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A lovely Christmas present, Christmas Surprises, Handmade, Sewing gifts, Stitching Santa Gift Parcel, Thrifty gifts
As you can see…I carefully undid (WELL…MORE RIPPED OPEN IN EXCITEMENT REALLY!!) the gifted Stitching Santa parcel I have been driven to distraction by, for the previous two weeks since it arrived, present! I was then greeted by a lovely happy snowman gift bag, which contained lots of lovely wrapped little parcels :-)…..eleven to be precise :-D!! OMGoodness!! It’s such a long, long time since I received a parcel through the post with unknown contents, it certainly brought back the childhood excitement of Christmas YAY!
Having entered into the wonderful Stitching Santa Gift Swap, hosted by the lovely Sheila from Sewchet, I wish to thank Sheila, for all her organisational skills and also for including me too this year! Today, was the day, I could finally unwrap my parcel!! The excitement and temptation over the past two weeks, since it arrived, has been almost unbearable…Let me say…I have not been at all disappointed by the lovely generous gifts inside sent to me by the lovely Margaret from https://thecraftycreek.com/ 🙂
I have to confess!!! I was so excited…I completely forgot in the first instance to grab my camera as I was going along LOL…my first instinct was to open my card to see from whom I had been gifted, and learn of the lovely lady 🙂 then went full pelt into opening another two gifts in the full throws of giddy childhood excitement ~ how can you help yourself???! After opening my quilting pattern template..then, my beautifully handmade large clasp purse…I stopped myself…! I just had to share all this excitement ! OK! Where’s my camera??? Ah Ha, there it is….OK… now we can proceed 😉
Just look at this wonderful lovingly handmade clasp purse, large enough to hold all my essential sewing tools to close hand (Apologies for the bad photos, though by the time I had chance to spend time on myself today…the sun had long since departed…and, flash was required!!) The brass clasp is so lovely, as is the finish too!! Fully lined as well in sewing themed fabric, it’s definitely earmarked to live on the shelf next to where I sit sewing, and can comfortably hold all my essential bits and bobs to make stitching life easier!! As If that isn’t enough the Lovely Margaret also included as a gift, a fab gifting tool…designed to ease out/turn out fiddly little projects/elusive lying threads and difficult turn through projects…how have I lived without this little wonder tool??
Can I just explain LOL…I found my camera….SO, there was no reason for me to hold back…”get on in there girl”, I thought…So, I did!! Two weeks remember, TWO WHOLE WEEKS OF WAITING (but, my, was it worth it…?? Oh Yes indeed!!) as you can see …I could no longer restrain myself…by this stage ironing a table cloth for presentation or shifting the debris had gone right out of the window…so intent was I to see my mystery gifts!! 😀
Oh My Word…I AM Sparkling this Christmas! Just as my card says 😉 How lucky am I?!! Such beautiful handmade and thoughtful gifts!! All I can Say is a huge Thank You To Margaret! She must know how much I love buttons! How much I need help with such a great little tool…that I am on the end of an awful cough cold with the lovely handmade tissue holder The Pin cushion jar will be sooooo helpful! The ribbon labels can be affixed to all new projects, including the ones I will devise for the lovely fabrics and covered buttons! My family Christmas tree is all the happier for it’s new button decoration ( LOL, I actually sent my recipient two similar decorations made from vintage buttons with a little bell attached too!) I shall have much fun, trying to follow a fabric pattern, as most may know… ALL previous projects are done from my head alone! BUT!!!!!!!!….I have always wanted my very own set of long pins, but have never ever invested(sad, but true) I can’t wait to use my new pin wheel set!! Thank You so Much Margaret 🙂
Caren's Creative Canvas & Craft 
that is a super fabulous gift…. happy holidays :o)
🙂
Great haul. Lucky you. My parcel only arrived two days before Christmas and was much smaller than last years, so I didn’t reach anywhere near your level of tension!
I am incredibly lucky to have been assigned such a generous Stitching Santa 🙂 All Margaret’s lovely gifts and makes will get much use in the new year!
Phew, I thought you might pop before Christmas got here! 🙂
Those are wonderful gifts. I bet it won’t be long before you’re putting them to good use.
LOL 🙂 You and me both…one more day and I think I probably would have done!
They are all beautiful and thoughtful gifts and I feel so very lucky to have received them all from the lovely Margaret
😀
They are delightful and I could feel your excitement in your post!!! What thoughtful, and beautiful gifts! Enjoy! catchatwithcarenandcody
Thank you Caren, they are indeed ! My lovely Stitching Santa, aka Margaret, was very generous with her lovely gifts to me and I feel very lucky…can’t wait for crafting to begin once more in the New Year 😉
Oh My Oh My
ust look at ALL the wonderful thoughtful pressies ~ it seems I’m not the only one who has a drone hovering over your crafting emporium~ Margaret had your crafty needs, wants and desires well and truly noted …CONGRATULATIONS on
A) The restraint you showed on not peeping before the big day
B) Your wonderful haul of superb goodies
and here’s to all the creations buzzing around awaiting your imagination to bring them to life ~ you sooooo deserve such a bountiful pressie xx
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Mrs. P 🙂 I feel incredibly lucky to have received so many lovely and truly thoughtful gifts from my lovely Stitching Santa, Margaret…It’s like all my Christmases had come together, I’ve not had presents to open for years!! It really was as exciting, if not more so, than I could put into words!
