ALL PRESSIES DONE

Hooray! I have just come out from my sewing room and wrapped the final 2 pressies which are little purses for the vouchers I am giving my 2 girls for Christmas. Being adults they are rather pleased to just receive vouchers or money so that makes my life easy. I always include a couple of little extras as well. So, here are the 2 purses. My eldest loves cats and the other loves Pandas.

After a cuppa I am back in the sewing room making myself a cover for my tablet.

For some reason beyond my blogging  intelligence the date is actually showing as the day before I post. So, this post is done Christmas Eve. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with an abundance of all good things to come in the New Year. Many angel hugs and blessings to you all.

LAST MINUTE SEWING

Whew! I have just spent the last couple of hours in the sewing room making mum a little draw string bag she bought the pattern for at one of the craft shows this year. It has been sitting amongst all my other "to do" projects so I decided I would get it done to slip in with mum's Christmas gifts. All was going well until I had to make the gumleaf that hangs down on one side of the bag. It was so thin to turn the right side out! I nearly turned myself inside out doing it. Perseverence paid off with the help of some tweezers so here it is.

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When I get a bit tired of stitching I pick up my knitting. I have made 4 more face washers for charity. I like to keep a stash ready for when needed.

Another stitchery block for  the "Once Upon A Time" quilt is finished. This one is Jack and the Beanstalk.

Tomorrow I have 2 little purses to make to hold gift cards for both my daughters. Will I have time to make myself a cover for my new Samsung Galaxy 3 Tablet that Santa brought early???? Yooohoooo!!! Elves, where are you?

Angel Blessings.

GIVING

I don't know about you but I really enjoy making gifts for people and certainly enjoy receiving hand made gifts myself. When one is a crafter one appreciates the time, energy and love that goes into such gifts. Now that Barb and Vicki have both received their gifts from me I can show them to you.

The one on the left was for Vicki and the other was for Barb. They were a bit out of my comfort zone to make as they have spring closures on them and are also little bags. I have great problems making lined bags and tend to avoid making them for myself despite loving the array of beautiful quilted bags out there to make. I also made a little hanging of a snowman for Barb as she loves snowmen.

Some of you may recognise the stitchery from Gail Pan's Christmas book. Well, until my next post many Angel Blessings to you all and thanks for visiting.

A GIFT

A beautiful forum friend of many years sent me a Christmas pressie that I received today. Vicki and I have always exchanged homemade birthday and Christmas gifts as have Barb and I. Infact, Barb and Vicki have been my forum and bloggy friends around the same amount of time. We have been fortunate enough to meet a few times too. Here is the beautiful table topper that Vicki has made for me.

I particularly love those fabrics and the design. I made pressies for Barb and Vicki but Barb hasn't received hers yet so I can't show them to you until she lets me know that she has opened hers. I do have 2 more stitcheries to show you. "Rapunzel" and "The Princess and the Pea."

It is very hot here today but I have been doing a little stitching. I hope you are not all melting with heat. Until next time Angel Blessings to you all.

WHOOPS!

The gremlins returned and the post I just did is a bit weird. Please scroll down a fair way to see the pics. My humble apologies. Those gremlins need a holiday!

THE ELVES CAME!

I did it! The stockings were all completed , wrapped and parceled up last night. They have all been posted up to Qld today so I hope they get them before Christmas.

 Look what else has happened.

AND

There's more

The quilt above was a free Gail Pan BOM a few years ago. The reindeer below was from gorgeous Barb a few years ago.

 

Hmmmmmmm! I wonder if they will be back tonight? Angel Blessings to you all.

JUST HAD TO...

....open my present from Barb!

I am so glad I did. Another lovely Chrissy deco to proudly display. So cute!I am so spoiled because I looove Cottage Garden threads use heaps of DMC and purple is my favourite colour. Anyone would think that Barb knows me well hehehehe. Thankyou so very much my beautiful friend. I am still busy stitching 4 Christmas stockings for 2 of my great nieces and 2 great nephews. So far I have cut them out , cut out the lining and stitched their names on them. Just need some mojo to get back on the machine now.

I was recently looking at Melody's blog and saw a crosstitch that she had done. I did the same one back in 1993 so I thought I would share it with you.

Sorry about the glare!!!! Where did that 20 years go? I have another one to show you. This one was stitched back in 1990-23 years ago!!! OH MY!

