Merry Christmas

 I never got to blog before Christmas afterall thanks to Norovirus and a week in bed. Thankfully back on form for the big day!

I still managed to finish my Christmas cross stitch and get it framed in time to have it on the wall. It is called Bringing Home the Tree by Pineberry Lane. I got the pattern and the beautiful grey linen from Patchwork Rabbit . It was wonderful to stitch and as the whole tradition of going and choosing the tree is by far my most favourite and looked forward to part of Christmas it really felt special working on it.

I made fabric blocks for my wonderful new neice Alice. I got the pattern, fabric and wool from Temporary Measure in Keswick a gorgeous shop we found whilst on holiday in the Lakes.

 For my Mum I stitched a needle case and a pin cushion. Both patterns came from Patchwork Rabbit.

 The needle case is from the pattern My Heart is True by Blackbird Designs and is stitched on vintage linen.

 I crocheted the tie and worked the loop with a button hole stitch around some wrapped threads.

 The pin cushion is from the Loose Feathers Winter 2011 booklet and is the Winters Night Drum, taken from a sampler stitched in the early 1800's by Mary Ann Roper.

The pins are topped with vintage fresh water pearls.

 I loved stitching these the linen was beautiful to work on and I am really getting into the smaller count of fabric. The threads from Gentle Arts are just gorgeous to work with as well.