Gifted Gorgeousness - April

A couple of days late, but here is my gifted gorgeousness post for April (If you are new to this GG is a Blog Hop hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything we have made as, received as, or made from something received as a gift - or anything else we think we can get away with shoe-horning in for that matter)
I've got a few things I can share this month (and a few I can't, so that's next month's post sorted too!).
First up is the pendant I made for a friend's birthday. It is a piece of local seaglass for which I made a claw-setting from recycled eco-silver. A bit of a steep learning curve making the setting but I think I've got the hang of it now!

Then there is this shirt I made for my husband. The pattern is Simplicity 1544, and the fabric is a cotton lawn with a kind of William Morris-ish pattern of stylised bluebells. The collar band and inner cuffs are in a contrasting plain purple cotton.

And finally the piece I stitched for the Needlecraft Haven Easter Exchange.I finished as a "lollipop" and it's displayed with a wooden tulip my girls bought for me in Amsterdam. The design is from La Comtesse et le Point du Croix It's still here as we are keeping the exchange virtual for now and posting out later, so I can't say who it is for in case they read this.

That's all for this month. Off to work on some May gifts now.

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop

Hello, Happy Easter, and welcome to my post for Jo's Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop. 
We were asked to show a piece of Easter/Spring stitching. I planned to show the Blackbird applique piece from last year's Spring Craftpod, but as you can see it isn't finished!

 

Instead here is an Easter Banner I made a few years ago

Now the bit you are really here for. Your letter is

and your next stop is

 Here

Slightly Late ISHW Post

Still trying to keep up with my Alice SAL. This is where I've got to now:-

Really enjoyed this month's block. I wonder who we'll get next month, I'd rather like to see the caterpillar.

Gifted Gorgeousness - The March Shoehorn Edit

Hello, and welcome to my March Gifted Gorgeousness Post. For a full explanation of Gifted Gorgeousness, the monthly blog hop where we celebrate the generosity of the crafting community by showing off our gift related makes. For a full explanation please see Jo's Blog
To be honest I've really struggled to find anything that fits the criteria this month, so in best shoehorn tradition here is a dress I made myself.

The beautiful vintage rose print fabric was gifted from Minerva in exchange for a review, which will appear on their blog soon.
And here is my finished Sugar Bowl Crafts scrap-busting sewalong quilt top. A couple of the scraps I used were gifted to me by sewing friends so I can just about manage to squeeze it in here.

That's it for this month. Hopefully I'll have more to show next time around.

March Already? Late February IHSW

I did actually stitch it in February, I just didn't get round to blogging it. Here is the current progress on Cross Stitcher Magazine's Alice SAL

I've also been doing a Scrap-busting challenge with Sugar Bowl Crafts, I'm hopelessly behind on it, but here are the first four squares laid out together.

And Finally, the March page in the subversive calendar the girl's made for me

The caption reads "The best things in life are actually very expensive - you know like truffle oil ... or cocaine

Gifted Gorgeousness February

If you still aren't sure what Gifted Gorgeousness is all about hop over to Jo's Blog for an explanation, but basically once a month we post about our gift related crafting.
Yesterday was opening day for the Needlecraft Haven Valentine Exchange, Tjis was a non-stitched exchange - we had to send our partners a pair of Valentine-ish socks and some matching threads.
I had a daft moment and forgot to photograph the parcel I sent to Julie but here is the lovely gift I received from Clare.

Fabulous socks and threads and I'm really looking forward to trying the chocolate.
Speaking of Clare, she was the winner in my New Year Competition, so I stitched her this little pillow.

The Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Hi, and welcome to the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop. This is a blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. We all sent her a picture of something Valentine related that we'd made, and she mixed them all up and sent them out again. If you pop over to her blog you'll find a list of everyone taking part.
This is the Valentine I received.

Thank you Secret Stitcher, it's so pretty.
Please comment and let me know who you are.
I wonder who got mine...