The year that ended

We are experiencing a very wet and dreary period in Kandy and it is quite depressing and scary too. Scary because all around us the hills are coming down along with trees and in some cases the houses which sat on them as well. We were marooned at my in-laws place for about 48hours with no electricity because two trees fell trapping their house in the middle.


This is how I crafted by lamplight:



I am punching a monkey face on to a piece of flannel using the punch needle. I want to use this to make another pair of shoes for my son. I made a similar pair for my next door neighbour's daughter using a giraffe face. Here is the image:



















I also did some cooking. Rather, baking. For our 1st of January Department celebrations I baked some patties using a well tried and tested flaky pastry recipe from an old book I had. They came out really well and were crispy and melt in the mouth quality. Then I made some cupcakes for Dulmini's farewell party using the butter cake mix.

Then I made some home-made, all natural fruit jelly using mango and pineapple for my son. I was worried about the amount of chemicals they add to these shop bought jellies because everytime my son has some his whole mouth is left the bright colour of the jelly. So I made this using 600ml of fresh fruit juice (I stewed the pineapple with some sugar and a stick of cinnamon) and 1/2 oz of gelatine. It was really tasty and my son kept asking for more!



I also found time to make Dulmini a toiletry bag: The material I bought at relatively low prices from a shop where they sell "cut pieces". and the zipper ornament is from a pencil I had. I like the clour combination and the way it turned out. I machine quilted the whole thing and because I didn't have a walking foot on my machine it was a lot of frustrating work. But I love how it turned out and Dulmini also loved it.





This is the quilt top I am making for my sis: It is finished and I am now both hand and machine quilting it. Its a very slow process but I am enjoying every minute of it-especially the hand quilting part. This is a close up of the already quilted part:















Well that's all for now. Just looking at what I have done makes me feel thrilled about the small crafty accomplishments I have made last year and the beginning of this year. Feel very satisfied. My crafts keep me sane and happy and contented :-)