Gingerbread

 I really must get some Christmas cards made but in the meantime I sewed these two cute gingerbread folk, I bought the kits from Crafty Ribbons, added my own bow to the boy and blanket stitched around the edges rather than running stitch as per the instructions. Although blanket stitch takes longer I think it gives a more professional look. The paper templates in the kits will be useful to make more of these for Christmas craft fairs.

Caravans

 I have been busy with so many crafts lately. I recently finished a small cross stitch which I need to make into a card for a friend. I have been cardmaking and doing some more decoupaged items.

I bought some things in Crafty Ribbons sale including a couple of packs of felt caravans to make, the materials and templates are in the packs, I just had to add thread and some gingham ribbon for hanging as they are meant to be keyrings or handbag charms. I think they are too big for that so wanted to make them into hanging ornaments. I thought they would make a cute gift for anyone with a caravan. 

I showed them on Facebook and a friend bought one immediately for her caravan.

 Crafty Ribbons sale has some great savings. I bought some felt packs to make Christmas decorations, felt packs, lace offcuts and some grosgrain ribbon. Free postage if you spend £15 too.

Pocket Hugs

 

I have had this idea rolling around in my brain for a few months and finally got round to making these. I love sewing different things and they are a great way of using up scraps of felt and materials. I diecut the hearts and happily sew them in the evenings whilst watching TV. I am hoping they will be popular at craft fairs and in Prima Rosa, the vintage cafe/gift shop where I sell some of my items.

I popped them on Facebook last night and sold some straight away so will have to make more.

Owls and elephants

 

It is ages since I made any of these but as I have sold out of owls and only have one elephant left I thought I had better make some more for today’s craft fair. I love sewing them so will be cutting some more out and making more for stock.

Have a lovely day. Hope the sun is shining for you.

Glasses/phone cases

 I have my first craft fair coming up in a couple of weeks and as I only have three of these cases left I thought I should make some more. I have lots of material and felt to use so cut out nine and have been sewing them in the evenings. They are all lined with felt and handsewn.

New stock

 These are a sample of some of the things I have been making this week. After selling all but one of my little heart plaques on Tuesday I thought I should make some more. I have a few items low in stock so have been busy replenishing some.

I find the friends blocks are my most popular and as Graham had painted some more for me recently I got those stamped with Inkylicious stamps.

I haven’t made any handbag tissue covers for a long time so had to remind myself how to make them. I enjoyed sewing these by hand whilst watching TV this week.

Alarm is set for 5.15 on Saturday to get to the craft fair in good time. It runs from 9-12 so will be coming home for a restful afternoon. On Sunday and Monday there is a big powerboat meeting so Graham will be there both days driving a rescue boat. I will be spending a lot of those two days crafting.

Love Heart and new goodies

What a relief yesterday’s dentist visit was. We were both expecting to have to make appointments for fillings but he advised leaving them alone unless they cause any pain. 

A friend asked me if I could make her a lilac heart with love on it for her friend who was dying. She wanted to give it to her to let her know she was thinking of her. I only had the request late Friday night so sewed this on Saturday for her. Sadly she passed away on Saturday before my friend had a chance to collect it. However she was going to give it to her family.

I inserted the cross stitch material into the diecut heart and made the design up as I went along. She was very pleased with it. I just wished she had asked me earlier in the week so she could have given it to her friend.

I received my latest DT pack from Craft Label. We are given codes now and as long as we chose the new papers we could decided what else to get. I have been using some of them and will share my cards soon.

 

Flowers and bees

I have so enjoyed stitching these pictures using the flowers and bees set from a digi pattern from Durene Jones cross stitch.  It is the first time I have done a whole set and I love the way they turned out. I used the nearest colours as I have lots of threads. The only thing I did differently was to use all pink threads for the flowers whereas on the pattern some of them are blue. I didn't think they would show up as well as there are already blues in the patterns. The way they turned out I am glad I followed my instinct.

Caravans

These are something I have wanted to experiment making for several months after seeing some on Pinterest.  They keep popping up on my Pinterest so I thought it was time I had a go.

This is the first one I made and I decided it was a bit too rounded. I wanted to give them a rather homespun look but the way the material frays on the bunting annoys me. Looking at several on Pinterest which sell on Etsy they have lots of frayed edges. So I played around with some dies a bit more and this is the second one I made.

I am happier with the shape and the bunting on this one which is a mixture of dies then some cutting with scissors.  I made a note of which dies I used so I know how to make them in future.  Something new for my craft stall.

It is supposed to be a sunny day today so we are going out for breakfast and then I want to pop into Hobbycraft.

Hedgie cross stitch

I really enjoyed sewing this hedgie. I bought a set of 4 and a set of 4 snowmen from Durene Jones Etsy shop when she had a half price sale before Christmas. I sometimes adapt a pattern slightly as I did with this one as the flower on the right hand side should be at the top but I wanted it to fit into a 4" hoop. It may not look that much sewing but it has taken me hours, but very enjoyable hours.

Put it on Facebook this morning and a friend bought it straight away! 

Fairy and flowers

I can now share this with you as it was one of my Mum's Christmas presents. The light reflected on the glass no matter how I tried taking the picture. I used a Go Create frilly  #10 large die to cute the mount. The frame is from Hobbycraft.

