WooooHoooooo!!! Finally, after all those sleepless nights…I opened my Stitching Santa Gift :-)

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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 🙂

 

OMGoodness …Can SOMEONE fast forward to the 25th???…PLEASE!!!

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Christmas, Parcel swap, Sewchet, Stitching Santa Gifts

Having entered into a wonderful Stitching Santa Gift swap this year, hosted by the Lovely Sheila from Sewchet, I had great fun and excitement compiling my little pressie to my recipient!! But, vastly underestimated the anxiousness and intrigue….I..would have to undergo waiting to open my own gift parcel!!! ~ which arrived almost two weeks ahead of the big day !!!!!!!!!!! The question is……….??????…..can I contain myself any longer?? I keep picking it up, then putting it down….Only five more days to unwrapping!

OK!! My solution to not opening before the Christmas Day deadline….I’m putting myself in a cupboard right now!!…LOL which means…someone else will have to deal with the festive dinner preparations…what a win win deal ~ me thinks!

Wishing EVERYONE a Wonderful Festive Season and A Fantabulous 2017!!! May Happiness, Health and Fortune fall Your way to bring the Best Year Ever!! ;-D

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Bad photography, Cute Cards, Felt Fabric Beads and Pompoms, Festive Greetings and Best Wishes to ALL, Good Health and Fortunes for 2017!, Quirky Crafty Creations

…Some quirky photography going on here?!?!!! Hey well…She means well!

Health and Happiness to All!!

Festive Fabric’Bottle Girls’

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Bottle dressed creation, Buttons, Fabric, Fabric creations, Fabric off cuts, Ribbon and Felt, Stitching Santa Gifts

Some Seasonal handmade fabric gifts to add to my Stitching Santa’s gift box

A couple more quirky fabric giveaways for the recipient of my Lovely Lady in the ‘Stitching Santa’ Swap…hosted by the lovely Sheila from Sewchet

Using Fabric off cuts, with a lovely festive feel, holly and berries, I made a pair of figure hugging outfits for the lovely… Crisp & Fruity little number as well as her Rich and Spicy friend!

Even if my lovely lady doesn’t take a tipple, I hope they will stylishly decorate her festive table, before she gives them away!

The holly fabric has been hemmed both ends, then the neck end gathered to fit. A piece of hessian has been stitched and turned, before being frayed carefully to form a little rustic shawl. A little ribbon has also been encompassed before adding a decorative pair of wooden painted flower buttons. Finally a little round of felt and matching fabric have been stitched and turned out to form a little hat/mop cap, also with matching flower button…They look quite a pair in amongst the ‘fluffy snow’;-D

You know what??? I think I am actually ready with all my bits and bobs for my Lovely Lady’s gift 🙂  I’ve purchased six items for EXACTLY £10.00, then acquired two more with free vouchers = 8 shop derived items! Then, I have made seven individually handmade items, PLUS a handmade card = 8 also! So, hopefully, the 16 little combined gifts will bring a happy smile from Stitching Santa!!

With nervous excitement all that remains is…to box, parcel and send!!

Sooooo Excited to be joining in this year as a Stitching Santa Creator and Gifter!!

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Artist and crafter, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas Stitching Santa, Cute Hand quilted Patchwork Stockings, Fun with fabrics, Mini Christmas Stocking, Original patterns and designs, Surprise Fabric Gifts, Unique Quirky creativity, Upcycling Fabric Offcuts

stitching-santa

 

I am so pleased to have given time over this year, to be a part of Sheila’s, STITCHING SANTA 2016!! The Lovely Sheila, from Sewchet  OMGoodness….She’s a knitting, crocheting, sewing and time managing genius !!  I do think she resides in multiple universes to be able to fit in all she does every week!!!! Do check out her wonderful site 😉

Having received my recipient details a couple of days ago, I have already begun to create a few little handmade gifts for my lovely lady ;-)!

If you are a follower, you will remember these cute little creations from last week?! I thought a lovely, ‘personalised, with name embroidered’, handmade cute stocking with candy cane (not showing the actual one here to keep the surprise till the 25th of December!!) would be a great little start to the handmade addition to my recipient’s gift box 😉

Hope to show a little more soon…….

without giving the whole surprises away!!

Super Cute Mini Patchwork Stockings ~ from tiny off cuts :-)

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Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Crafty creations, Crazy Patchwork Mini Stockings, Cute Christmas creations, Fully Lined Cotton Christmas Socks, Fun with fabrics, Hand quilted stockings, Mini Patchwork Stockings, Set of 4 Mini Stockings, Unique Quirky Fabric Creations, X-Mas Hanging Decorations

A fun day spent trying to reduce my ever growing mountain of off cuts… into beautiful little creations 🙂

A Super Cute set of 4 Mini, fully lined, and fully usable ;-), hand quilted Patchwork Stockings….every time I look at them I can’t help but smile!! A lovely way to give tiny fabric scraps a new lease of life, I think!

