Happy Christmas!

Hello there

I just want to take a moment to wish anybody reading this a very happy Christmas and a successful, healthy and happy New Year.

I've been quite affected by the Cinninati shootings, as have millions of others, I know. It's hard to remain light hearted in the immediate shadow of such an event. I have no concept whatsoever of how those families are keeping going. I just wish that some power greater than us humans, can help them to see a point in living full lives.

Here are just a few cards I made this season.

 

 

Snippets of three cards

 

 

 

Take care out there and enjoy, no matter how little the pleasures.

xx

Christmas table decorations

Hello there

Yes, it's definitely 'that' time of year again. Pressure on us unorganised folk to get things organised for a specific date/time. I've yet to send out the majority of my cards; only some overseas ones have been sent. One of the things I have managed to do is get my Christmas placemats and coasters made.

I made the paper rose too and the tealight holders are cool -
they're from a Partylite party I went to a few weeks ago-
there's space in the holder to place items, which you can
change to suit whatever the occasion is- brilliant idea!

I'm hoping that the astute amongst you will notice that I've done free motion quilting on them. It was the first time I've ever done a project using that method. It was great fun and obviously I got better at it as I went on. The batting is too thick really but it'll flatten once they're washed and ironed. I remembered to iron the batting before putting together the coasters, so they're not as bouncy. The main fabric of the placemats is made from old sheets. I just had to buy the starry material, of which I only needed half a metre and I got the gold thread, both from a great shop called Sew Simple in the Lady Heyes centre in Frodsham. The lady in there is so helpful, it's worth travelling a bit further for the customer service and almost knowing that they'll have what I want, as they concentrate on quilting and patchwork.

I love the effect of the quilting and of the gold thread. I do have to give thanks to Leah Day for her tutorial on making a star quilt pattern on her blog freemotionquilting. Mine don't look anything like hers but then she's been doing it for years and her machine cost at least £1500. After doing this, I really could do with a machine which has push button speed technology, an 'up/down' button for the needle, font stitches, a walking foot, a quarter inch seam foot and a few other things. That's the only trouble with crafting; there's always more you 'need' :-)

The back of some of the quilting isn't brilliant but a few of them (as I got better) are fine:

I have to confess to replacing the placemats for dinner, as we had meatballs and spaghetti, so there was no way I was going to let them get covered in pasta sauce, the very first night they were used! :-)

Take care out there

A sale!

Hello there

Just a brief little note to let you know that I've had my very first Folksy sale. A lady has bought a set of the portable coasters from my shop 'By DW'. I'm custom making them, so that she gets what she wants. I'm so so pleased. Now all I need is a bucket of free time from somewhere to ensure that this lady gets the coasters as quickly as possible.
Simples, hey?!!  :-)


Take care out there