Gifted Gorgeousness / A Friendly blog Celebration / and WIP

Hello Dear Reader,

When visiting Mia of Craftartista a while ago I saw a picture of a crocheted Frida Khalo in Mia's list of blog friends. I had to investigate ...... it looked so cute! I loved the blog I discovered (with lots of crochet) - the  blog of Mariela - “Inspired by my Loves” ...... and I started following her!

It will be Mariela's 7th Blog Anniversary on the 20th July and she asked friendly bloggers to join her celebrations. I couldn't resist!! Tee hee! So I am joining up with her today for her "Long Live Friendship" post.

Happy 7th Blogaversay, Mariela!

Mariela asked us to introduce ourselves to any “new to us” bloggers, so, here goes:



"Hello", my name is Barbara and I live in England. I love stitching! Here on my blog you will see many crafts: embroidery, cross stitch, patchwork, quilting, knitting, and yet to come - crochet. I especially like to make pouches and bags,  oh, and not forgetting pin cushions ..... all very useful, aren’t they!

I love to join in with link parties and will also be linking to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching (a cross stitcher) for her Gifted Gorgeousness link Party.

I don’t have any cross stitching to show today, but I hope to have some ready next month.

Gifted Gorgeousness is a link party primarily where we show any cross stitch gifts we’ve given or received in the past month, but some of us do other crafts too! Hence, my latest WIP (Work in Progress) is actually quilting!

While I was stitching, last week, I got sidetracked ..... twice!

Stitched using 2 strands Anchor 76

First there was a friend’s birthday coming up, so I made a gift bag from a tutorial I found at “Charmed by Ashley”. 

And, secondly, my Mum happened to mention she was losing stitches from the ends of her double pointed knitting needles, sooo I got looking for a solution. I found a great tutorial at Joanna Olson’s blog, “The Nome Knitter” HERE. The idea is that you pop your needles in the pouch (with the knitting on them) and by pressing the poppers shut you stop the stitches escaping!

Unfortunately I don't have any knitting in progress, so I have to leave that a little to your imagination, tee hee!

Oh, and I’ve just I’ve found a second idea I will test soon, from Tracy’s blog Mad Quilter.

But back to the gift bag ..... 

Such an easy pattern to put together .....

except, I decided to make an insert to keep the bag open, not that it really needs it, but I thought my friend might want to use it as a bag or possibly give it to someone else with a gift in.

Oh, and I couldn’t resist adding a popper, for closure! 

Anyway, it is now fully finished and waiting to go to its new home!

And I'm already planning the next one!

So, you've seen a sample of the things I love to blog about ..... I hope you have enjoyed your visit and that you might like to return here again. To make that easy you can either subscribe to receive emails, become a "follower" or follow via Bloglovin' I don't have a link set up, but you can find me there as "The Flashing Scissors"

Right! I'm off to see what all my blogging friends, new and old, have been up to!!

Why not come along with me and visit them at:

Mariela's 7th Blog Anniversary Party

and 

Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Gifted Gorgeousness - January 2018

"GIFTED GORGEOUSNESS" ..... a monthly link party run by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. Link up runs from the 15th until the end of the month. If you would like to find out more and maybe join up go HERE!

I nearly forgot to say "Butterfly" and "Stitch by Stitch" were both gifts I've received ..... and, as such, they qualify for Gifted Gorgeousness - read all about who's joining in with GG this month HERE (on Jo's blog).

Some of you may have already seen the next two pictures, sorry about that but it is relative to my tale! 

There has been a little progress this month on "Stitch by Stitch" (a gift I received from Jacquie of My Journey) ....

I had just managed to stitch this "frame", there are two circles of stitches, one white and one grey, and then one of those "I can't put it down" projects appeared! 

And, in case you haven't seen my "TUSAL" post, this is how "Stitch by Stitch" looks now .....

"Stitch by Stitch"

The "I can't put it down" project is next to my badge and it's pocket under construction .....

This is to wrap a gift for a friend, and as “a gift for a friend” it qualifies for "Gifted Gorgeousness".

