I started around October to plan and make patchwork and embroidered gifts for friends, and by the end of November I'd done them all. I was quite pleased with myself, as usually I'm still madly stitching in early December to have things completed!
I had made this cross stitch star for a specific person but ended up doing something else for her instead because I liked this too much to part with it!
I made two of these mats, one each for two people, who both loved them, being cat lovers.
This is the backing fabric for the above mats and the hot pad below.
Using more of the Xmas kitten fabric I made this padded mat (for putting hot dishes on) for my home carer, who is also a kitty lover, and was delighted with this.
Two of my friends have a 'thing' about giraffes, so I made them a cushion each. I had two lots of giraffe fabric - one is a dull gold curtain fabric with giraffes and zebras woven into it which was given to me years ago and I knew it would come in handy one day! The other is patchwork fabric that I saw at the Eltham Quilt Shop and bought 3 metres of it because it was cute, and I knew I would use it! When I was cutting that for one of the cushions, I ended up with a long strip which I used to make three mug rugs. Two went to the friends with the cushions and the third went to another friend who declared she loved giraffes too, and wants me to make her a cushion.!
This mug rug is made from a small cross stitched flower that I found in an opshop and thought I would use it for a card one day, but the colours looked perfect with a piece of fabric I had in my stash, so it became a mug rug instead, and was given to the lady I was going to give the Xmas star too. Just as well she liked this!
I stitched this Aussie Friends cross stitch design early in the year as part of an American fundraiser for the Australian bushfire recovery. I didn't have anyone to give it to back then, but a long time penpal in the USA has been telling me about the friends and family she has lost to COVID this year. So I decided to finish this by making something she can use as a mat or hang it up if she wishes, to let her know her friends in Australia are thinking of her.
