I know that the kids have only been back to school a month and that The Boys are still wearing shorts to school (heck, I’m still in my flip-flops), buuuuuut……there’s no escaping the fact that Christmas is just around the corner.
For those of us who like to give handmade gifts to our nearest and dearest, if we haven’t at least started thinking about what we’re going to make by now, panic sets in.
I actually have made a start, if a lot little later than previous years, but I also have quite a few commissions already this year – yay, thank you, dear customers, for not leaving it until the last minute to place your orders!
I LOVE Christmas commissions, well, any commissions at all, really, as they give me an excuse to be creative and make something when I’ve got no other excuse to sit at my sewing machine – and they enable me to legitimately delay the boring stuff like housework:)
I was asked to make six coin purses, each one personalised to the recipient, so I started the fun part of the design process by choosing fabrics.
One request was for an adult who likes butterflies, so this is quite a grown up purse.
A lining of floral bouquets seemed appropriate for the butterfly theme, and the whole was brought together with a lilac zip and zip pull.
Next up was a little girl who loves Hello Kitty, so I teamed a funky flower print with a cat appliqué.
I decided to pick out the pink and add a pink mini-gingham lining and pink zip.
The next request was something for a “girly” girl, so I went to town with the florals with a flower motif appliquéd onto a small floral print.
A more subtle leaf print lining tones down the busy effect and a love heart zip pull continues the feminine feel.
The brief for the next purse was quite specific; it had to be a grey star on a blue background for a girl who likes the Dallas Cowboys – this is my take on it.
More stars on the inside and a love heart zip pull soften the design a little.
“Cupcakes” was a fun brief to interpret and I found a print that looked like it had ready-made sprinkles on it!
A cherry red zip and pull bring together the red accents in the design, with more “sprinkles” on the inside.
The final brief was “Sparkles” and had me stumped for a while – until I looked down at my engagement ring.
Is that sparkly enough do you think?!
A mini-star print provides more sparkles on the inside.
So here they all are, each one individual to its recipient.
I’ve certainly had a great time coming up with a suitable design for each brief.
What a thoughtful commission – to tailor something specifically to six different individuals. They’ll love them, I’m sure, and appreciate the lengths that this lovely lady has gone to, to find them each something unique.
Time for another Sunday Sevens as organised by Nat at Threads & Bobbins . Not that we’ve heard much from Nat lately – where are you Nat, we miss you?
Working on the lacy border for the Baby shawl commission that I’ve been slogging away at for a few months. Baby was due yesterday and I’ve run out of time! Trouble is, I get a numb bum if I sit for more than two hours at a time, so I can’t knit it any faster.
2. Whilst I’m still in my Summer linens and flip flops, I’m looking ahead to more typical Autumn weather and thinking about what to wear on the chillier days to come. I’m making the main view in orange and brown Ponte Roma – very seasonal colours. It’s actually a dress which looks like a skirt and top and I reckon it’ll get a lot of wear as it’s as comfortable as a tracksuit but MUCH smarter for everyday use. In fact, I’ve already got plans for a second one in different colours.
3. I finally got around to buying some spray starch for all those crocheted daisies that I made back in July. What a difference it makes. These are going to be a garland for my upcycled oak dresser.
4. As you probably know, I cook a LOT, so should be pretty good by now. However, cakes are not my forté – they always taste great….but look rubbish. Not this time! I used this Carrot Cake recipe and followed it to the letter and it actually rose!
5. I doubled up on the icing so that I could put some in the middle, too, and topped it off with the grated zest of an orange.
6. Here’s what’s left of it on the far right after a friend hosted a very successful charity MacMillan Coffee Morning during which over £200 was raised!
7. My iPhone 5s is currently residing in a bag of rice. Why? Dear husband left it in his trouser pocket and it went through a wash cycle. I think it’s too far gone to dry out in a bag of rice. I’ve got 18 months left on the contract and no phone so you can imagine how cross I was. Anyone got a spare one…..?!
8. No.1 Son took a snap of the harvest lunch (as I no longer have a camera phone…). It was taken at the end when people had started to leave so you’ll have to believe me when I say the hall was full and it was a lovely atmosphere.
