Making Xmas Gifts!

Gosh it’s been a while!  I have been busy making things which has left me no time to write up my blog!

I am trying to complete an overdue birthday present and anniversary present from the summer when I had terrible sciatica!  This was going well until last week when the sciatica came back 🙁  Now I am struggling again, and also now making a ‘secret santa’ gift for the facebook group I am in – I organise this every year and around 12 – 20 people from all over the world join in.  It’s great fun to make or buy the gift for your person and wonderful when your own surprise drops through the letterbox!  As soon as all these things have been given to the recipients I will be able to post pictures on here!

I managed to get to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate last week!  I won the tickets on facebook from Abakhan!  My lovely friend Kate drove us both there and we had a good time stroking all the fabric, patting the wool and admiring the finished items on display.  Definitely worth a visit – much less crowded than Yarndale and just as good in terms of the stalls!  I booked us a parking space on a drive in a residential area only 10 minutes from the venue – brilliant concept called ‘Just Park’ – local people can offer their drive or land for online bookable parking!  Once you pay online you immediately get directions and a printable ticket to put on the dashboard! We parked for £6.50 for 10 hours and the friendly owner came out and gave us directions to the show!  Much less stressful than going to car parks in strange towns and hoping there are still spaces!

I bought some hand dyed mohair which I have no idea what to do with yet!  Some Japanese fabric squares and recycled sari fabric will be used for xmas gift making!

 

lovely little ball of mohair!

lovely little ball of mohair!

That’s all for now – and here is a picture I took today in Chester just as it was going dark – that lovely inbetween stage from day to night which seems quite magical at this time of year!

Chester skyline at Twighlight!

Chester skyline at Twighlight!

Now over to catch up with Handmade Monday!

 

Acorn Cottage Cushion

I had an interesting day on Thursday as I attended a sewing class in Chester at Liberty Bell – this is a fabulous shop set in the Rows in Chester and full to the brim with colour coordinated fabric bales, fat quarters, ribbons and buttons and other little lovelies!  Sue, the owner also sells her designs in kit format so you can take home a ready made pack and create a replica of some of the gifts she sells, such as cushions, dolls, mini quilts and pin cushions.

My day course was to make the Acorn Cottage Cushion! After cutting out all the pieces we had the option to machine sew or hand sew. The one on display was hand sewn with blanket stitch and looked so good that I opted for the same. Hence I haven’t finished it yet but as soon as the hand sewing is complete and the little extra stars and moon embellisments are in place I just see up the sides of the leaf fabric and its a cushion cover with an envelope style back.

Woodland cottage cushion cover

Blanket stitch !

Hand sewing is really a good stress buster and a very different experience from the drrrrrrrrrrrrr speeding along with my electric Janome! Both are useful and fabulous but only hand sewing can be done feet up on the sofa watching The Walking Dead!

If you live near enough, or visit Chester take a look at Liberty Bell on Bridge Street Rows – you will definitely find some Xmas presents and very likely add to your own stash!

Over to Handmade Monday now!