Now I can show you

I enjoyed working on each one of these presents for my children.

This is a tea time play mat come storage bag for Charlotte's tea set and felt cakes that I made.

made from leftover fabric from her full size quilt cover which I altered to cot bet quilt size.

I added applique teapot cups milk jug sugar bowl and spoons in one section and a plate of biscuits, some cupcakes, doughnuts and sweets in the other.

The drawstring around the edge gets pulled to bring the edges together to form a bag.

The reverse is a patchwork of matching fabrics. Some of the sections I stitched little rhymes like 'Polly put the kettle on' and 'five little buns in the bakers shop'

With still some fabric left from the quilt cover I made a little pillow and patchwork quilt for a small wicker pram which my oldest daughter April was given on her 2nd Christmas which was fished out the loft, April was delighted to see her little sister pushing the pram on Christmas day.

Next was the quilt I started 13yrs ago and which got put in a drawer and almost forgotten about.

blogged about here and here

This is how it looks now

and for the other side I got a lovely 'Bindweed' flower fairy panel and added patchwork strips each side

She loved it and it wasn't long before she was snuggled under it on the sofa



Next was the second patchwork project which I pulled from the drawer and blogged about here 

This quilt was started about 13yrs ago for David and he has asked me a couple of times as to what happened to it.....now I'm pleased to say its complete

This is the front

and this is the back

Those patches are all pieces of Davids shirts

Which he wore around age 10.

He was also delighted to see his finished quilt ...I didn't get a picture of him with his quilt.

with lots of bits of shirt fabrics left over I also did him a heat pad which goes in the microwave

With a removable washable cover and one for Harry too

from one of his old shirts

and a fun pencil pot covered in paper rolls from one of his old Beano comics

April also got a heat pad and lots of other things I made I forgot to photograph in the last few mad rushed days leading up to Christmas ....garlands, paper hanging hearts, snowflakes, gingerbread cookie kits, hand warmers, rag bracelets, laptop covers... ... each of them warmly appreciated.

I'm really pleased to have achieved so much and I'm looking forward to beginning the new year with new projects.

I'm off now to check on my steak pie, homemade soup and chocolate covered shortbread and bring in the new year with a Glava or two ;o)

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year wherever you are in the world x

Snowflakes

I had forgotten how simple and fun these little things are to make.

What a relaxing and rewarding way to spend some time.

 Cut some circles fold in half 3 times and cut out a pattern.

Each one unique!

decorate cards

stitch and play

use them in your other projects as a focal point

Hidden until you light the candle

decorate

loosely woven onto crochet cotton

Hope you are enjoying this week x

Hanging Hearts

 Been having fun playing around with a simple stitch pattern on my sewing machine, some hand embroidered french knots and red ribbon

some free machine stitching with silver thread and added my favourite heart shell buttons

Two hanging Hearts.............

Sweet little things

I was watching an episode of antique roadshow a couple of weeks ago, it was set in Australia an there was a woman who had brought in a little white ceramic urn with a lid, it had a delicately painted country scene on it and was edged in gold. Turned out that it was quite valuable, she had another one at home and had purchased both together for $12 from an 'opportunity shop' which I though was the best name to describe a charity shop, for we never know what awaits us when we visit.

I wanted to show you two little things I had the opportunity to buy.

On one visit to the Salvation army shop, I was kidnapped by a dear little old lady who was eager to get me to the sale table at the back of the shop which has the leftover unwanted wares, the last ditch attempt to sell before they go out the back door. On first glance there was nothing I wanted or was willing to give house room to but I had a look to be polite and found at the bottom of a box of stuff under the table this sweet little glass ice bucket with a silver handle, well worth the 20p ransom!

and perfect for handing round the Quality street

On another visit to another little opportunity shop, I came across this little silver plated petit four stand waiting to be snapped up for £2.50! I  was so excited to find this little thing as it was just what I was looking for to complete another little Christmas gift project I have been working on.

Sweet little felt cakes for Charlotte .....

They are only little, as you can see them here displayed on my full size cake plate

So perfect in size was this little treasured find.......

These are my first attempt at felt cakes, they were fun to do.

Snow Garland

A few weeks ago whilst browsing on the net I saw a lovely idea for a snow garland, 

I don't remember where.

I thought it might be fun to try out and if successful, I might make a few to hang in the window for Christmas.

The idea looked quite simple small circles of white card and paper doilies sewn on a string.

I used white thin printer quality card and a 1 inch circle punch cutter.

I tried to cut out the circles from the Dollie but they kept jamming in the cutter......this reminded me why I do very little paper craft projects I am never lucky with paper punches they are always jamming on me and I loose interest. I think you have to spend a lot of money on these punches for them to be any good.

Anyway the way round my problem was to cut both together a layer of card with a layer of Dollie on top. This worked much better.

The only downside to this is that its a bit more time consuming, positioning and checking and there is perhaps more waste thank I would like.

So I got out the glue spread some over the card, picked out and stuck down the little bits of leftover Dollie and sprinkled it with a layer of fine iridescent glitter

and got some more little circles to add to my pile...........

Next was the sewing bit which I thought would be difficult but it was easy. Making these only from memory of a picture of a finished garland I thought I would have to use a cord or string so I fished out some white crochet cotton and started to try to stitch the cord along with the first circle.

It was not very successful and the cord came right back out again. I don't have any pictures of the sewing stage but I soon worked out that you don't need cord you simply just keep sewing and feeding the circles through .....card  on the bottom Dollie on the top....a little space of about 8 stitches in between each one. I added a glittery one every now and again spacing them out.

For me the sewing was the fun part and it took very little time to do.

if I didn't have to sit and cut out all the circles I would probably make more but I made one garland with this lot and decided it was all I wanted to do for now.

You can see from the pictures that on some of them I folded the Dollie back for a pretty 3D effect.

I think they are pretty effective and I might make more, perhaps as a two step project of sitting in the evening with the card, doilies and cutter and building up a box full ready to be stitched. 

Right now I'm happy to admire my little garland up on the mirror above the sofa, reminding me of the season.

*******

We got more snow last night............... isn't this icicle amazing!

we have them all around the outside of the house, this is the view from Charlotte's window and her collection of icicles

Our car hasn't moved since last last Saturday, better safe than sorry

and my studio too has a lovely collection of icicles down the side

and this is what the snow pie looks like today..........

it's now 9.5 inches high!..... the bricks you see to the right are the first step to the back door the snow is the same height its quite a deep step about 10 inches high.

Christmas cards ~ Upcycled

Every year I cut up the previous years Christmas cards and make gift tags in an effort to add an individual touch to my gifts and be less wasteful. This year I will have less gifts to tag so I tried some up cycling to make new ones. They wont win an award but they were fun to do and I still have lots more cut out bits to make more.

..... and why will I have less gifts to tag?

I come from a very large , ever growing family and the present list was getting longer every year...

However we agreed last year it was getting to stressful and costly to continue and we all agreed to stop, its a great relief for me, I will miss the wrapping & giving but not the stresses that accompany it all.

I was thinking as I played around with these that, I would still like to enjoy a family gathering with them all and hope to arrange something.

I had an idea to put to my family..... a secret Santa with a difference and

Completely optional to take part..

each person chooses a name from the hat to buy for but the gift must be a charity shop purchase. They would be giving to a charity of their choice, but also thinking that it might be fun and there are some fab things out there to be found.

So what do you think? is this a good idea?

Hope you like my little cards they are pretty basic but at least they will get to see another Christmas