Crafting For, During and After Christmas

These are some of the presents I made for people this Christmas.

I made quite a few presents and managed to forget to photograph a fair number of them too. But they have all been very happily received which is the main thing. I also bought a few things from other makers.

My Dad adores his Bird Nerd keyring and tells me it is a compliment in birding circles. This one was from an Etsy seller in the USA.

I'd decided on a silk scarf for my ma-in-law and knew this was the perfect one as soon as I saw it on Folksy. Lovely UK seller and designer too.






I was also crafting on christmas day and in the last few days. My pin cushion, made before the days of blogging, was falling apart so needed replacing. The original was a flower made out of felt on top of a small round cardboard box such as you get told to decoupage nowadays. The replacement is a variation on that.

I made a few of these for christmas presents last year. The top is a patchwork hexagon I made out of diamonds that wasn't sitting well with the others in the series. Too pas-tel if you know what I mean. These are a great way of recycling jam and pasta jars. I've added a lne of washi tape around mine just because I am still in the washi zone. And having washi'd one pen pot (in my last post) I turned my attention to another one which is just a plain mesh one I believe I purloined from a former employer. I've seen some iphone cases made of mesh which have been embroidered and so I've been pondering a bit of bargello. I am not short of inspiration.

I picked out a few favourite designs. (Excuse the photo quality.)

But I think this is the winner...

I am just awaiting full daylight to choose the colours.

Then lastly I'm working on a new cushion cover for a round cushion in hand stitched english paper pieced diamonds. I'm using shades of red from stash and scraps.

I like the way it makes my eyes flicker from place to place picking up elements of the patterns. Not a restful piece but an exciting one.

My volunteering is over now. I had signed up for five days but by the end of day three I was burnt out and cleared it with the team there to leave it at that. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are apparently the hardest days to get people to turn up for (especially with the tube strike the last few years) so I'd done good by making it for all three. I will be doing it again but a max of three days in a row.

C is for C...C....C....Christmas!

Merry Christmas one and all! This is where I ate my christmas lunch, consisting of one jam sandwich and a big sainsbury's chocolate cookie.

Day two of volunteering went very well. Towards the end of my shift I took a call from an Outreach Worker who had come across a man sleeping rough. He had been in one of the Crisis shelters on the 23rd but thought it was like at the rest of the year when they can only stay for one night and then have to move on. Together with others in the Ops Centre we arranged for him to be picked up and driven back to the shelter he had been in and to stay there until the 2nd so he doesn't have to sleep outside for at least the next 8 nights.  There he'll have a dry, clean bed with the chance to have three meals a day, clean clothes, have a shower, a haircut, medical attention (including psychiatric if needed) and advice from people on the services he can access to try and get him  permanently off the streets. I only played a minor part in all that but to know that I've helped does give you a little glow that makes it all worth the effort.

It's cold out there. If you can't donate your time think about donating a few pounds instead. 

You can donate online here. 

Click on 'reserve a place' and enter any amount from £1 up.

C is for C...C...C.....Crisis

Go me!

My first day of volunteering saw me up at 5.30am and hard at work by 7.30am. I'll be there all week. It's rather nice to be helping out when otherwise I'd just be sitting about doing not much. Although I am not often doing not much. For example, I broke out the washi tape. 

My formerly plain pound shop tin is now all cat and dotty. Also I had another chance to experiment with Nickerjac's Cricut. Sadly this did not exactly go to plan. 

I'd bought a new blade and done much research into how to cut fabric with one. I followed one tutorial, much encouraged by her description of it "cutting like butter". Mine cut more like a sword made out of modelling balloons. 

So. Right. Not to be put off I switched to just cutting freezer paper, which did indeed cut like a soft foodstuff. I then ironed the freezer paper shapes onto fabric, cut round them and glued (yes, glued) them onto bibs and onesies. 

A quick zigzag stitch around them and ta da!

On some of them I plan to add a little hand embroidery. For example:

This one is going to have "food" added to the blunt end. 

Just to finish... want to take part in an awesome swap requiring a yard of fabric? Sign up now!!

Now I'm off for a crafty Baileys.