9. And finally……#stitchingsanta 2016 has started! Click on this link to sign up and take part this year.
The last two year’s #stitchingsantas were such a roaring success, that I promised to do it all again this year and the time has come to sign up!
It’s a Secret Santa with a difference aimed at all the like-minded crafty folk here on the internet – YOU!
Whether you’re one of the lucky few whose family know and understand you so well that you receive endless perfect gifts based on your love of sewing/crochet/knitting or, like me, your wish list is met with a “What do you want one of those for….what is it anyway?” – #stitchingsanta is for you.
Can you imagine unwrapping a gorgeous skein of wool, a perfect metre of fabric, some vintage buttons or some embroidery silks? Perhaps a little handmade gift has been popped in the parcel too? All lovingly thought out with your interests in mind and guaranteed to be under your tree on Christmas morning. What a treat!
There are TWO categories to choose from – you can enter both or just one but PLEASE state your preference in your email. Choose from “Sewing” or “Crochet/Knitting”.
The idea is simple: if you would like to take part, comment below by the deadline of 31st October and I’ll send you the details of your lucky recipient.
You may already know this person as a follower of their blog but, if not, have a good look around their blog and try to put together some gifts that they would really appreciate. See my experience of previous #stichingsantas for what to expect: –
I will update this page with details of the blogs that are taking part so why not follow along and make some new blogging buddies!
How To Enter: –
You can enter from anywhere in the world but I will try to match countries in order to keep postage costs down.
State which swap(s) you would like to enter and send your email address, blog site and postal address to me at info@sewchet.com by midnight on 31st October 2016.
I’ll email you the details of your recipient by 7th November.
Spend a maximum of £10 (€13, $15US, $20AUS) excluding postage.
Blog about your #stitchingsanta (linking back to this post) and share using the hash tag on social media.
Post your parcel in time for Christmas – check last posting dates well in advance!! International dates are much earlier in December.
UK Inland: –
I hope lots of you join in – don’t forget to share, share, SHARE with your own followers, the more the merrier, HOW exciting!
The last guest has left and we have the house to ourselves for the first time in nearly two weeks…and I don’t much like it!
For us, the Christmas and New Year period is ALL about family and we have had lots of different house guests coming and going since 23rd December. Our home has been filled to the brim with the sound of laughter and excitement and, of course, song – imagine a constant stream of the very refined and beautiful Downton Abbey’s Christmas album interspersed with the equally fabulous Wurzel’s Christmas CD and you might get the picture.
Cooking for an average of fourteen people twice a day and three changes of bed linen for the same over ten days was self imposed madness, but wonderful at the same time. Fantastic mayhem, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
It started with the Christmas Eve Carol Service in our church.
The dogs accompanied us in their Santa outfits and The Boys took part in the annual five minute Nativity play, whilst a packed church sang Christmas carols, drank mulled wine and nibbled on hot sausages and mince pies.
The Boys sent their letters to Father Christmas the traditional way before going to bed whilst the grown ups enjoyed a comforting stew and dumplings in front of the fire.
Christmas morning – The Kids all came in at 5:10am to open their stockings in our bedroom.
“Pin The Nose On Rudolph” at 5:30am seemed like a good idea at the time!
As did wearing silly faces:)
We were far too busy having fun to take many photos, but here’s one from Christmas Day lunch.
Presents are opened one-by-one after lunch at about 4.30pm and lasts two hours as we each watch every single present being opened separately. The Boys were thrilled to bits with all their new riding gear!
Boxing Day was more of the same – eating, drinking (the Sloe Port and Sloe Gin didn’t last long!) and generally making merry. Games were played, films were watched and a good time was had by all.
Remember the Hansel & Gretyl Gingerbread House I ordered, complete with all the characters and lit up by a tea light inside?
The Boys loved it and, I have to say, it was the tastiest gingerbread I’ve ever had!
Monday meant a change of house guests for a couple of nights – this time all six kids (including the two that live in Brighton), one boyfriend, one Fiancé and the newest addition, baby Lilah.
We take a group photo of them all which has been lovely to see over the years as it doesn’t happen very often that they all get together at the same time.
