#cloggers Archives - Felicia Thomas

In Hungry?

Deliciously Ella’s Chocolate Brownies.

Chocolate has always been my downfall. It’s one of the major food groups right?

But in an attempt to become a little healthier (and cut out the migraines) I have turned to this lady.

I must say I was skeptical, I really couldn’t believe my sweet tooth could be satisfied without chocolate or sugar…

Ella put this recipe up on her blog. Having convinced myself they would be awful I made them to find out.

The main ingredient is sweet potato….

Once the sweet potato is steamed you blend it together with the dates.

The list of ingredients is fairly straight forward – I got everything except the almond butter in Aldi.

The recipe doesn’t say what size tin to use. I used a 23 cm square, lined tin which worked just fine.

When they have cooled add the icing and cut into squares.

All that’s left to do is make some coffee and have a taste test…… do you know what? they are actually really nice!!

Because of the maple syrup they probably aren’t very calorie friendly, but they are a very tasty, healthy sweet treat.

Thank you Deliciously Ella, I will definitely be making these again!

03/08/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft

How to sew a Goose.

How to sew a goose.

We’ll get to the goose soon….

Once upon a time I started a blog. This blog was called Scrapzville and I had it for many years.

Looking back at the first year or two I see that I wrote long, rambling posts, as if you (the reader) and I were sitting at the kitchen table having a chat. Not only did I post long rambling blogs, I posted often. So what changed?

Well, two things. Firstly, I started to get ‘followers’. People, some of whom I knew and some I didn’t, started to read it, and I got an unmerciful dose of the ‘What will they think of me?’ bug. I got shy and bothered and started to write what I thought it would be OK for people to read, instead of what I wanted to write. So, I wrote less and less and eventually I decided on a big change in the hope of a fresh start.

The second thing, after I changed from Blogger to WordPress was the bloody SEO scores! I like long sentences, the SEO does not. There are these little spots of colour at the top of the page, it starts off red, orange is ‘needs improvement’ and green is good. I’m at the mercy of these spots, shortening sentences all over the place for the elusive green!

(I bet you’re wondering about the goose?)

All this to say that I want to go back to rambling. I’ve been gone for so long that I doubt anyone will read this, I will though. Sometimes I go back and read really old posts, it’s like an online diary, it’s cosy, I like it.

So, if you are still here, well done. Make some tea or coffee and we’ll get to the goose!

Last weekend I took a notion to sew something, and for some reason I decided on a goose. Now, I don’t have a pattern for it so I looked on Pinterest (where else?!) but none of them were the right shape. Apparently there is a quilting pattern called ‘Silly Goose’ so that came up a lot, but very few soft toy types.

Eventually, I drew out my own. This is a very ‘make it up as you go’ kind of thing, so this could be a very odd looking creature.

I cut out the pieces ( I could’ve ironed the fabric first…) and started sewing.

I was doing so well until I turned the neck the right side out. This is what comes from making it up as you go, I forgot to turn the beak the right way before I sewed it in. This meant battling that long skinny neck with a knitting needle to turn it seam side out, unpicking the beak and starting again.

(Just so you know, the little spot has gone orange, it didn’t like that last sentence!)

Eventually I had a shape that looked fairly good. I used toy stuffing, sewed her up added a bow and Ta da… a Goose!!

Now, the only thing that I would change is the position of the legs. They are quite far forward which makes her look a bit like the Loch Ness monster, but for a first attempt at pattern making I think it’s pretty good.

So there you have it. There is a goose, loose about this hoose!

It’s a lovely day here, I hope it’s nice where you are too.

Thank you for stopping by,

F xx

26/07/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft/ Painting

Quilt update.

Remember that quilt?

I’m pretty sure my last blog post said something like,” Tune in next week for an update…”

well, here it is almost a month later!

I actually did finish it within that first week, of course you’ll just have to take my word for it, but I did.

But here it is!

(That chair was once teak with a really rotten gold draylon seat cover – but that’s another story).

The pink velvet was perfect as a backing. It’s so soft!

Aren’t they the prettiest colours? Tilda fabric is just lovely, I got mine from the Crafty Fox but i’m not sure of the name of this particular collection.

Toby has declared it suitable for cuddling up on. He likes to burrow underneath of it so he can sit on the velvety side. I could try and keep him off of it, keep it ‘for best’, but along with everything else in this house, it was made to be used.

What else has happened since my last post?

