Christmas Crafting

I know some people are really organised, getting gifts made well in advance of each Christmas. My friend Fiona is one of them. She is one of the hosts of  Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew - an annual event to encourage Christmas gift sewing all year.

The following post may have a few elements of cheating, but I have today made a Christmas present!

My brother and his family live in Australia, and in a few days time my mum is on her way to see them. I have bought gifts for my brother and his wife, but my niece and nephew (age 9 and 7) are getting crafty gifts.

India's is a doll for her to make. I bought the panel f(possibly from Spoonflower), and I'm sending a little sewing kit too so she can cut and sew the printed pieces, with a bit of help from mum. Sewing related, but not a stitched present.

Marley's is a dinosaur, but it's a bit more complicated to make, so I have done the cutting, and the main sewing, so he and mum can stuff and add some applique if required. It started as a panel like this

And now looks at bit like this

I know it isn't finished, but for the sake of mum's packing it has to be able to be sent flat, and I'm hoping he will enjoy stuffing and finishing it, and sewing the ruff on where he thinks it belongs.

Although it clearly isn't a "finish", and is late for 2015 rather than early for 2016, I hope Fiona will see it as a linkable finish as its all I'm going to do to it - hopefully he will enjoy finishing it, and next time I'll leave him to make his own pressie!

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Wool On Sundays

My friend Janine blogs at Rainbow Hare and is a keen knitter and crochet-er, and runs a linkie every Sunday.

I very rarely link up as I don't (can't) knit, but I can crochet one stitch if someone can cast on for me. A while ago the lovely Carolyn at church started me off for some fingerless gloves. She felt I was ready to progress to a new stitch, but I ended up with this, so clearly I wasn't ready!

 

She very patiently started me off again, and I now have this:

 

It needs to be much longer and then I need to do the same again for the other hand, but these will be perfect to driving to school in the autumn / winter when the car is cold and I'm waiting for it to heat up!

(Do you like my ergonomic crochet hook - made with two packs of Sugru - I love that stuff!)

 

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Congratulations!

 

You may recall I hosted a Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew linkie last month.  Thanks to a lot of hard work from Fiona and Paula, the people who finished something Christmassy and linked up were in a draw to win this fab tapestry:

 Congratulations to Sandra who was the winner - and who made these great stacking baskets

Wish you'd joined in? The next post in the series is from Karen at Practically Pippi, and should show upon the 18th May.  You can see the whole 2015 schedule here

Christmas Crafting (again)

As I'm hosting the Ho Ho Ho and on we Sew link up this month I thought I really ought to actually do some Christmas making beyond my tutorial.

I started a Scrappy Trip Around the World late in 2013.  The plan was that it would be for Lisa for Christmas 2014.  At the time she was living in a converted factory in London and I thought it would be nice to have something warm and Christmassy to wrap herself up in

I got this far, and then realised my fabric placement was a bit naff:

Scrappy trips look better if they aren't alternating light and dark blocks - because they just might as well be alternating dark and light blocks!

 

So I considered a couple of sashing/no sashing possibilities

And there it stalled: partly because I couldn't decide, and partly because Lisa announced she would be going to Australia *just* after Christmas - so I didn't think there would be much point having a Christmas quilt which she'd get on Christmas day and leave behind on boxing day.

Anyway, fast forward a year and a bit: I seem to be in the mood for reducing UFOs at the moment, and the Ho Ho Ho linky got me thinking abut this one.  So I have now sashed the blocks mostly with plain Kona red solid.  There is some sashing with gold shapes on, and there is a reason, but I cant yet photograph it well enough to show you.  At the moment there are 5 separate strips of blocks, but in a few days I'm hoping to have it backed and machine bordered, and then I can show you.

 Have you finished anything Christmassy this month?  The linky is open until the end of the month if you want to link up - just click here to go to the linky post