comfortstitching

colouring in Christmas...

 More decs are being pulled out from the shadows of the attic and finding a home glossing up a dull corner or shelf (and there are many!)

 

A baubly pick n'mix of M&S and vintage bits picked up at 80p for a splendid bag full!!

 

The home made garland collection has many members.

 
I was such a lucky ducky to recieve this highly coveted emroidery by the supreme stitchy talent that is Georgia Mcdonald.  This was from the 'hand stitched embroidery' swap group on flickr, you can click on the link in my sidebar if you want to find out more about the group.

 
The stitching is amazing!!!!!  This is definately going to be hung up year round but I just wanted to showcase it here as it perfectly fits the season.

 
The festive finery has found it's way out of the kitchen cupboards!!!  Lots and lots of time will be spent washing up, might as well make it pretty and seasonal with a jolly mug or six.

 
Lots of time will be spent domino-ing!  Little miss C's favourite (as long as she wins).

 
Lots and lots of time will be spent 'bum on sofa', admiring my stitchy handiwork.

And even more mum-ily smugness will be felt in the girl's bedroom as they enjoy their Christmas pillows and stockings each night.

 
And so I shall leave you for a time dear reader to wean my self from the computer and spend time with my family, playing the games, being the waitress, reading the books and of course.........

 
 .......... crocheting, embroidering (sneaky peek in the bottom right hand corner of the above!) and knitting (pointsetta's  see above top right) and planning for next year, whilst watching 'Bad Santa' and drinking rouge limonade!!!!!!!!!!.  Who knows how this blog will return? will it remain the same????  will it return at all? will you return at all??

You'll just have to tune in to find out!

In the meantime those with an attack of the withdrawls may wish to read this blog from it's beginning!

    Have a wonderfully happy Christmastime  !!!!!!!!

      and by that I mean  absoutely spectacular and brilliantly sensational and more!!!!

decking up december......

I've been giving you lots of clues, so you may have already realised -  'I love christmas!' wholehearterdly (with bells on).

but it's not the dinner, or the wish list or the oh too many perfume ads on the telly that make me want the third week of December to hurry on over.........

It's the excuse to make, make, make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out comes the felt and the rest of the habedashery (I know not what to do with at any other time of the year, why do I buy so much of it?).

And out come the idea's, from the thin air that is the holiday spirit. 

 
This is my oh so favourite-ist thing I have ever made to sling around the house Decembertime.  A felt garland of stockings, decorated with more felt and all the bits-and-bobby knick knackery I could find at the bottom of my sewing box.

 
To the right you can see the new shelves!!!!!

 

C A R D S

Do you have a favourite you have recieved in the bygones?

 
This is mine.  It's not even a card but a tag given to me by a very lovely lady I used to work with who went by the even lovlier name of Marie Antoinette San Paulo.

I LOVE that it is a tree made of banana's!!!!!!!   Now there's an idea......

 
This one is up there in the favourites hall of fame too!   It's more of a Christmas mini postcard and came from a genius of creativity named Cat.

 
These are some of the leftovers of cards I've made from years of making fever!

 
And the above are some of the cards I sent out this year.  The decorative bits are all fashioned out of used wrapping paper and decorated with stuff found from various crafting boxes dotted around the house.

Let me leave you with a mosiac....just because I can!!!!!

 

And of course the winners of the  giveaways!!!!!

The pink gnome tree was won by NO.16 - Jenny

The girl on the tree swing was won by No.108 -  Valerie

You both need to get in touch so I can send these as soon as!!

Sorry to the rest of you:(   I am just going to have to get stitching and announce a new giveaway soon!!!!!!!  Please note giveaways for the foreable future will only be open to those who comment on this blog regularly.  So get chatting and I'll make it worth your while:))))

Next post will be on Wednesday and will be my last one for a while:(  See you then:)

 

christmas all stitched up!

 

It's taken a while but I am finally starting to see an end in sight to me playing santa's overgrown elf for this year ( hoo-rah!).  So just before I wrap and send them off to the ole pole, let me give you a sneaky at some of this year's goodies. 

Firstly we have a soft and cuddly baby's ball, made of 12 paper pieced pentagons, stitched together and then packed with an almightly amazing amount of stuffing ( I threw in a few off-cuts leftover's of batting too!).  I'm pretty pleased with it even though it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to sew.