Well, last Sunday I was at the Airport hotel in Cork for the Cloggers event. Marie and Shell put a huge amount of work into these events and I was really pleased to get to one. Cloggers are a group of bloggers in the Cork region ( I think it covers most of Munster) they blog about many subjects from fashion, make up, lifestyle & healthy eating to Horror themed books!

As usual there were a great bunch of people there with some lovely stands.

Ebony and I put our work together for this one:

I happen to think this little rabbit is the cutest thing in the world!

(Available from The Little Things Company)

So, that has been my month, thank you for stopping by!

F xx

26/02/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ Craft

Super Easy Quilt Making.

‘Super easy quilt making’ is probably the wrong title for this post.

It should actually read, ‘ Make it up as you go ‘.

This morning I was doing my favourite Sunday morning activity. That would be drinking coffee in my p.j’s whilst browsing Pinterest – when I came across this:

(Credit)

I love fabric, I love making things but i’m not very precise with them. My seams don’t line up and my sewing is only straight-ish. So I clicked into the post, read it all (it is a really good read) and decided that I would make a start on a quilt.

At the knit & Stitch show 2015 (yes, it was that long ago) I got some gorgeous Tilda fabric from The Crafty Fox stand.

Then last year I bought some pale pink velvet to make a backing for said fabric.

The tutorial said that she had used fabric of all sizes. Since I had bought fat quarters I thought i’d cut them a little more evenly to get the best layout from them.

The ‘How To’ bit…

First of all I ironed them (being folded for a year and a half really sets those creases!) Then marked them every 4 1/2 inches and drew a pencil line.

I do have a rotary cutter but I just can’t get along with it, so I used scissors.

Once I had cut up all five fat quarters into the 4 1/2″ strips, I cut those strips into random sized pieces. I cut some lengths into two sections and some into four or five. There was some pretty fabric with buttons on it in my stash so I added a little of that as well as a few pieces of the darker green stripe (top left in the picture).

I had bought a full metre of the green stripe so I thought I’d use that for the binding. It’s a bit of a contrast to the main colours but by adding a few little bits into the quilt top it will all blend in. Remember the ‘make it up as you go ‘ theme? yep, that’s where the binding that doesn’t match came from.

To make the top I just sewed pieces from each pile together in a long strip. There was no pattern to it, just randomly choosing a piece and sewing to the last. It didn’t take very long – in no time at all I had this:

That’s a long strip of fabric!

Five fat quarters cut into 4 1/2 inch strips (with a little of the two other fabrics thrown in) came to an amazing 40 foot long strip!

Next I decided how wide I wanted my quilt to be (you can see how well I thought this out before I started can’t you?) which was 36 inches. By the time I had cut up the whole thing I had thirteen strips. The last one was slightly short so I just added an extra piece of button fabric.

You can see how the order you sew them together in doesn’t really matter. The different sized blocks make it less precise and you can move the strips around until you like the layout. Of course, then it all has to sewn together, but that is really easy especially if you’re not too precious about sewing straight. I do try, I line up my edges and keep the sewing machine foot on the edge but the straight line just alludes me. Real quilters are amazing, they make it look so easy!

(I should have ironed this before I took the photo……)

It took two and a half hours to go from Pinterest to having the quilt top sewn together, much faster then piecing squares! I have to get wadding tomorrow (if you live in a place where there is a fabric shop nearby that is open seven days a week then you are a very lucky person!) and then decide how to quilt the layers together. I would love to try some free motion quilting but i’m not brave enough yet.

Tune in next week to see if I’ve made any progress…… hopefully I will have a finished quilt to show off!

Felicia xx

29/01/2017 By felicia

In Painting

First Birthday Present.

When I dear friend asked me to make her Granddaughters first birthday present, I was quite chuffed!

Purple hair, don’t care!

She chose the Polly Mermaid print, of all of the Polly Dollies I think this is her favourite.

Originally she wanted a purple frame. But having looked at lots of different shades, she chose a pale green. So, tomorrow I will go the Killarney Framer to pick out the frame. John who owns the business is really helpful. I’m hoping he can make the frame but let me put the image in myself – that way I can paint the frame just the right shade.

A painting for a first birthday is a lovely idea. She will always have it, she won’t outgrow it, it will always remind her of her Grandma. That’s kind of sweet don’t you think?

Felicia xx

p.s. How is this year going for you so far?

