SSCS

Very excited today. My parcel in Chooky's Secret Santa Christmas swap arrived today.  My partner Anne Heidi from Norway posted my parcel on 27th November, so we were starting to get a little worried. A very slow plane ride indeed. But it was worth waiting for.

Firstly there were these two gorgeous mitten decorations.  Very cute indeed and I love the snowman/snowflake fabric.  Do you think Anne Heidi may have done so research.

In my second parcel was this most beautiful zippered sewing bag. The photo does not do it justice - it has a zippered top and a zippered pocket on the side and I missed the lovely handle which said "stitched with love". Beautiful stitching on the front and such yummy fabrics.  Perfect size for my current project.

Inside were these gorgeous buttons - had to have a close up - they are gorgeous. As well as snowmen, there are snowflake and xmas tree buttons also.

The red and white is the beautiful paper they were wrapped in.  Some more lovely embellishments in the form of mini cookie cutters and some very handy needles as well as this lovely card.

Anne Heidi, I was blown away by your beautiful gifts and thoughtfulness.  Thankyou so very much - I will treasure them. Cheryl

FHFS

Just thought I would show you the last few days of my lovely pressies from Fiona, my partner in our Friends Having Fun swap.  I did so enjoy opening a pressie each morning with my brekky in the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Days 7 and 8 included the most gorgeous teacup thread holder and a lovely photo frame, a set of cheese knives (will get lots of use), a "Born to quilt" scissor keep brooch and a lovely little drawstring bag with the cutest mouse which fits my little sewing light perfectly.

Days 9 was the most wonderful shopping bag (top left - sorry about the poor photo). It opens out into a wonderful shop bag - large and strong. Below that is the cutest little decoration.  Day 10 was a gorgeous table centre, a lovely knitted dishcloth and tea towel.

I'm sorry this was hard to photograph, but Day 11 was a great cotton reel holder and I seem to have cut off the lovely sewing machine decoration on the top.  I don't have one of these, so will be fantastic and will save me rummaging through my box looking for the right color.

And on Christmas Day I got to open this gorgeous wallhanging with some very cute snowmen.  Think Fiona may have noticed me say once or twice how much I love snowmen.  Loved all my gorgeous gifts Fiona. Thankyou so much for all the thought you had put into them.

I do have another lovely gift to show you that I received. A work colleague always gives me a handmade gift for Christmas which is wonderful. 

This year it was the most gorgeous table runner.  This is one end of it - had to do it in two parts so you could see how lovely it is.

And this is the other.  Just beautiful.  Cheryl

Some Secret Sewing Revealed

I think many of us have been doing secret sewing over the past couple of months, some of which I am able to now show you -

The little snowy hanger/decoration was what I sent to my partner Michelle in New Zealand  in Chooky's SSCS (with a couple of other goodies).  I had a lovely email from Michelle and know she loved her little snowy hanger and has put the other parcel away til Christmas Day.

For my lovely friend Karen I made this Gail Pan cushion for Christmas, and included a few other goodies, but for some reason I didn't take photos of those.

And for another gorgeous friend Keryn, these two little guys made their way to her house to live.

 

And in our Friends Having Fun Swap, Carol was my partner and she will have opened the first few parcels by now so I can reveal their contents -

 

 

Day 1 and 2

Xmas card holder and Michelle's xmas alphabet which I made into decorations.

Days 5 and 6 were a xmas hanger and some tags.

 

Meanwhile I can show you some more of the lovely gifts I have received from Fiona in this wonderful swap -

 

Day 7 and 8 goodies - a lovely photo frame and very cute thread holder, a "born to quilt" scissor brooch and the cutest mouse drawstring bag which holds my little light perfectly.  Thankyou for Fiona for the most wonderful gifts every day.  Cheryl

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

so the song goes, and how true.  Lots of being spoilt this end -

I received this most beautiful snowman decoration from my lovely friend Barb, even though she had already spoilt me with lovely gifts.  Thankyou so much Barb. I just love it.

