::Ponderings:: Reflecting on a Christmas in four parts

This is an epic post. And there's lots of pictures. I didn't want to divide it into more than one post because I didn't want to linger on the topic. This is more of a record than anything else, but I guess it also shows that there are many ways to celebrate Christmas.  Again, this is an epic post; I totally get it if you want to skip this one :)

As the Christmas buzz dies down I want to reflect on it a little. Mainly because it took me a long time to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I didn't set up the 'Christmas Shelf' until the week of Christmas.  I think it's because I was trying to ignore all the materialistic advertising 'hype' this year. In the lead up to Christmas there are so many adverts, catalogues and sales; it can be overwhelming. I found myself doubting the gifts I had for others. "Is this enough?", "Will they like it?", "Will they hate it?"

Really, for me Christmas is about hanging out with family and friends and pigging out on way too much food. Presents are a pleasant addition to the season, but they are by no means the reason I enjoy Christmas events. The only reason I'm going to record presents here is because I have a terrible memory and I never remember what I've given or received on any occasion, let along Christmas. Which I feel terrible about. So this post is going to serve as a reminder.

So, this year my Christmas was really divided into four parts:

• Pre-Christmas Christmas Dinner
• Christmas Day
• Post-Christmas Sales Purchases
• Post-Christmas Christmas Dinner

Pre-Christmas Christmas dinner was at our house with The Mr, my parents, The Mr's parents, my Sis and her Mr and me. My parents live overseas and they have a business that gets really busy around Christmas time. So, they came to town in late November/early December so we could have some festive fun with them before Christmas.

It was really great to be able to hang out with my parents around this time and it was nice to see them get excited about doing a special Christmas dinner. On December 1st Mum and Dad arrived at my house with bags and bags of groceries for the dinner. I had trouble fitting it all into the fridge! That afternoon mum and I went about preparing for dinner. It was a really low key, low stress affair. Sliced cold meat, salad and cut fruits and sweets.

A few months ago my external hard-drive kicked the bucket and nothing could be recovered from it. So I lost all my music and some other files that I had been using to help mum and dad with promoting their business. So one of the gifts I received from Mum and Dad was a new hard drive. I started using it right away, but Mum insisted on wrapping the box to put under the Christmas tree. She's pretty cute like that :)

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While she was in town I mentioned to Mum that I needed to buy some bras. We didn't get a chance to go bra shopping but she gave me some money to go and buy one. I didn't get around to buying on before Christmas. More about that later.

I'm a terrible daughter and I didn't get around to getting them presents. I must rectify that post haste before I catch-up with them again. I have ideas of what to give Mum, but Dad is hard. Thinking of gifts for Dad is always hard.



I did a little bit of festive making. The cutest of all the festive making were these little stockings I made for the little people I was gifting to this Christmas. I used a free McCall's stocking pattern (go check it out, there are lots of free patterns that would make great gifts) and adapted it to what I wanted. I thought it would be cute to embroider their first initial on the cuff with some green yarn.

Between Pre-Christmas Christmas Dinner and Christmas I was able to catch-up with a few friends and we exchanged gifts. I got a lovely set of earring and a necklace from Sarah from her Etsy shop. Cute!

In the afternoon on the Eve of Christmas Eve she came around in the afternoon for a catch-up. I gave her an Omiyage sewing box that I had made that morning. Of course because I was in a hurry I didn't take any pictures. :( But here is a picture from the book I got the project from.

On Christmas Eve I had a quick catch-up with my friend JP and I gave her some coasters that I had made to go on her new table. I made them the same way as these coasters. I also gave her 2yo his little Christmas stocking.

JP gave me some gorgeous smelling handmade Cinnamon and Vanilla body scrub. It smells good enough to eat. And because it's all natural ingredients I probably could eat it :)

Christmas day was spent at the in-laws. It was a really nice low key affair. It ended being the in-laws' family of five, plus SIL1's 5yo, her partner and me. They had expected 5 more (SIL1's partner's sister and her family of 5), but they had to pull out at the last minute so it was smaller and quieter than expected.

On Christmas day I wasn't really expecting any presents from the in-laws and I hadn't really organised anything for them. I did get an oregano plant from the MIL a couple of weeks prior to Christmas and on Christmas day she gave me some wide mouthed preserving jars. Cool. I'm going to have to put make preserves on my list of things to do in 2015.

Post-Christmas Sales Presents were a nice surprise this year. On boxing day afternoon the Mr, SIL1 and I ducked down to Strathpine Shopping Centre just for something to do. We were surprised that there weren't hoards of people. While the Mr and SIL1 went to get her a phone case, I ducked into Bras'nThings to buy a bra with the money Mum gave me.

