Pin keep pressie!

Lookey, lookey at what I got today from my super, wonderful, talented friend, Wendy over at The Quiet Room ......... isn’t it just gorgeous? It’s a Stacey Nash cross-stitch pin keep drum. I’ve been watching Wendy’s progress on her blog in recent months, as she’s made several of these, but little did I know I was to the lucky recipient of one of them.

 

This is the top – love the rusty pin and bell and the red wool heart

 

 

The next three are various points around the side

And the last picture is of the bottom

Thank you so much Wendy, I love my pin keep – you’re a treasure - I feel very special!

 

It’s good to have something to put on my blog too, as I haven’t completed anything for ages, although I hope soon to have – yes you’ve guessed it – more rag dolls LOL  it’ll probably be another month or so, as I’m making several.

 

Sewing buddy:0)

....... and another rag doll!!! Well, actually, she’s a sewing buddy, not strictly a rag doll I suppose as she has no long dangly legs – she’s designed to sit on your work table and pass you your sewing requirements, i.e. scissors (see in her top pocket),

thread (in the bottom pocket) and pins in her hat .... clever eh?

And where did I get her from you’re asking – aren’t you??!!! – from a shop I’ve been wanting to go to for ever such a long time

.... ‘Liberty Bell’ in Chester (YES, Wendy I’ve been at long last!!) – Wendy is a big fan and has been loads of times, but it required a special trip to get there as it’s a bit further afield for me. Well, I could have bought up the whole bloomin’ shop; it’s full of so much, well, just lovely stuff!!! But I didn’t go too mad, I restricted myself to a McCalls candle in a jar (much better than Yankee candles in my opinion! fabric (of course) and the pattern for this lovely doll called ‘Born to Quilt’.

My version of the doll does look a bit different admittedly, so you could say I’ve been inspired by it rather than making an exact copy.

As I mentioned earlier, she doesn't have the usual long legs. Instead, she has a flat bottom, which is weighted down because she's designed to sit on a table. She has an underskirt, a dress and an apron, topped by a lovely wool coat (seen better here from the back). 

 

What do you think?

Easter bunny for Alice:0)

At last, something to show!!

My old neighbour was coming to visit with her 16-month old daughter, Alice, so the perfect excuse (if I needed one) to make another ragdoll and as it’s Easter, what better than a rabbit. The base rabbit is the Tone Finnanger (Tilda) one, but with my own take on the clothing etc. here she is again sitting under my Easter tree:

 

The starting point was when I recently spotted this ‘Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit ‘ fabric ..... who could have resisted eh? So it just had to be a rabbit rather than a doll.

Hopefully, I shall have something else to show pretty soon, as I’m halfway through another project – OK, yes, another doll ..... I just can’t help myself though!!! So, watch this space.

Present to self:0)

OK, how many of you have bought yourself a little (or big) crafty Christmas pressie eh? I did. This is my first purchase from ‘Winterberry Cabin’ – I even saved it up to open on Christmas Day LOL. How sad is that!! Te he he

 

Chuffed to (woolly) bits with my purchase I am - I’ve bought two kits. The woollen sheep kit I’ve wanted for ages and the other kit, melon hot pads, just looked nice and as I was ordering from the USA, I thought I may as well make it worth the order ........... and so I then added some swatch sets too. The curious thing though is that I also received a lovely pattern book which I didn’t order (and I haven’t been charged for), but does contain the pattern for the melon hot pads. Anyway, I’ve emailed Phyllis at Winterberry Cabin to see what she says about it.

Can’t wait to get started on my woolly sheep ........... !!!

So what did you buy for yourself?

Christmas pressies:0)

Just a quick little post to show you the contents of a lovely surprise package from my lovely friend, Wendy. Now because Mr ‘stupid’ Postman had left the package on the doorstep (!!!) on a rainy (a very rainy) day, the package was rather soggy, so because of that I felt obliged to open the package – that’s my excuse anyway and here we have a lovely little snowman head tree ornament, a sweet little prim gingerbread man, a Mason jar ‘banana nut bread’ candle ........ and a couple of choccies which lasted for about 10 seconds after the photograph was taken – delicious!! I even love the gorgeous Prim tissue paper they were all wrapped up in!!

Thank you so much Wendy – I love them all.