Mine of is full of learning new things and taking cider vinegar everyday….. i’ll let you know how it goes!

15/01/2017 By felicia

In Blogging/ House Love

Christmas 2016.

Suddenly it is 2017. 2016 has passed by in a blur.

In four days the decorations will come down. December just vanished, we were all busy, but it went by so fast.

Just in case this year passes as quickly I want to document our decorations. I had great intentions of doing this as soon as they went up. The blogging world was full of ‘Christmas decor tours’ in November!

Traditionally we put the tree up sometime around the 10th December. That was my Dads birthday, so it has always been that way. I wanted to put hem up earlier but I lost that battle. I wish I had though because they will be down so soon.

Without further ado, here is our tree:

I’m really glad I bought this last year. It was so much easier to take it out of the attic then go to get a real tree.

I got it from The White Room in Kenmare. There is never really a ‘theme’ but the colours this year were silver , white and a little red.

These white baubles also came from The White Room – in fact I have started a lovely collection from there!

These snowflakes were added this year.

A little bit of gold was added by these Scottie dogs. They are the cards my Mum gave us, but I liked them so much that they will come out again next year to sit in the tree branches.

The Fireplace.

Right next to the tree is our stove. The mantle was decorated with real fir branches and holly. These candles are battery operated but look very real. Real flames and greenery are a dodgy combination! The star garland is made of twigs and I’ve had it for ages, and I made the stockings a few years ago. There is only one here this year, the rest are on the banisters.

I couldn’t find any holly with berries on this year, so I added some red baubles.

The fireplace in the kitchen got a garland and two Christmas wooden houses. The large one lights up (as you can see) because Tim is a genius! You push down on the chimney pot and the windows light up.. too clever for his own good.

We had a lovely time, it rained and we didn’t leave the house all day. Since I’ve given up chocolate, I didn’t over indulge in goodies – unless you count roast potatoes?

We had good fun, good food and most importantly lovely company. I hope you also had a beautiful day.

Felicia xx

02/01/2017 By felicia

In Craft

Tweed Tote Bag.

Tweed Tote Bag.

The Knitting and Stitching show was on in Dublin last week. There is no place like it for stocking up on crafting materials, especially the ones you didn’t know you needed!

I should take a list, write down all the projects i’d like to do and what I will need to make them. That would be sensible. However, by the time it comes around I’m a bit lacking in enthusiasm. The inspiration of last years show has worn off. What happens then is I go in thinking, “well, I need glue…. and maybe some Bondaweb”. But then you get freshly inspired by all of the products.

All the things you could make!

That leads from a hundred project ideas to getting totally overwhelmed, and being back to just getting glue.

So what did I buy?

This year I came home with fabric – lots of fabric! Some of it was for my Mum, but the rest was all mine.

Usually, I get lots of cotton fat quarters for quilting. I’m not very good at quilting, my seams never meet neatly. But they’re fun to make. Last year I got some gorgeous Tilda fabrics from The Crafty Fox stand. I have yet to cut into them so I’m on a self imposed ban – no more until I use what I have.

This year I was tempted by this grey heavy flannel and a tweed. What will I make with it?, I asked myself, A tote bag? Why not? Experience has taught me that if I don’t make it in the week after the show it won’t get made (which explains the quilt) so believe it or not, here it is!

(Finished bag size is 18″ x 15″ x 7″)

There are endless Youtube tutorials on how to do this, I used this one (without the patchwork bits obviously). My measurements were different to hers, but the process is the same.

If you are going to make this then here is a word of advice. Make your handles the same fabric on both sides. I wanted grey on the inside and tweed facing out. Seems simple enough doesn’t it?

It’s not!

When you make it the whole thing is inside out. For the life of me I couldn’t work out which way round the lay the handles. As you sew over the handles to secure them in place you’re sewing six layers of fabric. Only then, after turning the whole thing through a tiny gap in the seam did I discover my mistake.

No problem, I thought. Just stuff it all back through the gap in the seam, unpick all the sewing and re position the handles. I turned them around and started to re sew the top and broke not one but two sewing machine needles!

There may have been some unpolite expletives muttered……

But I do have a gorgeous bag to show for it. It is fully lined with the flannel which makes it cosy enough for Toby to sleep in. He looks most indignant when I take him out.

If and when I get the quilt finished i’ll post it here. A lovely pale pink velvet came home with me for the backing. I have all I need to make it now, so there is really no excuse……

Have a lovely Halloween weekend,

Felicia xx

28/10/2016 By felicia

In Planner Love

Planner Decision.

