I’m not sure if I’m very early or late with this quick make…

We have a Christmas card swap at my stitching group, everyone makes a handmade card and swaps it for another one. I received this cute cross-stitch mouse…

I wanted to make something out of it, seen as someone has taken a lot of time to stitch it. Last week I decided to make it into a little hanging decoration, already for next year (before it also gets lost in my sewing room!)

I soaked the paper off the back, there wasn’t a huge amount of fabric round it but I decided I could stitch a border about two squares deep all round the design. I had a rummage in my stash, a lot of the Christmas fabrics were too bright or the wrong shade of red but I found this print. I was a bit concerned it might be too busy but what sold it for me was that the colours included purple which tied in nicely with the mouse’s scarf.

I added the Merry Christmas fabric and gold ric-rac, backing it with the same Christmas fabric. I stiffened it with a piece of what I think is called bosal, it’s like really thick interfacing, like 1-2mm thick. It was a scrap I found in my interfacing drawer which just happened to be the right size. I used ric-rac for the hanger and added two buttons to cover the ends.

Master Mouse is all ready for next Christmas!