Gifted Gorgeousness - June

It's time for another Gifted Gorgeousness, where we show anything we can manage to shoehorn into the category of gift gifts we've made or received, or projects we've done using gifted materials. See Jo's blog for more details
This month I've done quite a bit of sewing again.
I made Naomi a couple of high/low hem skirts (Pattern hacked from New Look 6434), using up fabric I had in my stash.

 The chambray was originally bought to make my husband a shirt, but he wasn't keen on the print

I don't know what this crinkle pleated slinky satiny stuff is but I do know it was a swine to sew

I also made this outfit for Eloise, the skirt is McCall's 6931 and the top is New Look 6483. The fabric is from Micheal Miller and is called "Kiss of the Spiderwoman"!

 I've been playing with silver again as well. I made a sea glass pendant for a friend's birthday, and some captive rings for Naomi

That's about it for this month. Hopefully some actual stitching next month!

Gifted Gorgeousness - May

It's time for Gifted Gorgeousness, the monthly Blog Hop organised by Jo where we show the things we've made as, received as, or can otherwise shoehorn into the category of gifts.
Quite a few sewing projects for my GG post this month. Lets see...
I made the girls a top each from some funky tattoo print jersey

I made this top for Eloise for her Birthday

and also this dress

Loki approves

The sharp eyed among will notice that all the pictures are of Naomi, this is because Eloise lives some distance away, so her makes have had to be posted to her.
This was a cover kit with Mollie Makes magazine, so that counts as a gift right?

And I finished off the blackbird applique I showed a couple of posts back. The design/kit was from last year's Spring Craftpod, which was a gift from me to me :)

Gifted Gorgeousness - April

A couple of days late, but here is my gifted gorgeousness post for April (If you are new to this GG is a Blog Hop hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything we have made as, received as, or made from something received as a gift - or anything else we think we can get away with shoe-horning in for that matter)
I've got a few things I can share this month (and a few I can't, so that's next month's post sorted too!).
First up is the pendant I made for a friend's birthday. It is a piece of local seaglass for which I made a claw-setting from recycled eco-silver. A bit of a steep learning curve making the setting but I think I've got the hang of it now!

Then there is this shirt I made for my husband. The pattern is Simplicity 1544, and the fabric is a cotton lawn with a kind of William Morris-ish pattern of stylised bluebells. The collar band and inner cuffs are in a contrasting plain purple cotton.

And finally the piece I stitched for the Needlecraft Haven Easter Exchange.I finished as a "lollipop" and it's displayed with a wooden tulip my girls bought for me in Amsterdam. The design is from La Comtesse et le Point du Croix It's still here as we are keeping the exchange virtual for now and posting out later, so I can't say who it is for in case they read this.

That's all for this month. Off to work on some May gifts now.

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop

Hello, Happy Easter, and welcome to my post for Jo's Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop. 
We were asked to show a piece of Easter/Spring stitching. I planned to show the Blackbird applique piece from last year's Spring Craftpod, but as you can see it isn't finished!

 

Instead here is an Easter Banner I made a few years ago

Now the bit you are really here for. Your letter is

and your next stop is

 Here

Let The People Choose - Penguins

Let The People Choose is a SAL organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, with a different theme each month. This month it's penguins! It can't have escaped your notice that I am fond of penguins. I have a lot of penguin related crafting to show.
Here we go:-

This New Year Penguin is a free design from Aliolka

I made this cuddly felt penguin from a kit from House of Zandra

Here is a silk scarf I block printed

and a little knitted penguin - pattern in 20 to Knit - Tiny Christmas Toys

bought the whole book for that pattern

A penguin Christmas Ornament (design by Cthulu Crochet)

A penguin in a Jayne Cobb hat!

Penguin walks down the street in that hat, you know he's not afraid of anything.

and this is a mixed stitch penguin sampler I designed for Stitch Magazine, many years ago.

And finally, not penguin related, but here is the February page from the subversive calendar the girls designed for me

Gifted Gorgeousness January 2020

Welcome to my January 20220 Gifted Gorgeousness Post. If you don't already know, Gifted Gorgeousness is a SAL devised by Jo, which allows us to show off pretty much anything that we can describe in a sentence using the words gift and craft. For full details see Jo's blog here.

Kicking off the Gifted Gorgeousness Year is always the easy post because of  Christmas. I already posted about all the wonderful craft related gifts I received in my Happy New Year post, so this post will be about various things that I made for other people.

Lets see... I knitted the girls a hat each. Pattern is "Head Sock" from The Purl Bug. Here is Eloise wearing hers on Christmas Day at the beach. 

I forgot to get a picture of Naomi's hat, but here she is wearing a little devore velvet slip dress I made her. 

