Gifted Gorgeousness and Christmassy things

Hello my friends,



It's lovely to have you visiting me today!


This cold damp day it's nice to be indoors thinking about Christmassy things!


Again this year I'm going to join Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and some cross stitch friends for Jo's Advent Calendar post. This is one where we all write posts about our Christmas stitching and then share them via Jo's blog on a date that she allots. Pop over to Jo's to see exactly how the Advent Calendar Blog Post worked last year! (This is my post! HERE)



Anyhow, I'm getting ahead of myself, it's been a while since I joined in with Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) because I haven't had any cross stitch to share ..... but all that has changed now, and I have some new kits I'm threading up ready to start !



I'm joining GG today with these surprise gifts I received. Some lovely fat quarters and, in the background Osnaburg - one of my favourite fabrics. Osnaburg is not a long-lasting fabric but it's really nice for embroidery,

and the lovely magnetic needle keeper is from my friend, Grace.

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Because this post would be soo short otherwise I'd like to mention a couple of other things while I am here ..... do you remember my lace, tee hee, HERE, how could you forget? Well, here are a few photos of my latest piece in progress ..... or should I say "when I had just finished and was about to pull all the pins out"!

I had finished before the bobbins
gathered together like this, tee hee!

I'm really excited how great this lace looks!
AND I MADE IT!!

It was such fun pulling all those pins out!!

So, I've made two leaves and the red piece
will eventually be a flower.

(Oh, and since starting this post I was gifted a "new" lace making cushion which needed a cover before I could make more lace, so I made one yesterday, but that's a tale for next time.)

And here are my latest cross stitch purchases:

Three Christmassy kits ..... second hand, and a bargain!

I had to enlarge patterns and wash the folded fabric ready to use.

I have made a start, but no more pictures as yet!

Actually I started one of them a couple of days ago, and now its almost finished - this was meant to be my travel stitching ..... but it just took me over!!!!

Do pop over to Jo's blog to read more about Gifted Gorgeousness and to see what everyone else has stitched!

Keeping with the Christmas theme ..... I've just seen that Selma of Eclectic Home Life is returning to blogging once again this year with her latest Norwegian Christmas countdown!

HERE is a link to one of Selma's fabulous recipe posts - there are lots!!

Hugs and smiles,

Barbara xxx

Thank you for visiting, I love to hear from you!

WIP - Lace making

I’ve only blogged once before about my lace HERE, around the time I first started blogging, and every so often I’ve been thinking that I must get back to lace making!

This Sunday I spent a little time winding bobbins, then during the week I took the kit along to my handicraft group. Luckily there are a few ladies there who are very experienced lace makers, and purely by chance, two of them were sitting at the same table as me, so I was able to ask for a little assistance.

My latest piece is teeeny tiny! I thought small would be more encouraging you see! Unfortunately my instructions had said 12” of cotton per bobbin which I read literally, but bobbins are wound in pairs ..... so I spent a little while rewinding the bobbins I’d prepared on Sunday evening with 24” pieces of cotton between each pair!

Pinterest knows everything doesn’t it, and it somehow knew I was working on lace and fortuitously sent me a pin to this lovely lady’s blog where she clearly shows how to wind a bobbin.

Needless to say, I am now one of her faithful followers, although I can only dream of aspiring to making lace like hers.

Thanks to Pinterest I also found a tutorial showing how to start lacing HERE.

It took rather a long time to make this tiny leaf, and I’m sure it isn’t perfect by any means, but I’m so happy to have made it this far!

I spent approximately 2 hours to make half a leaf, and then most of the evening to finish ..... plus the time it took to unravel almost half the leaf to rectify the mistake I spotted a half way down!

I don’t mind really, especially as now I will be able to work another leaf at home, on my own, from start to finish. I’m so glad I had a go, and now I’m thinking of continuing while the method is fresh in my mind. The leaf was one pattern of about nine in the lace kit, but some look a bit too complicated for a mere beginner like me!

Will any of you admit to having lace projects hiding in your deepest cupboards ..... just waiting for you to dig them out and finish them?????

Thank you so much for visiting, and, as always, I really look forward to reading your comments!


Hugs,
Barbara xxx