Deck the halls

These are some of my recent Christmas projects, i have been busy sewing away. The tree is up, the presents are bought so i am very organised. I have invited my family and myself over to my sisters for Christmas dinner as i cannot be bothered with the mess on Christmas day. The kids toys are usually just everywhere so going elsewhere means i do not have to tidy for people coming over. School doesn't finish to the 22ND so they wont be waiting to long until Christmas especially with all the visiting we have to do beforehand.There is many school activities and parties still to attend though. In all i intend not to be caught up in the rush of Christmas and basically hibernate and do some crafting for the next few weeks.

Here is the finished wedding cross stitch, as yet i haven't ordered a frame for it but will soon. I have been very busy making christmassy things and i will take some photos to show later. Hopefully i will have time to create some tutorials too, or at least some patterns. I found some really cute lollipop decorations to make at

http://www.bhg.com/ at the fun to make holiday crafts section, very cute. Picture is shown above.

love

I had to do a stitching gift for a cousins wedding but didn't really have time with all the Christmas gifts i have to make. I therefore came up with this cross stitch based on a saying I've seen on a ring, i freehand wrote it on the cross stitch programme and really it shouldn't take more than a day to do.I will post the finished design when done, as yet i haven't even thought of which colours i will use.

Other than that weathers getting colder, nights are getting darker. OK for crafters (any excuse not to leave the house) but miserable for everyone else. Ben is coming home from school in the dark so isn't getting out to play, i quite like having everyone in together without the door constantly opening and closing. Yes winter is pleasant for now!

christmas moose?

Here is some pictures of my finished Christmas design. The outline was stitched using chain stitch and filled in with satin and some back stitch, all 2 strands of DMC cotton. I just made it up as i went along, colours used were dmc numbers 666 (red), 3813 (blue/grey), 973 (yellow), 3348 (green), 310 (black), s5200 (satin white). Satin white as that was all the white i had left!

Hope someone out there likes it enough to have a go at stitching it, it really is very easy. I am hoping to go out and find some snowflake buttons or sequins to sew on the background but as yet have not been able to get to the store, i will post a revised picture when i do.

Christmas is coming

I bought this christmas decoration and thought the image would make a great stitching project. Here is the stitchery pattern i have drawn up and i will publish the finished item when i am done. Thought it made a rather cute image.

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben is 8 Today, this was him still half asleep this morning. We woke him up to open his presents. We took him to the arcade today and had lunch at Frankie and Bennys, i am now having a little rest before the rest of the family start visiting tonight. It was a good day though, lots of new toys, battle strikers are a big hit but sore on the fingers if you happen to touch them while spinning!

Bonfire night

SPOOKY

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

It was a nice night for trick or treating, not too cold. Ben was a Ghost buster and Cara was a witch
They went to a few doors but a lot of people were hiding in the dark this year and there was very few decorated houses. They did end up with lots of chocolate (of which they have started eating),and only some apples and nuts,(i am sure these will still be uneaten in a few weeks time). A fun night for the kids and another holiday finished, Christmas season next.

scarefest

We are all off to Alton towers theme park for a few days to start the Halloween celebrations. http://www.altontowers.com/

We went last year and it was just a different experience to go on the rides in the dark. The park is nicely decorated and the rides are all changed to include a Halloween theme. My son Ben who is 7 liked the ghost train which was adapted to include real people, he was also a bit scared. He also liked all the light sabres and glow products which were for sale to light up the park at night, in all a very enjoyable day. I hope this year is just as good and at least dry, wet weather is forecast for Thursday and Saturday but Friday looks fine. I also hope to find some craft stores as i would like so new fabric, MO DA looks really good at the moment and i really like their peppermint swirl pincushion, i hope to make it this weekend.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/09/peppermint-swirl-pincushion.html

hello kitty

Here is a Hello Kitty cross stitch pattern i drew up.I have started stitching it and it works well. It is easier if you stitch all of the black first (this is symbol c) then when that is finished it is just like colouring in but with thread.

The pattern is is 66 stitches wide by 80 stitches high which works out about 12 cm by 15 cm on 14 count fabric, so a fabric piece of about 17 cm by 20 cm should do.

It uses few colours:
c black
0 yellow
7 light pink
@ dark pink
B darker pink
blank squares are white for head, hands and feet.

Sew

I have been a bit distracted this week with the arrival of the new Cath Kidston book, its really good. I have already made two bags and the double oven glove, even though i only got it Tuesday afternoon and it took me a day to go out and choose fabric. It was also my birthday Thursday, i got the new PSP GO so i took time to play this too. In all its been a very busy week for things to do which aren't really the things i should be doing on a working week day. The garden is also needing attending to, the leaves are everywhere and the perennials are dying down, Autumn is happening fast! My son Ben is off school on holiday this week coming so i hope he will help to get the garden looking tidy in time for Halloween and fireworks night on November 5Th. I am nearly ready to start the Halloween decorations this week so that should be fun, hope it doesn't rain all week. I also plan to stitch the peg bag and the kids duffel bag from the book and decide what the kids want as Halloween costumes, its turning into a very busy season. Before i know it i will be taken down the Halloween stuff and starting on the Christmas things. No its way to early!

