Category: giveaways

Giveaway winner

stitchesoftime3 Comments

Apologies for being a day late with the giveaway winner, I have been really ill for about 10 days with a horrible cough and flu. I am still having to go to work but have missed lots of nice social events and have not had time to catch up with anything.

Enough of the moaning, hopefully I will feel better soon and will get chance to pop back and show you my lovely dinosaurs, I have been frantically trying to finish everything but I am so slow at the moment as I feel so rough.

Anyway the winner of the giveaway is Roweena Combs, please could you e-mail me at alisonmryan@yahoo.co.uk with your address and I can post the ornament to you.

Thanks to everyone who liked or commented and thanks for visiting for all or part of the last 12 years! Hopefully I will find time a little later this week to post again as I am off to Spain for 3 weeks on Saturday. Mum says it is 20 degrees there at the moment and I am so looking forward to that after the last couple of cold, wet weeks here.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

 

Still sparkling and a giveaway!

stitchesoftime7 Comments

The house is still full of little glittery bits as I have been finishing off the last of the ornaments. Every time I cut up the glittery ribbons some falls on the carpet and despite my best efforts to vacuum it up I see little glittery bits in the carpets up the stairs and in the bedroom. It is all very festive so I don’t mind.

Xmas decs Dec 1

I have made two stockings from Jenny of Elefantz’s pattern from last year. This is not currently on sale as was one of her last monthly stitching clubs. I still need to get around to making some of these filled with lavender as they would look great in Liberty with some of my vintage lace stash on them.These are for my Mum and Aunt.

The cousins will have pine cones this year, I have really enjoyed going back to these and have made some for other friends as well. There is a good tutorial here on to how to make them and they are a very therapeutic make in front of the TV.  I pin on little star sequins at the top as this stops the upper ribbons from lifting off and adds a bit of bling.

Xmas decs Dec 6

I have almost run out of Christmas ribbons. I did manage to find this gorgeous holly one at my local craft shop but this was the last of the pink and gold poinsettia design below which is so pretty.The ribbon flowers on the top of one of them in the picture above come from this seller on Ebay and come in lots of different colours, not just Christmas ones.

Xmas decs Dec 11

Xmas decs Dec 16

Xmas decs Dec 17

I still have a bit of silver and blue ribbon and lots of pearl pins so I have been making some alternative colours as well.I have so many little sequins from when I used to cross stitch cards that I have been using up like these pearly ones here.

I am not putting up my tree this year, I know that is a very unusual thing for a Christmas ornament fan like me to say but there is only me here and I am leaving on the 21st so would not be around to take it down so although I will be decorating it will be smaller scale this year. I will be helping to decorate the Wool and Wine tree at our local church’s tree festival this Friday so that will be lovely.

It has been lovely seeing all the ever growing piles of ornaments, I never get tired of making them and have lots of ideas of new types for next year.I think I have finished now although when I have finished the gifts I may well go back to them and start on the making for 2020, I was a little ahead of myself this year as I had carried on in January and it does help. I have finally started making the gift for Ava, I am making felt dinosaurs and they are so cute! Hopefully I will have them finished by next weekend so that I can post pictures for you.

Finally the giveaway. It is my blogaversary again – 12 whole years on Weds so I thought since I am organised and have some time before Christmas to sort things I would offer an ornament as a prize this year. All you have to do is like or comment on this post to be in with a chance of winning. I will pick the winner on the 15th Dec which gives me chance to pick one of my recent makes and post the ornament out.

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, I have so enjoyed doing this for the last 12 years, as well as it being fantastic way of me recording what I do and reminding me when I have forgotten where I found things  I really enjoy interacting with all of you through it so thank you all for your continued support.

Until next time, take care and thanks for visiting, off to stitch more spots on a stegosaurus!