Wednesday saw six more guests who had Eggs Royale for breakfast which was declared “The best breakfast I have ever had” by one of the men. He can come again!
My auntie and cousin joined us later in the day – here’s my cousin complete with all her travelling paraphernalia from her recent knee op.
Talking of ops – I went in at 7am on New Year’s Eve for surgery and waited in my hospital gown and sexy anti-thrombosis socks for six hours…
….before being informed that my notes had been lost meaning the surgery had to be postponed until the New Year!
At least it meant I could rejoin the party at home and enjoy a great New Year’s Eve celebration.
Yesterday, we were invited to another family lunch at my dad’s cousin’s ancient farmhouse. We LOVE visiting, and have happy memories of staying as children. Such an unspoilt building with heaps of character and has, rather wonderfully, escaped ‘modernisation’. This is the view through to the dining room with the Christmas tree glowing in the background. Perfect.
Just one last photo for Teresa – this is the dress I was talking about:)
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series linking up with Nat over at Threads & Bobbins. To find out how YOU can join in, just click here.
It has been totally brilliant, not to mention ridiculously exciting, to watch all your #stitchingsanta parcels coming together over the last couple of months.
I’ve loved seeing how thoughtful and creative everyone has been, really getting to know their recipient through their blog and sending the most appropriate gifts possible.
For those of you new to this concept, and for anyone considering joining in next year (yes, I’m going to organise another one!), here’s the link to show you what it’s all about – #stitchingsanta 2015.
I took part in both the knitting/crochet swap and the sewing swap but, before I show you all the amazing things I received, I thought I’d show you the final handmade gift that I included in my sewing swap parcel.
A hexagonal French ‘Cartonnage’ sewing box (pattern by Tialys on Etsy) which nearly didn’t get sent as I only finished it an hour before the deadline for Christmas post!
It took quite a few hours of construction over a week or so to complete, the glued parts needing overnight to dry before moving on to the next bit.
It’s a lovely pattern though, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it – I first saw it on Lucie’s blog as she was a tester for the pattern before its release and it is designed by the talented Lynn who blogs over at Tialys.
The box made it into the parcel along with the other things which I blogged about here and was posted to the loopy-but-lovely Ali, better known by many of you as THIMBERLINA.
Below is the bundle of presents (blogged about here) that went off to my knitting swap recipient, Pippa, from Beads & Barnacles.
The first I knew of Pippa was when she signed up for the swap, so I spent some time looking through her blog to see what kind of things she might like before deciding on a few. There are fewer handmade items obviously, as knitting takes so much longer than sewing.
I took a chance by not adding sender’s details on either parcel so they would be a surprise until the last moment, as I had blogged in detail about all the handmade elements in the run up to Christmas.
Ali, bless her, hadn’t even received my parcel but had already sent me these lush quilted coasters as a ‘thank you’ for organising the swap!
The fabric she used was ace and had funny, and perfectly apt, little quotes in speech bubbles all over it. Thanks Ali – I love them!!!
Now, onto the myriad of gorgeous things that I was gifted.
As the organiser, two people had to draw the short straw and have me as their swap partner, so neither were able to blog about their parcels.
I chose Joey, from Littleblackdogsa, to be my knitting partner as she lives in South Africa and the post can be notoriously unpredictable. It wouldn’t matter if her parcel didn’t reach me for a few months but, in fact, it arrived in plenty of time!
The outer bag was quite badly damaged when it arrived, but the contents were intact so I put everything in the bright red bag that she sent with it and it stayed under the tree until yesterday.
Yes, you read that correctly, yesterday – Boxing night to be exact. Why? Well, it certainly wasn’t because I have masses of will power or patience (quite the opposite, in fact) but because we host Christmas for the family and I spend two days cooking, tidying and making sure everyone is having a good time. I wanted to wait until lunch was over and they were all watching a festive film in the lounge so I could open and photograph my parcels at leisure.
And this is what Joey sent me!
Would you like to see them in more detail?
Firstly, there are two Indian cotton tea towels onto both of which Joey had crocheted a beautiful border. Far too nice to use, really, but I will.
A pretty pin cushion in the shape of a pear. Can you believe I only have one pin cushion which I keep in my sewing room? This one will be used on a daily basis by the children in my sewing classes – I think they’re going to love it.
