The Last Stitch

Well that's me done for 2013...all my orders complete, woo hoo! 

 

Last night I put the last stitch into a custom order; a quilted journal cover using this gorgeous 'high tea' fabric. 

I love these fabrics and the ribbon was an early Christmas gift from a dear friend of mine.  It couldn't have been more perfect, matching the icing on those little cupcakes that look good enough to eat ;-)

 

I've packed my sewing machine away for now, and I won't bee seeing it again for over a week (breathe!!) as we are visiting the Welsh Valleys for a family Christmas. 

 

I've even managed to finish the stocking cross stitch, that I had so many kind comments about. 

 

 

Hooray!  That's another WIP ticked off the list, and all I have left on my list is my bee strip for February. 

 

It's such a great feeling clearing the decks and making way for new projects. 

 

Which start when we arrive at our rented cottage!  I'm pretty sure that Santa has fulfilled my wish, and that a Tula Pink Needlepoint Kit is on it's way to me very soon.  I've never done needlepoint before, and I can't tell you how excited I am to start this!

 

 

 

I'm giving myself a year; the plan is to have it finished by next Christmas.  I really want a portable project that I can work on when I'm not near my machine and I liked the idea of trying needlepoint and I just loved the colours in this.  Not to mention her hairstyle!  I'll let you know how I get on.

 

This will probably be my last post now until after Christmas, as I fear that the wifi signal in the Valleys is going to be anything between bad and non-existent.  But what a good excuse to crack on with my tapestry in between chasing after excitable young children and catching up with all the family. 

 

So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope it's a good one and I look forward to being back before the year is out.

 

Sarah x

A Special Lesson

A few months back my daughter's school had a Promises Auction and they were asking parents to donate items, skills and goods.  Sadly I don't have a villa in Spain to offer for rent, but I do have a few craft supplies and a big kitchen table.  So I thought it would be rather fun to offer a 3 hour parent and child craft session in my home. 

 

And so yesterday was the day mum and daughter came to my house, and we set to work on some little Christmas themed Cross stiches.  Christie is 7 and my goodness once she got going there was no stopping her, she hardly even stopped for a chocolate biscuit!  Here she is concentrating hard on her adorable reindeer motif.

 

 

We had such a lovely afternoon, chatting, sewing, listening to cheesy Christmas music and generally getting to know one another. 

Three hours simply whizzed by.  But the reindeer cross stitch was complete! 

If you look closely you'll see that we even used red beads for Rudolph's nose :-)

Mum Cleo made a good start on a gorgeous Christmas heart.  I know she's really looking forward to working on it in the evenings leading up to Christmas, and I can't wait to see it finished. 

 

 

Didn't they do well!

 

Sadly there wasn't time to do anything with Rudolph while they were here, but later I put him on a matching red notebook.  I'll see them both tomorrow and I can't wait to give it to Christie!

 

It was such fun, I'm thinking of offering a Valentines Special class as well.  In the busy lead up to Christmas, it was such a joy just to sit and forget about everything for a few hours and sew.  Thank you so much to Christie and Cleo for your being such a pleasure to teach.

Sarah x

A Flurry of Finishes

Before I went away for Christmas, I had one very big project that was almost finished but not quite.  I was literally just a few hours short of finishing, but my time had to be duly spent elsewhere, namely wrapping presents and packing suitcases. 
 

So when we came home I was eager to jump right back in as soon as I had completed sufficient amounts of laundry to get us through the next couple of days. 
 

So this very big project is a quilt that I am making to feature in a magazine. (And yes I am very excited!)  You can read all about it here http://www.quiltcandygirl.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-sneak-peak.html and if you don't have time to look at the link then here is a little sneaky peek picture of the quilt when it was a WIP.

I can't tell you how much I want to share a picture of the finished quilt, I am so happy to have it finished, and I think that the gorgeous Kaffe Fassett fabrics work even better than I could have hoped. 

I do however have another little project that I can share with you.  Not a quilt this time, but a little cross stitch for my baby, who is due to turn 1 in the next couple of weeks.  I came across this pattern and knew that I had to sew it for him immediately.

And I have even colour photocopied it and made little invitations for his party.  It's a great idea that I came across in this gorgeous book by a French author, along with the design.

Regular readers will know that I have been away for a while over Christmas and I would love to share with you just a few pictures of a wonderful place that I went to called Cateratas Du Iguazu, which is a series of spectacular waterfalls on the border with Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.  

The photos really don't do justice to what a wonderful place it is and if you ever get a chance to go there, take it with both hands, it's not to be missed!

My final finish was a scrapbook that my daughter (aged 3 1/2) and I put together all about our holiday.  It's been a busy week choosing photos, printing, sticking, gluing and annotating.  But it's finished, looking lovely and has been proudly taken to pre-school this morning. 

I hope you have had a productive week too.  What have you been working on and have you had any New Year finishes yet?  

Linking up with:

 



Sarah x