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...

Aaaarghh, the horror, the horror!

Two terrifying Halloween Witches...














...mostly terrifying how grown up they look 

Look at the little zombies. They are only about 2 1/2" tall. Aren't they cute?

And the vampire (Old School, no sparkles!). 
Squee!

I just LOVE them

These are from the book I mentioned in an earlier post.

I'm working on a teeny little undead fairy for the Christmas tree now.

A couple of finishes, another carnival and a pumpkin

Its reveal day for the Monthly Challenge again. This time it was this Christmas design from Gazette 94. I knew I wouldn't get the whole thing finished so I cheated and just used the four letter squares. Just as well when I realised how many beads it used! I had a white organza ribbon with red edges that I ruffled to make the trimming.

This one is by Gentle Pursuit from this years JSC Ornament edition. I used a bundle of precut threads I found that I think must have been left over from a kit, so I don't know what they were. I have remembered now how much I love Bargello.

Finished with a shisha mirror and a bow that came off last years Christmas crackers

Yesterday was Camelford Carnival. This time I managed to get a (not very good) picture of the float all lit up. As you can see from the way the girls are huddled in their shawls it was rather cold and wet!

Naomi got "Best Queen", here she is recieving her trophy from the Camelford Fairy Queen.

I'll leave you with the girls' pumpkin for this years village pumpkin contest. They call this one "They eat their own young".

I really can't imagine where they get it from can you????

A finish, a lovely gift and a spooky book

So I finally finished the September Monthly Challenge from Stitch and Stash. Only 4 weeks late. And can I just say here and now that even though I love how it looks now its finished, I have hated very last stinking rotten stitch of it! The chart gave me migraines, two symbols were so close I couldn't distinguish them and there were so many colour changes I felt like I was stopping and starting more than I was stitching. Still its done now.
I used it to cover the lid of a small box, bravely resisting the urge to make it up into a pincushion, even though I really, really wanted to stick pins in it.

Big pins.
Big sharp pins.

Anway, enough of that. I got this lovely gift in the post from Dusty

I'd sent Dusty some overdyed thread to finish one of my designs because she'd had trouble finding it where she lived, and she sent me this in return. Isn't it beautiful? Thank you Dusty!
(Editted 26/10/10 to include address for Dusty's blog, thanks Clare)

I got some other great post this week as well, I bought myself this wonderfully weird book from Amazon Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead I just love this! The little felties are so gross yet so utterly adorable, there is a classic zombie, a zombie pirate, a zombie bride, zombie vampires, bunnies, kitties and puppies and even a teeny tiny zombie undertaker with bony fingers and a top hat on top of his exposed brains (made from pink sequins). Watch this space for macabre makes from this book, the girls (ghouls?) have already given me a wish list!

Another Carnival and Vintage Pretties

Fun and games for all the family on Saturday, rigging up the float with a generator and lights for Launceston Carnival.
(Eagle eyed readers may notice that this picture was not taken in the dark and the lights aren't on, - it was before the parade - but you can see the disco ball and crystal prisms).
It was a lovely Carnival, and the girls got a 2nd place (you can see the blue certificate on the float).

In the 2nd picture you can see a, well actually I'm not sure what to call it,  picture? embroidery? a something anyway that I made.

I downloaded the wonderful French Haberdashers' receipt image from The Graphics Fairy (if you aren't familiar with this wonderful blog you really need to check it out), printed it out onto cotton photo fabric, then I appliqued it to a piece of linen, embellished it with ric rac, ribbon, and vintage lace and buttons and stretched the whole thing over a frame canvas style. I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Huckleberries

According to the seed packet "Huckleberries are delicious in pies, ice cream, jam, jellies and pies". According to the recipes I tracked down on the internet huckleberries are interchangeable for blueberries in recipes.
so....
Naomi lovingly made a batch of Blueberry Huckleberry Muffins and

Huckleberries.
Taste.
Like.
Earwax.

They are absolutely revolting! Beelzebub himself could not have devised a more repulsive fruit.
Its a good job we tried them in the conservatory, which has a stone floor, or I'd be cleaning spat-out-huckleberry stains off my carpet right now.
We fed the rest of the muffins to the birds.
I'm not sure they were too impressed either.

I have since discovered that the garden huckleberry (Solanum melanocerasum), is a completely different species to the wild huckleberry, to which, presumably, the internet recipes refer. Shame they didn't mention that handy little snippet of information on the seed packet.
The Garden Huckleberry is apparently "very sour" and not to be eaten raw. No kidding!
I've got pounds of the evil little beggars in the garden. I am assured that they will indeed make excellent jam, however I seriously doubt my ability to persuade my family to ever try it, or any other new fruit or vegetable for that matter.