And for our Friend Having Fun swap group of friends we were to send 12 gifts to our partner - one to be opened each day for the 12 days leading up until Christmas.  My partner was Fiona from Bubzrugz blog, and these are the lovely gifts I have been receiving from her -
Day 1 was some lovely xmas cards, Day 2 the cutest chook made from selvedges and a gorgeous snowman decoration, and Day 3 this beautiful and handy bottle bag and cutest Hatched and Patched notebook. 

And in the last couple of days I've opened some more -

Days 4, 5 and 6 included not one, but two thread catchers - one will fit nicely in my sewing bag and a gorgeous little scissor keep. Then next were some lovely xmas serviettes (Fiona must have known I hadn't got around to buying any) and some xmas scatters.  And Day 6 was a very handy board to hold blocks, the cutest purse and the most beautiful cross stitched bookmark.  Thankyou so much Fiona.  I am loving all my gorgeous gifts and it's such fun to have one to open each day.

A couple of days ago we also had my work Christmas party.  We do a handmade Kris Kringle and I just had to show you what I received -

This most beautiful swag - there is actually 6 flags to it, but I could not take a good enough photo of all of them to do it justice, so went with a close of three of them.  Just beautiful - I was thrilled to bits.

Now I was so excited to have my finished that I wrapped it up before taking a photo, but I made a Lynette Anderson xmas cushion similar to what I had made for Barb in our one on one swap. Just slightly different fabrics than I used in Barbs -

Now I should be able to show you some of the secret sewing I've been working on over the last couple of months next time. Cheryl

Special Friends

Now last post I showed you my gorgeous gifts from my lovely friend Karen, and I did say I had been very spoilt by lovely friends all week.  So some more show and tell.

I am a great admirer of Michelle's work  and beautiful designs (from Rag-Tag Stitchin) and I am very honoured to count her as one of my special friends, so it was very exciting  when I opened an envelope from her to find these lovely surprises -

The most gorgeous stocking to hang on my tree, which holds my handmade decorations from special friends, and also a copy of her latest Pocket Mini with some adorable gingies to stitch. Now apart from snowmen, gingies are a big favourite, so I am looking forward to stitching these.  Thankyou so much dear friend.

I also received a big box of lovely parcels in the mail on Friday -

from Fiona of bubzrugz blog, who was my secret partner in our Friends Having fun swap.  Now if you are wondering why so many, for our Christmas swap we do 12 parcels and get to open one each day for the 12 days leading up to xmas.  And guess what - that's from tomorrow so can't wait to open the first one.  Stay tuned.  Thankyou so very much Fiona - I can't wait and I know you will have spoilt me because that's the sort of person you are.

Now my last show and tell also blew me away.  My gorgeous friend Shez left a parcel under my tree  about three weeks ago now when she stayed over for our class with Debbie from Wooden Spool Designs.  Now I have been looking at it for two weeks and finally gave in and opened it.  Now I can here you saying I should be waiting for xmas day, but I told Shez I would have more time now to enjoy opening it and enjoy it contents than I would on Christmas Day (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).  Shez also knows me very well I think -

The first thing I spotted was this gorgeous cushion. She tells me it is a Michelle original - I just love it. I had been telling her I badly needed to make some new cushions for myself - perfect!

OMG I had loved this when I saw it on Shez's blog a while ago - so much work, but I just love it Shez, thankyou so very much. Told my hubby I needed a new table to put it on lol.

And there was also this gorgeous little cushion made in beautiful wools, a lovely decoration for my tree with my handmade decorations on it and a gorgeous bundle of fabric - in  my favourite color.

Shez knows I love Jim Shore and gave me a beautiful piece last year.  This year she gave me the beautiful Santa on the right with the tree.  Perfect partner for the one I had bought from the Christmas shop while we were at Keryn's recently.

Two gorgeous books as well, including the one she had made the penny rug from.  Lots more gorgeous ones in there for me to play with.

Some wonderful patterns - just "me" do you think?

Some trees for my Lemax Christmas village and a gorgeous pattern I drooled over when  we did a class with Leonie from the Quilted Crow.

