The Last Gifted Gorgeousness of The Year

 Hi and welcome to December's Gifted Gorgeousness post. See Jo's blog here for full details, but essentially Gifted Gorgeousness is a monthly chance to show off anything we can shoehorn into the category of "gifts".

As is usual in December a lot of what I've been making I can't really show yet, but I can show you the ornaments I sent and received in the Needlecraft Haven Ornament Exchange

Here is the ornament I sent to Julie

And here is the truly beautiful Christmas tree ornament that Clare sent to me

Also I made me and the girls matching Christmas t-shirts, because we aren't too old for that right?

Online Advent Calendar Day 6

 Hello and welcome to day 6 of the 2020 online Advent Calendar as hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching

I haven't really done a lot of specifically Christmas crafting this year, but here is a picture of this year's Christmas door wreath, made using foliage from our garden, which sort of counts (as always, please refrain from observing that the door needs painting).

And here is a Christmas table runner I made last year, and which miraculously remained unstained enough to use again this year

The discussion topic for this year's Advent calendar is your favourite book for this time of year. Although I read voraciously I don't really have any particular seasonal favourites so I thought I'd mention a couple
of the books that the girls used to love when they were small

Mog's Christmas by Judith Kerr has Mog the forgetful cat, at first upset and confused by all the busyness of Christmas (she is particularly alarmed by a tree walking around), but eventually everything calms down ("the tree had stopped walking about and made itself all pretty")

or there is this one

Eloise at Christmastime by Kay Thompson (Illus Hilary Knight). We only discovered Eloise by chance, picking up the book purely because our elder daughter is called Eloise, but were utterly charmed by the adventure s of this precocious little rich girl, who lives with, and pretty much runs rings around, her nanny in New York's Plaza Hotel

Gifted Gorgeousness November

Hi and welcome to November's Gifted Gorgeousness (if you don't know what GG is by now, visit Jo's blog for a full explanation, but, in a nutshell, on the 15th of the month we show our gift related crafting)

As usual November is a month when I've made lots of things but can't show any of them yet, but I do have a couple of exchanges to share. Firstly there was the Needlework Haven Hallowe'en Exchange. I showed the Fob I stitched for Mary in my last post, but here is the lovely double sided initial fob I received from Clare.

We also completed the postponed Needlework Haven Easter Exchange at Hallowe'en

Here is the ornament I made for Justine

And here is the very pretty one I received from Julie

 finally a small "make" I added a fur collar to this purchased denim jacket for Naomi

Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2020

 Hello and welcome to the Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2020 as hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching

Some Spooky Stitching for you to enjoy

This is "Witches Cat" by Durene Jones, stitched over 1 and finished as a scissor fob. (you can find the chart on Facebook here) 

This post has been brought to you by the letter F

For your next letter please go to visit Beth

Gifted Gorgeousness October

 Well that came around fast! It's Gifted Gorgeousness time again. Time to show our gift related crafting. For a full explanation see Jo's blog here

Two spooky things to show this month, both of which I made for Eloise.

First this shirt. 

I started with a vintage (1970's) blouse pattern for this, but I re-drafted the collar and sleeves, and added piping down the centre front.

Then there is this dress

This is partially self drafted, using elements from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book and my own bodice design.

In both cases the fabric is from Art Gallery Fabric's "Spooky and Sweet" collection, and it was gifted to me by Minerva in exchange for a blog post.

There are other spooky makes in the pipeline, but I'll show them next month

Gifted Gorgeousness September

 It's Gifted Gorgeousness time again, where we share our gift related crafts. For a full explanation, and a list of all the participating blogs please see Jo's blog here.

A little bit of stitching to show this month. It was Clare's  birthday last week. As you may know, Clare decorates a themed Christmas Tree at her Church each year, and this year her chosen theme is a bouquet of stitched flowers, so I stitched her this little pansy, then I stitched it again on plastic canvas and made up a matching brooch for her.

Double bonus GG points for this one because the chart was in an Italian Cross Stitch magazine that Naomi bought for me when she was studying in Siena.

I can also include this dress I made for myself as the fabulous gingham effect and floral fabric was gifted to me by Minerva. The pattern is the Rockabilly Dress from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book

That's about it for this month. Hoping to be more productive for the October update

Still Catching Up with Alice

 Here is my latest block finish for the Alice SAL. This is "Painting the Roses"

The back stitch on this one was insane!

Next up "The Duchess"