Author Archives: Jenny Stilwell

Day 19 it can be revealed

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Some of you may have already worked it out. The present I was working on for my friend was Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket A Nordic Adventure. I am pleased to report she loved it and I will be making her a cushion to match. Here’s a picture

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Mystery blanket 2013

I also made her a repair kit so that if disaster stikes and it gets a hole she can fix it.
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I am so pleased she liked it, although to be  honest she didn’t like it she loved it. I like making things for Zoe as she always appreciates a hand crafted gift. As this was her Christmas and birthday present , we exchanged Christmas presents.  She opened hers first and then said I can’t give you yours now which  was a silly thing to say as she has made me the most beautiful hand patchwork quilted pouch. She is an amazing talented crafter and her embroidery and sewing skills are outstanding. Zoe is extremely good at the little details and always adds a little something that I wouldn’t think of.  The hexagons are all hand stitched as is the binding and the fabrics are Liberty prints. She added a gorgeous button and sewed tiny beads on top of it.  I can’t stop picking it up and  stroking it. Now I have to decide whether to use it as a handbag organiser or a notions pouch. At the moment it has my favourite pens and a pair of scissors in it.
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Thanks Zoe I really do appreciate it and love it.

Knitting

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I had lots of craft plans for when I was off, I might have mentioned it before.  Unfortunately I have been unable to do a s much as expected especially with the knitting. I would get a pain in my side and couldn’t find out why then I had an aha moment, when I knit I hold my left arm close to the body and my elbow rests on my stomach. This is where the largest incision is so it would  hurt after a couple of rows. I have found a way around this and now place a cushion under  my arm before I start knitting. The only problem is I have to be careful not to sit too long doing it.

I have finished two projects but I cannot write about them until Thursday

Fifteen

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I promise to use proper titles after Christmas.  Exciting news I am on the last leg of my friends present. I so excited and hope she likes it. I am hoping to go to my knit group tomorrow night at the pub. I haven’t been for four weeks. I received the previews of the new Rowan magazine released 15th January and I love it. I can’t  say too much yet but I love the patterns and new pattern books and yarns. Soo much to choose from, what to knit first.  I have until Jnauary 15th to get all my UFOs finished. Who I am trying to kid? It’s not likely to happen. At least now I can start on Zahras present.  I see lace knitting in my future.  Silly me walked too far today so am a bit tired and sore but even so I feel better for walking a bit further.  When my friend came to visit me she brought me a box of  sea salt caramel fudge. OMG I love it.I am not a person who could eat a box of chocolates in one sitting,  but this fudge took real self control not to eat the whole thing.  Salted caramel my one weakness,
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Fourteen

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Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a visit from my gorgeous grandson and darling daughter number one. I love my grandson and when he was only a few weeks old we started to take him for a coffee once a week . It was to give his parents a bit of time for themselves and to build a relationship with him. I was lucky enough to have a great relationship with my nan and grandad. They were more like my parents than grandparents and their house was a second home. I had my own key from the age of twelve and stayed with them at least once a week. My grandad gave me a shelf in the kitchen and would fill it each week with crisps, drinks and chewing gum. I am pleased to say that I am carrying on their great example. Harry feels completely at home and knows where everything goes more than his parents. He also has his own half shelf in the kitchen . His has all his cups in a basket and a tin with his snacks in. Mostly healthy and all ones his mother has approved of! When he wants a snack as he hasn’t got a large vocabulary yet he just goes to the tin and gets out what he wants. His mum was a bit perplexed at first as she didn’t realise it was his tin. I am pleased to say I see Harry a lot more than an hour a week now and I am so pleased we took the time and made the effort to build a relationship with him. I have a fantastic relationship with him and we are so in sync that sometimes its my daughter raising her eyebrows at us not the other way round. He is one special little person and I promise to keep working on maintaining this most amazing relationship with him. He makes me smile and even though its often gobbledygook we have great conversations. Being a parent is great but being an involved grandparent is amazing.
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Twelfth day

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I can’t believe I have actually managed to blog for a whole 12 days. At the moment I am enjoying an unabridged audio book whilst I knit or surf the web. I downloaded it after a recommendation from Skein Queen in her newsletter. It goes into great description about fabrics and embroidery and transports you to Thessalonika. The book is The Thread by Victoria Hislop and I can whole heartedly recommend it both in audio and written form. I have just downloaded the ebook The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow. There is a quilt pattern that can be downloaded from her website www.liztrenow.com which I believe can be sewn alongside the book. I will review it once I’ve got around to reading it.
I have almost finished my friends birthday and Christmas present which I am greatly pleased about

Number 11

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I have come to a decision.  It’s the same decision I arrive at every few years. Next year I am only giving presents I have made. I have a few ideas,  for the young ones in my new Sew magazines is a pattern for a snakes and ladder mat. This should use a fair bit of fabric.

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There is a new baby on the way and I am determined to make everything from my stash fabric. If its a girl it will be easy, not so much if it’s a boy. I am itching to get some sewing done  but am not up to it . A fairly new trend in craft magazines is that the patterns to make the projects shown have to be downloaded from a website. They are still free but I find it annoying.  If I pay for a magazine of patterns I do not expect to have to print them out myself. Ironically this is the last issue of my Sew subscription. I decided not to renew as there wasn’t much in the previous issues. This issue however had at least three projects I will be making and in  next month’s issue there looks like a couple of projects I will make. Signing off to see if I can download the patterns.

Ten

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I don’t normally bother with an advent calendar for myself, the nice chocolate ones are overpriced and the cheaper ones have the not so nice chocolate in. This year  I was tempted by another type of advent calendar. A nail polish one. One of my friends told me about one she had seen in John Lewis Oxford Street and of course curiosity got the better of me and I had to have a look. It is manufactured by Ciate and is great value at £42 . For this behind each door is a mini Ciate nail polish or decorations pot and one full size polish for Christmas Eve as well as a top coat and base coat. I have turned into a bit of a nail snob in my old age using Nails Inc or OPI for the most part, but I decided to read the reviews and thought I would give it a try.I actually prefer mini pots of nail polish as apart from top and base coat I never finish a pot before it goes gloopy and I am a sucker for a good deal. Yes I did cheat and look through most of the doors , I know,no self control . There is a good mixture of colours and textures with only a a handful I don’t think I’ll use.

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Ciate polish after 9 days

These are my nails after nine days. I used one coat of base and top coat and two coats of the polish. I am extremely impressed. My nail polish never stays on all my fingers for longer than a few days as the nails on the forefingers of each hand always chip or peel off, even when I use the Red Carpet gel polish. It will be interesting to see how easy it is get the polish off. I shall report back once I remove it.
Over all I am impressed with the quality and range in this advent calendar and will probably buy one next year as well.

Full details can be found on their website Ciate. http://www.ciate.co.uk/nails/gift-sets/mini-mani-month