Happy December!

My garden on the first of December what a lovely festive start to the month our first snowfall.

 I seem to be spending most of my time trying to keep up with the mosaic blanket CALs I'm busy with but I'm really enjoying the process, I could quite happily sit crocheting all day but life does tend to get in the way, wouldn't it be lovely if we could just sit with our hobbies and do nothing else.   I do tend to get carried away and it has to be said I am a messy worker especially when sewing. 

I have a few little sewing projects on the go at the minute most of them Christmas orientated. It's the decoration of things that cause the trouble I can never make up my mind, there is so much christmas bling to choose from and it's invariably the bling that makes the biggest mess, it usually ends up spread all over the place with the floor bearing the biggest brunt.  Then a friend will text is it ok if I pop round for coffee?  I know what you are thinking well if she/he is a real friend  they won't mind the mess! well, there is mess and then there is MESS. When this happens you see me hastily stuffing bits and pieces into bags and thrusting them out of the way into cupboards and then later I can't find anything.

I need to get a control of my life I know, take a deep breath and have a huge tidy up, put things in an allotted place then I'll always know where to find them, my intentions are good and I do that sometimes but strangely those items don't seem to stay in their allotted place for long I do believe that they are alive and come out to play at night. 

Anyway this is what is it I have been playing with.. 

Hearts

I'm not a great sewer, I do like to try, but sewing straight lines and getting perfectly curving edges are beyond my capabilities this wreath did test me somewhat, trying to get the hearts evenly spaced to make the circle seemed to take me forever but I think I managed it.

It doesn't need any bling because the fabric is very busy so I just added the bows and a tiny christmas tree shaped button in the center

Tree

The hardest part about making this tree was getting the stuffing right up to the top, I found that a knitting needle helped a lot. I can't decide whether to put a star on the top, what do you think?

Little Trees

These were fun to make and quite easy, in fact I may make more, they are lovely to gift and to hang all over the place really, I'm thinking about making a garland with them...

All of the above were started at my u3a sewing group, a great bunch of ladies but it has to be said there's usually more chatting than actual sewing taking place.  You can find out how to make all of the above online, in fact there is so much lovely Christmas stuff out there you are spoilt for choice.

The little trees above are similar to these here, but I stuffed mine and added a cinnamon stick for the trunk,

and finally my embroidery..

Almost there! I'm looking forward to sewing the December segment, I want to use traditional colours I'm busy sorting them as we speak.

I have lots of other things on the go but I'll leave them for another time.

The last month of the year already, how quickly this year has flown! How are your Christmas preparations going? do you put your decorations up early or wait to nearer to Christmas.  As I get older the time seems to pass more quickly and because of that I have started putting mine up earlier, it takes a lot of time and effort and so it makes more sense to me to have them up that bit longer. I don't put that many up now just a few of the things I have made over the years and if my youngest son isn't coming home with his wife for Christmas I don't even bother with the tree. Myself and my daughter are going to Qatar to spend the week before Christmas with him this year so I'm really looking forward to that.😊

I hope you all have a great week 😘

 Linking with the ladies at Slow Stitching Sunday

Christmas Crochet Mosaic Roundup

 Here we are again another Christmas and another year of stunning Christmas Mosaic patterns, as always new patterns seem to be released by the day and I will add them here as soon as they become available.

Evergreen Dreams by designer  Robin Parent

Mosaic Christmas tree skirt by designer  Susanne Toth

Poinsettias by designer Lucille Schubert

Gonk's Holiday Mosaic by designer - Rosina Plane

Sonia's Holiday Mosaic by designer - Rosina  Plane

Christmas Gnomes by designer - Anneke den Outer

Christmas Spirit by designer -  Sarah Athey

Cosy Christmas Blanket by designer  - Fiona Kirk

Arboreous by designer -  Robin Parent

Glorious Christmas by BebaBlanket

Deck the Halls by designer Lindsay Mika

Christmas Blanket

Magic Winter CAL designer - Ana Morais Soares

Click below for more great Christmas Patterns.....

A Mosaic Christmas

More Christmas Mosaic

Even More Christmas Mosaic

Christmas gifts and making a start with the Christmas Mosaic

 The clocks have gone back and I can feel myself slipping into hibernation mode, although I do love long Summer days I quite enjoy the cosiness of winter evenings as well, the ritual of locking the doors, closing the curtains and lighting soft lamps and candles, sitting in my favorite chair with my cuppa and a warm crocheted throw over my lap.  Then whatever project I'm working on sitting at arms reach along with TV remote and audio book close by. I am quite content sitting there in my little world and have to make myself get up and move around but to be honest it's usually just as far as the kitchen to get another warm drink.

What about you lovely people? I would love to know your evening ritual.  I live alone so I'm lucky in that I have no one else to please but myself.

I'm also lucky because I love to crochet with a passion and if it's a new pattern even better.  I have started not one but two Mosaic crochet CALS and to be honest I'm wishing that I had two pairs of hands.

The first is the one I told you about in my last post Sonia's Holiday Mosaic, it runs over six weeks it's amazing to think that if all goes well I'll have a beautiful blanket in less that two months just in time to be gifted for Christmas.

Christmas Crackers

Then quite by chance I came across yet another beautiful CAL for a Christmas blanket on Facebook and it's free which is very generous of the designer because there's a lot of work goes into designing any pattern but Mosaic especially because of the charts and in this case there are written instructions too.

This one is called Cosy Christmas and this the start..

The designer is Fiona Kirk and you can find the pattern here  However if you join her Funky Loops community on Facebook the pattern can be found there for free. The pattern is released over six weeks.  I would like to donate this one to be sold or raffled for a charity but I'm not confident that I will have it finished in time, if that's the case then I will put it away until next year.  I wish they would release the new Christmas patterns just that bit earlier.

Along with the crochet there has been quite a bit of sewing going on I am a member of the u3a sewing group and we brainstorm for little gift idea's for Christmas well in advance, we usually start sewing them in September, we had lots of idea's this year, just for small things to be gifted to friends who appreciate a little handmade something, this week I have made these..

Little lavender bonnets very easy to make, in fact quite addictive but I had to stop at five as I had run out of fresh lavender, they really do smell divine. 😊

Do you gift little handmade items and are they appreciated? I plan to make more little sewn gifts this afternoon the sun is actually shining and my conservatory beckons so I will say bye for now and I hope you all have a peaceful Sunday. 😘😘  

Linking with the ladies at Slow Stitching Sunday