Happy New Year!

It's been a whole month since my last post - where did the time go?
In the run up to Christmas I had absolutely nothing that could be shown on my blog and now it seems I have too much so I'll be sharing the pictures over the next couple of weeks or so.
Yesterday I received my Secret Santa package from Australia. Yes, it arrived a bit late but I understand it was returned to sender the first time around.
However, this package was well worth the wait as I'm sure you'll agree.
My Secret Santa was Jo and
just look at the gorgeous wall hanging she made for me



I'm absolutely thrilled with this because the fabrics are in my favourite country style colours, it has hand applique (my favourite technique) and just check out those rusty bells! There are three oversized ones on the bottom of the wall hanging and each applique circle has a smaller bell attached. It makes such a happy sound when you shake it :)
Jo also sent me an Australian Country Threads magazine. It's my all time favourite magazine but they are like gold dust here and simply not available so she couldn't have sent me anything that would please me more.





Thanks so much for a great swap experience Jo and thanks to Donna AKA Chookyblue who was brave enough to organize this mammoth exchange for the second year running. Can you imagine trying to pair up 156 Secret Santa's? If you want to see all of the wonderful gifts that were exchanged you can see them on Donna's blog.

So what did I send to my exchange partner? I made this little Cinderberry Stitches wall hanging using fabrics from the Moda Peace on Earth line



Here's the label I sewed on the back



and I also made a little notions holder and rotary cutter case from a pattern I found in a UK quilting magazine




Since this is a quilty type post rather than a cross stitch one I will also show a picture of a bag I made from a Prairie Paisley charm pack. I used the Charm Party Tote pattern from Quilts Illustrated but I added an extra row of charms to make a deeper bag





Yesterday was Three Kings Day here in Spain - the day where there are processions in every town to celebrate the arrival of the three wise men.
We went to watch the procession so I'm leaving you with a few pictures taken while we were out and about.








Happy New Year to everyone. Wishing you a wonderful crafting year ahead!

Margaret

Winter Quaker

It's been so long since I had anything to post about that I've all but forgotten I even have a blog! It's not that I haven't been busy - I have, but most of what I've been working on is top secret. Hopefully I'll have pictures to share in a few weeks.
Meanwhile one small thing that can be shown is the Winter design in a set of four seasonal quakers by Homespun Elegance. I love this series and want to stitch the other three in the set. This one (my favourite) is done on 32ct Lambswool linen using Carries threads.
Thanks for looking!

Margaret

A Pretty Little Trio

This year I've been trying to increase my repetoire of finishing techniques and one of the things I most wanted to try making was a bourse. I made this one from the Heartstrings leaflet by the Cat's Whiskers.
The matching pinkeep and biscornu were stitched using the centre section of the design that you can see when the bourse is open




Can you see the four little Mill Hill glass treasure hearts in the centre of each of the ribbon garlands? You can click on the picture for a close up if you like. The outer fabric is silk Duponi and the inside is stitched on the recommended 32ct Antique White Belfast Linen using DMC threads.





Something else I wanted to share this time is my prize from Christine's recent blog giveaway. Christine made these sweet little spools using instructions she had found in a magazine. The idea is very simple - just a couple of buttons and a drinking straw to make the spool and then you can wrap them with some pretty floss or ribbon adding whatever decoration you like to the top.
I can see that Christine made mine to order once she knew who had won the drawing as one has a little mermaid charm, one a seahorse and the other a shell.



One of the spools is wound with a skein of Dinky Dyes silk and the other two have ribbon. They were a bit difficult to photograph but I hope you get the idea.
I was also lucky enough to receive the most gorgeous fat quarter of quilting fabric with a shell design all tied up in a bow made of pearls. Thank you Christine!
If you go to Christine's blog you'll see lots of othe ideas for these spools. I even see a Halloweeen one :)




Finally, I know Halloween is behind us now and, to be honest, Halloween just doesn't happen for me. When I lived in UK it was something of a non event and it is even less so here in Spain. I don't decorate for Halloween and we don't get any trick or treaters where we live.
However, I did make one small Halloween item for online stitching friend Barbara. Her birthday is October 31st so naturally she is a big fan of Halloween.
I made her this drawstring bag using a Lizzie Kate chart. It has little moving eyes and a silver spider charm. It was a lot of fun to make.





Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and for your lovley comments. I'm a bit behind with my blog reading as have had a few deadlines to meet. Hopefully I'll be visiting you soon :)

Margaret

A finished gift

One of the quilting blogs I enjoy very much is Auntie's Quaint Quilts. Christine does the most beautiful stitcheries and quilting projects which I find very inspiring

A while ago Christine sent me one of the Australian Country Threads magazines and some fabric. I wanted to make her something to show my appreciation but what? I eventually decided to make something she might not make for herself so here's what I made for her
I took an older design by The Drawn Thread and turned it into a pincushion.
I stitched the smaller design twice. Once for a fob and again for a needlecase.




