Christmas decorations

Look we have a room that looks grown up and everything.. The tree ended up in front of the french doors as they don't really need opening much this time of year. You can see the end of the settle collected from mum. The table is not the new one as that is still propped against the wall till we finish sorting a few more things out.

The top picture is Jake one of our cats on the settle looking towards the tree. The cushion is the one my gran had on it when I was little and the cover mum had made has shredded so that is the original cover, not bad for something that has got to be over 20 years old and possibly a lot older.


It even still looks reasonable a day later for Christmas dinner. This side of the room is more sorted and clear than it has been for a long time. I can't in all honestly say the whole area is or that I got as far as I wanted to but I had to be realistic about how much physical work i could do currently so things like painting the walls has been put on hold for now, however I quite like bare plaster especally when it as well done as this is, the plaster we had in I can't fault..

The other side of the room is less organised Ill show you a picture at the bottom, However to be fair it isn't as bad as it looks. Against the wall is the octagonal table top with a cloth over it, in front of that is a sideboard with some stuff in front of it and the the table base, which has a couple of boxes piles on top. There is also some building supplies that haven't yet been used In front of all that is two more dining chairs and a rocking chair with some stuff on them mostly opened presents which haven't found homes yet. So with that out the way here is the picture.. I hope to find homes for some of this before new year as we are having a party then.

50 metres does Nikki twice !

Herself suggested the title and as it is about her who am I to argue?

50 metres to do what you may be asking? Well I could just leave you to make up your own ideas and if I tell you it involved Jon wrapping her in gaffer tape it may or may not help your mental images, probably depending who you are and how well you know the people in question.

50 metres is two rolls of tape which is what she brought with her, in fact we used three rolls and more would probably have been a good idea, though by that point she was commenting it was rather hot and restricting, of course the corset underneath the gaffer tape probably didn't help that feeling.

So what were we doing? Well at one point we discussed the relative pros and cons of bondage tape though we never got on to talking about a friend who found out he was allergic to the glue on masking tape when he was mummified in it but honestly the real reason is actually suitable for this blog.

We were making her a personalised tailors dummy. Nikki has been making some lovely outfits for herself but she has no-one nearby to help fit them and while it is lovely to have her visit so I can help it isn't always easy for her to find the time and money to do that as we don't live close. Now she has her own personal copy of her torso to do her fitting on which hopefully will make her outfits even more stunning.

For anyone who doesn't know you can make a dummy by dressing in an old t-shirt you don't mind destroying with the appropriate underwear beneath, in this case a corset as she is making period outfits. Then get someone to wrap you in gaffer tape (duck tape), you need to get a good layer so when you cut the t-shirt and tape combination off it holds it shape plus try and keep it fairly flat. We added a bit of scrap fabric to extend the neck as well so she can fit collars and the full slope of her shoulder if wanted. Then you stuff it well and stick it on a pole. One personal tailors dummy. I don't have any pictures of it finished as we only did the taping, Nikki is doing the stuffing at home, I'll see if she will do a picture later.

The shape we got shows how useful a personalised dummy can be. Nikki has a very sway back, honestly that is her real shape, while she has a corset under it she wasn't wearing any form of bustle so the back of a bodice is never going to fit her well without either someone else to help or a dummy like this because she just isn't a standard shape in that regard, just like most of us aren't a standard size one way or another.

First few crochet things.

I have completed a few simple items since Julie showed me the basics and have decided yarn stashes could easily become just as bad as fabric ones.

So far I have done a scarf come collar but need to find my button box to finish it. Two hats for my youngest nephews for Christmas and a scarf for small also for Christmas as he saw me making the first one and wanted it for himself. Instead he is getting a rainbow scarf.

I used this pattern for the hats but the two scarfs were just done on the fly. I looked up how to do button holes in a book from the library. The scarf/collar is dc (UK) and the rainbow scarf is htc with one line of dc at the end to mirror the starting chain as it didn't look quite right otherwise.

The hats are significantly different sizes due to the amount of increases done on them and I'm not sure which are best so I have left off weaving in the ends till I can find out how they fit as they were quick enough I think I can unravel them and re-do them while we are all at my mums.

I like this crochet stuff it works up quickly and is easy. Well so far not having done anything involving much pattern! I want to try some lace patterns and some miniature stuff come the new year I think but before that possibly a couple more basic bits to add to christmas presents.

Needlefelted Bears

Realised I never posted these two who went to new homes as part of a miniatures swap. They got blue bows round their necks before they were sent off.

Needle felted from alpaca leg wool which felted well though it did need trimming as it was quite fuzzy even when well felted. Both natural colours supplied by a local breeder who gave me enough to ee going for a good long time!

There are some wonderful mini bear makers out there and they include crochet ones too so when I'm a bit better that that I may try one of those. The Thread Artist Guild members make bears by knitting, crochet and needle felting and have some wonderful examples posted every month on their Yahoo group which I'm a member of.

Crochet

The re-organisation of the back is sort of on hold though we have got a lot more room there. The on hold is because I have been having pains which i think are related to doing to much but just in case they signal more serious things I'm taking it really easy the next few days.

On the bright side Julie came round at the weekend and apart from seeing her and Dave for the evening which was great in itself she also ran me through the basics of crochet. As I hoped having someone actually show me sorted out the issues I was having with turning rows and the like and I've since done another sample to prove I remembered it all.. Now onto making something worth keeping.