 

 

My latest addiction …. and a giveaway

stitchesoftime6 Comments

I have a very addictive personality. Luckily it only manifests itself in craft related ways rather than anything nefarious but it does mean that I tend to get mildly obsessed by one thing and want to do it all the time for a while. Then that wears off and I find something else to obsess over.

At the moment it is little felt flowers. I have moved on from just the 1940s style ones for brooches and combined them with some of my all time favourite Liberty. The first one I made was for a gift and I thought that the combination of colours went really well. This is still very 1940s in tone though the later ones are a lot brighter.

Felt flower brooch mustard

I have found these so therapeutic, I have just been sitting here every evening with a big pile of Liberty scraps and a big pile of felt and combining the pretty colours.

Felt flower collection

I use some lightweight iron on interfacing on the Liberty so it doesn’t fray. Again that is very good for using up off cuts from bag making so very make do and mend.Even though I love purple and pink I have also been using some blues.

Felt flower purple

Felt flower blue

Felt flower blue 2

This fabric below is one of my favourite ever Liberty prints, it is so beautiful.

Felt flower pink 2

I really love this colour combination, I am not normally drawn to orange but these look really good with my purple top hat so I am thinking I might make some for a decoration for that for beer tent wear next year.

Felt flower pink

As I said in the last post some of these, the paired ones, will be going to decorate bags, others I will make into brooches or little hair slides and bobbles for my younger relatives.

Felt flower blue pink

Felt flower blue pair

So to the giveaway! This is my 700th post so I thought that deserves a little celebration. Since I am currently loving the felt flowers I would like to offer a flower brooch, hair pin, bobble of your choice, either a 1940s style one as featured here  or one with Liberty. Let me know what colours you would like as well. I will keep the giveaway open until Fri 23rd August and all you have to do is like or comment on this or any other post until then.

My friends had a lovely time at the Evesham event last weekend, the weather was good and there have been some lovely photos. I was so pleased to see Kerry’s latest make, she came up a couple of weeks ago and we used one of Dave’s old surcoats as a template to make this stunning new one, it took her hours to attach all the stripes and it looks amazing. Picture of the new surcoat is by Jennifer Jane.

Kerry - surcoat 1

Kerry - surcoat 2 - Jennifer Jane

It was lovely to see a picture of Jamie in the surcoat I made him a few years ago. It has done well to be going strong since 2015. He has a new tent in his colours and has made a flag and it is all looking wonderful.

Evesham - Jamie

I am going to have a very exciting weekend. I am going to Clumber for part of it, I have been very kindly invited for a social event with Ellen’s colleagues which means camping over on Friday night. We are off to Crich Tramway museum for a 1940s event on Saturday, then it is back to Clumber on Sunday for the church service in the morning and some volunteering in the afternoon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend ahead, hopefully there will be lots of fab pictures of both transport and fashion in my next post, I love trams and am very excited to see some vintage ones!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Back to Blighty with a bump and the giveaway winner

stitchesoftime3 Comments

I hope that you all had a great festive season, I got back yesterday in pretty rough weather, there was lots of turbulence and the plane was really rocking coming down but we were only slightly delayed.

I have had a fab time and have more pictures to show you later, I have put a few of my favourites below but have really just popped in to tell you that the winner of my 11th blogaversary giveaway is Kay. I have e-mailed her to let her know but thanks so much to everyone who has commented, liked and followed this blog and sorry that I can’t make you all winners!

The weather has been pretty dreadful today with howling gales and we are forecast snow at the end of the week, oh joy! I am consoling myself by looking at my lovely beach pictures. This one is on the first day when we went down to the beach for coffee and a walk and the sunlight was just so sparkly on the water.

spain beach

We had our usual picnic lunch on New Year’s Day and I even got a little sunburnt. This yacht was out again on a very calm sea.I am sure I took pictures of the same one last year.

spain beach 2

Later in the holiday we went down the coast a bit for lunch and a walk to one of the rocky beaches, we took the kids here when they were younger and Jacob loved playing on this little island. It was a cloudier day with a magnificent sky and the waves were crashing on the rocks.

spain beach 3

spain beach 4

spain beach 6

spain beach 5

I just love the sea in all weathers and even had a little paddle on New Year’s Day, there were a few people in the sea swimming then as well and some surfers at the rocky beach.

