Merry Stitching

 As the shelves fill up with gorgeous Christmas magazines and the evenings draw in, I love to do a bit of festive stitching. Although it can be Christmas in my studio at any time of year, I like to make special small gifts for family and friends now in the evenings, beside the fire, and really enjoy the seasonal atmosphere.

The Red Bells Cushion appears in this month's inspiringly festive Crafts Beautiful magazine. I made it in the summer when the sun was shining and the garden was full of flowers. I also made a little card and matching cross stitch bell shaped tag for this project. I love creating little stitched tags - they're a great way to quickly add a handmade feel to any gift and they can be hung up as a decoration later.

 I received this sweet little book last week - that's my Mr and Mrs Gingerbread project on the cover, but it's not just me in this book,there are contributions by ten designers and a great variety of makes and ideas, beautifully presented. I love browsing through books and magazines during November, planning things to make and bake before the rush of December arrives.

 I bought some bright new crafts materials the other day and I have an idea for a gift to stitch involving some of them. I hope to begin this tonight and I'll show you soon! (It doesn't include all these pins though! I just bought them because I needed some extras, and they reminded me a little of snowflakes!)

              Wishing you all a lovely week, with bright sunny days and happy cosy evenings. x

Sew Nostalgic

Here as promised are some pages from the 1970's Golden Hands crafts magazines. I've learned all kinds of useful sewing and general crafty tips just from browsing through while choosing pictures to show you.

Some of my favourites are the beautiful fashion drawings that I think are still lively and vibrant now - they speak of their era without looking dated.

This spread shows How To Tie Dye - such fun, everyone had a try...so messy and so unpredictable...so likely to cause a disaster and make your mum cross.....

Patchwork was really popular, especially using hexagons - and it was often used as an applique on clothes as well as the traditional grandmother's flower garden flower quilts.

I love some of the patterns for embroidery - like the delicate applique and embroidered flowers here.....

....and the cute little red and white spotted toadstools here. I just might have to stitch some of these...!

But now I'm going out to tidy my autumn garden while the sun is shining. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and the autumn (or spring!) sun is shining on you too. x