Four fab cakes of organic cotton yarn, local to South Africa, which I am thrilled with and can’t wait to use – crochet hooks included!
A length of festive cotton tape featuring the music of “Jingle Bells”, some hand sewing needles and an atmospheric South African sunset disguised as a fridge magnet.
I love the little rustic angel that she included, too – I am guessing it is handmade from recycled materials?
Finally, there were some sweets, a project bag and a card with a lovely message inside. Thank you so much Joey – I am thrilled with all the thoughtful gifts that you obviously spent a lot of time putting together for me!
By the time I had finished opening and photographing Joey’s parcel, I was dying to open the one from my sewing swap gifter and almost forgot to take a picture of the parcels themselves!
Teresa, the smiley one who blogs over at Navybluethreads, sent her gifts in two separate packages which arrived a day apart – I only knew there was going to be another parcel when the first one arrived labelled ‘Part 2’!
Look at all this!
There were Christmas cards and a letter – Teresa, you should be a doctor with writing like that, beautiful but illegible!!! No.1 Son and I worked it out in the end though!
With the help of the newly-translated letter, this is what Teresa sent: –
Loads of amethyst-coloured knit fabric which WILL be made into the dress on the pattern that she included. She knows that I like strong colours and, being a lady of ample bosom herself, obviously knows that the wrap dress is perfect for that. I will make the long sleeved version and wear it with long boots during the Winter.
I simply cannot resist any pretty vintage lace, fabric or doilies that I come across in charity shops, so when I opened these I was beside myself with excitement! I believe most of these came from Teresa’s stash so I am doubly grateful – I wouldn’t be able to part with any of mine!
With my new sewing school, The Stitch Academy, in mind, she kindly sent me a publication that would be ideal for the children to use as their skills improve. The stocking pattern is brilliant, too, but I already have it so I hope she won’t mind if I pass it forward to somebody else to enjoy?
Teresa even thought of The Boys – they will absolutely LOVE making these fox brooches and fishy keyrings!!
So many generous and thoughtful gifts but my favourite from Teresa has to be this one – a beautifully soft infinity scarf, handknitted by the lovely lady herself, in a self-striping yarn of various jewel shades which looks exactly like it does in the photo. I just love it!
What more can I say, except a huge ‘Thank You’ to Joey and Teresa for all the fabulous gifts, and a massive pat on the back to all the #stitchingsantas that signed up for this swap and made it so successful and enjoyable.
I hope you all had as much fun as I did – judging by the blog posts I have seen so far, you did and I wasn’t the only one who was more excited about this present under my tree than any of the others!
Look out for the swap again next year when I get the feeling we’ll have an even longer list of participants than the thirty-five that took part this time.
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series where you show seven-ish photos of your week. Visit Nat at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.
We took The Boys to a local farm to choose our Christmas Tree. Don’t you just love the farmer’s hat with tractors on it?
2. The tree stood in the corner of the dining room for a couple of days before we had time to do anything with it ( I was sewing). In the end the men put it up in the corner of the lounge.
3. Another day passed before No.1 Son realised it wasn’t going to decorate itself so got into his Santa Onesie and did it by himself (whilst I carried on sewing…..)
4. No.3 Son decorated the little ‘fake’ tree that we put up in the kitchen room each year whilst dressed up in a Prince’s outfit, as you do.
Meanwhile, I did some sewing.
5. Remember those Angel costumes I made last week for The Boy’s Nativity? We went to said production on Tuesday. What you can see in the photo is the ENTIRE school which amounts to 100 kids aged 4-11.
6. One of the activities in the advent calendar was to get into PJs and drive around looking at the Christmas lights.
7. The Boys took flasks of hot chocolate and I took a glass of Bailey’s:)
8. On Wednesday I started my ball gown for Mr H-L’s annual company ‘do’.
The ‘do’ was two days later.
There were 78 pattern pieces.
It took me over three hours just to cut it out…..
9. My Thursday class finished their skirts in time for Christmas and were VERY pleased with themselves!
10. I was also very pleased with MYSELF as I finished the dress with an hour to spare on Friday morning. Here it is all lined and ready for the corset to be sewn in.
