Advent Calendar Blog Hop - Day 14

Hello Everyone and welcome to day 14 of the  Advent Calendar blog hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. A fun blog hop where we share some festive stitching and comment on a theme chosen by Jo.  Click here to view the calendar so far and to link with all the participants. 

I stitched this little design last year but never completly finished it into anything useful.  I love the bright festive colours of the pattern and the cute reindeer with his warm scarf.  The pattern is just a small part of The Christmas Sampler by Durene Jones.

The pattern just about fit  on the lid of an empty wooden box, so I covered the whole thing with red Christmasy fabric from stash, added a dash of white chalk paint and for about the first time in my life (but not the last) used a glue gun to adhere the white polka dot lining.  Now filled with goodies to be gifted.

Each year I usually make some Xmas ornaments, and this time I made  stars with a splattering of coloured sequins.

Jo has asked us to comment on  Christmas trees so  I rescued our poor old faithful specimen  from the dim and dusty storeroom once again to endure his yearly makeover.  Our tree is really old, I can only ever remember having had one other tree so ours must be over 30 years old.  A bit fragile now, with stiff and brittle branches shedding needles with every movement and a wobbly trunk and uneven pose.

It is always decorated with a combination of red, gold or white ornaments and topped with a pretty gold angel. The once bright and shining baubles don´t shine  much now as most of them are as old as the tree and very few glass decorations have survived the years.

 However each year there are always one or two new additions, the latest being a cheeky modern angel who wishes to replace the golden one.  My favourite cherished ornament is one given to me many years ago by a young student of mine. He would be so surprised to know how much I loved the tiny gift and that it has always been treasured.

I still have the tree skirt, lights and some tinsel to add.  Above you can see the little cherished ornament and below the latest addition.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas.

Sheryl

 

Let the People Choose - September

 Hello Stitching Friends,

Today I´m joining Jo of Serendipitous Stitching for the SAL called `Let the People Choose´.

This month´s theme is Sewing, so I delved into my files to see what I could find.  Practically all the embroidery that I do is eventually sewn into something more or less useful, so here I will endeavour to show items with more sewing than embroidery.

This is a quillow - that is a blanket/quilt which folds into itself to become a pillow.  I made it years ago when my youngest grandson was born.

For another grandson, I made a quilt based on the storybook `The Bremen Musicians´.

I copied the fun illustrations by Petra Steinmeyer.

I was inspired by some cute mice from another storybook and after dressing them up a bit, made my sewing machine cover.

A  couple of tote bags, one was gifted to a friend and the other smaller beach tote was claimed by my daughter.

I´ll leave all the table runners and place mats for another day and finish this post with my favourite patchwork cushion.

Bye for now.

Sheryl

Listen Honey

 Hello Everyone,

My stitching mojo is at the moment as elusive as  our summer weather – About six sunny days during the whole of the month of August and  sewingwise I can only boast of having made a skirt for my daughter from a pretty dress she disliked and taken up the hem of another skirt.

I´m  doing a bit of redecorating and that includes throwing things out that we don´t need or which are rather old and I came across two embroidered holders made years ago.  Here is one of them.

A “Listen Honey” cartoon by Emerson Quillin.  I love these cartoons and have stitched quite a few  different patterns for my friends.

I lightly padded the flower on the lady´s hat and gave her a beaded necklace and 

gave her shoes some tiny laces.

Then a backing was added to the embroidery and a pretty piece of lace trim stitched  all around the holder.  Can you now guess what type of holder this is?

Yes, clever people,  you guessed rightly…… a holder for toilet rolls.  I will post about the second holder I have sewn when I get some photos taken, it´s even older than this one here.

This week I have received two delightful surprise gifts which I must show everyone.  A pretty embroidery to be treasured from Lynda Ruth of  Purple Pixie Dust.  Thank you Lynda, I really love the colours.

And along with a gorgeous French kitchen cloth, floss and thread holder ........ 

......... an amazingly clever card of a kitchen made by Nadine of Jocodine.blogspot. - I couldn´t get a link to work, and will try again later -

She makes really wonderful miniatures and this little card has so many  precious details perfectly constructed. (on doing this post I notice that a tiny knife is missing from the photo – but it is not lost, just escaped the photo session)  Thank you so much Nadine.

Until next week.

Sheryl

Sheryl

Let the People Choose - August

 Hello Blogging friends,

Jo of Serendipitous Stitching hosts the SAL called  `Let the People Choose´, celebrated on the first Saturday of each month. This month our theme is Books, so do join us if you would like to show any stitching you have done about this subject.

Years ago  I made a fabric book of embroidery stitches for my granddaughter.

It has lots of pages and is full of colourful stitches and small embroidered details.

I also endeavoured one day to cover a folder to hold some ribbons and laces.

And make a couple of small books as gifts. A small heart with speciality stitches and ribbon roses.

And a pattern by Veronique Enginger where I have actually embroidered a tiny book! I think it must be the only one stitched that I have found in my files.

Irish crochet bookmarks. A lovely pattern by Anne Potts to which  I added tiny crochet flowers  with beads and leaves to add some color.

An elastic bookmark I made from a hardanger design by Mabel Figworthy.

Another little notebook cover which I embroidered copying part of a drawing found in my grandad´s sketchbook.

I seem to have a whole collection of embroidered needlebooks too, but I´ll leave those for another day and lastly include here a book cover made following a design by Marie Suarez.

Thank you for stopping by and looking.    

Sheryl

Tray Cloth

 Hello everyone,

Another month over and again very little stitching done. My daughter and her three children are coming  to stay next month and I have been  busy arranging the house for their stay and making the most of all the arranging, to clear out unwanted furniture and ítems.

I thought I might show a tray cloth that I made some time ago.  It doesn´t fit any tray that I have and I didn´t want to make the pattern any smaller, so it will probably be gifted in the future.

I found the design in the magazine Labores and was keen to start the pattern  straight away as I had  a piece of natural coloured linen on hand and the recommended floss colours.  I chose a pretty red printed fabric for the surround.

I like to stitch designs that include different embroidery stitches,  and this includes:  punto de margarita, tallo, feston, nudo, estrella, bolonia and carril.  I added a few tiny heart shaped buttons and a piece of red trim.

I really like the end result, there was a tiny bit of quilting to do which I completed by sewing machine……. Only need a tray now.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer,  here in the north of Spain, we are still awaiting sunny days .  I am very behind on blog visiting but hope to visit everyone during the next month.

Sheryl