Happy Christmas giveaway

Hello everyone,  I didn´t hold a giveaway for my blogaversary last month, so in appreciation of those who take the time to visit and leave a comment I thought I would say  thank you by celebrating a surprise Xmas giveaway.

All the comments made on my blog posts during this month of  December and up until yesterday entered in the giveaway. And what am I giving away?  well the four little mug rugs with a red crochet edging seen on my last post.

I numbered the entries in their order of publication (so starting from the 8th Dec) and the winner, chosen by Mr. Random Number Generator is

.......... Number 9,  Carol from Stitching Dreams.  Congratulations Carol. I will be in touch with you requesting your mailing address.

I also promised to show in more detail my crochet tea candle holders which are very easy to make and I think make a nice decorative detail.

The pattern is of a snowflake and therefore I started making a couple in white but then added a couple more in red.  The tutorial can be found here in two parts and although it maybe isn´t in your own language, you can follow the lady easily as she makes the snowflake very slowly and clearly.

I ordered some battery tea candles from Ebay as we can´t get them here and of course they are much safer than normal candles.

My last photo says it all.  May you spend a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Sheryl

Advent Calendar Blog Hop

Hello friends and visitors.  Welcome to Day 17 of the Advent Calendar Blog Hop hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Jo asks us to show some Christmas stitching and to describe our Christmas Eve.

I have stitched quite a few gifts this Xmas and started with this skinny legged Father Christmas which I made into a bell pull.

I found the design on the Internet here and then made a few placemats.

and then with crochet hook in hand, added an edging to these Christmas mug rugs or maybe champagne rugs!

and then made a few red tea candle holders which I will show in more detail next week.

My Christmas Eve, here in Spain, is spent mainly in the kitchen because the 24th December is when families gather for a long and large evening meal instead of that of Christmas Day.

I usually prepare a typical English meal of roast turkey and all the trimmings but also have to include the traditional Spanish (DH) fare of a delicious seafood soup which is coveted by all and sundry but which takes forever to make and then roast lamb.  This year I have got clever and shall order the Spanish menu from a local restaurant and so halve my work load and be able to greet and enjoy my family when they arrive instead of being banished to the kitchen amongst the pots and pans.

On arrival the grandkids lose all appetite when they see that Santa Claus has once again remembered that nana is English and therefore has left gifts under the Xmas tree and so they don´t have to wait  until Kings day on the 6th Jaunuary when the three kings deliver gifts to the Spanish.
At nine o´clock we listen to the King of Spain´s Christmas message and then dine.

After our supper the gifts are opened and all chaos let loose for the rest of evening while adults chat and watch television.

I do hope you are all enjoying this Advent hop and wherever you live, will spend a very enjoyable Christmas Eve.  I will leave you with a typical Spanish Christmas carol.

Until next week.

Sheryl

Gift bags

Hello everyone, Just popping in quickly today with some photos of a few small bags that I made at the weekend.

Due to our horrible wet weather, on Sunday I decided to try and finish some Christmas sewing so to be able to concentrate on getting decorations put up and important shopping done this week.  Hate leaving everything to the last minute when the shops are packed.

I found some sparkly fabric that I think was part of a child´s fancy dress in bygone times and decided to add a bit of lace and ribbon to sew up a couple of small bags for I don´t know what, but that always come in handy.

I made two different types although I like the drawstring fastening best.  Have loads more of the fabric left for other projects.  As they are neutral colours, I am linking this post to Wendy´s Simply Neutrals.

Twelve Days of  Christmas update.

I am still busy with this free design by Paulette Stewart, we are now up to the Tenth Day and I have started sewing the surround as it is going to be finished in a rush if I want it done for Christmas.

So many lovely Christmas things that fellow bloggers are making, I am taking note of designs to do next year.

  Thank you for passing by.  Hope you will visit again next week on the 17th when I am taking part in the Advent Calendar blog hop organised by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching,  Good idea to pop over and see what the other participants are doing.