Happy Halloween

More Halloween pictures, i think i may have quite a few by the end of the week. I am suddenly full of Halloween ideas!

I forgot to mention the pictures are made of plain black cotton and scraps of felt i had lying around. Remember small projects like this are great for practising your embroidery stitches, you can really do anything you want.

Embellish with beads, buttons and sequins.

BOO tutorial

Ive been starting the Halloween decorations this weekend with an easy stitched picture, haven't been able to find a black flexi-frame yet so i may just stitch it into a mini quilt hanging with some patchwork round it. you can just print out some letters or draw your own, instructions are as follows:

1. first sew letters and pumpkin shapes onto black cotton using a
straight stitch.

2. stitch pumpkin features.

3. satin stitch letters.

4. stitch background with a star stitch.

i stitched this project using a 5inch embroidery hoop and drew it on A4 paper to size, so if you can print this out you pretty much have an exact pattern.

pingu bag

here is the finished pingu made into a bag.

pingu

my daughter really loves penguins, she has quite the collection. Her favourite was looking a little worn lately due to its constant cuddling so i re stuffed when she was sleeping and it looked back to normal. however when she awoke she kept saying "penguins broke" (she new something just wasn't right) so i had to take some stuffing out and put it in the wash to get it nice and worn again. Anyway i tried to find a cross stitch pattern for a penguin but couldn't find anything suitable so i just drew one by myself. Here is the pattern for any penguin lovers out there, some symbols are missing but you get the idea. colours are as shown, black,white,grey,yellow,orange and red. i will post the finished piece later.

Halloween Potholder

picture A picture B picture C

its nearly October so time to prepare for Halloween, yeah. I love the American style Halloween of over the top decorated houses and way too much candy, sadly i will be home this year where you get funny looks if you decorate before the 31st! so so boring. I usually start decorating two weeks before and just keep adding everyday and everyday i will pick my son up from school and someone will say "you're starting a bit early". i am sure it will be the same this year. I also prefer the "Trick or Treat" attitude of I've knocked on your door so give me the sweets. We in Scotland have the saying of "the sky is blue, the grass is green, may i have my Halloween", you are then expected to perform some song, dance or joke at the front door of the lacking in entertainment adult. how mad does that sound? if you get some sweets it is a bonus but the tradition is an apple and some monkey nuts! not sure why they are called "monkey nuts" but they are peanuts in their shell.

the potholder is easy and relaxing to do. i made it while catching up on the weeks TV. i first drew a pumpkin shape on a piece of calico. it is the best fabric ever as you can do anything with it and its cheap. you then just trace around the image with a chain stitch, this gives it some depth. i used wool for the outline as i liked the colour, but floss is fine.

next cut some wadding and some backing fabric and layer together. picture A.

you can then quilt through all layers using a basic running stitch. picture B. it doesn't have to be neat and you can use as many or as few colours as you like.i used floss for the straight stitching. its good to experiment with textures and threads.

next take some backing fabric in a Halloween print (i used a patterned felt as Halloween hasn't come to the stores here yet) make sure you cut it a good few inches larger to allow for seams. felt doesn't fray so i just folded it over onto the front and pinned in place. picture C. then you can simply stitch in place. i hand stitched mine as i was still watching TV at the time but you can machine if you like. remember to add a loop for hanging, i used bias binding but ribbon works just as well.


i think the finished result will look good on my Halloween party table.

tina turtle

cara loves her tina turle cushion which was made using an Alan Dart pattern. it is very large and was quite a handful to get through the sewing machine but it worked out really well. the pattern can be found at



http://www.abakhan.co.uk/acatalog/News_Story_14.html

teach pattern

after much playing about with files and web pages here is the cross stitch pattern for teach.

one for teachers

this was a gift i made for my sons teacher. very easy to cross stitch and put together, i thought it was quite amusing, hope she liked it. i will put the pattern on my blog when i work out how. our summer holidays in Scotland is July and august, these can obviously be changed to suit. i used the DMC cross stitch pattern maker to produce the pattern and just really free handed it. hope someone out there likes it. it is just a simple rectangle stitched and stuffed and the ribbons added with buttons to keep it easy.

DAY 1

Hello, after a few months of reading other peoples blogs i have decided to have my own. not sure how it will turn out but hopefully will be full of interesting crafts. i myself love to find new things to make and i only found out about this blog site as i have an addiction to http://blog.craftzine.com/ not a day goes by that i dont look at it. i dont want to miss something really good. i am also hopeing this blog will encourage me to finish projects more often than making lists of things to do. dont know if that is possible?

i didnt want my first entry to be pictureless so heres a photo of the jewelery mannequins i am making for gifts . the pattern is from the new Tilda homestyle book. ill need to work on how to photograph things better but oh well i will learn.