Unfinished Christmas Crafting...

This is the flip side of crafting for Christmas...too many projects taken on and having to decide who misses out...I'm ashamed to say that this year it was a gift for my Mum. This year we all agreed on no presents as every ones finances have been stretched for various reasons, so I felt very guilty when I DID receive the lovely presents I blogged about previously and had nothing to give in return.

I had wanted to do something fairly quick and simple that involved the kids, I browsed through my bookshelf and found the lovely bookmark idea from Amanda Blake Soule's lovely 'Handmade Home' which involves your little one doing a drawing of a favourite person and then embroidering over it with a simple back stitch. So I had some cotton scraps and I got my eldest (five) to draw a picture of Granny! I got her to do it on paper first as I worried about how it would turn out! I then traced it through onto the fabric by holding it up to the window and then spent some lovely hours relaxingly stitching away!! Mostly all watching Star Trek I'm slightly embarrassed to say! I'd forgotten how much I like embroidery, I used to do a lot of cross-stitch but embroidery is much nicer as you don't have to keep looking at a chart!

So I've now added her writing of 'Granny' to the top and now just need to sew it all up, I'm trying to get her to do other family members this week so I can do a whole set! It's lovely taking her artwork and making something personal and lasting, as her drawing style is constantly changing/developing. The other feel-good factor is how it hasn't cost any pennies, all made with scraps and stuff I already had and mostly with love. I'll post the finished photo when done!

Am thinking of ringing in the New Year with a visit to Ikea at Milton Keynes! Much better then having a hangover! I'll let you know....need to do some sofa research and of course just to LOOK at the textiles!!!

Post Christmas

After the rush to get things ready it always seems to flash past doesn't it the big day!!

With last minute crafting and doing a proper roast since we've had kids, it seems to have been a lot of effort for a short period!!

So I tried really hard this year to make the girls something which inevitably led to a last minute panic!! But I really enjoyed it and was very proud to see their faces when the saw....

the finished knitted mouses and the fleecy floor cushions. It made the 2am Christmas Eve morning finish all worthwhile!!

Mary Christmouse was from Knit Today, issue 39, Nov 2009, pattern by Val Pierce, which as a novice knitter I found very easy, there's a lot of sewing together though and I still haven't got the hang of charming faces! The info is also on my Ravelry page, (HoldMyHand).

The floor cushions were a late brain-wave, I had an old king size duvet which I was going to Freecycle but then as a couldn't afford bean-bags for the girls I wondered if I could cut it into squares as large floor cushions! So I measured out a generous size and doing some calculations made the 60cm squares which made 16 squares, eight per cushion.

I then sewed a square inner cover for them out of an old sheet and the used the three metres of very bright fleece that's been waiting for a project to make simple pillow-case type opening covers. I added some flaps of fleece and different ribbon to identify them at the top corners. The best thing is they cost nothing!! And more importantly the girls love them and have been lounging on the all Christmas!! I hope they'll end up in the room under the cabin bed where I hope to finish creating a reading/listening chill-out area for them!! The curtain to go around the opening of the bed is the next project, when I can find a large piece of appropriate fabric (I'm thinking of Ikea)!!

Me and the kids didn't really do a huge amount of Christmas crafting this year, I've really noticed the difference from last year when I was only working two days a week (what bliss!!), it's been a bit sad having to rush to fit everything in, we didn't even visit santa, although both the girls have seen him via school/nursery.

We did get to decorate pine cones for our card display

I found a pack of ribbon with small pegs at Clinton Cards for only £1.99 which although it wasn't as nice as the Cath kidston washing line version I fancied, the cheaper then £5 price tag won me over!!

I can also now reveal the present my Mum got for me from the Vintage & Handmade Fairback in November....

Meet Bea, from the lovely Vintage Magpie, isn't she lovely, a much loved addition to our family.

I was also lucky enough to receive...

a lovely Lindt Matroyshka dolly, hyacinths planted by the girls and a tea set with a lovely Cath mug!

I'm still waiting for my knitting counter I was promised by the other half!!

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from knitting now too, I'm itching to get started on a sleeveless cardie which is my next project, again details on Ravelry.

I'm also looking at the benefits of changing to a different provider for blogging as the lack of features on Blogger is slowing me down, especially the add image function which as a fairly important one, is infuriatingly rubbish! Any comments/info would be very welcome.

I hope all blog readers had a lovely crafty Christmas and here's to making 2010 New Year's crafting resolutions/to do lists!