three good kings (and a little princess)

We had a lovely trip to Glasgow last week to see our dear friends for a long-postponed Christmasy get together. It turned out that we were visiting on Three Kings Day (which Le Petit Pot was getting very excited about here), another tradition I may adopt to make Nöel last a little longer and give me even longer to finish-off my handmade gifts...!


I picked up this super-smart Mini Pen Tote by Cuppa Tea & Cake at The Spider and The Fly and thought it just right for a budding artist to carry her work to-and-fro. It was a perfect fit for this sketchbook which I monogrammed with cut-out fabric and a prit-stick (which worked but really, I need to get some Copydex for these Blue Petery situations). The paper inside is thick brown kraft which I thought might y'know, be a slightly differnet 'ground' for working on with wax crayons, y'huh?!

I've been intending to make these Simple Bibs from Bend the Rules Sewing for many a month now but eventually got round to whipping them up in my typically last-minute stylee. I didn't get off to a great start by not reading the instructions before cutting (tsk!) and generally forgetting that the whole mission of Amy Karol's brilliant book is to make your sewing life easier not more difficult. If you don't know the book, it's full of brilliant tips and cunning methods to save yourself time and effort. Oh, how I need her advice. Hence, even the not-so-eagle-eyed may spot the last-minute emergency welding job required after I mistakenly thought I could hammer popper studs in place and cook porridge at the same time. Still, I think it got the 9 month olds drool of approval!

To carry our Three Kings gifts I made these Kingly carriers which de-stashed (some of) my brown paper bag collection and made use of the Xmas cracker hats which were still hiding under our cushions and down the back of the setee. Course I asked the resident artist for a little help to decorate each bag which she did a superb job on. (Bear in mind the bags were full at the time) She asked me to draw some of the features on her Mummy's bag. I wonder if her additional details in black marker pen are a suggestion of eyeliner?

Stacey's gift was a replacement for the first shower cap I ever made which unfortunately was fire damaged last year. That's some of the fabric I took back from the famous Tomato in Nippori Fabric Town (the link takes you to Asking for Troubles in-depth write-up). I have a few more of these to whip up for the shop as soon as I get some more elastic. (I buy that fresh - don't harvest it from my knicker drawer or anything horrible!)


Course we received some loverly gifts in return but I'll be saving those for another posting. Now where's my lady hammer...