Christmas past

Not a lot of posting got done in the run up to Christmas

and also not as many Christmas makes as last year.
I did revamp an ivy wreath I put together from a garland that was looking a bit worse for wear and I added some little salt dough cherubs which I made about 15 years ago!... I can believe I made them so long ago now and that they have lasted so well.


They look happy here even though it was a quick re-do, I'm sure next year I will spend a bit more time on it and perhaps add bigger bow.

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Charlotte and I made some gingerbread men, hearts

and tiny stars

I think it's quite sweet that she calls them ginger bear hearts,

we tied them to the garland that hangs over our dining room archway.

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My two older children David and April came home to stay for Christmas.

The template I used to make the stocking last week came in very handy when I couldn't find Davids.

(I vaguely remember it in workshop to do a repair on it last Christmas, now cant seem to find it)

I got some of the shirt scraps left over from the quilt I made him last year and stitched them together to make a new stocking :)

A little bit of felt holly & free machine letters add a festive touch!

I was quite pleased with the result.

Last year April decided to take her stocking away with her and forgot to bring it so her order is in for next year ;)

Santa did eventually come, not a great shot as it was taken at quite a late hour not as late as the time stamp though I think its about a couple of hrs out. I don't usually use the time stamp it got switched on by accident.

and a few hours later...............

a carpet of paper!......

I feel very proud that every toy item that we got for Charlotte was not a 'new buy' but thrift finds on Gum tree, charity shops and our local car boot sale, My older kids too got some items from the same and the 'new buys' that we did get were purchases made possible from selling things we already had and for one reason or another no longer required, clothes, toys, household and electrical items. Both Kevin and I agreed that it was a much more satisfying approach to Christmas spending.

Harry :)

I like to plough through the paper for a couple of hours before we clear up :)

Charlotte with big brother David enjoying her chocolate Santa.

This time stamp doesn't seem right as she was in bed about 8.30pm

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Boxing Day, a lovely shot of my girls,

 April and Charlotte in her beautiful fairy dress April bought her for Christmas

We had a family get together at ours on Boxing day and I was delighted that some of them took me upon the idea I had last year for the charity shop secret Santa. A lovely time was had by all with some great pressies  exchanged each costing no more than £5 from the boot sale or charity shop.


This was my gift

A lovely butterfly candle holder and heart bottle stopper from my nephew Dylan.

I hope you all had a lovely peaceful Christmas
Thanks for stopping by
Yvonne x

Christmas stocking

Busy busy with lots of preparations for Christmas!

My friend Vicky asked me to make a stocking for her little Joshua, at very short notice.

She had one made last year for Adam, but the lady who made it for her was not making them this year so she came to me.

She didn't mind if it wasn't the same

(thank goodness as my machine is not a commercial embroidery machine)

and...... I prefer free machine embroidery......with a little bit of needle felting in for good fun!

The only request was that it had to be the same size.

She was delighted with it!

Next year I might take orders for these as it was fun to do.

Memory Quilt & Rag Rug

Have made a little progress with Charlotte's Quilt

I changed my mind slightly on the 3rd block, I machine stitched the heart shape that I cut from the little bib on with brown to match the stitching on the flowers and cat, but I decided to hold off on adding the deeper pink flower patch. Instead added this to the 4th block which I made using the another top.

I decided the colours are a better match. I used the sleeves which had a pretty embroidered pattern around the cuff, still have enough fabric from this top to make another block as well as using it to trim the edge of block number two

I loved this little bib which I cut and slightly re-shaped into a sort of fish shape ready to be added to another block......Charlotte insisted that the 'Tombliboos' oversee this recent work

Have made a little progress with the rag rug too!
two more all in one sleep suits added :)

It measures ten inches across now.
Still to add the latest little pile of leftover pieces from the tops used for the latest block.

Anyway!.....about the roses

I'm sure that many of you who are creative will understand how its easy to get a little unfocused where there are so many things you want to do and so many projects on the go.

