Sew Many Thanks!

Wow! What a wonderful quilty Christmas it has been this year!

Jenny of Elefantz made me a beautiful cushion cover and pincushion (both almost too nice to use) and included a Melly & Me pattern for the Chookyblue Secret Santa Christmas swap.


Such exquisite stitches!!


Jenny's gift was wrapped in awesome Christmas fabric. Thanks Jenny (and Thanks Donna for hosting this great swap again!)

From the BQL 'made' Christmas gift swap, I got this great bag!



Thanks to my Secret Santa and to Kandy for hosting this swap again!

My BQL 'purchased' present was this cute vintage-style tin with threads and some mini-charms...


Thanks Secret Santa and thanks again Kandy!!

This is a gift I made for my DSIL's dog. He seems to need a lot of stuff with him when he gets taken out so I made him a big bag :-)



My dear friend Vicky gave me this for Christmas...



A Robin bag filled with polka dot delights! Love them!!! Thanks Vicky!



Some unexpected fabric arrived from another dear friend...


Thanks Josie!

And from the Advent swap, my 'big gift' from Ailsa...


Thanks Ailsa, and thanks Jo for organising the swap!

Another snow day

I have not left the house since Thursday! I know DH has not done any Christmas shopping and with my little car we won't be going anywhere for a while...



So we'll just enjoy the snow, survive the cabin fever and hope that we get a Christmas dinner this year :-)



Some people enjoy the snow more than others...

A White Christmas!?!

This is what it looked like on Thursday morning when I set off to fetch my youngest from Nursery....


That afternoon after doing the shopping and (thankfully) fetching DH (who did the rest of the driving for the day) we were stuck in the snow on the A65 for 2 hours trying to get home on tretcherous ungritted roads! We are very thankful of our neighbours and some local farmers who helped us get home. Maybe all I want for Christmas is actually a 4x4 and some snow driving lessons ;-)

DS1 had been on a coach trip to a panto and only got home after 7 pm as the bus also encountered many delays with the snow. He was starving and very tired, but had a great time seeing his first panto. Thanks to our neighbour once again for rescuing him from school. My little car doesn't 'do' snow and I was so worried about getting the little chap home!

The next morning, we woke up to this...




If as they forecast, we get more snow, we may even have a white Christmas!


Merry Christmas everybody!!

Not much computing = Lots of sewing

I have made many gifts this year and under our tree are the teacher's gifts waiting to be delivered...

They'll be receiving a selection of covered notebooks (for the ones who didn't get them before), shoppers, lavender sachets and/or cosmetic bags.

And I finally made myself a bag...



Believe it or not this bag was originally these trousers...



They were far too short, so they got recycled...


The heart pin on the bag is one of my advent swap gifts from Ailsa. Thanks Ailsa!

Some overdue thanks to Nicolette! I won a giveaway on Nicolette's blog and she included so many wonderful things that I was absolutely amazed by her generosity....


Nicolette kindly included some awesome rose fabrics which have come at the perfect time for me. Yes, it's almost hexagon time again :-( because in the New Year, all being well, I will be undergoing yet more corrective surgery on my femur. So I'll be digging the hexagon handwork out and keeping myself busy...


These will be perfect! Thanks Nicolette!

Sonnja of Beertje Zonn also sent me a wonderful parcel! A beautiful pincushion!


Thanks Sonnja.

I was recently given this bag and asked to make a 'boy' version...

This is what I came up with...


It was fun to do and hopefully the young man likes it..

On a non-sewing note, I was in yet another traffic jam...


This farmer bravely got his sheep across an 'A' road at about 4 miles an hour LOL.

A photo of some of the 'paddy fields' around here...


This photo was taken quite a few days after the heavy rains.

The boy's had their first nativity shows this year. I got to make my first ever shepherd's costume (and wise man's cloak for a friend).

This is the older children's show held in the beautiful village church...


Both boys starred as a shepherds in the Nursery version held at school :-)



The lights have been up in local villages for a while...


It's starting to feel Christmassy around here!

All I want for Christmas...