11. Hubby and I drove the two and a half hours to Stanhill Court Hotel where the company puts us all up overnight and where the party is held.
12. Here’s a sneak peek of my dress laid out ready on the bed.
13. We stopped at the services on the way home to rehydrate after the previous night’s excesses. A brass band was playing Christmas carols for charity so we sat outside and enjoyed the music for a while.
14. This morning I’m getting on with the last of my #stitchingsanta gifts which involves glue and……
In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is just around the corner – nine days, to be precise and I’ve got a great last-minute make for you; a personalised Christmas sack for that special little person in your life.
I’m not joking when I say last-minute as I made TWO personalised sacks yesterday afternoon, each one taking about two and a half hours from start to finish. They’d make great gifts, too, with a little something popped inside and they only cost £12.94 each to make so won’t break the bank.
Trim your gingham fabric to the same size as the hessian – 39″ x 56″.
Put the offcuts to one side as you will use these for the tie and the fabric letters.
Draw a reindeer on a sheet of paper and cut out the individual elements separately.
Cut these out of the felt squares using the picture below as a guide.
Stitch the nose and eyes onto the felt face – I used free machine embroidery throughout to achieve a ‘scribble’ effect which works well on children’s gifts.
Fold your hessian in half and arrange the felt pieces in the centre as shown.
Hessian has an open weave which tends to move quite a lot, so either tack your appliqués on first or use LOTS of pins to keep them in place while you sew them on.
I loathe tacking so I opted for pin overkill instead.
With the reindeer face stitched securely in place, it’s time to move on to personalising your sack.
You can download a suitable font or just freehand it like I did onto thin card. As I was making two sacks I had both blue and red gingham offcuts to cut the letters from. I also decided to use some paper backed fusible web to secure the letters to the hessian before stitching them.
Arrange the letters evenly in a curve around the bottom of the reindeer, remove the paper backing and iron in place.
Two rounds of stitching on each letter gives a good effect.
When all your stitching is done, sew the top edge of the sack to the top edge of the lining with right sides together (sorry, no photo). Press the seam flat to create a crisp edge.
Then, lay your fabric out on a large table or on the floor and fold in half lengthwise, right sides together to create a ‘tube’.
Pin all the way around, leaving a gap in the lining where shown through which to turn. (I forgot to photograph this step on the first sack so the lining is shown in red).
Put pins at 8″ from the top edge and 9″ from the top edge – this will be a break in the stitching to provide a channel for the tie.
Sew all the way around the three sides with breaks in the stitching as described above.
Trim the corners and turn the sack through to the right side. Sew the lining closed at the gap through which it was turned. Press.
With a soft pencil or tailor’s chalk, mark two parallel lines all the way around at 8″ and 9″ from the top edge of the sack. Pin through both layers of fabric. Stitch along the lines.
For the tie, use your remaining offcuts of gingham to assemble a length that measures about 70″ x 2″.
Fold in and press 1/4″ at each short end.
Fold in and press 1/4″ along each long edge.
Bring the folded long edges together enclosing the raw edges.
Stitch close to the edge to finish your tie.
Use a safety pin to thread the tie through the channel in the gap left for this purpose.
And that’s it – finished!
A beautiful sack which any child would be delighted to have on Christmas Day to pop all their opened presents into.
They’re huge, too, I would have added The Boys to the photo for scale except that the sacks are a surprise for them.
You’ve still got time, so who fancies whipping up a Christmas Sack for their little boy or girl?
I’ve been making steady progress with the handmade items that I’m including in the parcel to my #stitchingsanta recipient and it’s about time I showed you.
I’m taking part in the knitting/crochet swap as well and have already given you a glimpse of the things I’ve made for that – you can have a look here.
As soon as the latest issue of Love Sewing dropped through the letterbox, I knew I was going to make this cute tree decoration, so that’s going into the parcel – although I’m going to have to make another one for our tree ‘cos I’ve rather fallen in love with it myself:)
Having bought these colourful stork embroidery scissors, I added a needle-keeper to one of its handles.
I embroidered an image of a sewing machine on one side together with the word ‘needles’. The other side is kept plain with a tiny floral print cotton.