Christmas stitching

I think my motivation for sewing has started to return to some degree, although finding the time for it is a bigger problem now ......... apart from working full-time, I now also have to keep a much closer eye on my 85-year old dad who has the early stages of vascular dementia poor thing. He’s still just about okay with day to day routine things, but anything outside of that causes great confusion, so as his sole carer, increasingly my time is taken up keeping a watchful eye on him! 

That said, the Christmas/winter bug has caught me recently and I’ve managed to complete two relatively quick projects. First of all I made this quirky looking ‘Prim’ ish snowman carrying his skis

 

I have to confess to the idea for this having been ‘nicked’ from somewhere I simply don’t remember now. I saw something similar, probably on a website or blog at least a couple of years ago and saved the picture – goodness knows where though!! He’s rather cute anyway don’t you think? 

And then secondly, I’ve completed a small cross-stitch pincushion. This wasn’t ‘nicked’ thankfully, it’s a freebie from ‘The Drawn Thread’ and it’s called ‘Four fat Friends’ – also rather sweet and didn’t take too long to finish.

 

Oh yes, I nearly forgot – not on a sewing theme, but homemade all the same is my Pear & Fig Chutney – very nice with a bit of cheese, yum!!

I now have an itch to have a go at crocheting some squares with a view to making a blanket ........ I’ve bought some wool so watch this space.

 

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas!
 

It's me again!!:0)

Well, I know I sorted of wrapped this blog up in January, but due to enforced rest and relaxation at home following a hysterectomy 5 weeks ago, I have had the opportunity to do a bit more stitching than usual, so I thought I may as well share it with anyone whose interested.

My first ‘finish’ (totally out of season I know) is my Father Christmas rag doll – I had planned to make him last Christmas, but time simply didn’t allow. I’m really pleased with him, although bearing in mind how much he has cost me to make, I should be pleased, ha ha!!

He has a pair of proper little spectacles and sheep’s wool for his hair and beard. His coat and trousers are made from 100% wool fabric sourced from one of the Scottish isles (it took me forever to track the right colour down)!

I’ve embellished his coat using silk velvet, other scraps of wool fabric, tiny buttons and holly fimo buttons, and I’ve sewn rusty bells around the base of his cape.

And his sack is made from a beautiful sky blue silk velvet with a lovely iron-on vintage image. He has a sweet little bear in his sack, and I shall add one or two other toys in the sack as and when I can find what I want.

Next is this pretty little velvet cushion.

I just hope the camera does justice to the beautiful lime green colour of the velvet, which perfectly matches the iron-on vintage image in the centre – can you tell I’ve been getting in to vintage images?!! The image on the front of the cushion is edged with ivory lace and the back of the cushion is a lovely rose colour raw silk (sorry forgot to take a photo of the back!).

My last ‘show’ isn’t quite a finish and I shall only show a little of it here, as it’s a birthday present for a family member. She probably won’t see this, but just in case. So this is just a bit of embroidery and you can see some of the tiny beads I still have to sew on.

Well, I shall probably be back at work later on next week, so time for sewing will drastically reduce once again. I have enjoyed completing a few more things, but it will probably be a while before I have anything else to ‘show off’. I haven’t unfortunately been able to work on my quilt (see last post), as having had a hysterectomy, it’s too heavy at the moment to work on. Onwards and upwards though as they say (I think)!!

So until another time!!

PS. Blogger has changed since the last time I posted and my lovely font seems to have disappeared - oh bum!!

Bye .............. for now at least!

I see comments from lots of other bloggers about the need for taking a break from blogging ..... and for varying reasons. Blogging can become a bit addictive for some of us (there are worse addictions of course) and I definitely think that I was an addict! Since my second divorce (about 5 years ago) I’d been content to spend a lot of my spare time on my own enjoying my sewing .... then add to that, the discovery of blogging (blogs about sewing) oh joy – I was hooked, and every spare minute was spent either blogging or sewing!! Lately though, over the last year or so, since the sudden death of my wonderful brother, Colin, my priorities have changed – I’ve re-evaluated so to speak, and to some degree I’ve lost a bit of interest in my crafting. I now prefer to spend more of my spare time with family and friends, which I’m sure is a healthier and more sociable option to sitting in by myself. SO, this post is just to let you know that I won’t be blogging, at least for now – whether I come back to it another day, well we’ll see.