 
On with the conveyor belt, we have a stitchy soft car made from my car fabric (perfect or obvious? you decide). 

 

And we also have a cuddly dog made from doggy fabric (there's nothing like consistency).  The dog  instructions came from 'sew' by Cath Kidston and I drew my own car shape and followed the same plan for the car.  I just hope they are well recieved..........you know how iffy I am about making boy stuff.  Hopefully not too many thoughts of 'what exactly did I do to deserve this?' will  cross the minds of the recipients.

Many, many hours of hand stitching were involved here.

I also wrapped and sent this and this quilt too!!

  

Closer to home here are a few of the delights awaiting a certain miss who'd better not be spying...................................or else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sunglasses case was made from those very well behaved girl's the 'skip-ity's'.  I've just ordered a tiny bit more of this fabric and it's listed for pre-order in my shoppie now!

Then skipping past the needlecase and pincushion we have a knitted gold hairband, all done in garter (knit) stitch, cast on ten stitches,  knit until about 28" long then stitch the two short ends together using a tapestry needle.  Squeesily-easy!!

 

Before I even think about leaving you today, I just wanted to mention that it was my 10th wedding anniversary last Friday!!!!   In true married couple style we pretty much overlooked the whole thing due to a major furniture delivery deciding to arrive on that day in particular, including a replacement for this.  The new computer table also decided that it was not going to fit through the door so had to be left outside until hubby could get home to take down the front door and get it in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After battling for many hours to keep the obsene amount of polysterene and cardboard packaging under control I went to bed whilst hubby repeatedly tried to fit the  door back on it's hinges whilst it consistently refused to become shut-able forcing him to take it off, slice a little more of the edge off and try and try again!

How married can you get;) 

 

Coming soon : Christmas decking special!...................  Wait til' you see my garland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

open to all!!!!!!!!!!!!! giveaway part two!

As mentioned yesterday, today there is another giveaway!!!!!!!   Now you may not be interested but in case you are the prize is the above mini quilt.  Also as mentioned yesterday this giveaway is open to ALL!!!!!  

Whether you are new to this blog of mine or a good old always popping by regular you are welcome to join the roulette of stitchy chance.  So without further ado let's have ourselves a little introductory inventory of the prize.............

 
There is a little girl, swinging dreamily from a makeshift tree, not just any old kind of tree but a polka dotted one!!!!!!!  Of course there isn't just any old background.......it is all decked out in a little colourburst patchwork of raw edge applique....................... and she doesn't have any old coloured dress on.................it is the very best in kei spotted blue-ness so the wee madam doesn't melt undecipherably into the pinkyorangeness of the background. 

OOOOhh a LOT of thought went into this!!!!!!!((!!!!!!)))

 
added extra's include fallen apples...

 

 and hanging on for dear life apples!

 All outlined usefully in black machine-y stitched outline in a free motion style with a side order of sketch-iness.

Of course it would only be right to point out here and now that this mini burst of quiltdom was completely and utterly inspired by this masterpiece of Tacha's

So maybe you are thinking ''''''yawn''''''''!!!!!  or maybe...... just maybe you might be wanting a slice of the cake of chance to have a go at winning a little scrap of a quilt, strategically invented  to brighten up the walls of little girls everywhere........

Ok -------THE RULES!!!!!!

Anyone is free to have a go at winning by leaving a comment below, let me know what you would have in mind for the quilt if you win and also let me know of one item that is on your very own christmas wishlist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (nosy nosy!)

If you have left a comment on any blog post of mine in the last month (NOT including my spoonflower fabric giveaway post-sorry!) you are free to leave a second comment to give yourself a further chance of winning!!!!

If you have ever purchased anything from my shop (up until the giveaway ends) you are free to leave another comment for a further entry.

So that is a maximum possibility of THREE!!!! entries to win the giveaway and give yourself three times the chance of winning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Please please note you must comment seperately for each entry!!!!!!!
  

There is still time to enter yesterdays giveaway too!

This one is only open to those who have purchased from my shop or commented recently.  Please read this post for full details.

Both giveaway's will end Monday 14th December at 12pm GMT.  The winners will be selected using the random integer generator.

