I’ve been busy hand-sewing some Christmas presents this week, two bookmarks to be precise. We’ve got a big family Christmas this year (Fourteen on the day!) with family coming over from Australia, Germany as well as other parts of England.
Understandably the family coming over from Australia have said no presents, which I completely understand, especially as there is six of us, three of them, that’s a lot of presents to carry there and back! As hostess though, I feel they should have a little something to open on the day, particularly as we open family presents after lunch, it would be a bit awkward with them watching us open everything! We have always done ‘Father Christmas’ presents first thing, then all the others are put under the tree and given out in the afternoon, it does help spread the excitement when the children are little.
Kate is about 11 or 12, so not a little girl anymore, but not quite a teenager. I seem to remember she loves books and reading, so I decided to make her a bookmark. I found a pretty design on Etsy of a dovecote with flowers and butterflies which I thought would be perfect.
Considering the large collection of embroidery silks I have, I was quite surprised to see I only had two of the colours, I did debate whether to substitute, but I decided the nice fresh colours were what appealed with this design. When I bought the silks I could see why I didn’t have them, they are pretty bright, but somehow they work well together.
I only made one mistake on this one, I back-stitched in black, whereas it should have been dark brown, I was too far along to unpick when I realised. I can see why I made the error, the only image on the website is the colour chart, there is no actual picture of a completed cross-stitch, which I must admit I think is a bit naughty, it did mean that in my head it was outlined in black! I added her name at the bottom to personalise it.
I wasn’t sure how to finish it at first, however I found a pretty pink floral cotton in my stash so I backed it with that, stitching it to form a binding to frame the cross-stitch. A folded length of pink ribbon completes it. I think it looks really pretty so I hope she likes it.
I’m now almost finished on a second bookmark, this time it’s for my OH, he loves reading and never seems to have a bookmark. This pattern is again on Etsy and luckily I had most of the colours in, otherwise I think I might have been substituting for this one! I’m aiming to back it the same way, I’ve got some blue cotton which I think will match perfectly. I’ve just got a little back-stitching to finish and it’s complete.
I think I’m wining with the presents now, I’ve just got to stitch a button on the laptop sleeve as the sneaky test fit showed it fitted perfectly, one more present to finish which I can’t tell you about til after Christmas, fourteen crackers to make, Christmas cake to decorate, gingerbread house to decorate, 100 cards to write…I’d better get cracking!
Linking up with Slow-Stitching Sunday and Vintage Embroidery Monday.
This week end I finally decorated our Christmas cake, I made it a couple of months ago and I’ve been occasionally feeding it with sherry ever since. My sister feeds hers a lot, to the extent that one year she asked me to decorate a cake, I iced it and the whole thing slumped to one side, ‘Ruth,’ I said, ‘this cake is drunk!!’ One slice of Ruth’s cake is enough to send you over the limit!! Mine’s not that bad!
I think I’ve made most of the cakes in the book now! My favourite was a cake made in a pudding basin to make a rounded cake, the top was covered in midnight blue icing, an uneven strip of white around the bottom made hills, simple little buildings made a village, then a Father Christmas in his sleigh with all the reindeer was iced so it would stand on the top as if he was flying through the sky. It did look pretty good…although it did turn everyone’s tongue blue!! This year I’ve gone for a slightly simpler design! Continue reading 
thecraftycreek 