And more lovely stitching for me to do - the most adorable snowman kit from Primitive Gatherings and the beautiful French General decoration pattern and fabric.  Thankyou dear friend - I was blown away with my most amazing gifts,  as I was with all my gorgeous gifts this past week or two. I am so lucky to the THE best friends.  Cheryl

Wonderful Christmas Parcels

Well I have been very spoilt this past week or so by three very special friends in my life. So of course I had to share how spoilt I've been.  My lovely friend Karen I met through a swap I think about four years ago now and as we had lots in common we hit it off straight away and have been firm friends ever since.  These are the lovely goodies Karen sent me -

How pretty is the beautiful beaded wreath and the gorgeous snowman purse (made from beautiful wools - never seen anything like it) and the cute little snowman decoration which looks wonderful on my tree.  Do you think she knows me well.

And she found me some gorgeous snowman jellies - too nice to eat, but I will force myself, some gorgeous ceramic buttons which I will have fun using on future sewing projects and some very pretty spotty pegs, which will be handy for all sorts of things.

This most gorgeous, gorgeous fabric.

And a wonderful panel to match, along with a pattern to make mini quilts from the panel. It is adorable - can't wait to get stuck into this.

And lastly this gorgeous wallhanging. Here it is hanging on my wall, but I had to give you a close up as Karen had added some extra bits and I just love it - can you see the pom pom on his hat and felt scarf.

I love my gorgeous gifts from you Karen. A parcel from you is always very special.  Will be back soon with more. Cheryl

FNWF

Well I am dragging the chain. Here it is Sunday night and I have posted about

I joined in with Cheryll and lots of other stitchers for the final FNWF for the year.  This is what I got up to -

Some of my favourite redwork. This time a little stitching on "The Carolers". a new pre-printed from The Birdhouse.   I am off to check out what everyone else got up to.   Stay cool. Cheryl

Swap Gifts for Barb

I did show you last post my gorgeous gifts from the wonderful Barb in our one on one swap we do every Christmas (we are both xmasaholics along with some others I know).  So as promised these are the gifts I gave to Barb -

A couple of new Marg Low xmas decoration patterns/kits just to keep her out of mischief and as we both love xmas tins I had to include one of those, which may or may not have had a couple of sweet things in there. And I also had to include a "Vintage Picnic" charm pack.

And then I added a little snowman decoration for the tree.

And finally a xmas cushion - a lovely Lynette Anderson design.  Know Barb was happy with her little pressies and so great to be able to hand deliver and open them together. Cheryl

Lovely Friends

I love this time of year for many reasons. I work full time and usually only get an hour or so stitching time of a night, so I often don't have a lot to blog about. But at this time of the year, there's lots of swaps and Christmas sewing happening, so lots more to report.

I am a bit behind on telling you about the lovely catch-up with blogging friends Saturday week ago.  A few of us do a one on one swap for xmas, so it was a good chance to get-together and exchange our gifts. But I was spoilt by all the girls.

The "crew" having lunch.

Not sure what these two were up to

Ann and I shopping.

Now I got very spoilt by the girls. These wonderful dishcloths (too nice to use for dishes mind) and this ever so cute Santa ornament were from gorgeous Jo.

He's been added to my very favourite tree - the one with my handmade decorations on it from gorgeous friends.

And this lovely gift was from Ann- a very cute tree decoration, some yummy choccie, xmas bells and other lovely little bits.

And from lovely Kim this very cute pot holder and beautiful decoration which is also on my favourite tree.

Barb and I have done a one on one xmas swap for the last three years or so, being both Christmasaholics.  My lovely parcel this year from Barb was as amazing as always -

Some lovely xmas teatowels

Barb and I both love gorgeous xmas tins, and this lovely one was full of yummy lollies and Barb knows I am a bit of a snowman fanatic and found this gorgeous snowman mug for me.

Some more of the cutest snowmen - this lovely tin and the cutest salt and pepper shakers.  These have found a good home -

I seem to have a new collection happening.  Shez gave me the little gingie ones last Christmas, so I've put the ones from Barb with them and managed to find another snowman set to go with them.

And these lovely goodies from Barb also.

A gorgeous snowman panel.

And this most amazing, gorgeous, beautifully stitched table centre/candlemat.  I just love it Barb. Thankyou for my gorgeous gifts girls.

I will show you what I gave to Barb next post. Cheryl