On a less sour note I finished my monthly ornament SAL :-

Not so much an early finish for October as a late one for September but a finish is a finish!

The teacup of destiny has spoken

And the winner is comment no. 3, which was made by Mylene. Mylene, if you can let me have your postal address I'll send you your prize.

The weather is enjoying one last glorious burst of summer here, look at this gorgeous sunflower, Naomi has been growing sunflowers in the space behind the greenhouse, and they are looking wonderful.
I've been growing huckleberries in the same area. This is a new crop for me and I'm not entirely sure what to do with them now I've got them. Any ideas? Clean ones only please ;D

On a nother note, (note, get it?) I got the new Robert Plant CD at the weekend and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Think the rest of the family might be getting a bit fed up with it by now as I've played it almost constantly...

A touch of autumn and a small give-away

There's a touch of autumn in the air today.

Don't you just love these mossy old logs? No? You just want me to shut up and get to the giveaway? Well OK then.

In a Cath Kidstone-esque moment, I bought a couple of old plastic bangles in the local charity shop, covered them with gingham ribbon and decorated them with ric-rac braid, buttons and ribbon rosebuds. I thought they would look very shabby-chic.
Which they do.

To my chagrin however (great word that, chagrin, I should use it more often) I discovered on finishing them that they are far too big for me (I have tiny wrists and hands), and fall off of their own accord. Note to self: try them on first next time. Anyway, rather than throw them away I thought I'd see if anyone here wanted them. I might even add a few other goodies in too. Just pop a comment on this post if you fancy them, and I'll put any names in the teacup of destiny next Sunday

Upcycling (or TUTBOTS)

A couple of "Things (that) Used To Be Other Things"

First my new oven gloves (which used to be a couple of pairs of old jeans, I could have used just one pair had it not been for a bit of a cock-up on the cutting front, but I kind of like the colour change).
I got the basic idea for these from Alisa Burke's blog (which is full of brilliant ideas and inspiration). I tweaked her idea a little bit as the originals were individual mitts and I prefer a double oven glove.

Next a small corsage. Can you see what it used to be? Yep, its half a zip ~ with a tiny bit of ribbon and a few odd beads to jazz it up.
These are such fun to make. I bought a big handful of old zips from the charity shop and I've made a pile of them.

Now, what old junk can I chop up and re-purpose next...

Results, a trip and two small finishes - warning, picture heavy post

Lots to write about this week.

On Tuesday Eloise got her GCSE results. An A* in Maths, 4As, 6Bs and 2Cs, we are so proud of her. She is off to Truro College, starting next week, to do A levels in Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics. It is a 45 mile bus journey each way which makes it a long day, but it is a really good college.

Sometimes you just have to forget you live here and do the whole tourist thing, so on Friday we went to Marazion and St Michael's Mount for the day.
When we got there the tide was just far enough out to walk across the causeway.

And here is the view from the bottom of the island, looking up at the castle....

.....and from the castle looking down!

A couple of pictures inside the castle and church

When we got back to  the mainland we wandered round Marazion for a while then sat with a drink and enjoyed the view. OOOPS! Looks like these people made a minor miscalculation on the causway front!

And I did promise you a couple of small finishes, the first is the Monthly Challenge piece. This one is from Penelopis. I made mine into a little "pretty" to hang from a cupboard door. (One very well known designer calls these "Knob-knockers", which pretty much goes to show she's not British if you ask me). This month's album with all the finishes is here.

And finally (insert sigh of relief from readers) a Christmas Ornament. I've fallen a bit lot behind with the monthly ornament SAL this year, but I've just managed to squeeze one in for August. This one is "Pear Tree" from LHN. I noticed after I'd made it up that I'd forgotten to add the little beads to the branches, but I think it looks OK without them.

Showtime!

It was the Horticultural Society annual show yesterday. Miserable drizzly wet day, but we still had quite a good turn out.

Look at these wonderful veggies, no surprise that they won the "best in show" (No, I didn't grow them, wish I had though)

And here is a little corner of the floral art and cookery sections.

Eloise won the cup for "Best in Show Floral Art" and a prize for her painting, and Naomi got "Most points - Cookery" and a gold medal for her Mini Tray of Flowers and Vegetables.
I picked up a couple of firsts with various handcrafted items, but I'll save them for another post.