash.

 

5. I managed to track down another Janome 3300 to match the other three in my sewing school. They were discontinued (and therefore discounted) at the time, and I could only get three. I have been hoicking mine down from my sewing room for each class, which has been a right royal pain in the bum.

 6. My latest project for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network – a bottle green crushed velvet coat with dark red Paisley lining and horse head buttons. Nothing run-of-the-mill about this!  7. His niece from Hong Kong sent my father-in-law a sensory activity cushion designed for dementia sufferers, specifically tailored to his interests in which music played a huge part.  8. Took the family out for a meal to celebrate No.1 Son’s 23rd birthday (top right with the beard).  9. Daughter’s boyfriend managed to actually eat every last morsel of this ENORMOUS double burger! 10. No.2 Son got tired. Luckily, daughter was wearing a blanket scarf and N0.3 Son brought his cowboy hat with him. Don’t ask.  11. Uncle T was over from France so they all went to watch the latest Star Wars yawn film.  12. I would rather eat my own liver than suffer even five minutes of Star Wars, so I spent a lovely couple of hours listening to La Traviata whilst cutting out my coat pattern in front of a roaring fire. Heaven!  

Oh yes, nearly forgot to mention that I’ve also bitten the bullet and joined the Instagram revolution as “Sewchet” – come and say “Hi” if you like:)


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Sunday Sevens #69 – A Festive Special

And….relax!

The last guest has left and we have the house to ourselves for the first time in nearly two weeks…and I don’t much like it!

For us, the Christmas and New Year period is ALL about family and we have had lots of different house guests coming and going since 23rd December. Our home has been filled to the brim with the sound of laughter and excitement and, of course, song – imagine a constant stream of the very refined and beautiful Downton Abbey’s Christmas album interspersed with the equally fabulous Wurzel’s Christmas CD and you might get the picture.

Cooking for an average of fourteen people twice a day and three changes of bed linen for the same over ten days was self imposed madness, but wonderful at the same time. Fantastic mayhem, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

It started with the Christmas Eve Carol Service in our church.

Carol Service

The dogs accompanied us in their Santa outfits and The Boys took part in the annual five minute Nativity play, whilst a packed church sang Christmas carols, drank mulled wine and nibbled on hot sausages and mince pies.

Nativitya

The Boys sent their letters to Father Christmas the traditional way before going to bed whilst the grown ups enjoyed a comforting stew and dumplings in front of the fire.

letter to santa

letter to santa2

Christmas morning – The Kids all came in at 5:10am to open their stockings in our bedroom.

stockings

“Pin The Nose On Rudolph” at 5:30am seemed like a good idea at the time!

Pi the nose on Rudolph

As did wearing silly faces:)

Christmas masks

We were far too busy having fun to take many photos, but here’s one from Christmas Day lunch.

Christmas lunch

Presents are opened one-by-one after lunch at about 4.30pm and lasts two hours as we each watch every single present being opened separately. The Boys were thrilled to bits with all their new riding gear!

Riding gear

Boxing Day was more of the same – eating, drinking (the Sloe Port and Sloe Gin didn’t last long!) and generally making merry. Games were played, films were watched and a good time was had by all.

Boxing Day

Remember the Hansel & Gretyl Gingerbread House I ordered, complete with all the characters and lit up by a tea light inside?

gingerbread house

The Boys loved it and, I have to say, it was the tastiest gingerbread I’ve ever had!

gingerbread house eating

Monday meant a change of house guests for a couple of nights – this time all six kids (including the two that live in Brighton), one boyfriend, one Fiancé and the newest addition, baby Lilah.

We take a group photo of them all which has been lovely to see over the years as it doesn’t happen very often that they all get together at the same time.

Kids portrait

Wednesday saw six more guests who had Eggs Royale for breakfast which was declared “The best breakfast I have ever had” by one of the men. He can come again!

Breakfast

My auntie and cousin joined us later in the day – here’s my cousin complete with all her travelling paraphernalia from her recent knee op.

Helen

Talking of ops – I went in at 7am on New Year’s Eve for surgery and waited in my hospital gown and sexy anti-thrombosis socks for six hours…

Hospital

….before being informed that my notes had been lost meaning the surgery had to be postponed until the New Year!

At least it meant I could rejoin the party at home and enjoy a great New Year’s Eve celebration.

