Thank you, Secret Santa!! xxx

It's late, I know, but I just wanted to quickly share what my Secret Santa got me for Christmas this year.

Create Your Own Needle book Kit

It's a Create Your Own Needle book Kit! The instructions are simple to follow - it gives you an idea for the design, but really you can make it whatever you want with the pieces provided! I shall look forward to making that! My Secret Santa also gave me a Hobbycraft gift card, which gives me a good excuse to go! (especially as my new school is about a mile from a store - could be fatal!)

As long as I'm sharing crafty gifts, I was also given these kits as part of my leaving present from Chesham Bois - someone knows me very well!

Humphrey's Corner "Flowers for You"

"London Bus" by DMC

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had an amazing day however you chose to spend it!! 

Now that the big day's been and gone, I can post photos of the gifts I made for my Mum. I cross stitched two Christmas Tree decorations and decopatched a mannequin for her.

Decopatch Mannequin

First, the mannequin. I used Glossy Glue and Decopatch paper - I tried to keep the patterns on the paper whole rather than ripping through them. After covering the shape with the paper, I spread a thin layer of the glue over the top to create a varnish. The whole project took about an hour and a half, not including drying time. My mum's going to put it in her sewing room. I have another mannequin at home to decorate for my sewing room but I haven't decided what paper to decorate it in yet.

Ice Skate "Winter Wonderland" design

Then, the cross stitch tree decorations. As I mentioned previously, my friend Jenny inspired Isla and I to try making some. I took the designs from The World of Cross Stitch Magazine and stitched onto 14 count plastic canvas with DMC thread. After the cross stitch and backstitch, I then used some sticky felt and ribbon to finish. Each decoration took 4-5 hours but they were fun to make and they look really good hanging on my mum's tree! I hope to make lots more decorations for next year.

Rudolph!

An Update

It's been a long time since I posted on my blog - I've been in a bit of a crafty lull as a result of changes in my job, but let me get you up to speed on the few things I've been doing.

My talented fellow cross stitcher friend, Jenny, makes amazing Christmas Tree decorations - including the one pictured below that she gave Bren and I for Christmas this year. So, I decided to try making some of my own. I was hoping to make some for my friends, family and penpals but of course other events put me behind. I've made a couple as Christmas presents but you'll have to wait until after Christmas to see those!

Snowflake decoration made by Jenny

Christmas pudding "N" initial - pattern taken from World of Cross Stitching magazine

I haven't managed to do much more of my "Dictionary of Cakes" piece, but I'm hoping to do lots over the Christmas break. I'm aiming to have it finished by the end of February - I'd say January but I'm being realistic and taking new job into account. I'm also aiming to complete one of these pieces from issue 211 of The World of Cross Stitching Magazine in honour of my impending trip to Paris with Bren. I haven't decided which one yet, but if I can change the hair colour to brown like mine then I'll probably do the bigger piece.

"Paris: Je t'aime" Issue 211 The World of Cross Stitching Magazine

The World of Cross Stitching Magazine Issue 212

 In other exciting news, I was part of the reader panel in Issue 212 of The World of Cross Stitching Magazine! All I had to do was send an email with a recent photograph of myself and in a few weeks the emailed back asking if I'd like to be on the panel for Issue 212. They then sent me a questionnaire for me to complete about my stitching history and habits and asking for my opinions of the featured patterns. As a thank you, I got a gift package of Madeira theads, needle threader and cutter, embroidery scissors, thimbles and needles.