The pattern is New Look 6347. Double GG points on this project as I was gifted the fabric by Minerva

I also made them a silver necklace each, (it's just the lighting that makes them look gold)

I made some of these star shaped fabric mats in a variety of colours and patterns for a few of my friends. 

And finally, a little Year of the Rat ornament I made Naomi for her Chinese Zodiac collection

Happy New Year

A Very Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.

I'd like to share just a few of the Christmas gifts I received this year.

Thank you to Barb for the lovely felted robin and holly wreath, to Karan for the pretty violet hand dyed evenweave, and to Clare for the Christmas print fabric and DMC threads.

Thank you to Julie for the very useful folding mat/bag, and to Robbin for the gorgeous hand-loomed scarf and handy travelling scissors.
And here are just a couple of the things I got from my girls

My Little Cthulhu!!!!!! Isn't he adorable? Look at his little tentacles!
They also made me a calendar. This is the cover.

You might be forgiven for thinking it was both up-lifting and life-affirming.
Until you open it and see January

I'll share the other months throughout the year.
And finally, my round up of 2019. The final total was 73 finishes, 41 books read, and 12 pairs of shoes bought, and the nearest guess was Clare with 74, 47 and 11. I'll get some sort of little prize in the post to you in the next few weeks Clare.
I've reset the counter, so if anyone wants to try and guess at the 2020 total just pop your answer in a comment on this post.

Online Advent Calendar Blog Hop Day 1

Hello and welcome to Day 1 of this year's Advent Calendar Blog Hop. For the list of participating blogs please see the Advent Calendar page on Jo's blog.

I thought you might like to see this embroidery that I finished a couple of days ago. The design came as a printed outline on fabric from Anne Brooke (H-Anne Made) here. Such a pretty design and  I love that you can use your own threads and stitches and make it completely unique to you. As you can see I made mine look like a Winter Robin and it's very different from the one on Anne's website

.
For the second part of the Advent Blog Hop Jo has asked us to talk about our favourite Christmas film. Well I don't know about anyone else but Christmas doesn't start properly in our house until we've sat down with some Gluhwein and watched Love Actually.
There are so many priceless moments in that film that it is hard to choose a favourite to share with you, but here is Billy Mack singing "Christmas Is All Around"

So if you really love Christmas, come on and let it snow

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop. For the introduction to this Blog Hop please go to Jo's Blog - Serendipitous Stitching

This little pincushion - which I stitched a couple of days ago, when we had no power all day (due to them working on cutting down trees that were interfering with the power lines) and I couldn't do any machine sewing - is one of the projects from the Spring Craftpod, so I thought it fit the theme nicely.
Now the reason you are here. Your letter is

and your next stop is

http://aimetu-clare.blogspot.co.uk/

Happy Easter!

February's GG

Here is my February post for Gifted Gorgeousness - Jo's Blog Hop, where we get a chance to show off our gift related crafting every month.
I've got a few things this month. First is the Valentine's Exchange at Needlecraft Haven. We had to send a stitched card, a skein of thread and some sweet treats to our partners.
Here are the goodies I received from Gill

I love the card, and will have to figure out a way to frame it so it can stay on display
And here is the card I sent to Julie.

The stitched section detaches to form an ornament. The design was one I found online, but I've forgotten where. I also forgot to take a picture of the other bits, but I sent a skein of  WDW "Ladybug" and some chocolate ladybirds/
Next is a little "plant" I made from buttons for Barb's birthday

And here is the prize I made for Jo, for winning my guess the number of finishes/books/shoes competition last year.

It says "Mae Govannen", which is Sindarin for "Well met". It's stitched in a Kate's Kloths overdyed green floss on Crafty Kitten's 32 ct Murano in Faded Olive
And finally, not stitch or craft related at all unless you count cooking, but I won  a caption competition on Ainsley Harriott's Instagram, and got this fantatsic goody-box with one of every Ainsly Foods product (there's a load more than you can see in the picture) and  best of all, a signed photo of the man himself (which is up on the kitchen wall now)

Kicking Off Gifted Gorgeousness for 2019

New year, new Gifted Gorgeousness, same format - a forum to show of our crafting gifts and gifted crafting - for full details see Jo's Blog here.
First of all some gifts I received for Christmas
This beautiful little stitched stocking from Clare

and these lovely fabrics from Karan

And here are some things I made as gifts:-

I made Eloise and Naomi a snappy pouch each. These have strips cut from a retractable metal tape measure in the top so that they snap closed. They get double GG points because I originally received my own snappy pouch and instructions on how to make them as a gift from Julie

And here is a jumper I knitted for Naomi (Pattern and Paintbox Metallic DK yarn used available here)

This is the front - nice, but not earth shattering, however take a look at the back!

I'm really pleased with how this came out.

And finally, as she was packing to go back to University, Naomi complained that she needed something to brighten up the front room of her rented house and "make it look like adults live there", so I knocked up a little runner to go on their coffee table.