I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted - a Rose bra in black. I already have one and I have worn it nearly to death. You can never be sure with RTW sizing and so I tried it on just to check the fit and it fit well. In fact I was wearing mine at the time and it was a big eye opener to see how differently the well worn bra fit in comparison to the new one. I was hoping that it would be on sale. But alas, no it wasn't because it was part of their essentials range. I got it anyway.

[image source]

The next morning the Mr, SIL1, SIL2 and I headed to Chermside Shopping Centre early. We wanted to beat the crowds. There wasn't anything much that we specifically wanted but it was something to do.  We had a browse around and bought a few things. The siblings bought MIL a knife block set and the Mr bought some shorts. We weren't there for very long only about 2 hours, but by the time we left there where heaps of people there.

When we got home I was looking up some information on an adjustable dressform I had been handed down a while ago. I haven't written about it here because I don't really use it, you see, it's a Singer 150 (sizes 10-16) way too small. Anyway, as I was searching online I found that Lincraft was having a 40% off everything sale and they also stocked the Singer 151 dressform (sizes 16-22.5) much more my size. I'd been eyeing one off for a long time and I'd been searching on Ebay and Gumtree for ages, but hadn't found anything suitable. With the sale I was going to get about $100 off the price making about $150, so I just bit the bullet and bought one. Say hello to my new friend :) Hopefully you'll be seeing more of her in future. :)

While I was at Lincraft I also bought some overlocking thread, wooly nylon, pins and some sewing machine needles. I rummaged through the off-cuts bin and found some cream coloured satin crepe. I naively thought it was silk, but nope it's a poly. Unfortunately it wasn't part of the 40% sale, but it was 50% off the full price anyway. So I got 170cm for $11. Something to experiment with anyway :)

Post-Christmas Christmas Dinner was on December 28th at our house. My Sis and her Mr had gone away to visit her FIL for Christmas so we hadn't seen each other since before Christmas, so this was a nice chance to catch-up and swap presents.  I made quick and easy stir-fry for dinner and we finished with an apple crumble pie that they had brought for dessert.

I gave my sis these Pippy Slippers I made and a blouse I'd made. Her partner got a gift voucher for JB HiFi.

They gave the Mr Minecraft for Xbox. Funny story about this. The Mr got hooked on Minecraft (the PlayStation version) a while ago and one night when my Sis and her partner came over he showed them. They ended up buying it for Xbox and got into it too. They wanted to be able to play together with the Mr so they got him the Xbox version to play. From what I understand the Xbox version is better than the PlayStation version.

I didn't expect any gifts but wow I was spoilt. They gave me an Eggplant seedling and some fancy carrot and mixed lettuce seeds.

They also gave me some fantastic Kikki.K. goodies. A Monthly Planner Pad, a To Do List Pad and a very cute Notepaper Pad. Awesome!

And to top it all off. My Sis recently bought a new DSLR camera so she gave me her Canon EOS 450D. A-ma-zing! I've been lusting for a better camera for aaages but to get one as a gift is a massive surprise. I'm really excited about taking better photos so becoming familiar with this is going to be fun :)

~Final Comment~
What a crazy long post. So that's my Christmas in four parts. Considering I wasn't feeling very festive this year, I had a really good time. I really enjoyed making gifts for friends, and it was lovely to just hang out with friends and family.

I really had no expectations for gifts this year and so I'm very grateful for the things I've received/bought. I'm looking forward to enjoying them and thinking about the lovely people who gave them to me.

How was your Christmas? Did you have a good time? Did you have many of Christmas events or few? Did you buy yourself a Christmas gift? Do you have any tips for using a fancy camera?
I'd love to hear how you celebrated Christmas. Leave a comment below :)

Until next time,

Let's connect online :)

Wishing you a...

Hope your Christmas day is full of joy and good cheer.


Until next time,

Let's connect online :)

::Sewing:: Practical Present - Nifty Peg Bag

Wow, we're already in March. When the heck did that happen!
I'm still totes gonna tell you about a handmade gift I made for my Mum last Christmas :)

When I visited my mum late last year I notice that she was using an old shopping peg to store her pegs. So I decided I would make her a peg bag, but there were a few features that I wanted it to have to set it apart from the generic ones you can buy in the shops. After looking at the interwebs to see how other peops had made peg bags I decided to draft my own.

It needed to have a curved bottom. I hate it when you're down to the last few pegs in the bag and you can't find them because they're hiding in the corners. Ok hate is a strong word. It's a nuisance.

It needed to have a fold over tab at the top to hang it from either the clothes line or a clothes hanger. I could have sewn it to a clothes hanger, but what if the hanger needed to be replaced?

It had to be deep and have a large opening so that it could hold lots of pegs and be easy to use.

