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Tag: Christmas

Mid Century Embroidered Christmas Decorations

Felt CHristmas decorations decorated with embroidery and sequins

Felt, plus sequins, plus embroidery. Can Christmas decorations get any better?

I found these embroidered Christmas baubles and angel in the Australian Women’s Weekly, December 2nd 1959. “Gay Decorations with the Christmas Spirit” page 1, and pages 2 and 3.

I have a strict decorating rule when it comes to Christmas: the tree isn’t properly done until you can’t see the branches any more. Or it falls over. Whichever comes first. I suspect we own enough tinsel to cover three Christmas trees, to be honest. The shinier, the better! What can I say, I must be part magpie or something 😉

You can follow my Christmas decorating madness and add these to the mix, or keep your tree retro fab and mix these with a few classic vintage look baubles.

Sarah

Some Christmas Favourites!

There are only three weeks until Christmas, is it time to panic yet?!? Of course not. We all know you’ve got everything under control, right? If not, here are a few quick Christmas projects to get you back on track.

One Hour Scarf

The One Hour Scarf. Knit on honkingly big needles, you can make the one hour scarf with tassels, a full fringe, or darn the ends for different looks. A super quick and useful present, and a stash buster too! This is always one of the most popular patterns on Knitting-and.com once Christmas approaches.

Intarsia Christmas stocking with trees, Santa Claus and children.

Do you have a new member of the family who needs their own stocking? Check out the Personalized Christmas Stocking from 1945. Updated and charted in colour. Go. Now. You still have time!

Christmas cookies

Do you like to give Christmas cookies biscuits as gifts? Here’s how to wrap up your cookies, ahem biscuits, without risk of turning them into a tin of crumbs.

Handspun ribbed hat, spun and knit by Sarah Bradberry

If it’s Winter in your part of the planet, why not knit a hat, or some mittens or gloves to keep your loves ones warm?

Now get knitting people! There are only three weeks until Christmas. It’s time to panic!!!

Sarah

Christmas Spirit

I know I promised a post about my new sewing machine but I’ll have to keep you in suspense just one day longer because the NBN installation guy is due here any minute (fast intarwebs, YAY!) and I had to put all the sewing away.

**GASP**

I mean really, who does that? Usually not me, that’s for sure.

But I sure have been using the machine a lot. Aside from the three cushions I’ve already shown you (plushy and Christmassy), I’ve also made a pencil case and two Christmas stockings.

I don’t have a photo of the pencil case but here are the Christmas stockings.

Two retro look Christmas stockings.

I found the fabric panel for sewing the stockings at the local op shop (thrift store/charity shop) and thought they were hilarious so I knew I had to make them up. Poor Santa is being sent off for a liver function test this afternoon. I think it’s packed it in, poor fella.

For my thrifty friends who are interested in such things: everything was from the op shop except the thread. Fabric panel, lining, batting, bias binding used for the hanging loops, sewing machine, the sewing machine table, that Christmas card covering up the sticker mark on the sewing machine table…

Now I’m off to find the goo gone to remove the sticker residue before I get started on some Craftsy classes that I bought before old Mr Stitchy blew a circuit board and took a jolly trip to the tip. At least I will be after the NBN installation guy does his thing as all my sewing gear is currently hiding in the bedroom.

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Charlie’s Teacher’s Gifts for 2015

Every year our son Charlie likes to make presents for his teacher and their assistant. Last year they were woven, this year printed and sewn.

Charlie printed the fabric using acrylic paint mixed with textile medium and I sewed the finished fabric into a couple of cushions (with zippers thanks to my new old sewing machine. More about that tomorrow)!

Hand printed Christmas cushion

Hand printed Christmas cushion

He’s got a great printmaking technique for a kid who hasn’t even turned seven yet 🙂

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Click Clack, Stitch Stitch, Sew Sew, Splat Crunch

Ok, technically there is neither a splat nor a crunch, bet hey! Artistic license and all that 🙂
Three or so weeks ago I promised I would upload photos of other projects I had made the next day. Then there was Christmas and New Year’s and swimming and shopping and destashing and…

Let’s just face facts, shall we? This is as fast as I get 🙂

I still don’t have a photo of one of them, but here are the rest.

I finished these wristicuffs for Miss Brittany last night.

Orange wristers

They’re made from some of my very, very early handspun. It’s lumpy and bumpy and dyed with Kool-Aid. It’s also incredibly soft and Brittany asked me to make her something out of it while we were sorting out the garage stash. I wanted to destash it but there you go…

Techy specs – Yarn: lumpy handspun 2 ply merino, approximately aran weight. Spun by me about 10 or 11 (maybe 12) years ago.

Pattern: K1, p1 rib on 4mm needles. 1 inch smaller than wrist circumference (unstretched).
3 inches long

The next projects are quite picture heavy so bear with me. Two Una-na dolls made from the Japanese book by Mimiwn. I love making these dolls. I can see myself becoming quite addicted to making them little clothes and accessories. I had to stop myself buying a little toy kitchen dresser at the op shop the other day because it was the right size for them. (If I had my own, much larger, house I would have bought it).

The black haired one is called Pansy Dollington (Brittany’s) and the brown haired one is mine. Her name is Florence Dollington. Unfortunately Florence has developed a tendency to swear like a sailor when least expected (but definitely *not* when my Dad is around, haha). I suspect she’s got a little bit of a dolly “drinky drinky” problem to tell the truth…

Una-na doll - Pansy Dollington

Una-na doll - Pansy Dollington

I still need to finish sewing Florence’s shirt and skirt. I had to take my sewing machine apart halfway through to clean it, and then everything got put away for Christmas and I haven’t been back to it yet.

This first picture shows her wearing the first unsuccessful wrist warmer as a shoulder warmer type thing. I’m going to put a little felt & button flower on it.

Una-na doll - Florence Dollington

Here she is wearing an early Spring… let’s call it a “ponchette”. (I love that word. It’s so pretentious).

Una-na Doll with Poncho

And finally here she is wearing a ponchette from the same pattern, but in thicker yarn.

Una-na doll with ponchette

Technical details:
The book is unfortunately out of print (Una-na dolls by mimiwn)

The red and beige yarns are discontinued dk weight commercial yarns, and the bright blue is some of my hand dyed handspun yarn with (I think) mohair, angelina fibre and possibly something else thrown in. The blue is 2 ply and a bit finer than fingering weight.
Next is a quickie that I knit at the doctor’s the other day.

Tiny knit Christmas stocking

The mysterious pattern was posted on Cosymakes a few days ago. Since I had just finished all my simple knitting and I had to leave quite soon, I scribbled out the pattern, grabbed needles and yarn and had a go. I just can’t resist small vintage patterns that don’t have pictures 🙂

I love this little stocking boot so much that I’m thinking of making a bunch of them during the year in whatever scraps I still have lying around after my major destash (I’ll get to that BTW).

Techy details: I used thinner yarn and smaller needles than the pattern calls for, but only slightly. The pattern calls for 5mm needles and (I guess) a worsted weight yarn. I used 4mm needles and dk weight. The green is some of my handspun, the purpley red is Jo Sharp DK wool.

Well I think that’s enough for today! I have more projects to share with you but I think I’ll leave them and the story of the destash until tomorrow. I’ve already taken the photos, so you won’t have to wait another three weeks, I swear!