I had a very relaxing time, doing lots of reading, very little cooking, mainly living on delicious cheeses and soup. They even had a little Christmas selection pack of some of my favourite ones in miniature which made a lovely cheeseboard.

spain cheese

I also did a couple of puzzles, this one I bought last time I went as it is of a view that Ellie and I saw when we went to the Lake District last June, a painting of Derwentwater. Lots of pieces of sky to fit in!

spain puzzle 1

There was very little crafting done so I have nothing to show you, I am starting to put together my latest Steampunk outfit for Whitby in a few weeks. I am doing a pirate outfit for one day with my purple hat from last year and a vampire hunter outfit for the other day as both seemed appropriate themes for the venue.

The vampire hunter outfit will be a modification of a beautiful red wool evening coat that I have had for years, bought originally for re-enactment. I am taking inspiration from one of my favourite films, Van Helsing with the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale and this jacket though my coat is a lot longer as this will be February in the UK so warmth will be a priority. There will also be a top hat of course so I have been searching for inspiration for that.

vampire hunter outfit

Back to work tomorrow so it will be next weekend before anything serious can be done on that but the top hat will be started tonight.

I hope that you all have a good week ahead, take care and thanks for visiting.

 

The stockings are finished!

stitchesoftime2 Comments

I have been rushing to finish everything in time for Christmas, it always amazes me that though I think I start early enough each year I am still there checking last posting dates and running around doing last minute finishes!

Anyway the ornaments are finished, I have only had time to make 8 of these so far but will definitely make more for next year for all the people that didn’t get one this year. One has already gone to the Wool and Wine ornament exchange so these are the seven that are left.

Xmas stockings 1

I did two of each design for friends and then the tree one for me. I loved choosing all of the fabrics and embellishments and am really pleased to have improved my blanket stitch which I only learnt this summer.

Xmas stockings 2

Xmas stockings 5

Xmas stockings 7

Xmas stockings 4

Xmas stockings 6

Xmas stockings 9

The back is finished with a little pearl headed pin and decorative bead to hide the ribbon stitching.

Xmas stockings 11

The original patterns as seen in this picture from Jenny’s website had some really beautiful flower embroidery on so they would make lovely sachets to go in drawers or on hangers so I will make some other ones from floral fabric and fill them with lavender.

ELEFANTZ stocking noel 1

I have realised that although I thought I had done things for everyone as I have also been working on some stitched and quilted ornaments that I might have already given my Mum and aunt the designs I had planned to finish off this week so am going to go with another one of the folded baubles for them. I know that I did give them one each in 2015, as pictured below, but they are so pretty I would love to make more.

xmas-baubles-dec-2015-1

I have also found some new resources to go with them and that was partly what inspired me to do more of these. This tutorial is a good step by step one and if you sign up for The Ornament Girl’s newsletter she will e-mail you links to three step by step video tutorials. She also has lots of lovely ideas on her website and you can join the ornament club or buy supplies from her.

One of the things I didn’t realise is that you can also make these folded ones from ribbon. I just happen to have quite a bit of Christmas ribbon in my stash so am going to experiment with that. I have found some great inspiration from this Pinterest board here.

These seem to be very popular in Eastern Europe as there are some amazing ones from places like Slovakia and Poland. I don’t have a lot of the satin ribbon that are used in these but do have lots of wired ribbon in beautiful Christmas designs like the bauble below.Original links and sources for these pictures can be found at the Pinterest board link above.

Folded fabric bauble 4

I also love the use of cross stitch in these ones, that is something to consider for next year as well.

