Not so secret stitching!

Now that i'm back from holiday and I know both my secret pressies have been opened..... I can finally show you what I was working on:

I found this pattern for a Stitchery Roll in Australian Country Threads Vol 8 No 6, ages and ages ago and have been meaning to make one ever since...... me being me, I decided to make a couple of changes.
Firstly....I changed the stitchery a little to remove the writting on one end.... I basically just reversed the pattern from the other end with minor differences. I also made my own ties with the same fabric as the roll instead of using ribbon and with the second roll, I stitched the ties into the seams which made them look neater once finished.
It irritated me that the space on the inside of the roll was wasted so I decided to make another roll that fit inside to hold all the threads and other bits and pieces.... The only problem I had then was what to do with the very unattractive red plastic ends if i wanted to be able to open it. Hubby to the rescue.... he and my wonderful father-in-law whipped up some much nicer wooden ones for me on the lathe!

The result:
Two completed stitchery rolls...... One for my Secret Santa swap partner Julie of Jewells

And one for my Aunt...... who just loves anything I make her:

Unfortunately.... I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of this one rolled up in the rush to get it finished... I was still sewing it at 10.30 at night when we were to be leaving to head to the coast for Christmas at 4am.... Whoops!

I'll be back tomorrow to show you some more of my pressies.....hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas!

Until next time