I did start out some months ago with the intention to work for some time exploring and experimenting through a theme, 'Roses', I did some experimenting, and shared some of what I did, 

 

and some I didn't manage to show....

playing around with tyvek

and metal

using the image from stitched paper rose I drew an outline on a metal paste tube

here is how it looks on the other side

then I cut it out

painted and embossed

and re-assembled



I have a couple of ideas in mind but haven't did anything further with it......So

 I still keep looking at all the little experimental pieces and pondering over where to go next with my rose theme......I made some little fabric buds which I havent managed to get a picture of, its very difficult here in Scotland at the moment to get good light into a picture unless you go outside and its raining so not possible at the moment I will try and get some soon. What I have noticed is that I never really left the roses theme, I just carried it along with me, I tend to wander over onto other little side projects like the scrappy hearts, I followed that up with some more experimenting with the scrappy fabrics this time it was the pinks and purples box and decided to do this little mirror from the 'new' fabric I made from the scraps

perhaps the colours I was working in drew me back to thinking again about roses.

It gave me a chance to try out those little chiffon roses with the beaded centres

Purple Hearts

I made these 'Purple Hearts' earrings from a beautiful gift bag I received for my birthday.

The gift bag was from 'Willow' (I think) with some lovely Burt's Bee skincare products in.

I just loved the pattern on the bag and had it sitting on a shelf in my workshop until I decided to make it into something.

I just thought it was too good to just put in the paper bin!

available here <3

Perhaps they would make a nice gift for someone.....

Happy Scrappy Hearts

The little boxes I keep on my cutting table for all the little leftover scraps from projects are filling up

 and are inspiring in themselves,

I opened the one with all the blues and greens and enjoyed an afternoon last week

making these little Scrappy happy hearts.

I was going to make them hanging hearts,

 then I thought they might look nice adorning a wreath,

 but they are so tactile I feel more inclined to display them loose,

where they can be picked up

 touched and held

 in your hand

 they are lovely to hold and

 so full of happy!

So they are

 available as is

 to do with what you wish and enjoy........here



Machine Embroidery ....a little bit of progress

Remember this?

Blogged about here Machine Embroidery

Then again here Stitching with Tissue Silks

another abandoned project, well, more an experimental piece,

 I didn't have a finished project in mind for it

I retrieved it from the the UFO basket on my worktable ....thinking .... I'm on a roll with this clearing out and finishing things...its quite good :)

Every time I think about doing something more to it, I hit a brick wall and a little voice from my past (A lovely Lady called Pauline, my City & Guilds Tutor) comes in and says  "If you don't know where to go next....cut it up and weave it!" (it became the class quote :)

Now I once suggested this in a conversation with some ladies (family who were visiting and requested a little look in my studio) regarding this little piece, the thought horrified them, they said it was lovely as is and that I should just frame it.

That was never going to happen!

So out came the scissors!

Im sorry to say I dont have pictures as I set about it one evening while pondering in my little studio and the evening is never a good time for pictures.

This is what it looks like now.

I did weave it, well I have never did this with a piece before..... I then machine stitched it to some lovely teal coloured velvet fabric.

Im thinking it's going to cover a mirror frame ..... well I have a pile of those that need used up! .......I really am on a mission to use up stash and finish projects :)

I dont think I'm going to machine stitch on it any more ....Im thinking the next step is to get it on a frame and hand stitch some more detail into it and perhaps some beads.

Any thoughts on this? I would love to hear them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yvonne x

Romantic Rose Inchies

I started these little pale pink inchies when I was working on the romantic hearts collection.

I set them aside for other projects and rediscovered them a few days ago, 

In another effort to de-clutter my sewing table I enjoyed some inchie time.

Pretty peachy pink pastel shells,  bugal beads

tiny pearly glass seed beads, flowers and dragonflies

crystal amethyst, a vintage diamante,

a shiny silver star, antique lace ......

french knots, shell button hearts,  a romantic ribbon rose.

each backed with white cotton and hand stitched edging

and if you know of a place that they might feel at home ....Boxoftrix on Etsy <~ click here

Thanks for stopping by!
Yvonne x