Elf Wallhanging

25/08/14

I love this little stitchery I made using the pattern by Natalie Bird for The Birdhouse called Making Spirits Bright. 

Stitched in gorgeous variegated thread by Cottage Garden Threads and framed in fabric from the ‘Countdown to Christmas’ range by Sweetwater for Moda.

Just the thing to add a little Christmas cheer around the house – and I actually got it done well before Christmas (I’m not going to tell you that the almost complete stitchery has actually been sitting in my UFO pile for the last year or two…. lol).

Cheers

Thimbelina

First one down

I haven't been participating in many challenges or swaps over the last 12 months but I decided to join the Club Quilt 2013 challenge - 'It's a Redwork Christmas' by Rosalie Quinlan in the hope that it will get me sewing a bit more.

And now that my 'secret stitching' is under control I've managed to make some progress.

 Rather than using all red thread I've chosen a lovely Cottage Garden Thread called 'Gumboot'.

First block completed and second one underway!

Cheers

Thimbelina

This and That

This last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy in the Thimbelina household..... I've been working full-time instead of my usual three days a week and I'm really starting to feel it. I take my hat off to any Mum's out there that manage to work full time and juggle young family's while still keeping their sanity in tact!

I've still managed to squeeze in a little bit of stitching..... I'm hoping to get a chance to turn this one into a cushion soon. I made one of these a while ago for a swap and really struggled to part with it...so it will be nice to have one for me!

A little retail therapy!

This beautiful book purchased recently includes a project by the very talented Ros of Bloom.... also a member of our Club Quilt Narromine. Lots of nice eye candy in this one!

And lastly:

This is what I'm playing with at the moment....aren't they scrumptious?

Until next time.......

Celebrate - a finish!

I managed to get my "Lets Celebrate" table topper finished during the week.... and I just LOVE it!

The photo's don't really do it justice....I must invest in a camera that has a macro setting one day....but at least it looks white and not blue in these pics!

Until next time....

Let's Celebrate

I did manage to get some stitching done while on holidays..... I've been working on "Lets Celebrate" by Hatched and Patched and it's coming along nicely. This project is actually for me and something that has been on my to-do list for quite some time. I've been procrastinating with starting it as there was so much stitching in it but it was the perfect way to spend some of my evenings while camping.

The picures don't do it justice....I always have trouble photographing white and they seem to turn out a bit blueish - I would love some tips if anyone has found the secret!

I should have the finished product to show you in the next couple of days.
Hope you've all had a lovely Easter break!

Until next time...

Finally!

This one has been in the works for quite a while..... you might remember me posting about it earlier as a work-in-progress here, but prior to that I'd already started it a good twelve months beforehand.
I really don't know why I put off finishing it for so long.... it didn't take very long once I got into it and I got it all framed up on Saturday night, just in time for a special birthday this coming Saturday.

The stitchery is called "Follow your Heart" by Picaninni Patchwork.

I've also found it's actually very simple to lace up my stitchery's in a nice frame myself and a lot less expensive..... now all I have to do is grab some cardboard to put over the back and hide all the lacing.

Until next time.......

More Goodies!

Here are a few more lovely goodies I received over Christmas:

A gorgeous hand-made Christmas Bon-bon that I received in our secret Santa swap at work...... It was full of chocolates which seem to have since dissappeared! I wonder who it could be from???

A great book and some lovely fat quarters from my Mum & Dad...... Mum has finally worked out i'm not so hard to buy for after all if she sticks with craft items! The cutting matt they're photographed on was my pressie from Hubby and the kids..... a generous 24" x 36" which is twice the size of my old one and so much easier to work with!

And a very cute Thankyou wallhanging from my friend Jess...... for giving her quilting lessons! Jess had to find someone other than me to give her lessons in hand stitching to make this as a surprise for me..... very sweet!

So as you can see i've been totally spoilt once again!

Take care

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

Last Christmas Pressie

Here's a sneak peak at my last Christmas pressie in the making..... again, I can't give too much away, but i've been stitching like mad to get this one finished and absolutely have to get it together tonight before we head off on holiday:

I've also been doing a little fabric purchasing from America while the Aussie dollar has been so strong ..... as my dear friend Jo would say "it would be fiscally irresponsible not too"......needless to say, I didn't need much convincing!

The lovely Be Merry Winter fabric by Riley Blake:All Star fabric also by Riley Blake:Both lots purchased from the Fabric Shoppe on Etsy. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas....... enjoy the break!

Stitching Mad!

I can't give too much away with what i'm currently working on but thought i would share a little peak so you can see that I have actually been doing something:

I also have these little projects underway, but they may not end up finished for this Christmas as I have to finish sewing my gift list first:

These are from a Hatched and Patched Pattern called "A Little Bit of Christmas"Another Hatched and Patched pattern called "Father Christmas"

Until next time