Up-cycled Skirt

I wanted a new casual winter skirt, without spending much money though, so I bought a long flarey cord skirt from the local charity shop (it worked out at less than £1), and chopped the bottom off. (I measured to the same length at several point around the skirt, marked it with pins, and cut round by eye, joining up the pins, then hemmed it.)

With the spare fabric, I made some roses. (Cut long strips, folded them in half, sewed along the bottom in my largest stitch width, then gathered them up, and stitched them into place.)

 My new skirt.

Cake!

Some ring cakes I made for a New Year's Eve party (Not very classy presentation - the lids of Celebrations chocolate boxes... very handy for transportation!)

I didn't know how to make toffee icing, so I made up some plain icing with icing sugar and water, then mixed in some Condensed milk toffee sauce. Not bad.

Crafts in the Christmas Holidays

We've had a nice, pretty relaxed Christmas time, and once the kids broke up from school, we spent quite a bit of time just making and drawing etc.

A felt thing I sewed for an old school friend. 

I adapted the design from this book by Clare Kingslake.

Very simple Christmas card design, using wooden Christmas tree ornaments, which I bought when they were on sale after last Christmas. I like the new reindeer embossing folder I bought from Cutting edge crafts (Link to right hand side.)

A Christmas card for a quilting friend! (The layered cardboard pieces were from Cricut's Country Life cartridge.)

Jack, our 2nd eldest, started making this creature ages and ages ago, and Lucy decided to finally finish it off for him. I like that it has glow-in-the-dark Hama beads for its mouth!

An applique picture for another friend, similar to one I've done before.

 I was itching to do a bit of quilting, so made this Christmas cushion one evening.

 I sewing machined a snowflake pattern along the back, and hand-sewed on beads.

And last but not least, the first baking I have ever seen my husband do! He took part in a pay-it-forward handmade gift thing on Facebook, and decided to make gingerbread London Temples for two of our friends... Can't say they're not creative!!

(Incidentally, for anyone not familiar with the London Temple, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, here's a pic I took recently. See! Almost identical! - down to the green copper spire, golden angel on top, and pond to the side...)