I lined the needlecase with silk dupion in a colour to match the dusty pink fabric used on the front of the needlebook the back of the pincushion.
This is the inside of the needlecase and the back of the pincushion and fob.







Along with the set of needlework smalls I sent a litte Gutermann tin filled with sewing threads. I don't have a picture of that but if you go to Christine's blog you will see the tin along with the cutest picture ever of her cat Oliver admiring his reflection in the lid of the tin :)

The only other thing I have to show is some finished knitting. On one of my blog surfing expeditions I saw that Staci had finished a pair of socks. This reminded me that I had some knitting that had been hanging around for more than a year. I was inspired to get out the knitting and finish the socks. Thanks Staci :)


You should be able to click any of the pictures to enlarge if you wish.
As always thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment. I enjoy hearing from each and every one of you.

Bag mania

Can you stand to look at yet another bag? I must admit that bag making has become a bit of an obsession with me. I just love making them!
This bag is called the Bow Tucks Tote and is from a pattern by Penny Sturges who is the designer behind the company Quilts Illustrated
I just noticed she has a new blog too so I plan on keeping an eye on that as her bags are so easy to make.
This is the front of the bag (picture is clickable for a better view)



I used Moda Madeira fabric from Blackbird Designs. It's an older fabric line and the schoolgirl sampler print is not easy to find but I managed to get an end of bolt piece together with one FQ which was just enough.
The bag still needed a button or toggle fastening when the picture was taken.
Here's a view of the back of the bag


and here's a view of the side



and because I have nothing else to show today here are another two views of the bag front.




I have some finished cross stitch to share but can't show it until it has flown all the way to Tasmania.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for the lovely comments you leave. I've had a couple of deadlines to meet so am behind on blog reading but hope to catch up with everyone soon. I'm sure there are lots of lovely Autumn projects out there that I just can't wait to see!

So pretty!

I'm a bit of a bag lady these days so when Linda announced her bag and bucket swap how could I resist?
In my last post I showed the bag I made for my partner but I had no idea who was sending to me until a box arrived from Mar in the USA.
Prior to the swap we were asked to state our preferences. I think I said nothing too bright or gaudy and that I liked soft, romantic colours. Well, Mar certainly took that on board because how gorgeous is this bag she made for me?



The bag is made from such pretty fabrics - all soft greens, peach, lemon, pinks and blues with a broderie anglais trim and beautiful stitchery on the front and back pockets.

This side has my initial embroidered on the pocket!



here's a close up of the stitchery isn't it lovely?




and here's a view of the side of the bag with the drawstring ties




Along with the bag came other goodies - three FQ's of Moda fabric from the Sanctuary line, the sweetest little needle book, Piecemaker needles and tissues that are way too pretty to use.




This was a wonderful swap experience. Thanks to Linda for making it all possible and to Mar for making it such a pleasure.

More on exchanges

I have pictures of a few exchanges to share this time.
I recently joined the SBEBB and was tempted by quite a few of the exchanges that were on offer.
I finally settled on the Shepherds Bush exchange because they have long been one of my top five most favourite cross stitch designers.
Here's a pinkeep I made for my partner Carolyn using the September design from SB a Year in Stitches series of charts.



The colours didn't show up very well in the first picture so here's another attempt. As always the pictures are clickable for a better view.



and here's one of the back of the pinkeep


I forgot to take a picture of the other things I included in the package but you can see them on Carolyn's blog here I think Carolyn's pictures are better than mine anyway!

I had no idea who was sending to me in this exchange until a package arrived from Carol
To say I was thrilled would be an understatement as Carol is someone whose beautiful stitching I've often admired.
Here's a picture of the gorgeous pinkeep she stitched for me




The pinkeep is beautifully stitched and finished and the backing fabric has tiny bees which is just perfect for the design.
Other goodies Carol sent are a chart by Blackbird Designs (another of my favourite designers) WDW Mermaid thread, a cut of the fabric that was used to back the pinkeep, needles, some pretty ribbons and a sweet Mary Engelbreit card.
What a happy exchange. Thank you so much Carol.



Next is a picture of the bag I made recently for my partner in Linda's bag and bucket swap. Once again I forgot to take pictures of what I sent along with the bag
but you can see more pictures on Jenny's blog

here

On the new stash front I've been lucky enough to find an empty Moda Madeira tin which I've wanted for ages.





I absolutely love the sewing accessories Jane Timmers of Fancy Work has designed for this tin which you can see here. To date I believe it's only available as a class piece which is out of the question for me but hopefully it will be available as a chart to purchase one of these days.


Finally a view of the beach taken this afternoon. It's still very hot here but the new school term has started and a lot of the Summer visitors have left.



Thanks so much for visiting me today :)