Not a very Christmassy make, I know, but this daisy print ‘Ikea’ bag can be used all year round. I wrote a tutorial on this which you can find here.
I had a few hours fun covering some buttons with tiny cross stitched motifs. My eyes could barely see to sew such minute stitches!
I had a small amount of leftover Rose & Hubble fabric in my stash which was just enough to make a coin purse and matching tissue holder, both handbag size.
These bright orange gloves are made from the softest cashmere sweater and, although I’ve never seen her wear orange, I think they suit her bubbly personality.
I snapped up this unused Simplicity pattern from a charity shop for just a pound – I can see her looking good in all of these!
There are a few other bought bits and pieces to go in and the main handmade gift – if I can finish it in time!
Sunday Sevens is here again – seven-ish photos of your week to show what you get up to between those bigger blog posts. Check out this article over at Threads & Bobbins to find out how YOU can join in.
We made a grand total of £609 profit from the Christmas Supper in the Village Hall – and leftover veg meant bubble ‘n’ squeak for breakfast on Sunday!
2. Whipped up a couple of very basic Angel costumes for The Boy’s school Nativity (that’s another bedsheet gone). Don’t they look sweet?
3. As part of their interactive advent calendar, this week The Boys donated some of their old toys to charity….
……we had a family “Top Trumps’ night….
….and we bought a bagful of shopping to add to the box in church for The Lord’s Larder, a charity that helps the poor and homeless.
4. On Friday, H-R and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip to Bath while the Christmas market was still in full swing. We’ve been going every year since she was four, so this is our twentieth anniversary!
We usually have Eggs Royale for breakfast as soon as we arrive and this year was no exception.
5. I bought the latest Big Issue from a lovely chap who dressed his companion up for the festive season.
6. A local school was fundraising for a new piano by carol singing in the high street.
7. Mulled wine and mince pies outside is a great way to rest your feet in between all that shopping.
8. A day of Christmas Craft Workshops on Saturday resulted in these colourful stockings….
….and Christmas Bunting.
9. Finally, to round off a brilliant week, last night hubby and I went to a party dressed up as Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones in ‘The Mask Of Zorro’.
It took an ENTIRE king size duvet cover to make his outfit!!
Q: What do you get if you cross seven jewel-coloured balls of Drop’s Kid-Silk…….
…..with 266 of the finest Swarovski crystal beads?
A: Seven of the softest, lightest lacy scarves you will ever come across!
Using the FREE ‘Party Lace Scarf’ pattern by Lisa Sisk on Ravalry (available here), I thought these scarves would make perfect Christmas gifts for the women in our family.
The yarn is 75% Mohair and 25% Silk (so no itching) and weighs just 25g per ball. Each scarf requires just one ball which means you end up with a superwarm scarf that is so lightweight that you barely know you’re wearing it at all!
Assuming you already own a set of 4.5mm straights, each scarf works out at a £6.05 and takes about ten evenings to complete – a bargain, if you can spare the time!
Would you like a closer look?
The lace pattern is a two-row repeating pattern, alternating with a row of purl – very easy to memorise and a great one to start with if you are new to lace knitting like I was.
It’s so hard to photograph the crystal beads, seen here along the edge, but they sparkle in the light and add a subtle glamorous touch.
The beads can, of course, be omitted for a plain scarf…..but why would you?!
Here they are again – don’t they look lovely piled up together like that?
This one was reserved for a follower of the blog and is ready to be sent in time for Christmas.
I think they make a great present, a real touch of luxury at a ridiculously low cost.
You’ve still got time to make a Party Lace Scarf – who do you know that would love one?
Previously Boys and Chickens, I have created a new blog to share my sewing adventure as 2018 is they year I plan to teach myself to sew! There will also be bits of crochet and cooking too.
My challenge: One year - I will not buy clothes - I will upcycle to make what I need - everything from underwear to evening wear! Join me for tips, exclusive BrawHem makes, and inevitably some hilarious disasters...
The last two year’s #stitchingsantas were such a roaring success, that I promised to do it all again this year and the time has come to sign up!
For each sack you will need:
Sewchet 