Folded fabric bauble 1

You can also fold the ribbon into petals as they have done with the second layer of the this amazing red,white and green one.

Folded fabric bauble 2

These are just so pretty, I love the variations in the designs while sticking to the one colour scheme.The site in the photo caption sells the most gorgeous ribbon kits for these.

SONY DSC

So I shall be spending this afternoon under a fleecy blanket, watching Netflix and making ornaments. A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon 🙂

Rosemari has decorated her tree with all the baubles she made at our bauble making sessions and afterwards at home and has kindly sent me a photo to share with you, don’t they look wonderful!  She was well and truly bitten by the bauble making bug 🙂

Rosemari's tree

I hope that you have all had a good week and enjoyed your weekends. Don’t forget to like any of my posts before Christmas to be entered into my 11th year blogaversary giveaway drawn in Jan. Take care and thanks for visiting.

Happy blogaversary to me ….

stitchesoftime6 Comments

I actually remembered that it is my blogaversary today! For the last two years I have posted late and on Sunday after doing my latest post I was thinking about what I was going to post next and remembered that I started this blog 11 years ago.

As I did last year I am going to offer a giveaway of your choice of anything that I make, that could be a pouch, bag, needlework item, mug rug, coaster, ornament etc. As a reminder here are some of this year’s creations.

You choose the item and the fabric and I will make it for you as a big thank you for coming and visiting me. Don’t worry if you are not into Liberty I do have other fabric ! I am now up to 247 followers which is wonderful so thank you so much to all of you, you make me feel very loved 🙂

To win all you have to do is like or comment on any post up until Christmas. I will choose a winner by random number thingy when I return from Spain in Jan, get in touch and ask you what you would like and make it for you.

I will be back at the weekend with more stitching loveliness, meanwhile have a a good week and thanks for visiting.

 

Happy New Year and the giveaway winner

stitchesoftime6 Comments

Happy 2018 to you all, I hope that you had a lovely New Year, I was enjoying myself far too much in sunny Spain and arrived back yesterday full of good intentions to do lots of lovely things in 2018.

I have some great photos for you from Spain and some new projects to work on inspired by one of my Christmas gifts but first I need to tell you who won the giveaway for my ten year blogaversary.

Thank you all so much for the likes and the lovely comments you made on all the posts. The winner, as picked by the random number generator, is Daisy Debs so please could you e-mail me at alisonmryan@yahoo.co.uk and let me know what you would like as your giveaway gift. It is totally up to you if it is a pouch, stitching basket, knitting accessory, pincushion and needlebook etc, just let me know what sort of thing you would like.

I will leave you with a picture of how I spent part of New Year’s Day, on the beach having a picnic as is now traditional with us, a shared bottle of fizz, some lovely food and the happiness of being with family and feeling very lucky to be able to be there with them in such a beautiful setting.

Spain - Beach New Year

Will return soon with more pictures for you, thanks so much for visiting as always.

Happy Christmas

stitchesoftime5 Comments

Just popped in before we set of for Ellie’s to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am just about finished on the ornament stitching and have been making chutney for Christmas presents so am feeling very festive!

I will be back home next week and fingers crossed the weather will be nice and Mum and I can go on a few walks, watch movies and craft. She is planning to learn how to make Suffolk Puffs next week so we may have some finished products by the time we leave for Spain.

xmas-door-wreath1

Thanks to you all for visiting, commenting and being supportive of my little blog, it is much appreciated and don’t forget to like a post to enter my blogaversary giveaway which I will sort out on my return from Spain.

A bit of festive stitching

stitchesoftime5 Comments

I have had a really great weekend, my tree is up and I have been sitting finishing my ornament stitching while watching the snow fall gently down, not enough to give us a snow day tomorrow sadly so I will be back at work. Many of my friends who live further South than me have had more snow so although we have had some the transport will still be running tomorrow.

This is the last week of term though and I have some holiday coming up so that is good, I am really glad to get to the end of the teaching time.