Christmas table setting

New Year's Eve

Yesterday, we were invited to another family lunch at my dad’s cousin’s ancient farmhouse. We LOVE visiting, and have happy memories of staying as children. Such an unspoilt building with heaps of character and has, rather wonderfully, escaped ‘modernisation’. This is the view through to the dining room with the Christmas tree glowing in the background. Perfect.

Pauline's farm

Pauline's lunch

Just one last photo for Teresa – this is the dress I was talking about:)

purple dress

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series linking up with Nat over at Threads & Bobbins. To find out how YOU can join in, just click here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


46 Comments

Sunday Sevens #68

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series where you show seven-ish photos of your week. Visit Nat at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.

  1. We took The Boys to a local farm to choose our Christmas Tree. Don’t you just love the farmer’s hat with tractors on it?

Christmas tree shopping

2. The tree stood in the corner of the dining room for a couple of days before we had time to do anything with it ( I was sewing). In the end the men put it up in the corner of the lounge.

Putting up the tree

3. Another day passed before No.1 Son realised it wasn’t going to decorate itself so got into his Santa Onesie and did it by himself (whilst I carried on sewing…..)

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4. No.3 Son decorated the little ‘fake’ tree that we put up in the kitchen room each year whilst dressed up in a Prince’s outfit, as you do.

Meanwhile, I did some sewing.

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5. Remember those Angel costumes I made last week for The Boy’s Nativity? We went to said production on Tuesday. What you can see in the photo is the ENTIRE school which amounts to 100 kids aged 4-11.

Nativity

6. One of the activities in the advent calendar was to get into PJs and drive around looking at the Christmas lights.

Christmas lights

7. The Boys took flasks of hot chocolate and I took a glass of Bailey’s:)

Bailey's

8. On Wednesday I started my ball gown for Mr H-L’s annual company ‘do’.

The ‘do’ was two days later.

There were 78 pattern pieces.

It took me over three hours just to cut it out…..

Cutting out

9. My Thursday class finished their skirts in time for Christmas and were VERY pleased with themselves!

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10. I was also very pleased with MYSELF as I finished the dress with an hour to spare on Friday morning. Here it is all lined and ready for the corset to be sewn in.

Ball gown

11. Hubby and I drove the two and a half hours to Stanhill Court Hotel where the company puts us all up overnight and where the party is held.

Stanhill Court Hotel

12. Here’s a sneak peek of my dress laid out ready on the bed.

Four Poster

13. We stopped at the services on the way home to rehydrate after the previous night’s excesses. A brass band was playing Christmas carols for charity so we sat outside and enjoyed the music for a while.

Brass Band

14. This morning I’m getting on with the last of my #stitchingsanta gifts which involves glue and……

Tialys hexagonal sewing box

……more sewing!!!


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Sunday Sevens #66

Sunday Sevens is here again – seven-ish photos of your week to show what you get up to between those bigger blog posts. Check out this article over at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.

  1. We made a grand total of £609 profit from the Christmas Supper in the Village Hall – and leftover veg meant bubble ‘n’ squeak for breakfast on Sunday!

Bubble and squeak

2. Whipped up a couple of very basic Angel costumes for The Boy’s school Nativity (that’s another bedsheet gone). Don’t they look sweet?

Angels

3. As part of their interactive advent calendar, this week The Boys donated some of their old toys to charity….

Toys for charity

……we had a family “Top Trumps’ night….

Games night

….and we bought a bagful of shopping to add to the box in church for The Lord’s Larder, a charity that helps the poor and homeless.

Donate to the lord larder

4. On Friday, H-R and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip to Bath while the Christmas market was still in full swing. We’ve been going every year since she was four, so this is our twentieth anniversary!

Eggs Royale for breakfast

We usually have Eggs Royale for breakfast as soon as we arrive and this year was no exception.

Eggs Royale

5. I bought the latest Big Issue from a lovely chap who dressed his companion up for the festive season.

Homeless dog

6. A local school was fundraising for a new piano by carol singing in the high street.

Carol singing

7. Mulled wine and mince pies outside is a great way to rest your feet in between all that shopping.

Mulled wine and mince pies

8. A day of Christmas Craft Workshops on Saturday resulted in these colourful stockings….

Christmas Stocking Workshop

….and Christmas Bunting.

Christmas Bunting Workshop

9. Finally, to round off a brilliant week, last night hubby and I went to a party dressed up as Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones in ‘The Mask Of Zorro’.

It took an ENTIRE king size duvet cover to make his outfit!!