I know ..... it's not cross stitch, but most of it is hand stitched!

I'd been working on my name badge (see above) ..... and I thought I'd make a pocket on the back of the badge, and that's the green check you can see above on the right (of course when it is a pocket it will have the pattern on the inside, or it will never be seen again! Tee hee!); and then a necklace we had ordered on line for a friend's belated Christmas pressie was delivered. I decided the necklace just had to have a pouch to keep it safe, and you can see the start (top left).

I originally intended the gift pouch to be no more than a pocket like the one for my name badge ..... but then I thought the chain might catch on the seams inside the pocket ..... so, of course, it had to be lined ..... then it had to have a handle - makes it easier to pick up!

But, as often happens, it didn't work out as I'd planned ..... there were problems with the flap ..... which then had to be cut off, made separately, and then machine stitched into place.

I am really happy with the finish, just hope my friend likes it! (She's not a stitcher.) 

As it happens two of these cotton reels 
fit comfortably in this little purse!

Coming soon:

• Oh, oh, I think I really must make one of these for me! But it will have to wait a little while as I have so many other things I really must make first. I'll be back very soon to share a little more detail on my mini purse.
• and shortly I want to tell you about my new quilting adventure ..... I'm joining in with The Endeavourers ..... and I'll be back to tell you about that too very soon.

Bye for now,

Hugs,

Barbara xxxx

Finish It Up Friday - Tiny Tote and Mini Xmas Tree

Hello Dear Friends,

I didn't want to show you this bag yesterday before I had given it to my sister ..... didn't want to spoil her surprise! She received her presents later in the day, yesterday, so now I can share with you!

I am also linking to Amanda Jean's "Finish it Up Friday" ..... it's a great party, lots to see! Amanda is showing a particularly cute quilt finish today too!

**********

A couple of days before Christmas I decided to make a "quick" gift bag for my sister's birthday, and I just happened to have two fat quarters, the patterns of which I thought she'd like.

A couple of years ago I found a tutorial for a "gift bag" by Buttonberry, via Pinterest. Click HERE to see their tutorial. At that time I wanted to make something to hold a scarf for my mother, but I decided the gift bag would be more useful with handles!

As mum uses her bag most days .... to hold her knitting .... I thought my sister might like a similar one! (Mum's bag is at the end of this post.)

For my sister's bag, I made a few more changes ..... as she too knits a lot ..... I thought it would be rather nice, if, as well as having  handles, the bag could have a pocket for those tiny items knitters need, and one pocket divided into two for pens, or for her DP knitting needles, and I added a flap to help stop her wool jumping out as she knits!

No buttonhole on this baby! I just stitched the "homemade" button directly onto the
flap. The weight of the button (although it isn't particularly heavy) keeps the flap down.

I usually use polyester wadding but thought interfacing would be more suitable, making the bag nice and light, in order to enable my sister to knit with the bag on her arm.

"Bagging Out"

A nice little "Tote" ..... could have stopped here!!!

But no, I like a boxed finish!

The shorter the measurement here, the taller the bag.

"Boxing" the corners.

This has to be the best seam closure I've ever stitched!

My sewing machine really behaved itself this time ..... lovely neat stitches and no bobbling ..... which was just as well because I was racing to finish!

And, after telling you all about our cherry buttons in the last post, there had to be a button!

I was really pleased with the way this turned out ..... so much so ..... I had to force myself to give it away!!!! Now I want to make one for me!


I just found this photo of mum's bag. It looked different to how I remembered it, then I realised I have since changed the handles .....  they were too floppy ..... so I made wadded handles, and stitched them on top of the pink stripey handles!

The original bag .....  Alas, with floppy handles!

And here is the little tree I showed yesterday ..... finished!

The stitching was intentionally showing ..... to make it look more "prim"!

And this is the next tree in progress!

I'm getting into the swing of tree making now and can't wait to see how this fabric suits the tree pattern as it progresses.

Thank you for visiting today. Now don't be a stranger ..... see you again soon!

I hope you have a stitchy weekend!

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Hugs,
Barbara xxx