Decorated supermarket bags, Owl coasters.

Once I've been doing some sewing, I get on a roll and do a few more things while the sewing machine is on the table.  Like most of us, I accumulate all kinds of 'green bags' in various colours, but I like to tart them up a bit and block out any brand names.  Today I had red bags from Bunnings and the Heart Foundation, so to give them a feel of Christmas, I added some motifs that were left over from a fabric panel that I had used for something else.  It was just a matter of cutting them out with pinking shears and machining them on to the bags.   When I give somebody a bag of goodies in the coming months, I'll use one of these bags which they can continue to use if they wish!

Ken is a member of the Avicultural (birds) Society and we usually attend their monthly meeting.  At the last meeting the president put out a call for donations for their annual Christmas hampers, asking for wine, biscuits, and the usual food items.  I asked his wife later if they would like some patchwork items such as coasters or placemats featuring birds, and she was very enthusiastic about that idea!  I have plenty of Aussie themed fabric, but none with Australian birds as I used it all a while ago.  But to make a start, I decided to make some coasters with the owl fabric I had, as most people like owls :-)   Cute?

Another Christmas project finished.

I started to stitch three kitten stitcheries back in August, intending to make a wall hanging for that month's Xmas OPAM, but I only got one kitten finished before I ran out of time.  September came and went, so I put my head down and bum up to get the Santa Paws project finished.

This is an awful reproduction.  I think my camera is stuffed.

Thanks!

...to the people who responded to my query about the number of readers here.  At least I know now that it is still visible to those who want to read it.  Back soon with some more stitching updates.

Is anyone reading this blog?

I usually have a couple of comments on here after most posts, but haven't had any for a few days.  I've tweaked the settings of this blog and Patra's Other Place, so that they are now open to anybody to read, as they were previously so I'd like to know if readers are able to comment, even if they haven't lately.  Please just leave a comment on this post to let me know!

Not my own work, and very different!

I am a member of the Down To Earth forum, and the members have a lot of fun with exchanges and swaps during the year.  The patchwork tree I showed in the previous post went to Pam in South Australia, and this is what she sent to me in return:

I don't make dolls, in fact since I got rid of the dolls I had in my childhood, I've never had once since, up until now!  Pam named her doll "Chrissy" as she is a Christmas doll, and I adore her!  I took the first photo outside in the daylight to capture the colours, and then brought her inside to find the right spot for her to sit during the month of December.  Here she is on the table in our entrance hall, where she will be able to greet everyone who walks in the front door :-)

Another hand made item I received this week from another member of the DTE forum is a tea jumper.  Yes, a jumper, not a cosy.... There was a discussion thread about tea cosies, and 'Glenda' posted a photo of the teapot jumper she had knitted.  I fell in love with it and asked if she would make me one, and she did - aren't people generous?
Here is my Tea Jumper - isn't that the cutest thing!

Christmas stuff.

I started a kitten stitchery for my September "One Xmas Project a Month" but it is taking me ages to finish the stitching.  It isn't difficult - just back stitch, for goodness sake!  But since I've taken on patchwork and quilting, hand embroidery seems to take forever by comparison.  I still enjoy the peaceful slowness of embroidery, but if I'm in a hurry to finish something, it slows down the end result.  So, to catch up with the One A Month blog, I threw a couple of quick patchwork projects together, and one of those served a dual purpose.  I committed myself to a swap on the Down To Earth forum, where we had to make our partner something crafty with a Christmas theme, so I made another Scrappy Patchwork Tree for the exchange.  I made one earlier this year, and used it as a Kris Kringle gift at a Christmas In July party.  The recipient loved it, so I thought it would be worth while to make another one. 

The front is the patchwork squares, and they are embellished with sequins and beads at the corners of each square, although it can't be seen in this photo.  I used a cute fabric for the back so it can be used to display either side.

As I was in the mood to keep going with quick result projects, I made up this placemat based on a project in a Country Threads Christmas special magazine.  There is a matching tea cosy, but I won't be doing that.

I think I made an error of judgement in combining two fabrics for the border.  I had them left over from a previous project and decided to join them up to made the border for this.  It doesn't look as bad in 'real life' and when I put it on the hall table to see how it looked, you would hardly notice the edge.

Update on the PNG Quilt Collective blog.

My husband's cousin Yaso has emailed me with a report on her recent trip to Papua New Guinea, and the distribution of more of the quilts donated by many generous readers of my blog (and others that I know outside of the blogging world).  If you would like to read it, just select the link on the sidebar here for the PNG Quilt Collective.

I've got half a dozen projects on the go at the moment, and hope to finish some of them in the next day or so, and will post some photos then.

A little less blogging.

I see on my dashboard that there are still about 60 people following this blog - I don't know why they bother!  I have cut down my blogging time for a number of reasons, the main reason being lack of time due to other things happening in my life (all good!).   So I have 'retired' some of my blogs for now - they are still out there in cyberspace, but I won't be updating them unless there is something in particular I want to put out there.  

I will keep this blog going because it serves the purpose of keeping a record of my stitching and patchwork projects, which is useful at time to refer to.  However, I have deleted a number of blogs from the sidebar because again, I don't have time to look at them all, and have only kept the blogs that have special meaning because they are personal friends, or I have been reading them for many years.

With all the work going on at our house, my sewing time is much less than I would like, so I've only been keeping up with the One Xmas Project a Month challenge, and a few PNG baby quilts, which doesn't provide much eye candy for my blog!  Anyway, just thought I would let those of you who read this blog know what is happening.  Most people seem to use Facebook and Twitter these days, but I don't.