Christmas wishes

The last minute tree is up.

We don't do minimal. If its in the box its on the tree!

I so enjoyed getting out allthe gorgeous decorations made possible by blogland. Thank you Sesga, Mary Anne, Sid Simpson, for my lovely decorations.

And on the 'pot rack'

 glorious Christmas clutter made even more chaotic by the addition of cards.

 If you want minimal you have to go into THE FRONT ROOM.

 Celebrating the arrival of the new chair,( and sofa not shown in this picture )

 Wait till we light the stove..

 will the poinsettia survive?

I've been to 'Midnight Mass' (5 o'clock and wonderful) I've peeled all the veg for tomorrow, cleaned the house, wrapped the presents and I'm ready. 

Happy Christmas everyone. Thank you for all your support and lovely comments always. 

I love you all!!!

Really noticing..

...that oak leaves are beautifully different. Not symmetrical at all, all different shapes and sizes and colours. Makes me feel justified in calling these 'oaky'.

 I started to collect them from the woodland floor and amassed a huge collection for observation purposes. I got some funny looks..most people are collecting holly at this time of year.

 They are delightfully decorative and pleasing when arranged. 

Its a bit like playing with a button collection. I always drew them with the same number of ins and outs on either side, but now I know differently.

They had to be pressed between sheets of newspaper to preserve them for my plan. 

I put a bit of oil on my hands and its seems to have stopped them from fragmenting.

I got out the Markal sticks and rubbed some gold into some of them

I didn't gild all of these 'lilies' and added some quinces I pass every day on my walk . No-one owns them so I helped myself. I'd found a few teeny cones..birch? (I'm not sure.)

and some gloriously glossy green ivy leaves and and a few ivy flowers.

added a white organza ribbon. 

Et voila.

Is it christmassy enough?

The only problem with it is that the wind has been blowing it, and Hetty thinks its someone knocking on the door.

I've fallen in love with my hot glue gun all over again.

Long and short.

For a short time a couple of weeks ago I felt I'd lost my reason to stitch.

I wanted to try something new but didn't know what, so instead of sitting about and doing nothing I decided to have a little play with felt and pre-felts.

 Laying cut out bits of pre-felt onto a background of fleece was a good start for stitching and I managed to complete a small square piece which I quite like.

 Its difficult to take photos at this time of year far north in the Northern Hemisphere so please cut me some slack with the quality!

 I really loved stitching these little 'knepps' or 'Pebbles' I included in the felt. Its a pretty little piece and is in my etsy shop now.

Then I made another piece the same size. The pictures of this are EVEN WORSE if that is possible but I think you can sort of tell what they should look like.

 I've edited them in different ways to show the true colours but I think you'll hav eto do a bit of deduction or imagining.

 Anyway, the stitching is still a fun feature.

 And my third piece is a long and narrow piece with a touch of lilac.
I enjoyed doing his very much indeed.

Knepps/pebbles again.

 Some lilac swirly bits against goldy ochre and olive look lovely.

 Its a long way up to see the whole piece.

 it was a fun piece to stitch.

French Knots, running stitch, leaves..what fun!

Here are the three pieces together,

Strangely the best photos are those taken in complete shade. I think the sun is so low it bounces back in a fragmented way.

Now..I've been putting out some feelers..who wants to do an online class? A bit of an intro to felt making, basic machine embroidery and working towards a Finished piece.  Possible 8 weekly videos after christmas. For a fee of course. (I have to eat)
Anyone?

Some new shapes

Still November and another post..what's going on ? Well this year I'm not doing any craft fairs and all my work is going to Galleries so I'm working on Brooches in small batches with great enjoyment. 

Sometimes its hard to get into the right frame of mind and I just go through the motions which is OK but sometimes the outcome is just a little 'less' than others. 

So its nice to be back 'In the zone' and producing. I came up with these shapes which I am quite partial to. Would you call them 'Oak leaves'? I don't know but I like them.

 I finish them with a bit of hand stitch which I really enjoy.

 They can bend in different directions, like a falling leaf.

 Then I came up with the two below. Straight away I thought 'Water boatmen' you know those little pond-skatery-type insects with lost of little spadey legs? I like these but they may not be for everyone!

 Then there's a spikey paisley

 and then there's this. Now I love this. Palest palest blue stitching on a grey background with a touch of olive.

 Some black on dark red , I made two hearts one bigger than the other. French knots again . Ooh fun.

Most of the above brooches are on their way to The Larks Gallery in Ballater, Scotland as we speak.

 Now these two hearts are part of the 'not quite as zingy as the rest' type so I am going to have a little sale in my etsy shop and these will be in it.

 Also in the sale , the brooches in this photo below. All are either slightly older stock or as described above.

 The pieces in pictures below are also going to be listed in my shop but these will be the usual full price.

Let the listing begin! Its a struggle.


Now I haven't said anything personal for ages so I'll just say these things: I had three Birthday related events this week even though my birthday was in July! A present from a friend, a meal out with my two bestest friends locally, and the delivery of a beautiful rose called 'Agatha' which was ordered by my son in good time for my birthday but they only get delivered in November. I really hope it does well
in our poor soil. I put a lot of compost from our bin in the hole but I don't hold out much hope.

In other news my younger son has started a new job. He says he feels like he did when he went from Primary to High School, but I'm sure he'll get used to it. On paper its his dream job and I'm proud of him.

Tomorrow I'm going the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. Maybe I'll see you there?

Thanks for all the comments on my last post. I was asked about the text stitching...I did it with teh sewing machine first using parchment on top with the words on, and then I pulled the parchment off and hand stitched over them.

And finally thank you everyone who visits my blog and the pops over to 'Top Blogs by Crafters' site. I've been top for ages ..I don't know why but there we are. You must be clicking through from here.
Thank you. xxxxxx

A Lovely Commission

Commissions can  be a mixed blessing, but when an old friend asked me to  make something to commemorate the Baptism of two of her grandchildren I knew it would work out.

She wasn't too prescriptive, we discussed colours and styles, I wrote down the words and then thought about it for a while.

 I used pastel colours on a cream background for both pieces, the the stitching began.

 I sent some photos before I did the words to get approval 'so far' and all was fine. 

So without many more words here are some pictures of details and of the finished pieces.

You can click to enlarge.

 I love stitching the details.

 The second was was just as much fun.

 Here they are wrapped up and ready to go.

 They were well received by my friend and by her family.

Such fun!