COMING SOON!!!!!!!! - The answers to all the 'can you guess what it is yet's' I've been plaguing you with these past few weeks, in an allcolourgiftingspecialextravanza of 'oh that's what it was's'

DON'T MISS IT!!!!!!!!

mini quilt giveaway part one.......

 

Firstly let's step into the future and learn that tommorow there will be a second giveaway which will be open to ALL!  So if you are not eligible for today's please pop back then................you will not be disappointed!!!!!!!!!

Today's giveaway is all about saying ******((((((((((((THank yOu!!!!!!!!!)))))))))))********   with bells on in this season of gifting goodwillingly to all those who take the time to show their support for this little blog of mine.  So let's take a little more of a look at the prize.......

 

In it's whole-ness it is a mini of a quilt, perfectly sized to deck those halls of yours!!

 

In close up, it has many features including appliqued hexagons, seasonal looking machine embroidery.....

 

and swirly squirly doodley freeeeeee-motion-y machine-y stuff!!!!!!!

All quilted up into display proportions for your decorating delight and delectation!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ****************************************
 
You will be able to enter my grotto of giveaway entry only if,

One)))))  

You have commented on any post since (but not including) the last giveaway (with my spoonflower fabrics as the prize).  To clarify this means the following posts only,

pincushion tutorial and a winner,   

blocky munki quilt tutorial,  

rip it up and start again.

You can click on the above links to check if you are unsure. 

 

Two))))

You can also claim an entry if you have ever bought anything from my etsy shop, this will be for all purchases upto and including next Monday the 14th of December 12pm GMTwhen the giveaway ends.

So that will be a maximum of TWO entries if you have both commented and purchased.  

EDITED TO ADD::::: You must comment for each entry seperately!!!!!!

Strictly no cheatin' entries, I will be checking and any gatecrashers will be disqualified from winning!

  ****  GOOD LUCK TO ALL WHO ENTER!!!  ***

 

Meanwhile..........................I find myself knitting this week, will I ever stop collecting new stitch-y skills to master???!

rip it up and start again

 
I hope you are in the mood for crochet today people as that is what I am feeding you, there will be many courses and of course dessert but if you don't love the hook just scroll to the bottom for other news!!!

All today's exhibits were started a couple of weeks ago, for our starter we have the above hooky goody which is taken from the pattern here.  Though that pattern is for a vertical stripe and mine shall be horizontal as I wasn't concentrating at the beginning (though truth be told concentrating and my brain aren't friends anyhow).  Originally the whole point of taking up the doubles and trebles once more was to use up left over bits of yarn........................................................................... though that strategy did not last long due to the considerable lure of Rowan yarn (pure wool DK), lets just say I now have a lot more yarn to be used up than I did last week.................

 

Main course is a dish of scallops all laid out in stripes, this was completely inspired by the one on Tam's blog.  I'm using debbie bliss baby cashmerino here and those of you with good eyesight and memory may notice that this version has had a little face lift since last seen.  You see those colours were nice enough but were bugging me a bit and a lot, so I drank a strong cup of tea and slowly unravelled the ooooooh 15 or so stripes (60 rows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) whilst my husband looked on aghast wondering if I was having a turn and whether he should call the crochet police for advice.  Now it is much better, though I am still having second thoughts on these colours too............................

 

Onto the sweet course and we have a mix of Rowan hand knit cotton and debbie b cotton dk all chucked into the pot for an oversized granny.  Now is it just me or is that centre bit wonked.....or in posh language oscillating????????????????   Don't know why this has happened?  Is this normal with large grannies???  Will it amend if I block it????  Any hooky officinado's out there???????

Perhaps I should just unravel this one too..................................................

****************************************************************************************************************************

And now onto the last bit (the bit that isn't about the hook) 

 

This is very highly exciting for me!!!!!  You see the above quilt blocks were made by the very lovely Marilyn, using my blocky munki blocks tutorial AND one of my Christmas spoonflower designs too!!!!!   What a marraige of heavenly quilti-ness otherwise known as 'I will now have to make one too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'  You can see other lovely examples of similar wonderfulness in my 'Stitching with Comfortstitching' flickr group.

Just a little inspiration for the many of you out there who bought yourselves a little of the 'christmas washing lines' fabric and if there are any of you out there who would like to purchase this fabric I may be ordering some more soon, it won't reach you before Christmas however but let me know if you are interested in pre-ordering some:) 

More...................tommorow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!