So with a basic shape in mind a drew up a small scale of the pattern and tried to figure out the best way to sew it all together. I wanted to find a way to sew it quickly but make sure that it was well finished and robust.

I took some fabric out of my stash (yeah stash-busting) and made up the final product.

Peg Bag on clothes hanger

The peg bag is fully lined with an interfaced fold-over tab at the top. That way it can be attached to a clothes hanger or the clothes line.

Peg Bag front

My mum is a big fan of lime green so I thought I'd personalise it with some interesting retro printed mystery fabric from my stash for the outside and a lime green lining. That's the whole point of handcrafted gifts is it; you can personalise it.

To make the bag I cut out 6 pieces - Opening outer & inner; Back outer & inner; Fold-over tab front & back. I interfaced the Fold-over tab back.
I sewed the hand opening by placing outer & inner RST and sewing around the curve.Then clipped the curve and turned RSO and pressed the opening. The back inner was attached to the opening inner at the bottom curve.

Peg Bag

I didn't want the snaps to be seen from the outside so I attached them to the Folder-over tab back. Then I sewed Folder-over tab front to the top of the Opening outer and lining pieces and the Folder-over tab back to the top of the  Back outer, making sure to leave a gap in the middle (you'll see why in a tick)

Fold-over tab

With RST I sewed the Front and the Backs together all the way around the outside. Then, with corners and curves clipped, I turned it the right way out through the opening left between the Back Outer and the Fold-over tab back. I closed the gap in the back by stitching in the ditch at the front, but it would have looked nicer if I had sewn it closed by hand using blind/ladder stitch.

Close up of the snaps on the Folder-over tab

If I were to do it again. I would try to make the bag a bit bigger and make hand opening a little wider and lower. It would also be a good idea to use plastic snaps instead of metal.

I was in a bit of a rush to make this puppy so I forgot to take a picture of it in use. Oh well. I'm sure I'll make another some day. Thinking about it this Nifty Peg Bag could be used in a bunch of other ways. I could hang it in my wardrobe to stow things away in. If you're someone who likes to plan what they wear the day before you could put the accessories you want to wear with an outfit in the bag then hang the outfit over it. Of it could be hung from the wall and stow goodies in it. Yeah, it IS a Nifty Peg Bag. I will have to make another.

Do you make presents? Would anyone be interested in a pattern and tutorial?
I'd love to hear from you, leave a comment below using Disqus :)

Until next time,

Lets connect Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

::Show & Tell:: Morning After...

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you had a Merry Xmas Day filled with good company, good food, good presents and a nana nap :)
I had a pretty low key Christmas as the in-laws where we had lunch/dinner.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos. Doh! But we arrived around 10:30am and once settled in we sat around for a bit.
After awhile we roped Mr S 4yo nephew to help with making gingerbread from a dough that I had made the day before.
Not long after we had lunch and after that it was the obligatory quick clean up and food coma lounging. After a couple of hours we went into the pool for a dip.

We lounged around some more (gotta love some food coma lounging)
After looking at cocktail book the OSIL (Older Sister-In-Law) had brought we decided that we should make a cocktail.
Lucky for us we only live 10 minutes from the IL's (In Law's), so the OSIL and I quickly drove home to get our collection of half-filled bottles of liquor.

When we got back we concocted a grasshopper - delicious!
By the time we had done all that dinner was nearly ready so we got to enjoy our cocktails with dinner.

For dinner we had leftovers and just couldn't fit in another morsel so we didn't get to eat the pavlova that day. Not long after that we went home, had a shower and went straight to bed. It was 9.30!

So all in all pretty enjoyable and chillaxed.

For Christmas I got a bottle of Malibu from Mum & Dad and a 'Coco avant Chanel' DVD from Mr S (meaning that I bought it and he wrapped it :) )

I got a butane torch and a marble slab from the in-laws. I'm sure they'll come in handy.

But the big ticket item for the year was motorcycle helmet from Mr S. I got my motorcycle licence aaages ago, but I  haven't bought any gear to wear while riding so I haven't been on a bike since I got my licence. So on the weekend Mr S and I went and bought a motorcycle helmet.

This helmets really great because it's designed to be worn by people who wear glasses and the most exciting bit is that there is an in built sun visor :-O

Anyway, Xmas is not all about presents....it's about food too :).

I made a bunch of rum balls and a pavlova to take to the in-laws for lunch/dinner. I've only ever made a pavlova once before. I had a few booboos with my pavlova so it had a VERY rustic look about it :)

The rum balls were a massive hit (mainly with my older SIL and myself), but we didn't get around to eating the pavlova.So I ate some today with whipped cream and tinned fruit salad - YUM!....

