YoYo Caterpillar

Attempting to dream up fabric "toys" without stuffing or "bits", Yoyos came to mind.  It might have taken four attempts to get the right frill but I do now have something that I find acceptable!  Sorry the tail's hidden but this is the best pic of a bad bunch tonight .......... I do honestly think it looks much nicer than it does here.  No prizes for guessing the destination of this but I hope it's constructed in such a fashion in that it will be remembered and perhaps even replicated in part by somebody in years to come in the same way that I remember the YoYo clown sitting in a great aunt's spare bedroom when I was a child ........... the inspiration for my YoYo Caterpillar

I can finally post the contents of my giveaway at the end of last year now Linda has received it (my fault it was so late) ......... some of my hand coloured stuff along with a couple of other loosely co-ordinating bits.

Blogger says try the new Blogger Interface .............. I don't suppose I can go back now!!!!!

More Free Stuff .........

Fabric Paper Dolls!  I couldn't resist having a go at this free pattern substituting the fusible fleece with felt and Supermend bonding powder (it's non toxic and BSI approved).  It meant a bit more fiddling about but I really don't mind that and am rather pleased ..............

I ran out of velcro so, sadly, she won't get a change of shoes but she does have several outfits.  Mindful of her journey, I've stuck to 100% cotton fabrics but can you imagine being let loose with all manner of synthetics and frivolous bits?  The hair and clothes, excepting dress, all fit within a 5" charm square so a great use for those and she won't take up much room in a shoebox!

Thankfully no big dinner to cook tonight with enough of yesterday's vegetable stew and dumplings to keep us warm.

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Pinterest and Stuff

Pinterest, that totally compulsive, addictive, viral online pinboard ......... if you've never heard of it then don't look, it WILL take over your life!  My husband often moaned that he couldn't find his few bookmarks amongst my hundreds (I do sort them out but it soon gets out of hand again) so I started transferring them onto Pinterest.  It's wonderful to be able to see a pic to remind oneself rather than having to click on every link to find just the thing one's looking for and to be able to organise things via boards - heaven!  One of my boards is ideas for Christmas Shoeboxes so I started seeking things out.  A fabric alphabet I've just finished ...........

I used the template here.  I'd make them a little bigger or do them a little differently another time to allow for easier cutting of the internal apertures but I do like the way they've turned out.  All different fabrics with plenty of colours, spots, stripes, checks, flowers etc. for added play value, cut on the bias as much as possible to minimise fraying and a great way of using up all those little scraps - they're probably a little less than 2" high.


This week it's been just the weather for some warming winter soups ......... very cheap too!  Root Vegetable soup = potato, carrot and onion (or leek or both) sweated down in a little butter for a few minutes.  Add some stock, a few herbs and seasoning plus a teaspoon of sugar.   Sometimes I'll omit the herbs and add spices instead (ground coriander/cumin/curry) or add some chopped fresh coriander at the end.

 Simmer in a lidded pan until the vegetables are soft ...............

then blend with a stick blender whilst still hot .................

A head of celery had been in the fridge drawer since Christmas so that got used up too, sweated down with some potato, onion, an apple and a clove of garlic.  I used half stock, half milk, salt and pepper. 

The milk curdled it but it didn't look too bad blended and tasted wonderful.  It was only me that ate it anyway ....... over a few days!
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