A little close up of the 4.5 inch tall mini stocking

Cream cotton lined and backed too…Sooo Cute 🙂

Set of 4 Mini Hanging Decorations

A ‘Little’ Something…I rustled up this week…

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Art, Artist and crafter, Artistic fabric designs, Buttons in crafting, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas Commissions, Christmas stockings, Crafty creations, Decorative beads, Designer moments, Fabric art, Fabric creations, Felt applique in designs, Fun with fabrics, Gigantic X-Mas Stocking, Hand Made and Quilted Christmas Stocking, Hand Quilted Cotton Creations for Christmas, Magical Christmas Memories, Patchwork and applique creations, Polar Bear Felt Applique Christmas Stocking, Unique Cute and Quirky Fabric Creations

I hope he’s been a good boy this year then??

Having been commissioned, by a family friend, as a surprise for both his son and his wife, to create another gigantic Christmas Stocking, for their second son, my brief was…”make it BIG with a Polar Bear Please!” Well, there’s no doubting it’s big…in fact VERY BIG! At approximately 37 inches tall with a 24 inch opening and foot area too, I think it fits the size part of the brief at least;-) Then to make a Polar Bear from scratch…

First draw a cute Polar Bear Shape…tick! Cut out all the separate pieces from felt…tick! Make him a ‘turned out’ hat and scarf set with a little bell…tick!…Right!!…now he has to go on a suitable background to show him off ~ it would have been a shame to have him disappear almost, against the cream cotton fabric (Head scratch moment!!!) AH HA!!! I remembered the assistant at the fabric mill showing me some narrow, glittered snowflake netting ;-D Perfect!!…quick dash to buy half a meter!! Set over an A3 sheet of navy and polar ice blue sewn together, it was just the effect I’d hoped for, and, set off the polar bear perfectly! Standing cutely against a glittering snowy backdrop, Oh, and a little crescent felt moon under the netting too ~ I almost feel like I am in the North Pole with him now LOL 😉 Having loosely assembled all the panel parts, much hand stitching ensued, to attach him over the netting, before blanket stitching the felt panel onto the outer stocking shape.

Must point out…I forgot to photo the step by step I’m explaining ;-/, as the quilting across the stocking was done afterwards, in fact all photos were done on completion

Next, twelve little hand drawn and cut felt tree shapes, then a mad rummage through my buttons, to find enough matching colour and sized buttons to stitch onto the trees, before they were also blanket stitched to the stocking, adding, as I went around, little beads to finish the tree decorations.Eventually, at the quilting stage, using a synthetic wadding this time to give a more padded feel, I also went around each tree too, which gives it a lovely raised profile from the stocking.

From drawing to completion of each little felt tree seemed to take an absolute age, with so many stitches to achieve the end result. Though, always worth the effort, to have each one as nice as the first!!! I have completely secured all buttons and beads with triple stitching and double knotting at the back as the little boy is only two this year, as he gets older and the stocking is used year on year, it will be less of a concern, though I always keep in mind safety in all my designs!

Of course, the stocking needs a back too! Simple but still, a heck of a lot of hand quilting, Each square is 2 x 2 inches which, kind of adds up, after already finishing the front quilting surface and also around each applique piece to give added structure and profile. Next…A matching tartan stocking top and tiny loop (for safety’s sake) were added and finally, after all the quilting, a cotton holly leaf print fabric to bind, which again has been hand stitched back to finish…:-D

et voilà!! I don’t think I ever did a post for the first gigantic stocking..??… well here it is!

Our friend kindly lent it to me again to take pics, I believe it has had a good few years of use already, and, hopefully many more to be enjoyed before he grows up! Isn’t that what treasured childhood memories are all about??! The magical happy childhood memories of seeing/remembering a gigantic stocking ‘filled by Santa year on year!’  😀

Christmas Runners ~ Patchwork and Applique

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Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas Runners and Mats, Crafty creations, Creative craft, Creative crafting, Cute and Quirky Crafted Creations, Felt Christmas Creations, Fun with fabrics, GingerBread Runner, Hand applique and quilting, Handmade, Hessian at Christmas, Patchwork and quilting, Poinsettia Runner/Patchwork Mat, Snowman Runner, Unique

”….Just look Cute, Okay ?!” ….”I’m doing my best!!!…. whilst trying to count how many million stitches are going on around us…!”….”Yeah, Me Too!! You know, 36 hours of hand stitching, is….a LOT of cotton!!!!”…..”Hope we get out of here before Christmas??’