You know what… with all this buzzing traffic in my Emporium air space…I could well be assigned my own personal air traffic control tower LOL 😀 I’ll just have to be careful not to have too much ankle on show, when the warm weather does eventually return…you never know what the spycam might spot??!! 😉
Hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful couple of days with your family xx
Who would have thought you were such a drone magnet LOL
Make sure your stockings are laundered when the warmer weather & lighter nights return I should hate to see unsanitary unmentionables plastered over the tinterweb 🙂
I should feel quite flattered, at my age an all!! 😉 …Good advice…I must route out the carbolic and give them a good scrub!! 😉 LOL
I do believe ‘The Village Ladies’ have said the new fashion is to have ones skirt skimming the boot tops …..never in all my life have I heard such vulgarity !!
Oh Dear!!! does that apply when I’m wearing my waders??? sincerely hope not…;-/ also quite draughty too I should imagine LOL Thank goodness your southern fashions rarely make it this far north 😉
It’s that cold today I fear if it wasn’t for my woollen stockings I should frozen through ~ could it be true in only a few short months I’ll be down to my knee length chemise, whalebone corset, camisole , petticoat and day dress ???
Ahhhh…what would we do without those Nora Batty essentials??!! LOL You’re not wrong, I think it must have been the coldest day this year!! Everything was snappable in the garden this morning the frost was so thick and deep ;-/ Goodness the weather down your end warms far quicker than up here…I have no plans for the summer wardrobe until at least June…while you shimmy around so glamorously…don’t worry about me with triple sackcloth and wadding layers 😦
The vision that wafted into my minds eye of the triple sackcloth / wadding combo ………well what can I say ~moi jealous ??? perhaps just a smidge 🙂
OMGoodness…my winter outfit this year doubles up perfectly, to play charades…I imitate a sack of spuds on a chair… perfectly LOL 😉
Hahahahaha when you say sack of spud obviously you mean a petite hand picked brown paper bag of 6 baby new potatoes 🙂
Well, naturally of course, my dear Mrs. P!! All perfectly aligned… to give the best sackcloth silhouette form…I should hate to be caught and be found slouching LOL
Of course 🙂 as if your deportment would be anything other than perfection
…though perfection is in the eye of the beholder…looking in the mirror, my six little puds could be better aligned i’m sure ;-/ LOL
Hi Caren, Right I’ve finally got 5mins – now for that sewing question. How do I cut cloth straight!! I’ve got a couple of metres of plain cotton and some nice patterned material (I got for crimbo) and want to make a table runner. How do I make it straight with right angled corners? The longest ruler I have is 30cm!
OMGoodness!!!! So Sorry to keep you waiting for a reply….it’s been such a busy week + as we have been repainting through the house ;-/ (well I’m site supervisor and door painter, whilst dearest is labourer lol)I have soooo much catching up to do on the computer & esp WP, but wanted to answer this asap :-)Anyways, back to your question!!??
I’m assuming you don’t have a cutting mat and/or a rotary cutter?! Even for a one off project like this a rotary cutter is a great little investment (can be bought for as little as £2.99 from The Range) But even if you don’t want to get one it can still be done with a 12″ ruler 😉
Firstly I suggest damp spraying your fabric and ironing it then, going with the length, fold it in half and iron it to a neat crisp seam half way…carry on folding and doing this carefully maintaining a sharp fold at both ends..until you have the fabric to under 30 cm. Whilst still on the ironing board, pin the fabric (assuming you want your runner around 10″ wide for eg.. allow a half inch from the selvage edge which you will want to cut away initially and then pin another inch in from there.(to keep from shifting) opposite pin about 6 inches across from the other line of pins. If you still haven’t got a rotary – take your ruler and a pencil and draw a straight line 1/2 inch in from selve edge then cut with scissors. Leave all pins in place then taking your ruler mark out the desired width from the straight edge with at least four dots, use ruler to join them up then cut again, this should give you a good straight piece of fabric!
The right angle corners?? Am I correct in assuming you then want to bind the runner to give the 45′ angle on the turn? If so, then you need to cut a length of fabric 2.75 inches wide and 8 inches longer then the entire outer finished measurement of the four sides. If so then the 2.75 wide fabric has to be steam ironed in half along the entire length, then pinned to the top of the finished runner with the two open edges laying against the very edge of it running left to right, for ease, start on one of the longest sides in the middle! As you get to a corner, lay it flat on top then lift the fabric with your right hand and take it upwards straight right at the very corner, so your two cut open edges will then be running in line above your corner on the right, bring this down now to form a 45′ fabric turn, still keeping the open edges against your finished runner edge, pin as you go and repeat at each corner until you get back to the beginning where you first started the pinning of the binding. Now, you need to join the fabric to a whole…before stitching it onto the runner, the easiest way is to overlap the pieces straight and add 1/4 inch to both sides (for seam allowance before cutting) there is another way but quite complicated to explain without showing to give a flatter less bulky diagonal seam. At this stage you should have all your runner edged with binding pinned flush all around with 4 corners with a 45′ flip turn flap. When stitching towards the corner, stay shy by 1/4 inch, flip the 45′ fabric triangle the other way, then stitch straight down across till the next corner, then stay shy 1/4 in and repeat. once all the way around you turn back your ironed straight edge to the back side of your runner and hand stitch down along the line of your stitch line! Hope this is clearer than mud??!! If not let me know and I’ll do my best to improve the instructions 😉 Good luck..How exciting to get lovely fabrics for Christmas!!
I will be honest Caren, I’ve been to the pub, so probably not the best time to read this! But I feel I’ve got the first bit at least. Will refer back to this and see how it goes. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer. Now it’s written down, I have somewhere to start, otherwise I hadn’t a clue how ro begin. Hope your house is looking tip top with the decorating. Time for some needlework?
Hope it was a good night out 😉 LOL house looks like a white out now great start to the Spring Clean though! Ask away if you get stuck 😉