Little Trees

 The countdown to christmas is really speeding along here and i have a lot to do still........but a little sewing of decorations was needed for a crafty interlude, something just for fun.............

 ..........these little trees were originally featured in my book pretty patchwork gifts, and the pattern itself can now be downloaded from the stitch craft create site here...........

 .............i loved making the original green trees and this year i decided to make some different ones....

 .............some with a bit of a scandinavian look to chime in with my favourite red and white décor...

 ................a bit of fabric choosing, a bit of drawing round a template and a bit of sewing....

 ............and after stuffing the little trees there was the fun bit of adding ribbons and buttons, like adding the baubles to a real tree............each one is different and the trees can be hung along a mantelpiece, or on a door or cupboard, or added to a gift, perhaps to hang on the side of a parcel or gift bag..........i also like to add some drops of winter scented oil so they smell gorgeous.............

 ..............we went christmas shopping in the historic city of chester at the weekend and i found this box filled with lovely little baubles..........they look so pretty in the box we are thinking it would be a shame to take them out of their little compartments...................

 .............chester city holds lots of memories for us both...........we often go there just to walk by the river, to sit in a cafe and drink tea and people watch, and to wander along the historic rows.......this time we enjoyed seeing these lovely decorations in the grosvenor shopping centre.......

 ............there was a lovely big bauble covered silver tree too but the pictures of it were not good due to too many shoppers obscuring much of it :(................i loved the colours of these decorations..........

 ..............we bought some gifts and sipped tea in a café, just as we always do...........

 ..............above is one of my favourite festive shop windows.........inspired by red and white.....

 .............more red and white inspiration here too............below is a new decoration i am trying this year.......i found this sturdy branch on one of our walks and brought it home with some kind of hanging decoration plan in mind.......i added some spray snow and some little fabric trees, ball of wool and buttons baubles (how i love these of course ) and tags and berries......this is a work in progress and you might be seeing it again...............

...............thank you for all the lovely comments on my sleigh ride rabbits, dear readers, and for visiting me here in my festive bit of blogland..........i wish you a wonderful week as we count down to christmas......to my lovely readers on the other side of the world, enjoy your warm and sunny days, i will think of you all as i put on my down-filled coat and wind my scarf snugly round :)........and to every one else keep cosy ;)...........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooxxxxxxxxx