Christmas decorations were given as presents this year. I made some 3D Christmas trees using a pattern I bought in Creative Quilting as a kit years ago. The original was quite large, so I made the pattern a bit smaller and made three to give as gifts.
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| Red/green and Spectrum Christmas trees |
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| Purple Christmas tree |
I think the best bit about making these is the decorative embellishments, I love making the baubles with some of the many beads, bells and sequins I have collected over the years. Several years ago I found some tinsel trim in a local haberdashery shop. I bought some in red and purple, both of which I have now used up, so I had to find some more. The haberdashers is long gone, so I traipsed around Kingston trying to find something suitable. In Paperchase I found some tinsel gift ribbon, it was on offer 2 for 3, so I am restocked for a few more trees. With battery operated LED lights, the mouldable variety, you can even have working lights on them. The battery pack sits in the pot. What's not to love about them?
I also made some hanging decorations with the Quilting group I belong to. Once again beads and sequins made an appearance.
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| Beaded stars and pyramids and a padded tree |
I crocheted this Elf for a friend who I thought might need a smile. The pattern came from Simply Crochet magazine issue 38. I have made several of the Christmas projects from this magazine, not always in Christmas colours as some of them are suitable for other uses.
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| Christmas elf |
I decided it was time to finish a UFO, so I got out the Infinity squares quilt from last years Jan Hassard workshop. I was thinking about making it bigger than 12 blocks, but decided against it, as it was tedious getting them to fit together nicely. I thought I had cut and sewn the strips carefully, but not carefully enough it would seem. In the end I used some of the left over strips to make a border and used some in the binding. I quilted it in the ditch and was going to use a decorative stitch in the black sashing, but I liked the plain black and thought, as it is a busy pattern it looked good enough without any extra decoration. I am very pleased with the resulting quilt and may add a sleeve to hang it on the wall, if I don't decide to use it as a throw on the sofa.
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| Finished Infinity squares |
I have also been crocheting blankets for Project Linus and have three to pass on. I bought a nice book called Beautiful Blankets, Afghans and Throws by Leonie Morgan. It contains 40 patterns, all gorgeous, so I am working my way through them. I love this book, the patterns are beautiful and the instructions are UK terminology. I have completed two and started another two. Here are the finished two.
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| Crossed Hatch with Mosaic border |
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| Rice Field with Crab stitch border |
Here is another, not from the book, that I made using a variegated yarn and back loop trebles to give a ribbed effect. I added a border in two of the colours from the yarn, a nice result without a pattern.
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| This reminds me of the seaside |
Next month Lucy at Attic24 starts another CAL, I have the yarn and can't wait for the project to start. I also need to try and get one or two other UFO's finished, and the sewing room could do with a sort out. It may not be long before I can't get thorough the door any more and I really can't have that!