Sheryl

Christmas Gift Box

Good morning blogger friends.  Today I am joining Heather at Stitching Lotus for our monthly Smalls SAL check-in.

I have been doing quite a lot of stitching for Christmas, mainly small gifts and I started by covering a dull cream coloured box with a bit of embroidery and a bright red fabric.

I don´t think I have ever used fabric glue before but needed to use it on the insides and at the bottom of the box.  I used Gutermann creativ ht2 textile glue

The little embroidered bird pattern is called Baby Cardinal by The Victoria Sampler.

and I added a bow and a couple of silver beads.

I also made a matching heart.

Twelve Days of Christmas update.

I have also been working on this free design by Paulette Stewart.  This is slow work as there was very little fabric choice at my local shop and I ended up with 40ct linen.  My favourite is 28 or 32 because stitching on 40 reminds me that I need to change my glasses.

We are now up to the Eighth Day, so I will take more photos for my next post.

Thank you for passing by.  Hope to see you next week.

Linking this post to Super mom no cape for her weekly Stitchery Link Party.

Sheryl

One of those days

Hello blogger friends,  Do you ever have one of those days when you at last have time to sit down and get some sewing done and absolutely nothing goes right ? or you don´t like the result and in the end the time is wasted?  Well, I have had quite a few of those days recently.

It has taken me ages to get this pretty Veronique Enginger design sewn into something useful.

I started the pattern in July and thought I would use it to cover a small basket I have in the bathroom which holds brushes and combs.

but after chopping up the design to fit the basket, I didn´t like the result, so I delved into my stash and found some matching fabric

some pretty buttons, a bit of lace, a tassel and a zipper.

and made a lined bag to hold stockings and tights.

Apart from that sewing hiccup, I have been busy with the blackwork design called Box of Delights, a free design which can be found here. and I am also stitching Twelve Days of Christmas by Paulette Stewart, another free design found here.

This is my progress on the Box of Delights.

I chose blue/purple colours to match some tiles I have in the kitchen, and this is for a kitchen tray, but I am not very keen on the black surround which I find too heavy for the colours I am using, so might end up covering the dark stitches with fabric, we will see.

Hope you are all busy stitching, thank you for passing by.

Linking to supermom no cape stitchery party.

Sheryl

Halloween Blog Hop

Hello everyone.  Today I am taking part in the Halloween Trick or Treat blog hop organised by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Join in the fun by starting at Jo´s blog and collecting letters on the blogs listed which will form a phrase.  When you know what the phrase is, head back to Jo and tell her.

Along with a letter, I have to show something that I have stitched for Halloween and although not  celebrated much here where I live, I made this little phone case for a friend.

It is part of a design called A trick in my bag by C Mon Monde, which I have changed a bit....

... by adding a spider, a cat in her bag, a belt, striped stockings and embroidered flowers on her dress and hat.  I lined the case with yellow satin and added a whatnot of black beads.

On to my letter -

In case there is any doubt my letter is S followed by an apostrophe.

For your next letter please go to Ingrid at Mii Stitch.  Hope you have fun and a very

HAPPY  HALLOWEEN.

Sheryl

Keeping warm

It couldn´t be delayed any longer, I had to put blankets on the beds and get out the lap rugs.  I dislike the cold and while my friends here still sport short sleeves, I´m wrapped in a sweater and could easily start putting the heating on in the evenings.

  In the wardrobe I found this cosy little blanket that I knitted a few years back.

At the time I wanted to use up my oddments of wool and decided to make a green blanket for myself and a blue one for my mum in law.

I used different stitches for each square and had to juggle a bit with the number of stitches used so to get the pattern and measurements correct.

I made a note of some of the stitches I used, diagonal weave, knotted rib, cable, granite relief, drewdrop, double moss, diamond, puff rib, drop stitch, two colour star, horseshoe, eyelet, seeded rib, andaluz, continuous braid, tile, nosegay, gulls wings, rows of jewels, bamboo and winding trail.

After joining all the squares, I crocheted a small edging.

Perfect for the cooler evenings.  Thank you for visiting,

Sheryl