Wet Felting, Handmade Holiday 2010

Today has been a lovely day. Richard is on leave from work for two days, and it has been wonderful spending time with him. We woke up to pouring rain this morning, we have had 100 mm of rain just this morning alone and it has been raining for most of the week! The sun has come out from the clouds this afternoon for a short while...

 I thought I would work on some wet felting today and this is what I came up with... I have called it Snowdrop Fields and I had tremendous fun making this piece. I think I am going to turn it into a cushion cover for my mom-in-law, she loves plants and flowers and working in the garden.

Tonight we have been invited for carols by candlelight in the park, this is a yearly tradition we really enjoy with old friends, I do hope the sky stays clear...

Off to make a picnic dinner for the park...

xo

Christmas Santa Boot / Stocking Ornament Knitting Pattern, Handmade Holiday 2010

Today I have knitted up a little Santa boot or Christmas stocking as an ornament for our tree... It is such a quick and easy knit, I have not knitted it in the round but flat this time:)
Enjoy!

Materials:

I used handspun Merino

4 mm knitting needles

fleece

ribbon

wool needle

embroidery needle

thread

Pattern:

Cast on 24 stitches

Knit 6 rows in stocking stitch

Row 7: Knit 2 stitches together at the beginning and end of the row.

Row 8: Purl.

Row 9: Knit 2 stitches together at the beginning and end of the row.

Row 10: Purl.

Row 11: Cast off 4 stitches, knit to the end of the row.

Row 12: Cast off 4 stitches, purl to the end of the row.

Knit in stocking stitch for the next 8 rows.

Change to a white yarn, knit 1 white row.

Purl 1 white row.

Cast off

Yay, you are done!

Finishing off:

Sew up with right sides facing and then turn onto the right side. I added a little fleece inside the boot to give it some shape. Sew on your Christmas ribbon and hang on your tree:)

Wishing you all a wonderful day:)

xo

Linda

Please note, this pattern is for personal use only, and not for resale, items knitted from this pattern may not be sold for commercial purposes, thank you.

A Simple Christmas Table Candle Ornament, Handmade Holiday 2010

I love the aroma of citrus in our home... It makes me think of Christmas... I have made this simple little, candle ornament that I will add to our Christmas table on Christmas day. It is really easy to make and looks quite sweet and effective.

Slice up a few oranges, make your slices quite thin.

Place them on a baking sheet into a heated oven, I put my oven onto a medium heat so that the slices wouldn't burn.

When the one side has dried nicely, turn them over to dry the other side.

I arranged mine around a spiral dish, but most dishes would work and placed a candle in a holder in the centre.



Happy day to you:)
Warmly

Linda

Christmas Advent Calendar Tutorial,Handmade Holiday 2010

Today the girls and I decided to make a Christmas Advent calendar for our family that we will use this year and for many years to come. It was a really  fun activity and didn't take long at all. We decided to use pinking shears, they are quick and easy to use and the result is such a pretty edging, and of course no seams!

Materials:
Two different fabrics
Pinking Shears
Scissors
Yarn
Sewing machine
Ribbon
Pegs

This is our cardboard template we used for the bags 5 x 7 inches.

I love this Christmas fabric, I bought it last year and used it as a centrepiece for our Christmas table. Today we just cut a thin slither off the one end to make our little advent bags.

 Fold your material double, place the base of your template on the fabric fold and mark out your bag.

Erin, marking our the hemp fabric.

Cut out your bags with pinking shears, just around the top and sides.

Jen sewing straight up the sides of each bag on the right side of the fabric. The top the bags have been cut with the pinking shears too so no need for a seam there.

 Here are all our little bags, sewn and ironed, 13 in Christmas fabric and 12 in plain hemp.

We hung a ribbon from one end of our fireplace to the other and wrapped the red yarn around the bags and tied them onto the hanging ribbon with a bow. We were going to add pegs but decided not to. We hung the bags alternating the Christmas fabric and the hemp.

Such a sweet project for mama and her girls... I still need to think about what treasures I will be adding to these little bags for Advent, any suggestions? I would love to hear your thoughts...
xo
Linda

Christmas Felt Sewing Needle Saver / Folder / Holder, Tutorial, Handmade Holiday 2010

I have had such fun making this felt sewing needle saver / folder / wrap. I thought it would be a lovely gift for someone special at Christmas time or anytime. So I thought I would share my tutorial here today. I am going to make up a few for my mom and mom-in-law and my friends at knitting group;) This is also a great activity for little ones and quite easy for them to make.

Materials I used:
Wool felt
Fleece for needle felting
Felting Needle
Felting sponge
Embroidery thread
Button
Floral fabric
Scissors
Pinking Shears

Cut out your felt piece for the outside of your wrap.
Dimensions: 6 inches x 3 inches.

I needle felted an acorn onto the front right hand side, I imagine I will add muchrooms, autumn leaves etc... to the others I am making:)

I cut out a piece of floral fabric to line my needle wrap, this should be slightly smaller than the outer piece of felt. I used my pinking shears, I love these scissors, so wonderful not to have to sew seams! Then I sewed on the fabric to the felt around its edges.

I then cut another piece of felt for the inside of the wrap, slightly smaller. This will hold your needles once your holder is finished.
Dimensions:
4.5 inches x 2.5 inches.
Sew this piece of felt down the middle of your wrap and attach it.

Sew around the outside of your felt with blanket stitch, (my favourite stitch at the moment)!

Sew on your button on the outside.

Sew a little loop on the other side of your felt that will loop around your button to hold your needle wrap closed.

Button and loop sewn on and holding wrap closed.

And there you go, one needle saver / holder / wrap ready to hold your needles!

A close up of the lined inside fabric.

Finished!

This project is lovely because you can use many of your fabric and felt scraps to finish it off. I will also be adding a few of these to my Etsy shop soon:)

Have a wonderful weekend,
Happy Sewing:)

xo

Linda