This morning (Boxing day) we quickly went around to the IL's and collected all the stuff we took over yesterday. Other than that we are just pottering around the house. I'm hoping to get in some sewing/blogging this afternoon. So we'll see how I go... :)

What did you get up to? 
Did you get some goodies under the Xmas tree?

Until next time, hope you're having happy holidays,
V xo

::Sewing:: Great British Sewing Bee - Christmas Special

I just watched The Great British Sewing Bee - Christmas Special and I was so inspirational and fantastic that I had to share.

Grab a cuppa and a treat and pop this on and take a bit of time to get totally inspired for this festive season!



I was so taken with the clam shell decoration that Stuart made (around 30 minutes into the video) that I've found a video with some great tips on how to make one using the Clover Clam Shell Accessories Cases kit. (If I make them, I'm going to try making them just using cardboard instead of with the kit. Wish me luck!)

Do you think there are enough sewing shows on telly?  I wish there was more on Aussie TV.

Until next time,
Enjoy a dash of GBSB Xmas goodness : )
V xoxo

::Sewing:: Christmas 2012 Giftings

Hey there!

I hope you had a great Christmas. This year I made most of my/our gifts. I did it because I am not a big fan of shopping and I'm even less of a fan of the crazy pre-Christmas shopping frenzy.

Using the free Craftsy course Bag-Making Basics: Reversible Tote & Zipper Pouchwith Kristin Link I made my sister, MIL and SILs a zipper pouch each.

Here are my fabrics all cut out and ready to go.

Exterior, lining and zippers all ready to go!

When I use interfacing I like to cut it slightly larger than intended to make a cleaner finish once I've trimmed it down. So an improvement on the process for future would be to cut out all the external pieces as one block of fabric. Fuse the interfacing and then cut the separate external pieces to size. This would mean that I could avoid this mess of interfacing scraps after trimming it down all the individual external pieces after fusing the interfacing to it.

All my interfacing scraps. And this wasn't even all of it!

Making four pouches at the one time meant that I was able to do some chain sewing.

Chain sewing pouch tabs top-stitching.

Here are the finished pouches. The tabs are made of the same fabric in the lining.

Clockwise from top left: my sisters; MIL; younger SIL; older SIL

The mushroom one went to my sister who picked out the fabric on a trip to the fabric store a few days before. The white and teal one went to my MIL; black one with doors and keys went to my younger SIL and the teal one went to my older SIL. For more pouch pictures check out my flickr.

For pouch fillers I gave my MIL and SILs a travel size bottle of The Body Shop body wash and either a loofah, face chamoise or shower cap. Here are the crocheted coasters I made for my sister and popped in her pouch. Ravelled here.

Six crocheted coasters for my sis

I gave my sister's BF and Mr S's nephew a Christmas stocking each. The plain calico one went to Mr D (my sister's BF) and the other other one went to LP (the Mr's nephew). Mr D got a gift card (the thingy sticking out in the picture) and I filled both of the stockings with lollies and baste stitched the tops closed for ease of transport.

Mini Christmas Stockings FTW!

After I took the picture I added a crochet chain loop to each of them so they could be hung for next year.

Here are all my pressies ready with gift tags ready for gifting.

Gifts made? Check! Gifts tagged? Check! Alright, let Christmas commence!

I have a couple more gifts to give, but as they haven't yet been delivered to the recipients I best not disclose their details just yet.

Until next time, hope you making lovely things for the ones you love (especially yourself),
Vanessa xo

5 Christmassy Crafts

G'day everyone,

My weekend was absolutely fantastically chockers, so I didn't find a great deal of time to craft. However, I did make some fantastic gingerbread biscuits and quickly whipped up a couple of early Christmas presents for a couple of lovely mates of mine before we crafternooned on Saturday.

However, with Christmas fast approaching the blogasphere is awash with amazingly fantastic Christmas ideas. Here are a few of my favourites that I've been collecting...

Actually these are what I whipped up for my mates! Sew great!

Found here

(Found via Sew, Mama, Sew)

These fantastic Vintagey style felt baubles

Found here

How cute is this button mistletoe! Kisses all round!

Found here on one of my new fave blogs

These fabric pinecones are beautiful and so simple. A great idea for a table centrepiece.

Found here

(Found via Sew, Mama, Sew)

I really adore this origami wreath. You can recycle if after Christmas if you want.

Found here

I hope that imparts some lovely Christmas inspiration for you. 

I want to be back with another tutorial next week, but I'll see how I go. It is moving into crazy Christmas season and my weekends are booked out with social events from here into the new year. So I don't want to put any additional pressure on myself. Plus Brisbane is starting to get pretty summery hot.

Have a great week and do something nice for yourself.

V xoxo