After weeks working with traditional red/green and cream colours for my Christmas patchwork creations, I went scurrying through my stash to see what else I could use, before….my next trip to the fabric shop ;-)?! Finding some spotty fabric and enough blue to bind, a bit of hessian thrown in too, seemed just the right combination 🙂 As most of my Christmas table mats have been aimed at adults, I thought it about time I started balancing it, with more young at heart, cute and quirky creations…What better way, than adding some felt applique 😉 Still All completely machine washable and iron able too (Just not the little beads with a hot iron)!

After first drawing some simple designs, I made myself some card templates, then drew round them onto a sheet of Bondaweb, ironed it to the correct coloured felt for each different shaped piece to create my little snowmen, then patiently cut everything out ( The holly leaves were definitely the fiddliest bit ~ but well worth the effort, non the less) Once I had all 56 pieces cut out, and  28 beads set aside, I started assembling a very simple hessian centred panel to which I could blanket stitch all the pieces to (You’ll have noticed, the colours of the snowmen are inspired by the printed spots of the cotton fabric)

….”You know what??” …”What??”… ”She spent so much time straightening us beautifully, then, decided the table cloth wasn’t straight! So straightening IT, caused us to wiggle about lol!!”…”Never mind, folding us over in the wrapper, everything is squared up again!!”…”Hey!”….”What??” ….”Look down there 😉 ……Ginger bread folk!!”

After a little super cute creation…who can stop at one??!……………SO……..

Another 42 pieces of felt, 42 beads, some hessian, spotty print fabric, wadding, backing, binding, and, a shed load of  hand stitching….et voila!!…A cute quirky Gingerbread runner too 🙂

Enter a caption

There were a couple of more items done in the traditional colours, not included before…Mini Runners/Large Table Centre Mats…using up the remnants of the Poinsettia and Bow fabrics

Quite a busy week all in all 😉

Crafting in Cotton for Christmas

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Artist and crafter, Artistic moment, Arty, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas patchwork, Crafty creations, Creative crafting, Dining Table Place Mat sets, Fun with fabrics, Hand quilted table mats, Modern twist for X-Mas Dining, Original, Patchwork, Quirky original designs, Skewed X-Mas Place Mat Sets, Stylish quirky design in cotton fabrics

…..Unless commissioned for more…My last Place Mat Sets for this festive season 😉

Having grabbed, a couple of meters, of a beautiful gilded holly berry print, cotton fabric, in the summer sale (…and paying for it of course..lol!) I couldn’t wait to set to, on the final ideas for a couple more place mat sets for this festive season. Steadily through the year I have also been sourcing red and green fabrics too… ‘cos, believe me, when it hits September time, all the red and green gets moved from the normal craft fabrics into the considerably more expensive Christmas craft cotton section ~ shame on the store for doing that, I say!! Anyways, I’m wise to that now…but, a super tip for those just getting going in fabric craft, source your stuff early!!! 😉

Going, once again, with my favourite design of the year, ‘Skewed Squares’!! I just love doing them, they’re so simple, takes not a jot of thinking about, next to no scrapage of fabric, even after trimming as you go, AND…best of all…they are super striking,  a fab burst of festive spirit for even the smallest of dining tables ;-D

Set two 🙂

Both these hand quilted sets are completely machine washable and can also be ironed, so will look as good as new year, after year….after year!!

Packaged…and,

…ready, for a new loving home 🙂

Crazy Patchwork Stockings Lovingly Hand Quilted

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Artistic moment, Artsy, Carens canvas and craft My ETSY shop, Christmas Patchwork Stockings, Crazy Patchwork X-Mas Sock, Creative craft, Creative crafting, Fun with fabrics, Handmade, Modern Abstract Stockings, Patchwork, Patchwork and quilting, Quilted Cotton Christmas Stocking, Unique, With Love from Santa stockings

Okay…now we are in September, I don’t feel so guilty about showing off Christmassy things LOL 😉

Recipe:  1)Grab a large selection of Christmas cotton fabric off-cuts,  2) Sew any which way (which, slowly, but surely, WILL drive you crazy!!),  3)Trim to desired stocking shape, 4) Sandwich with cotton wadding and backing and then hand quilt, 5)Repeat for reverse of stocking (Or, as I did, reserve a little sanity by doing a plain one with cross hatched quilting, 6) Add hanging loop between front and back pieces, bind, then hand stitched to finish!

A simple, sanity saving, hand quilted plain cream cotton reverse!

If, by this stage, you don’t feel compelled to take yourself off to the local recovery centre….try it all again LOL ….Take two!!

Okay…three solid days of craziness….I’m off to book myself in…right now ;-D !!!