A peacocks garden

Yay!!!! I have literally just put the last stitch in.  I was determined to finish this project in 2019 and I have managed it with 4 hours to spare.  I'm delighted with how it turned out (even though I have no idea what I am going to do with it) and despite some angst over colour choices I have enjoyed participating.  And because the organisers live in Australia (and they had there New Years Eve celebration several hours ago) the first part of the 2020 stitch a long has just been published.  You can find the instructions and information HERE

Happy New Year!

Years End!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas?  The lead up to it seems to take forever what with present buying, making gifts, food etc and then before you know where you are it's all over!  But I had a lovely time thank you!  The week between Christmas and New Year is a nice time to reflect on what has happened over the past year, most of it amazing and some not so good, but I am not going to dwell on the not so good because 2020 is going to be fantastic (I can feel it in my bones)!

At the end of 2018 I made a list of things I wanted to achieve in 2019 and on the whole I've accomplished that - I wanted to finish at least two craft projects every month and even if some of them were only tiny projects I have definitely done that and more, in fact I have 38 items that were finished during 2019 so that can be ticked off as done! (I also had eat less biscuits on my list and that didn't work)

Below are some photos of Christmas gifts I made this year.

 Eight jar lid grips (they have rubber on the other side) - so useful!

 This is my nieces gift tag - actually sewn months ago but not completed until December and went onto her present

 Luscious silk Christmas tree hanging for my son's girlfriend - she loves pink!

Loyalty card holder for a girlfriend

Christmas bauble wreath (I made this back in January and kept it for myself but couldn't show it because Faye made two at the same time to give as gifts)

I have two cross stitch projects I want to finish before the end of the year, A Peacocks Garden (I'm getting really close and I should be able to do that) and January, again it's almost done. I will spend the next few days planning next years projects and activities which is great fun and no doubt I will write 'eat less biscuits' on it again....well it is a wish list after all!!

Here's to a Happy, Healthy and Creative 2020!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Its been a lovely few days having Faye and her husband home.  It won't be too long before they return to the UK for good and I am super excited about that!  I have managed to do some cross stitch and have started January and yesterday made a start on the last part of the stitch a long.  I have been putting it off because I didn't like the final border (it has butterflies all round and was just too dominant and distracted from the peacock).  But yesterday Faye sent me a screen shot from the Face book page of a finished version with a butterfly in each corner and I decided that was the version for me...… only problem is I've run out of the pink thread and I'm not sure I have the stamina to go to the shop to buy anymore until after Christmas! Still it can wait, I've plenty more projects to be going on with.  Today I will watch another Christmas film and put some more stitches in January.  I am linking up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching and next week I will post the Christmas projects I've been working on for presents.

Merry Christmas!

6 Days of Christmas!

 The goose is completed and I'm very happy with her!  Last week on one of our walks with the dog we found some branches that seemed to fit the bill perfectly for displaying the eight ornaments (there's a pear and a goose egg to make it up to eight)

 The photo doesn't really do it justice (it flattens everything out) but it looks nice and I've put some little lights through the branches also.  Hopefully there will be another seven or eight this time next year......I'll need more than a few branches, more like a tree!)

 On Saturday we put up our Christmas tree, complete with cattle shed for the nativity.  My Dad made this many years ago and unfortunately we are missing baby Jesus!  But I still love it.

 I am linking up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching.  In her post today she had a photo of a special cross stitch that she made in 1992.  I can't beat that but every year we have this advent calendar up that was made by my step mum for the children so is probably 25+ years old and Christmas wouldn't be right without that hanging on the wall!  Later this afternoon I will be doing some cross stitch myself but first we are visiting an old lady and taking round a cream tea (not very Christmassy I know but as I'm not a very good cook I thought scones were safer than mince pies!!)

Red work heart 2019

You probably know already that I am a big fan of red work.  I LOVE IT! And every year I stitch a new Christmas heart.  This week I finished my 2019 one of a hare and it is now hung up for Christmas with the rest!

 The Father Christmas was the first one I ever made in 2014 and is probably my favourite!

 They are all patterns designed by Mandy Shaw from Dandilion Designs and every year she brings out a new pattern and a slightly different shape/size heart.

 On Sunday I will link up with Kathy for some slow Sunday stitching.  And after I've done a few things (skyped my daughter, skyped my brother, walked the dog....probably that will include a stop off for coffee and cake, prepared dinner and finished putting up the outside Christmas lights) I will sit down to watch a Christmas movie and finish stitching the goose from the 12 days of Christmas series!  In between stitching I will browse the other slow Sunday stitching blogs to see what everyone else has been working on this week.  Sounds like a perfect Sunday to me!!

Camp blankets!

The leak in my airing cupboard made me get everything out to check if it had sustained any water damage and right at the bottom under all my quilts were the children's camp blankets.  Lots of the badges had come loose and they both needed some TLC.  So this afternoon I've been re-attaching them, this time with the sewing machine.  There is no way those badges are ever going to come loose again!  Its also been a trip down memory lane, as the kids liked to buy a badge where ever we went on holiday and I would hand sew them on (hence they had started to come loose and sometimes they would buy several!)  

 Also sewn onto the blankets are there swimming badges, beavers, cubs and scouts badges and rainbows, brownies and guide badges.  My 33 year old son even has a Spice Girl badge on there (he'll never live that one down!)  These blankets used to go to camp with them and many a happy time spent around the camp fire singing camp songs.  Aah such happy memories!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've had lots of time this week to stitch (mainly because we've been waiting in for various trades people to repair things).  Which means that December is completed and the red work hare is almost done - hopefully get that stitched by next week. I've also made a start on the goose from the 12 days of Christmas series (and I see that mmmcrafts has a 20% off this weekend - might treat myself to the next three instructions in the series!  I've also started to quilt the table runner from the Happy Little Things BOM because I couldn't wait and I really, really wanted to!!

I'm linking up with Kathy's blog for some slow Sunday stitching so hop on over and take a look!