Not that I don’t love my job and my students but this term has been a very busy one and a poorly arm has not helped so really looking forward to doing nothing, (by that I mean lots of reading and stitching and watching TV ), and spending time with family.

I finished four ornaments to the point of being stitched and stuffed this afternoon so I could take pictures and have another three that I finished later on. These all need their hanging ribbons added but am pleased with how they look so far.

Xmas ornies Dec 17

Two of these, the top one and middle right, are JBW designs, the others are from a sampler called ‘I Still Do’, by Ink Circles.

Xmas ornies Dec 17 5

This one is Merry Miniatures 1 from JBW – in the UK her designs can be found here at Wye Needlecraft. In the US they can be found at 123 Stitch. The bell charm on this design is from Rinhoobead on Ebay.

Xmas ornies Dec 17 3

This cute little tree I have stitched a few times and it is from JBW’s Christmas Keepsakes 2 designs. They have so many pretty tree designs and I love the way that the designs are made up of smaller motifs.

Xmas ornies Dec 17 2

Xmas ornies Dec 17 4

These two motifs are from a large Quaker sampler that I have had for about 11 years, it is meant to be an anniversary sampler but I bought it for all the snowflake like motifs. The Ink Circles web site does not have this design listed any more but still has lots of other lovely stitching.

This is a real return to my roots and it is very fitting that this is my 10th blogaversary as on one of my very first posts all those years ago I put up this picture of some cross stitched ornaments that I had been making to fund raise for my trip to Nepal.

I still have all those lovely snowflake designs and think I might make them again for next year’s ornaments as I have enjoyed my return to cross stitch a lot.

Xmas ornies from first post

I have also just realised that I still have some of the Christmas fabric that I mentioned buying in one of those first posts, that makes it almost vintage lol! I am very proud of the fact that I have bought no new Christmas fabric this year at all, the first time that has happened for 10 years.

Have no major crafting plans for the next couple of weeks, need to finish off a few things from the WIPs pile if I have chance and then will spending time with Ellie and the rest of the family and meeting my great-niece Ava for the first time, will finally get to give her the rabbit that I knitted for her!

Take care and thanks for visiting , will return next week with a the rest of the ornament finishes for your perusal! Don’t forget to like this or any post up until the end of the year to enter into my giveaway.

 

 

This is becoming a habit – a belated blogaversary giveaway!

stitchesoftime6 Comments

It occurred to me earlier on today that I might have forgotten to post about my blogaversary and the now customary giveaway so I thought I had better check and guess what I did the same last year as well and posted late!

What a bad blogger and it is my 10th blogaversary too so a very special one. I have had this little old blog for 10 years (and one week on Monday!) and still love it as much as I first did.

I have met so many lovely people through blogging and the fact that I can document everything I make is great, not least when I have forgotten where I got something from.

So apologies for forgetting but I am here now. I am going to do something a bit different with the giveaway this year and make it for one of my stitching related items, pouches, or mug rug , you choose.

I have made a varied selection of pincushions, knitting bags, needlebooks, crafting bags and pouches so would like to offer one of those to one of you lovely readers.Here is a reminder of the sorts of things that you can win.

Yarndake bags Sept 1

Yarndale sheep bags 1

July needlebook 4

July bags and pouches 2

July bags and pouches 15

Tea mug rug 1

linen-pincushions-1

pouch-boxy-plain-zip-blue-flower-3

I am also going to leave the giveaway open for a bit longer than usual, as I am not giving away ornaments I do not need to post them before Christmas so I am going to put everyone who likes a post between now and the end of the year into the draw and do it when I return from my trip to Spain in mid January.

So please like either this post of the next few and then if you are the winner I will contact you and you can choose what you would like.

Hoping to take some lovely pictures of finished ornaments tomorrow, just been doing lots of making up and last bits of stitching tonight and we are nearly there!

Take care and thanks for visiting.