Christmas De-stash

I'm still on a major fabric and yarn de-stash (really! it's never-ending!), so I decided that this year's Chrissy outfit would have to fit into my no-buy, use what I've got brief :) The majority of my Christmas fabric is small patchwork sized pieces, but I did find two pieces that were big enough for clothes ... the red fabric I really love because it is Christmassy, but in an understated way, with white meandering holly leaves. The pocket fabric I thought looked like baubles until I finished the skirt and then decided that it looked more like a Target Ad :(  But no, in my head I'm sticking with the baubles thought :) The apron fabric is tiny poinesettas and holly ... I like the choice of this one because it has a slightly old fashioned look, good for a pinny I think :)

...so, the pattern specs :)

The skirt was taken from Sew Serendipity by Kay Whitt ... I lost the plot slightly as to what size I made, but I think that it was roughly size small (following the pattern measurements I made a mock-up skirt in small, which was way tight, so made the skirt in a medium, which ended up being way big(?), so finally went with the medium but took in huge side seams ... it wasn't the best solution as the pockets are now a lot narrower than they should be, but at least I'll have a better idea of size next time).
The apron is again the Patternless Kitschy Apron by Jordana Paige, well a variation of it as I didn't have enough fabric for the cool crossover top ... love the possibilities with this apron pattern (thanks Jordana!)

The easiest fruitcake recipe ever!

I don't usually make a Christmas Cake ... there's only two of us in the family that eat it, and a whole cake seems like too much hassle (and too much on our waistlines), so I tend to have a tiny shop bought one, albeit usually dry and pale and not very Christmassy ... buuuuut, this year will be different ... I found a recipe for the easiest, richest fruitcake ever :) It was so easy that I'm thinking of making another one to ice and have as a centre piece on the table on Christmas Day. I made this one today, and of course, HAD to cut into it to see how it tasted ;D (Now that it's cut, I might use some of it to make Christmas cake ice cream and maybe some rum balls) ... anyways, here's the recipe, (and don't be put off by the small ingredient list!)

1kg dried fruit

600ml iced coffee or iced chocolate

2 cups self raising flour

Soak the fruit in the iced coffee in the fridge overnight (you'll know when it's been long enough when all the liquid gets absorbed)

Stir in the 2 cups of flour

Place in a large greased and lined cake tin, and bake at 180 degrees for an hour and a half

...that's it!!

I'm thinking that with my next cake, I might swap the iced coffee for Baileys, just to make it a bit more festive, but still less boozy than a traditional cake :)

Chrissy quilting time

...this quilt has been a long time in the making, but finally it's done :-) It started with me using five star blocks from my block stash, and a few oddments of Christmas fabric....It's machine pieced and quilted onto some creamy coloured polar fleece, with the holly leaves appliqued on top. There really wasn't much finishing off to be done..just the applique , some more quilting, and the binding being sewn down :-)

The small quilt with the log cabin corners I made in 1999...it was from a book that I borrowed, called Appliquilt to Go by Tonee White. I loved that I could combine the applique and quilting stitch into one action (I used the same technique this week for my holly leaves).

Reading the forums over on Ravelry I read about a new author (with a knitty twist) to look for...I love mysteries, especially really old Agatha Christie type books, so I couldn't wait to read Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver Mysteries....Maud Silver is a private detective with a passion for knitting....what's not to love about that!.... so far I've started The Key, and already she's knitting some socks (whilst solving the crime of course!) :-)

...smells like Christmas

The first week in December usually means gingerbread houses here...it also usually means a hell messy kitchen, falling roofs, the smell of scorched gingerbread, gingerbread either so hard that it breaks your teeth, or so soft that the walls cave in...it's a heaps good Chrissy tradition, but you get the general picture!?
Well this year, only one of my girls was game enough to give it another go...after googling for a new recipe (yep, they try a new one every year!), she went with the first one she clicked on, and OMG!, it was the best one yet :-) Tastes great, simple recipe, perfect consistency, and yes, a house that didn't cave in :-D WOOHOO!

December already!

We returned from a road trip to Port Augusta on saturday, and straight away, got the Christmas decs out :-)
This is a chrissy quilt I made a few years back...the centre section (up to the plain blue border) was from a pattern in Australian Patchwork and Quilting (applique special)...I just added some scrappy borders to make it a more usable size. In keeping with the scrappy theme, I made the backing out of any red or blue fabric I had (and used a house block from my pile of lonesome blocks, for the label)...I kinda like the back better than the front :-)

I also 'found' this nearly finished quilt in the box with the rest...(yep, I find my UFO's everywhere!)...all it needs is a bit more machine quilting, and some holly leaves to be appliqued....I should be able to finish it before Christmas ....(that is this Christmas) :-D