Two little finishes!

Don't you just love those quick to stitch and quick to finish pieces? And when they are Christmas gifts too, it's even better!

So last week, you may remember that I was working on some cute little Tomte designs and making them as bookmarks. Here was the first one all finished.....

.....I made a matching little tassel for his hat...

He was popped inside a book and sent off in a Christmas package to my son. The second Tomte that I had started last week was also finished (I'm definitely on a roll here!).....

...a nice bright pink tassel on this one's hat.....

 If you're wondering how to make a tassel click here for a quick little tutorial about making them.

Isn't he cute.....

And then Tomte number three is well under way and should be finished in plenty time before Christmas....

This one is probably going to be done on green felt and with a red tassel. Now the burning question is....do I have time to whip up a 4th Tomte bookmark?!!! Pop back next week to see if I have :)

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Advent blog hop....Day 12.

Welcome to my little corner of blog land and to day 12 of the Advent Blog Hop organized by the wonderful Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year....busy and hectic but always full of love. I always plan to stitch a host of gifts for everyone on my list....but by December there's only three or four people actually receiving hand made gifts from me - I'm just not organized enough! 

I have made some cross stitch Christmas cards to send this year.....

Quick and easy ......except for the back stitch on some of them!

I love this ornament that I made several years ago....it always makes me smile when I bring it out at this time of year...

Now as for Jo's question of favorite Christmas movie.......I don't really have a favorite Christmas movie. I do love the old classics though....there's just something about Christmas and old movies....Miracle on 34th Street anyone? Or maybe White Christmas? Not a classic, but definitely a golden oldie....Trading Places. What's your favourite?

Think I'll go and get my stitching out and start (re)watching these Christmas movies!

Until next time.....happy blog hopping!

Rhona

Christmas gnomes

Christmas gnomes, Tomte, sprites....whatever you want to call them.... are so popular this year and are everywhere....even cross stitching! I decided follow the trend and stitch the Christmas gnomes bookmarks that I designed for World Of Cross Stitching magazine issue 286......

.....they were so much fun to stitch! (They were fun to design too!)  As you can see from the picture above, I couldn't wait to start the back stitching just to have this little gnome's face come to life! I changed the colour of his little suit because ....well you can do that sort of thing with cross stitching and because the recipient loves blue....

The kids (who are not really kids but are all grown up, but still kids to me!) always get a book as part of their Christmas and this year will have a little Christmas Tomte bookmark to go with the book. This one with a more girly colour scheme is still in the hoop, bit shouldn't take too long to complete...

Next on my to-stitch list is one of my Highland Cows (or heilan' coos as they are known as in Scotland!) designs from Cross Stitch Crazy Issue 263....

...but I'm having trouble deciding which one to stitch first!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

A sparkling, sequined finish!

These four little Christmas characters are popping in to say 'Hi!'.....

At last....after much grumbling and moaning (with a few unsavory words thrown in too!) I have a finish! 

This was certainly not the pleasure to make as the other stockings have been. I had lots of problems with this stocking and took lots of pictures to show how badly off each piece was, but have decided that I will concentrate on the good and show you just the finished piece (who wants to hear anyone moaning and complaining at this time of year!) So here are the cast of characters that make up the stocking....

.....hundreds and hundreds of sequins and beads....

 ....a little 'handmade with love'  label from my stash....

....and baby's name embroidered on the top (I wasn't going to show her name, but since her mama has it on social media there's no privacy issues)...

...... a plain white lining (no pictures as it's a bit boring!)....and we have a finished stocking....

This certainly was a labour of love but I'm glad it's done and am pleased with the finished stocking.

Here's the details of the kit...

Manufacturer - Design Works

Kit name - Winter Friends  #5260J

Finished size - 18 inches

Would I make another felt stocking? Absolutely - but not using this brand! I personally prefer the Bucilla kits and feel they are made to a much higher standard.

Anyway, now to parcel this sparkly stocking up and send it on to it's new owner, just in time for Christmas!

Until next time.....happy stitching!

Rhona