.. is my own computer!

While the cat was away I had a computer to use, but he's back! So my darling 'cat', if you're reading this... help... I am computerless and it's driving me bonkers!

xka

While the cat's away...

The mice may have played...
The 'mice' may have made me order a few books online...
This one may have arrived today...


(The rest to follow soon I hope)

The 'mice' may have turned the living room into a fabric explosion...


(The 'mice' and I may actually be embarrassed to show this photo LOL)

But, the big bad cat is back LOL. So the fabric has been packed away (well most of it), the book buying spree has stopped and life continues as before EXCEPT!!!
My Chookyblue Secret Santa arrived from Jenny of Elefantz....



I was 'allowed' (according to the rules) to open the first parcel and I love it!! Thanks Jenny, it's gorgeous, so modern and the colours are fabulous for our kitchen where it has been hung up already!!


And I shall wait until Christmas for my second parcel, I promise! (especially because it's so beautifully wrapped that I like it just as it is LOL)

Why does it always rain (on me)?

Rain, rain, rain... and lots of hail too!

Today the bridge flooded again and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get home from school! Luckily we could get under the other railway bridge so I'm home to tell the tale:-) Sadly, I had no camera with me, so I have no photos to show the water levels around here which are thankfully not nearly as bad as in parts of Cumbria.

Well, it's been a long time no blog, but all the secret swaps have kept me underground however I can show one...


I'll not say anymore, but I hope they like it...


And look what I received from Ailsa for the Advent Swap....


Looks so amazing that I can't wait until the 1st of December! Thanks Ailsa!

Also received: (along with some other cool bits including something yummy that disappeared pretty quick!!)


Thanks Kandy, I can't wait to try this pen out on my butterfly quilt... (I believe the marks also disappear pretty quick LOL)

Last time we were stuck in with the weather, the boys and I made Gluten-Free mince pies (And yes, I ate all (or most of) the pies!!!)

I'll try not to leave it so long between posts, but as I'm now working on Christmas presents, I can't promise anything :-)

Flood Day

No school today because the rainwater under the bridges left the road to school impassable.

Luckily I sent out 2 swap parcels and my giveaway parcel last week!

Amy from the Calico Cat likes blue, so I sent her a blue parcel which included a blue cat bib for her little boy, a tote bag, a bag charm, fabric, ric-rac, fabric to make a dinosaur bag....



...and it has arrived safely so that's a relief.

Hoping to have the kids back at school tomorrow!! (Perhaps it's time for a canoe LOL)

Wanna win a quilt?

This is the quilt you could win....


Andrea is raffling a quilt to raise money for her daughter's trip to Africa. Pop over to her blog (www.welshquilter.blogspot.com) to buy a ticket!

Swaps, swaps, swaps, swaps...

Ok, so I'm a bit mad. Last I checked I needed to send/make 4 Christmas swap parcels (as well as my giveaway parcel). This means I need to get a shake on, but all the swap effort will mean that I have a thoroughly crafty Christmas - yippeee!

Speaking of swaps, my Angel Stitcher's parcel arrived in Italy (forgive the terrible photos!):



The parcel for Cristiana included an embroidered tote bag, a large cosmetic bag, some fabric, some ric-rac...



A hand stitched heart...


And a beaded handbag charm made by my mother...


(one down, 4 to go LOL)

Two tops done and a winner

Our combined quilting effort is now a top.


Pieced entirely from scraps left over from my brother's quilt, it should make Mom a great lap quilt for when she visits us. I hope to get it basted and quilted a.s.a.p.

And here are the borders on my Double Delight....



These 2 little trick or treaters, despite being poorly, had a grand Halloween thanks to our kind neighbours and their impressive stash of chocolates...



At last, a photo of our new kitchen. Thanks DH, you did a great job!!


(Even if you don't notice when it's tidy LOL)


The winner of my 300th post giveaway chosen by a random number generator of all the comments on the last 2 posts is The Calico Cat. Please email me your address and I'll pop a 'Lucky Dip' parcel in the post for you!