Yes, that’s right: ladies. I was looking for gingerbread men recipes on line. To my utter astonishment, we apparently do not have gingerbread men any more. We have gingerbread people. People? Do we ladies feel so inferior that we feel undermined by gingerbread shapes taking a masculine, not feminine name? Hmm. Right. Well. I made gingerbread ladies: they’re wearing dresses and skirts.
In case any men are offended that they were left out, I also made some gingerbread men. They’re just not pictured, because ladies are, naturally, prettier to look at.
Oh dear! Perhaps I’m guilty of a lack of inclusivity too. Scratch gingerbread ladies. They’re gingerbread transvestites.
This is Sam’s bag. It’s the first time I’ve ever potato stamped (at least that I can remember), it’s the first time I’ve ever stamped on fabric, it’s the first time I’ve ever sewn with slippery fabric (satin), it’s the first time I’ve ever lined anything and it’s the first time I’ve attempted internal pockets.
Sam let me know the dimensions she wanted. All I had to do was cut.
The request was for fabric that wouldn’t show the dirt. The rest was up to me. Oooh, the pressure! Hmm..not really, it was rather fun. I sketched away for a little while, looking at different decorating ideas. It needed to be something practical dirt-wise as well as something I could do without messing it up too much!
Potato stamping seemed fun, I could get the equipment (Egypt is Africa’s number 1 potato grower AND 2008 is the International Year of the Potato) and the results should be acceptable.
Then came the insides. Pockets were an essential, I thought, and satin satisfied my need for something that feels nice. Yes, at this stage it was about what I wanted I’m afraid. In the hope that Sam would too.
A bit more tacking, a bit of sewing and voila! Sam’s bag was ready.
Sam’s bag is not perfect. Unfortunately, but I guess rather predictably given how many ‘firsts’ were involved. Neither was it sent in the most attractive manner. Unavoidable unfortunately. Sam is, however, a most forgiving friend – the best sort to have really.
In early August this year I was looking for some gifts to take to family I was about to visit. In a rush, I popped into a tiny shop I had been in once before and didn’t go again as the lady working there was rather gruff.
This time it was a man. He talked a lot. He pointed to some applique work that is common here and started talking about the man who made them. I had missed who, but someone who was obviously a close relative. I’m not really a fan of applique, so was not focusing too much.
Next he mentioned something about Christmas. Being August, he caught my attention. Then he pulled out some transparent bags and unwrapped the contents. There were some fantastic Christmas tree dresses. Next he unwrapped some table runners. I was sold. The work was such good quality and the colours so Christmassy, I couldn’t resist.
“Who was it who made it?” I asked shamelessly, knowing he’d already told me.
“Me.” he said good humouredly.
Turns out he had been telling me that he’d been working on applique since he was thirteen, under the tutelage of his father. Master Craftsman or what?!
In the last picture are alabaster candle holders. It looks far better at night when all the lights are on. Perhaps I’ll update the picture with a night one if I take a good one!
A little while ago I hinted at this. Now it’s finished. It’s been finished for a while, but I wanted to wait until the Christmas period was in full swing before sharing.
The plan had been to embroider a band of snowflakes at both ends of each piece of cloth. When I realised just how long that would take me and, not having a magnifying glass, just how sore my eyes would be, I stopped at one at each end.
I made the snowflake pattern on Excel with squared cells, then printed it out to follow. When I started working on the fabric, the pattern had to be altered, as the warp and weft were not equally spaced.
The fabric comes from the fabric market here in Cairo and is a double woven cotton. I found it in the top of a little shop I went in not expecting to find anything. Downstairs was full of synthetic nasties. I was about to leave and the seller started talking. I asked for cotton just for the sake of proving to the seller that he didn’t have what I wanted. He told me to come up a rickety staircase and at the top, behind some dusty rolls of fabric, out came this brilliant white double width cotton.
The cloths will be used on Christmas Day. Not before – I’m too worried about spots of red wine!
I’m in a snowflake mood this year + I just taught myself to crochet + small flake patterns from here and larger ones from here = crochet snowflakes.
These look yummy. They were. I was planning on taking a photo when they were covered in chocolate. I covered them. They disappeared. Not sure where. It was only me in the house.
I made some more. Clever me, I increased the size of the batch. They weren’t that good. It seems that Les Orangettes can only be made in small batches. Hmmmm. Very time consuming. Hmmm. Absolutely worth it!
