Knitting & Crochet, Sewing

More Christmas Crafts!

I have so enjoyed all my Christmas makes. I can’t share all of them yet as it will ruin the surprise on Christmas day! But I’m pleased that the Santa sacks for my fiancé and brother-in-law are now finished and hopefully they are excited to put them out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Andy

I have also finished my Christmas bunting. They have been given out as early Christmas presents as I want the recipients to have them hanging up alongside their other decorations.

Bunting

I have also been pom pom crazy after watching this fab tutorial. I will be wrapping my gifts this year with pom poms to make people smile!

Pom Pom

Amongst all of this Christmas crafting I had a last minute addition to my list of makes. My fiancés mum had the task of making 6 choir surplice gowns for her schools Christmas carol concert. We had a rather late evening but we did it. I can’t take any credit for them really as my fiancés mum did most of the work, it was a real achievement. The yokes were so fiddly but we got there in the end.  Needless to say when we finished we crashed on the sofa with a large glass of sherry! Sadly I was unable to make it to the concert but I am told they looked fabulous.

Surplice

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Inspiration, Sewing

Christmas Crafts, old and new

I had the most wonderful weekend of crafting! I completely took over the lounge and dining room to make a start on all my Christmas crafts. Firstly the new project; if you read my blog Stitch, Sew and Hobbycrafts you will have seen some wonderful fat quarters that I couldn’t resist. If I am honest I wasn’t sure what size a fat quarter was but I now know they are usually 18 inches by 22 inches. Fat quarters are fantastic for little projects and quilting. I decided to use my fat quarters to make Christmas bunting! I wanted to make sure I made the most of the fat quarters, therefore I spent a lot of time working out the best size for the flags. I went with 6 inches along the top by 6.5 inches from the point to top. This was the size when the flags were cut, so I did lose a little when sewing.

4e - Christmas Fat Quarters

6 a - Christmas Bunting

6 b - Christmas Bunting

6 c - Christmas Bunting

6d - Christmas Bunting

I am really pleased with my cute Christmas bunting. The fabric is just gorgeous with a traditional but very modern look. Once I have added the binding at the top I will post a picture and let you all know where you can buy them! If you can’t wait until then send me a tweet @katiegetscrafty or leave me a comment.

For my old (faithful) project I used a template for Christmas sacks that was passed onto me by my Aunty Karen. Karen is a wonderful crafter ,with my sister and I benefiting over the years. When we were little girls we would receive handmade dresses, whilst more recently we were made beautiful Christmas placemats and tablecloths. A firm favourite of both of ours has to be our Christmas sack. They play such a special part on Christmas morning. Three years ago Karen was kind enough to give me the template so I could make one for my goddaughter. It went down a treat and I hope it means as much to her in years to come as it has for my sister and I.

So this weekend I dug out the template and got making!

6e - Christmas Sacks 2

6f - Christmas Sacks 3

6h - Christmas Sacks

I am still to add the star to the tree and the name of the lucky recipients. I will post a picture once they are finished. I do hope you like the Christmas sacks and the festive bunting. What are you all making for Christmas? I would love to hear all about your Christmas crafts, old and new.

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Inspiration

Stitch, Sew and Hobbycrafts Show

This weekend I attended the Stitch, Sew and Hobbycrafts Show. Since moving to Devon I have been to the show each year with my fiancés Mum and Aunty. It’s an event we look forward to as we get lots of ideas for our crafty projects, as well the chance to have a good old natter and catch up!

This year’s show exhibited a selection of costumes from Les Miserables of which I am still to watch! A couple of years back clothes from the first series of Downton Abbey were on display. This year it was great to see a number of stall holders selling the new Downton inspired fabrics. I had looked at them a lot online so it was great to see them in real life. The colours were as beautiful as I had hoped. I just love the teal colours in the Lady Sybil range. You can check them out here.

The highlight of this years show was the stunning display by Devon-based textile enthusiast Alison Murray. The collection of ‘Big Books’ were 9 feet high with turning pages. Each page represented a season of which spring was my favourite with the beautiful crochet blossom tree and wisteria. Check out this clip of Alison talking about how she made this creation along with the help of many volunteers.

4a - Autumn

4b - Spring

4c - Summer

4d - Winter

We left feeling really inspired and ready to get crafty. I couldn’t leave without getting this beautiful Christmas fat quarter bundle from the Exeter Sewing Machine Company. I am making mini Christmas bunting with them. They will be on my folksy page soon so watch this space!

4e - Christmas Fat Quarters

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