After all the hours of watching planner reviews, checking shipping prices and being sorely tempted to have more than one, the decision was made and I finally settled on……. (insert drumroll here…)

The Kate Spade medium planner. It was the black and white stripe that did it. The inside cover has black polkadots on a white background – what could I do?

I ordered it from My Shining Armour on Wednesday lunch time, it arrived by courier on Friday morning. Great service for a €5.50 delivery fee.

Of course the packaging was shiny – what else would you expect? and it came with a little note and some jelly sweets.

Now my quandary is when to start using it. The planner started in August and goes through to December 2017 , perhaps I will start on November 1st it doesn’t seem right to jump in half way through a month. Or possibly wait for January?

This planner is beautiful, it has really smooth paper and I am delighted with it. I now have a whole 2017 planner insert from Paperchase that I don’t need – give me a shout if you’d like it, i’d love someone to put it to good use!

11/10/2016 By felicia

In Blogging/ Life in General/ Painting

That Friday Feeling!

For some reason I am filled with Fridayosity today. This is odd since I don’t have a Monday to Friday job, but lets go with it anyway!

What do I have to show you today? well, I finished the painting of the little creatures that weren’t pigs. They are in fact ‘Spoonlings’ ( I told you my head was a bit strange). I’m not sure where they live yet, but I have some other little illustrations of them in the making. I’m very fond of them indeed.

What else?

As tomorrow is the first of October, I decided it was time to put out some Autumn decorations. Last year I had a lovely table decoration (as you can see here) so I used the same again. I added some oak leaves , acorns and leaves from the Virginia Creeper which turn a beautiful red colour at this time of year.

This is a very subtle lead up to the Halloween decorations…. As there are no kiddos at home anymore I cannot pretend to be putting them up for them, but they’re gong up anyway!

(Source)

I like this, we’ll see how close I get to it. There are so many Halloween decor ideas on Pinterest I could get completely carried away, all I need is a local pumpkin patch and a black cat (surprisingly hard to find!)

I will be working like a mad woman to put the finishing touches to all the bits and pieces i’m bringing to Meath. I am now the proud owner of a travelling display wall (another ingenious invention from Tim) so I can display the paintings I may or may not get finished. My Christmas cards arrived from the printers today so that’s another thing ready to go. Its coming together and my aim is to be packed and ready a full 24 hours before I leave, not racing around at the last minute….. We can but hope.

Wishing you all lots of that Fridayosity feeling, have a great weekend.

Felicia xx

30/09/2016 By felicia

In Craft/ Life in General/ Painting

The Paint Bug.

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. A lot crazy actually. We were away on holiday, then Zac went back to college. Tim had an minor surgery and then we had a family wedding. The holiday and wedding were fantastic and the surgery and college move went smoothly. I’m not complaining at all, it was a great month, but I am totally wrecked!

This week I have had the luxury of mostly staying at home. Of course, as soon as I stopped racing around I caught a cold (doesn’t that always happen?) so I’m really making the most of it. Being at home doesn’t mean nothing to do though, I have taken a stall at the Women’s Inspire network event which is on the 5th October. This is a bit of a leap of faith, but nothing ventured and all that. I will need stock to sell, the cards are ready. The fauxdori’s are ready, the aprons arrived today, but I don’t have any paintings.

This was my desk today.

Fortunately, today was the day the paint bug hit! which means I don’t want to do anything else but paint pictures.

I set a task of finishing six 5″x 5″ paintings which of course I didn’t! Although I finished and framed two and drew out some outline ideas for the others I got stuck on the last one.

I love to paint houses, so I drew out some of those. After that I drew some floral outlines, and then while I was doodling these little characters appeared. I love it when that happens, I’m just painting away minding my own business and suddenly these little creatures turn up saying, “paint us, paint us!”

Because I have a very strange imagination (I’ve always said my head is a lovely place to live) they suddenly developed names and hobbies and a bit of a story…… and now I’ll never get the other paintings finished!

This is what they look like so far. Meet Doris and Hector! They look a bit like pigs but they won’t be when they’re finished, I really hope I can make them look like they do in my head.

I wonder if you can set up a stall with just two finished paintings?

If you are going to the Women’s Inspire event in Meath then please come and say hello, then you’ll see how many paintings I actually got finished!

Felicia xx

23/09/2016 By felicia