I’m off work this week so I’m busy making Christmas presents, I got a bit of a shock when I realised how many  I still had to make with only three weeks to go, I’ve ten to do, but I’ve now finished two and another three are well on the way!

This year I’m taking part in Stitching Santa, it’s a Secret Santa for sewers (or knitters!) organised by Sewchet. She has sent us all the details of our recipient so we can have a nosy on their blog and try and work out what they would like. It’s been great fun putting the presents together. We can spend a maximum of £10, but we can add to that with things we’ve made from our stash, extra treats from our stash, freebies…

I had great fun at the Knitting & Stitching show choosing special little gifts for Stitching Santa, I’ve also made a few things;

I decided to make a purse, I had some frames in my sewing room so I made one for the Secret Santa and one for a special friend.

I’m sure you can guess which is the Stitching Santa one, I love this fabric, I lined it with another sewing print as well. I used a 6″ rectangular frame and drew my own pattern. The pattern is pretty easy to work out as you can see from the photo, the important bit to mark is where the hinges will be. I interlined it with iron-on fleece (which wouldn’t iron on so it was spray basted!!) and some medium weight interfacing, so it should hold it’s shape nicely. I boxed the corners before turning it out through a gap in the lining bottom. This frame is designed for gluing the purse in. I use Gutermann HT2 glue, it’s not cheap but it lasts a long time and I’ve never had a purse come apart, I apply glue to the frame and to the fabric, then leave it for 8 minutes to get touch dry, before easing the purse into place.

The second purse is a stitched in frame. It has tiny holes all round the outer rim to stitch through. It’s a bit more fiddly but I like the decorative effect. I used a pretty vintage rose print, it’s a little heavier than quilting cotton, inside I chose a bright pink cotton, it just made me smile! Having made the basic purse I decided to prettify it. I stitched some lace around the opening edges, I bought it a while ago on ebay, it’s a lovely quality cotton lace, (apparently the company also made the lace for Kate Middleton’s (as she was then) wedding dress!) The edge of the lace was covered when I stitched it to the frame. I used pink hand quilting thread to stitch the purse to the frame, I’m always a little wary of using standard thread as I’ve had bad experiences of thread with metal button shanks, the metal can just cut through thread. I stitched using back-stitch and then decided to add a few beads, I’ve seen pictures of this but I’ve not tried it before. I love the effect, the tiny beads nestle into the holes and add a bit of texture and glitz. I stitched a few slightly bigger beads in the centre of the flowers on the lace as it helped the lace to lay a bit flatter.

Going back to Stitching Santa, over the last couple of weeks I’ve also made a Kilner Jar pincushion, I’ve got one which I use all the time so I hope Stitching Santa will like it too. I use it just for needles, the packets go in the jar and loose ones on top.

I also found a tissue cover which I made a while ago. It’s made from a pretty flowery batik print, I think she like’s gardening, so I hope she likes it. I’d better get it all wrapped up and in the post!