Last blogpost of 2010 - picture heavy

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I thought you might like to see some of the stash/hand-crafted presents I recieved. The threads are from Clare and Karan, and the beautiful stained glass angel is from Barb (her very talented husband made it)

This wonderful exchange gift came from Suzanne (no blog). The little frog is sitting in my study now, keeping his friends away!

Neither stash nor handcrafted, but so exciting that I had to include it was this gift from the girls. David Tennant. Patrick Stewart. Shakespeare. Whats not to swoon over?

And here is a picture of some of the crafty things I gave as presents, which I couldn't show before Christmas

The scarves are knitted with Rico Pompom, and the sets of coasters are made from upcycled denim and fabric scraps, and were inspired by this tutorial

Finally it only remains for me to wish you all a Very Happy and Healthy New Year

Happy Christmas and a gift for you

Wishing You All a Very Happy Christmas

Here is a little Christmas Rose chart for you. Left Click to save/print.
Enjoy!

Once upon a time ...

...there were three little ornaments.

This little ornament was stitched for me by Julie for our ornament exchange. Isn't he just fabulous? As you may know I love penguins, so this was perfect for me. He's backed with penguin fabric, and he even had a secret pocket on the back with a chocolate in it. He's still got a secret pocket on the back, but its kind of empty now...

This little ornament is the one I sent to Julie.

Its adapted from a design on the Chronicles of Frimousse blog.

And finally this little ornament is a free design from Sue Hillis. I saw a finished version of this on Dani's blog on Monday, and immediately knew that I had to stitch it for Naomi. No sooner the thought than the deed and here he is. He's backed with the fabulous skull and cross bones bandana print he's photographed on, and I added a little coin charm to look like a bit of pirate swag (and not because I hadn't got him quite centred on the ornie. Oh no! Definitely not because of that...)

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

If you've been reading this blog for a while you will know that our local florist has a fun Christmas floral design class every year. Here is my effort from this years class, gerberas, lysimachia and gloriosa lilies arranged in "Christmas puddings" carved from oasis and wrapped in organza (very nearly at the expense of my sanity I might add)
In case you've ever wondered at the hulking great wooden behemoth in the back of these pictures by the way, its a speaker. 
A very large speaker.
A very large speaker that produces sound below the range of human hearing.
Don't ask, its a guy thing.
On the stitching front, I've finished and sent the ornament I was making for my private exchange with Julie, so I can show that as soon as I hear it has safely arrived. I've also stitched some Christmas gifts for friends, but since some of them read this they'll have to remain under wraps for now.

Still here!

I've been knitting, stitching and sewing up a storm lately, I feel like Santa's little needle-elf! There is a lot I can't show before Christmas, but here are one or two bits.

Here is the extremely pretty orrnament I recieved from Karen J (no blog that I know of) in The Gift Of Stitching Magazine ornament exchange. Karen also very kindly included the lovely calendar of Canadian scenes that you can see in the picture.

 And here is the one I sent to Debbie (also no blog).

A few weeks ago, alone and unloved at the bottom of a plastic laundry basket full of textiles in the charity shop I came across a sad, limp drawn thread table runner, yellow with age and covered in stains. I couldn't bear to see it lying there, all screwed up, so I bought it and fetched it home.

I soaked it in bleach for a while and hung it on the line in the sun for an afternoon and it came up beautifully white, though I had to darn one or two tiny holes in it.

Inspired by a project in CrossStitcher magazine (loving their new look by the way), I used waste canvas to stitch these little heart motifs on it. I think it looks very Scandinavian and Christmassy.

Suggestions wanted

I've almost finished Coeur de Chat by Isa Vautier and I'm wondering what to put in the gap. It is charted to say "Bienvenue"
I'm fine with it being in French, not so sure about it meaning Welcome.
If I put that on it do I have to hang it by the front door (where it would be the wrong colours, and no-one would notice it anyway)?
If I don't put that, what can I put instead? Its already got my initials so my name wouldn't work, the date would be too small and I really don't want to go down the whole I love cats route...
Feel free to put any suggestions (clean ones!) in the comments

Things you might find in trees...

 Owls:-

These little chaps are brooches

Undead fairies:-

 

I took some of these to a craft-fair type event on Friday. Didn't sell a single one!

I don't understand it, who wouldn't want an undead fairy on their Christmas tree?

I guess I'm just ahead of my time...