Anyway, talking about healthier options (which I was), part of my new routine will definitely include more walking (with family/friends), particularly as my best achievement over the last year or so is my weight loss – very proud of myself I am too (as I believe my brother would have been too) – I’ve lost 5½ stone (that’s 77lbs if you’re in the USA) – a shocking amount I know, but I feel so much better for it, and not to sound too big-headed, ........... OK, so I am being big-headed, I look a lot better too. And just to show off about it, here’s a current photograph of me (enjoying a cuppa) ............. which is soooooooo much better than this one taken about 18 months ago at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC.

Now if you happen to be a reader of the ‘Slimming World’ magazine, do keep an eye out, because my Slimming World leader has asked me to submit my success story – she thinks I stand a chance of having my story published. I haven’t submitted anything yet though, so it won’t be for a while – I have to write it yet!!

On the sewing front, I’m not giving it up altogether. As and when I have a spare hour or two, I shall work on this patchwork quilt I started over 2 years ago, but haven’t touched for about 18 months ........ I aim to finish it hopefully this year – well that gives me plenty of time doesn’t it as it’s only the 16th January!!!

So bloggy friends, I thank everyone who has followed my blog, and for all of the friendships that have been made as a result of it. Thank you all for sharing your sewing and your lives, and for the inspiration that I’ve gained. I hope that some of you will keep in touch with me and write. I would welcome contact through emails, and do hope I hear from you. It has been a brilliant and fun experience, and it is hard to believe the 3½ years that have gone by since I started it.

Take care everyone and who knows, I may come back to blogging one of the days!!

Lots of love

More lovely Christmas pressies!!

Just look at this beautiful redwork embroidery Christmas picture I received from Deb (The Angel and the Pukeko blog). Isn't it beautiful, so much detail and hard work has gone into it - I love it. I plan on getting a nice frame for it eventually, as it deserves to be displayed properly, so that's a task for me in the New Year!

Deb also sent me these rag doll patterns, which I shall keep for another day - I do like them and would love to tackle them one of the days

............ and I also had this cute little 'Dolly Bird' fridge magnet. There was also a very appropriate (for Deb) 'Pukeko' shopping bag, but I forgot to photograph that and it's in the car now as I used it today when I went shopping.

Thanks Deb, I love them all and really appreciate the work you've put into the lovely embroidery.

Anyway folks, this may well be my penultimate blog post, as I shall soon be signing off from blogging - certainly for the time being anyway (Wendy, I will email you soon!) ......... priority's change and life just simply gets in the way at times, but I will explain more in another post. So for now I shall simply say a great big
'HAPPY NEW YEAR' to all my bloggy friends.

Christmas time!

If only you could get a whiff of this picture ........... you would smell the most wonderful smell – Caramel Apple to be precise!!

This is just part of my Christmas package from my lovely, lovely friend Wendy (Quiet Room blog). The little lady above is described as a ‘Prim Wax Dipped Angel’ and she smells just gorgeous. And that’s exactly what she is – a little rag doll angel who has been dipped in wax (the whole thing)! I’ve never seen one before – quite amazing!! She has a lovely little red dress on and curled wire for her hair. As yet, she is still in the plastic bag – the smell is that strong, I don’t need to take her out of it yet.

And as well as my little angel, Wendy has made these beautiful wool cones – they’re so sweet look at the little Christmas mouse, and the Ginger.

Then there’s one with one of those grubby candles that light up (as demonstrated) .......... and then there’s some candy canes and a bundle of cinnamon sticks. They’re really lovely aren’t they?

And as if that lot isn’t enough, Wendy has also been cross-stitching and look at this beautiful Christmas pillow – I feel another "Gorgeous" coming on here!! But I can’t think of another adjective to describe it, so here goes – it’s blooming GORGEOUS!!

Thank you so much Wendy – they’re wonderful and I love them all.

I suppose while I’m at it I may as well show you what I sent to Wendy a couple of weeks ago. I stuck with wool, as that is Wendy’s favourite. First of all, I made a woolly Christmas pudding pin cushion, perched on an old wooden bobbin (made myself one too actually). I used red glass beads for the berries and added a couple of ceramic Christmas buttons, which can either stay attached, or could be snipped off for use if wanted.

Secondly I made this snowman wall hanging – Wendy loves snowmen, and I really enjoyed making it and was pleased with the outcome, as was Wendy I believe.

Anyway, that’s it for now this side of Christmas, so I wish everyone a

VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!