Zorro fancy dress

 

Hope you didn’t choke on your croissants:)


40 Comments

Sunday Sevens #65

The weeks seem to be getting even busier all of a sudden, if that’s even possible. Linking up with Nat at Threads & Bobbins for another #sundaysevens.

  1. This amazing Gingerbread House is available to order in our local Little Cake Shop for just £22.00! I’m going to order one in an effort to cut down on the things I have to make for Christmas.

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2. The Boys wrote their letters to Father Christmas. No.2 Son put a note at the bottom that reads, “Send this to God/Jesus: Forgiveness, Love and that you will listen to me (I believe)”. How sweet?

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3. Amber likes to come in and warm up in front of the fire. Roast chicken, anyone?

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4. These earrings arrived – they’re going into the parcel for the sewing #stitchingsanta. Anyone fancy them?

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5. Took Mr. H-L to Holbrook House for his (49th) birthday lunch – it was very Christmassy in the (very grand) entrance hall.

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6. We started with a bottle of bubbly by the fire.

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7. We had a fabulous three course lunch in the restaurant…

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7-ish. ….and finished off with cognac and coffee back by the fire in the Hall.

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7-ish ish. We had cake and more bubbly with the kids in the evening.

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7 etc.

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7-plus-a-few. I made, from the left: bags of fudge, Medlar Jelly and Chilli Jam for the PTA stall at the school Christmas Fair yesterday. This photo was taken part way through the day, but they all sold!

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I’ve stopped counting now.

No.2 Son’s team won 12-0 at football – he scored 8 goals and won Man Of The Match!

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It was our annual Christmas Supper in the Village Hall last night, organised by the Hall Committee of which I’m a member. We had a communal veg peeling session on Friday, but my personal home-cooked contributions were 130 Devils-on-horseback, bread sauce for 70, 12 Pots au Chocolat (laced with Bailey’s) and a marbled Baked Chocolate Cheesecake.

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No.2 Son ate eleven sprouts.

No.3 Son went up FOUR times for pudding!!!

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I’m having a pyjama day today and will continue making gifts all day in my dressing gown – I think I’ve earned it!


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Sunday Sevens #64

As usual, I can’t stick to just seven photos for my Sunday Sevens and it’s a day late again for reasons that will become obvious in a minute.

If you would like to join in with seven-ish photos of your week outside your blog, visit Nat at Threads & Bobbins for full details.

  1. Took No.1 and No.3 Sons to the local ‘Help For Heroes’ Christmas Fair at Wincanton Racecourse. They each has an enormous slice of homemade coffee cake.

craft fair

2. My thirteen year old pattern-drafting student finished her silk skirt, made entirely from her own personalised skirt block.

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3. No.3 Son wanted to make his brother a pair of pyjama trousers for Christmas.

Freddy sewing

He made them over two nights after school whilst N0.2 Son was at after school clubs. Nice and cosy in winceyette, too. He was VERY pleased with himself:)

Pyjamas

4. My Thursday afternoon class finished another project so I gave them each a brooch I had made the night before to show how proud I was of them all.

felt bear brooches

felt bear brooch

5. Mr. H-L had a bad day at work so I took him down the pub for an hour whilst N0.1 Son babysat.

pub

6. Five out of our six children (plus two boyfriends) were home for the weekend so we had lots of family meals together. Cooking for nine, three times a day kept me pretty busy!

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7. It meant lots of cuddles with baby Lilah though:)

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8. Lilah’s first visit to meet Great-Grandad at his nursing home.

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9. Toasting marshmallows on the fire, the perfect end to a lovely weekend.

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toasting marshmallows

How was your week?


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Sunday Sevens #63

This week’s Sunday Sevens is quite a crafty one as I’ve been to several craft fairs as well as working on my #stitchingsanta which I hope to share this week. (Carmen Ross, did you get my email?)

If you enjoy reading everyone’s Sunday Sevens, why not join in? Visit Nat over at Threads & Bobbins to find out more.

  1. It’s been a soup kind of week, if you know what I mean. Spiced butternut squash soup this week. Warming and delicious.

butternut squash soup

2. For those of you who have been feverishly knitting/crocheting squares for the ‘Crochet for Calais’ refugees appeal, here are a few of the squares about to be made into a blanket. There is still time to make some up as more trips to the refugee camps are planned before Christmas. Click on the link for full details of how you can help.

crochet granny squares

3. Here are a few things I couldn’t resist at recent craft fairs: –

A stunning, handpainted silk cushion with the most beautiful depictions of pansies, each edged in gold.

silk painted cushion cover

Two beaded snowman tree decorations and a crocheted bauble.

crochet bauble beaded snowmen

Some locally produced Somerset honey.