I remember this one had lots of half stitches and some single threads. I also had a 2 year old and a 6 year old.   Now I wonder how I ever got to stitch so much back then LOL.

Well, I guess I had better get back into the sewing room if those stockings are going to be finished in time to post in a day or 2. Wish me luck.

ANGEL BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL.

FINISHED IT

Yes, I know, don't fall off your chairs, it's another update. I hope I am not boring you with all my projects but I guess if I am then you wouldn't be peeking. So, what have I got to show you? I finished the Gail Pan Christmas stitchery and bought a hanger especially for it. It is not yet displayed where I want it to be but for the pic I just hung it on the dresser.

After needle turning the heart I decided to do a backstitch around it to give it a bit of ooomph.  I have also completed 2 more of the stitcheries for the child's quilt. Little Red Riding Hood and The Tortoise and the Hare .

 Rapunzel is currently in my hoop being stitched so I may have her ready to show you soon.

 Thankyou so much to all of you who have taken the time to comment on my blog . Through illness, pain and other life challenges stitching has been a great therapy for me and your comments are so inspiring. You are all wonderful stitchers yourselves and I love looking at all the work you do as well. Angel Blessings.

BON BONS

I am starting to stress about completing all the Christmas projects and gifts in time but I did manage to finish these 3 bon bons which are a cute little design by Anni Downes.

I finished stitching Gail Pan's Christmas stitchery and needle turned the applique heart. I usually do blanket stitch applique but thought I would give this method a go. Now it is ready to baste and hand quilt. Anyone seen those elves?

Now, back to the sewing room to complete 4 Christmas stockings , 3 pressies and finish off another little project. The question is, will I achieve all this in time? Angel Blessings to you all.

CREATIVE CHRISTMAS CHAOS

Whew! I had a marathon evening on my sewing machine last night before it turned into a pumpkin! Usually I enjoy a lot of hand stitching but there comes a point when borders and bindings are quicker on the machine particularly when one is on the countdown to Christmas. Sew many things, sew many pressies and sew little time. Oh dear! What a mess I have created!

At one point I took a step back from the table and nearly tripped over my cat who had curled up snuggly on the Christmas stockings I had cut out and left on the floor. Hopefully I shall get to tidy up the room after I have finished the Christmas projects. Thanks for stopping by. Angel Blessings.

STITCHERIES and READING

A while back I mentioned starting a quilt for a future (yet not thought of) grandchild. It is "Once Upon A Stitchery Quilt" by Smee Designs. I bought a jelly roll of Kaffe Fasset's spotty fabrics in a rainbow of colours from Mill Rose Cottage a while ago. When I decided to start the stitcheries I realised I had no idea what colour threads to use. Then I had a light bulb moment! What about a variegated thread? Hmmm great idea but what colour variegated thread? I eventually narrowed the choice down to 2 and then decided to use orange/yellows. So, here are the 3 I have completed thus far. Only 9 more to go.

Meanwhile I have been catching up on some reading the past few weeks.

(Hmm, the photography isn't very good and I apologise for that) As you can see I love to read various genres. There are a couple of biographies in there and I have read most of Jennifer Chiaverini's quilt novels, infact I have 2 more on my "to read" book shelf.  Debbie Macomber's books are lighthearted easy reads based around knitting and Geraldine Brooks is a favourite of mine over the years too.

Do you love to read? I would love to hear what you are reading at the moment .

Angel Blessings.

CHARITY

Today I packaged up some things to donate to the Good Shepherd's Women's Refuge for Christmas. I have been knitting cotton facewashers for a while and decided to buy some talc to wrap inside each one and tie with ribbon.

  Then I put each one in a zip lock bag. They need to see what things are so they know who to give them to.No wrapping.

                     I knitted 3 pairs of booties which I have also put in individual zip lock bags.

 Apparently funding has been reduced for the Women's Refuge despite an increasing amount of domestic violence. Women arrive at the refuge without anything and with children all ages  including babies and teens. Some of these women are pregnant. So, after a lady from the Good Shepherd gave a talk at one of my patchwork groups we decided to make some things for those children  and donate them for Christmas. I thought it would be good to give to the women there as well.  So, I am clickity clacking , crocheting and sewing mainly with this in mind.

Meanwhile I have small items on my stitching hoop for Christmas which I may have a pics of next time.

Thanks for stopping by. Angel Blessings.