rosiepink

Merry Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas from me and mum!

Annie

I haven't thought much about Christmas this year because the last few months have been largely taken up with replastering, rewiring and generally fixing up my house a bit. I've waited 11 years to do it but we're finally getting there and all the woodchip wallpaper has gone! Yay!

That has all taken up an awful lot of time but I wanted to make at least one Christmas decoration, and so I made a little picture of a pudding to hang up.

I didn't know that was what I was going to make, I had no plan but started by stitching a little Christmas pudding to see where it took me. I had thought it might look cute if I stitched lots of them and made some musical notes out of them but I only got as far as making one before I changed my mind! I cut it out of the calico it was stitched onto and restitched it on to a piece of experimental handmade felt that I made a few weeks ago using various bits of scrap fabric that I wanted to try out (once I made it I thought I would use it for a few mini landscapes but again I changed my mind!).

I hand stitched a little badge saying "Figgy Pudding" and tacked it on. It looked a little bare at this point so I couched a bright yellow thread around the outline of the pudding and added some white french knots to liven it up and look a bit like snow. Lastly I added some beaded trim around the edge.

The little frame is actually a Christmas sign that I bought. It says "Naughty or Nice?" which is now behind the pudding, but I only bought it for the frame :) As I was working I tacked a black outline around the square that I would then cut out to fit into the frame to make sure I was working within the size of the frame.

Here are a couple of pics of the experimental bit of felt I made before I stitched on the pudding and cut out the square.  I tried a few things out like cutting little flowers out of fabric and felting them in and felting in various new yarns and other bits n bobs like crochet chains. I also felted in some bright pink plastic tutu netting under some open weave fabric which gave quite a nice effect. Such fun!  It's only a small piece but I tried out lots of things.

The decorating schedule has meant we've been on a furniture merry go round for a couple of months, always having to get things from one room to another to make room for the next thing. Next time I think that decorating four rooms plus the hallway and landing all in one go is a good idea, please do correct me! It's a terrible idea! Anyway, on one day there was a sofa and various other things blocking the doorway to my craft room and all I had to fiddle with was some copper wire that the electricians had discarded so I made the outline of this little tree. I later then filled it in with finer copper wire and some colourful beads.  I think it's rather cute at only a few centimetres tall.

We hope you found some crafty time in the run up, and wish you all a lovely Christmas. x

 

festive felt wrap for an amaryllis pot

Lyn

Back in the summer I bought two strings of led silver wire lights and I used one set inside a decorative glass bottle.  I put the other set by for Christmas with a vague idea of incorporating it into a piece of felt.

Well, just over a week before Christmas and the set of lights was still untouched on my projects pile.  So I looked around for inspiration and spotted the bright red amaryllis we have indoors for Christmas...well actually we have a pot with several very tall green shoots in it but it will be lovely when it blooms.

I thought about simply wrapping the string of lights around the pot but it's a dull colour, so I made a piece of felt that the pot could sit in.  I used merino wool in three shades of green: olive green at the bottom, pistachio green in the middle and spring green at the top - finished height is 8" (20cm) - and this is the shape I cut to wrap around the pot.

I stitched the wire of lights to the felt using "Bottomline" pale grey thread - it's a very fine thread so stitches aren't noticeable unless you look closely.

I closed the back with cross stitches using three strands of embroidery thread.  In the photo below you can see that the battery pack sits at the back of the pot on the shelf.

The wrap looks good too without the lights.

And here's another view of the lights - I just turned the pot slightly to view from a different angle.

 

Christmas bunting - quick and no sewing

Lyn    

I popped down to my local fabric shop to buy one thing and as usual came out with a bagful of goodies!  I also came away with the above idea for quick and easy Christmas bunting - no sewing!  It's simply triangles of Christmas fabric cut out with pinking shears then pegged to some string with mini-pegs usually used for card making.  You could use handmade felt or thick wrapping paper instead of fabric and ribbon instead of string.