Somerset honey

4. I made a sample for the girls who will be starting this cute little skirt in their next sewing lesson – the softest corduroy with ric rac trim and buttoned back split.

cord skirt

5. Readers of my blog have very kindly sent me some photos of things they’ve made following my tutorials. The Crochet Cowl Poncho is far and away the most popular post on my blog to date, with 10,536 views so far – 59 already today!

Crochet Poncho

6. Another reader sent me this photo of the One-Hour Ikea Bag made from my tutorial. Don’t you just love the crochet granny square-effect vinyl she used?

Ikea Bag Jane McAlpine

7. I made a lemon drizzle birthday cake which we took with Prosecco to have with our tea for my father-in-law’s birthday in his care home. The Boys made him a glorious, glitter-covered birthday card.

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That’s it for this week, although I could have squeezed in many more photos if I’d dared. Do you like the way I’ve numbered them making it seem like there are only seven photos when there are actually fourteen?! Well, montages only count as one, don’t they?

 


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Sunday Sevens #62

Welcome to this week’s #sundaysevens, as thought up by Nat over at Threads & Bobbins – a weekly blog series featuring seven photographs of your week to show a bit more about the person behind the blog. Why not hop over to see what it’s all about and maybe join in too?

Nine photos this week…..

  1. Mr H-L decided to make those sloes go even further. We used the same sloes to make sloe gin last year, re-used them to make sloe port this year and here he is using them for the last time to make sloe port cheese, a kind of jam to go with cheese.

It took him ALL DAY.

Sloe Port Cheese

2. A good friend came round for supper while his wife is away on a nursing elective in Nepal for six weeks. This is my take on the old classic Prawn Cocktail.

Prawn Cocktail

3. I gave The Boys a long overdue haircut….

Haircut

4. ….that’s better!

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5. We had a family get together at my sister’s to celebrate my niece’s eighteenth birthday.

Alice's 18th Birthday Party

6. Her dad made the cake!

18th cake

7. Baby Lilah all dressed up for this year’s Children In Need. A record breaking £37million raised on Friday night alone!

Lilah Children In Need

8. I organise a Christmas Craft Fayre every year in our Village Hall. We raised a more modest £322 for the Hall funds.

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9. No.2 Son went off this morning at 8am to help out at the stables. He’s wearing the new jodhpurs and riding boots he had for his birthday last week, although wellies and tracksuit bottoms would probably be more suitable for a day’s mucking out!

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How was your week? Has anyone made a square for the ‘Crochet For Calais‘ refugees yet? I’m on my third:)


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Sunday Sevens #61

Sunday Sevens is a diary of your week in seven photos to show people what you’ve been up to outside of your blog. Perhaps you don’t have enough to make a full blog post? #sundaysevens is a great way to keep you blogging. Visit Nat’s post at Threads & Bobbins to find out more.

  1. No.2 Son turned ten this week – he wanted a sewing machine for his birthday. Boy, he really needs a haircut!

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2. By candlelight even my homemade birthday cake looks OK. My cakes always taste good but invariably look awful! Covered with lemon icing and smarties – who cares?

Birthday Candles

3. Another week, another garden centre, this time our local one in Wincanton. The Boys could spend hours there which makes for a cheap day out – all it costs is a pot of tea and a cake!

Christmas at the garden centre

4. Mr H-L has started to let his ‘tache grow for this year’s Movember.

Movember

5. More kitchen-table sewing lessons. The official Kids Can Sew® curriculum has started!

Sewing classes for kids

6. The Sloe Port has been bottled and taste-tested against the commercial stuff (glass on the right) – ours tastes better!

Sloe Port

7. Yesterday was foul weather-wise in the the morning. The afternoon cleared up but it made for a very soggy riding lesson.

Horseriding

8. Made in just an evening, my first homemade gift for #stitchingsanta! Part of the ‘free’ element, this was made from leftover bits of yarn so cost nothing except my time meaning I still have £10 to enjoy spending. All will be revealed later in the week.

Fair Isle gift for stitching santa

How are you getting on with your #stitchingsanta? If you’re stuck for ideas or want to ask a question, drop me a line.