I really enjoyed sewing her and kept very much to the colours of the pattern just changing the rose from red to purple to fit in better with my Mum's colour scheme.

You will find lots of fairy patterns to sew on the LOTV website. This one is actually July fairy as the August fairy (Mum's Birthday was a fairy in a swimming costume which wasn't really appropriate).

Cross stitch and papercraft

There is a lady on Facebook called Durene Jones and every Friday she has a free cross stitch chart. I have a few of these and thought it would be fun to sew this reindeer on perforated paper and use it on my Mum's Christmas card. I gave it to her yesterday so can share it on here now as she looks at my blog every morning.  I am really happy with how it turned out.

I used some embossed card cut into hills and used glitter card for the diecut tree and layered snowflakes which are from MFT.  I kept the design quite simple with not too much colour to show off the reindeer. If you saw my cross stitch snowflake the other day then you will have noticed that was sewn on perforated paper. The trickiest part is the fussy cutting.

I am definitely going to try a few more cards like this next year, I have several cross stitch magazines so will be looking through them for more patterns.

Trying something new

One of my crafting friends has set up an Etsy store, Catkin and Lillie, selling cross stitch designs. As a newsletter subscriber I received a free pattern for a layered snowflake. It is stitched on 14 count perforated paper which I have never heard of before. It is really lovely to stitch on and I shall be using it for more projects. 

The trickiest part is cutting round the stitching but thankfully I have a pair of small scissors. It is one of the things you have to do a little at a time and taking your time. I layered each layer onto white felt and then of course had to cut round that. I used small foam pads to layer up my snowflake, stitched some thread through the top and it is ready for my tree. I will be buying the rest of the designs and making some to sell next year.

We are going out to the coast for Sunday lunch today as it is quite a while since we did that. Enjoy your day.

Perfecting my design

I adapted this design from a magazine chart which was for a banner so it has taken some playing around to get it how I want it in a hoop. You may have seen the first one I did, and the cat one. On both of those I had to play around with the space for the bunting. However by starting at the end and working backwards and then redesigning the bunting I am now happier with the design. 

I have noticed cross stitch seems to be more popular again and I saw an advert for Cuddly Buddly with some cross stitch cards. MFT also do a cross stitch tag die.  I have several designs I want to try out having got some cross stitch magazines which were being given away and I have also found some lovely designs from a couple of small companies so watch this space.

The turn of the cat

Some of you may have seen the dog version of this which I posted last month. I made a cat one too and after being in Prima Rosa, the place where I sell some of my cards and gifts, for a couple of weeks the cat one sold so I have made another. These are a lovely gift in a 4" hoop.

I haven't made a card for a few days as I have been busy making tags and sewing. My head is so full of ideas of things to make that it is difficult to find the time to make them all. Thanks for your continued visits and apologies if I haven't been around to comment much.

Christmas Trees

My latest sewing design. I diecut the trees using a banner die from The Works. I really like finding new decorations to sew and hope people will like them. Very busy with orders and making stock for November's 5 craft fairs as well as making more Christmas cards to send.

Snowflake hearts

I had the idea of insetting some cross stitch fabric into felt hearts and I am pleased with how they turned out. I like coming up with different ideas for Christmas decorations and I really enjoy making them. It was a bit of an experiment and I decided to add running stitch to ensure the cross stitch fabric was fully secured. My old Spellbinder dies came in very handy.

Cross stitch tags

I spotted a pack of cross stitch tags to make in Dunelm last week and here they are. There are 4 patterns in the kit, the others are a heart and a mitten but I preferred these.  They were quick to make and now I have the patterns to use again.  They came with plain tags to back them and some cream ribbon which I kept to use on something else as I preferred to use Christmas ribbon which is from Crafty Ribbons.   MFT make a cross stitch tag die so I may treat myself to that once it comes back into stock as it comes with a scalloped tag die as well as the cross stitch panel.

We are out for a meal tonight and then going to the theatre to see one of our favourite singers, Midge Ure. You may remember him from Ultravox. We have seen him more times than I can remember over the years and were so pleased he has come to Norwich.

Another addiction

After so many years of not doing cross stitch I find myself addicted to it. I bought a cross stitch magazine and it had this pattern in it. It can also be made for a cat lover so that is next on my list. It was meant to be a hanger on a wooden dowel but I wanted to fit it into a round frame so adapted the pattern to fit. I do like the back to be neat so cover the back with a felt circle attached to the frame. 

Because this was meant to be a different shape I only just had enough material to go inside the hoop but the next one I will be making I have cut a big enough circle to gather the back in after looking at a tutorial on the web. You gather it in with a running stitch and then cover with a felt circle.  Being only 4" this is a fairly quick project and I do love sewing whilst watching TV unless it is a really gripping drama.  It is the first time I have ever sewn text and I was pleased with how easy and effective it turned out.

Cross stitch bookmarks

Now these are something that look much better in real life. I thought I would have a break from my cross stitch LOTV fairy picture and try a couple of bookmarks using some free patterns from Durene Jones on Facebook.  I started with the owl one and of course it wasn't quick to make at all. There are so many small sections in different colours and lots of backstitching. The butterfly one was much quicker. I backed them with felt and blanketstitched around the edges.  They will be on sale at my craft fair next Wednesday.