Getting Christmas All Stitched Up

Whilst the sewing stuff was taking over the dining room last week for a bear and a dress, I did a few Christmassy items as well. 

The embroidery machine produced a  bib for my new niece, and a couple of facecloths for Christmas gifts [this is an old picture- I wrapped up this month's work before I took a picture!]

Then I decided we needed some festive facemasks. I used the black mask [Bob bought it from Wilko in the summer] as a template, and made four masks from Christmassy fabric in the stash. The inside is heavy t-shirt cotton - I find that more comfortable next to my skin than the patchwork cottons.

My memory bears always have a backpack with a label inside naming the deceased, and the recipient. At Bob's suggestion, I used the cute llama print which never got used in the bear itself to line the bag. 

This meant my box of embroidery threads, and the box of Aida scraps was out. I decided to make a 2020 decoration for the tree. I did front, with the year - then on the back, a note of George's date of birth, and the fact that I'd spent the summer teaching Rosie. Then I decided Liz and Steph ought to have one each for their trees. I've already made a First Christmas decoration for George.

These are really quite small, about 5cm in diameter. I did the two x-stitch designs and sewed then onto their circles. The red circle is felt, with a green bias binding edge. The green Christmas fabric is pulled tight over a card disc. Finally I oversewed the two sides together, tucking  little bit of wadding behind the felt to give some depth.

Finally a quick reminder that Kirstie is back on Channel 4. She's already done a quick&easy crafts programme.

Her new series start on Monday 30th and is every weekday for two weeks. This year it was filmed in October under covid19 restrictions, in a large, cold marquee, in Devon. I know this because my good friend Alison is one of the demonstrators! Alison said the production team found heaters and hot water bottles to keep people warm in the tent!

Alison's a professional in parchment and papercraft [check out her website]and I'm confident she'll produce something brilliant. It will be good to see what other experts Kirstie has - I'm glad she produces a variety of crafters [even if 95% of the time, she seems to leave them to finish her item for her!]
Two boxes of spare decorations and another full of used-once gift bags went to CAP this week, as my friend is preparing gift hampers. I shall try and put some decorations up over the coming weekend. 

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