The Guardian

Late November always sees me rushing to finish the Christmas crafting ideas I had in October, so that I can mail off parcels to around the world.

This week I finished this piece for a friend.  The pattern "The Guardian" is one I bought from this lovely site "What Delilah Did". 

Also last week I designed myself a stamp for using on my handmade items and sent it off to this site to have it made up.  The whole process was so easy and the stamp was delivered in two days.  I get really excited about daft stuff like customised stamps, so it was an exciting week for me!

Hopefully The Guardian will watch over my friend's Christmases for many years to come.

A Pin Cushion Gift

I usually get started making gifts and decorations for Christmas in October, and even with post-move cupboards still crying out for organisation (and the occasional box left still unpacked), I have made an earnest start.

Miss S's gift for Grandma, last Christmas

Miss S, my seven year-old is starting to take an interest in sewing and embroidery.  She is also obsessed with the winged heart motif and I find it doodled all over pieces of scrap paper everywhere in the house!

So, it was a logical progression to start a sewing kit for her for Christmas, and the design for this embroidered pin cushion was easy to choose.

I used an 18pt linen embroidery fabric in a shade of oatmeal and drew the design, tracing through a light-source from a print-out behind.  I used the same image as Mr Muck's birthday card (see post here).

I then filled in some areas with fabric paint (I use Pebeo fabric paints - just iron when they are dry and they're colourfast).  I then went over the outlines using a combination of split stitch and long-stitch embroidery.

Now to source the other parts of the kit...