Final instalment

And after working a large part of the day and the night yesterday, here it is..

I can hardly believe my own efficiency on this one! Once the fabrics and felt shapes were cut, it only took me a few days to glue and sew everything on and finish it all up. Which is a good thing as I only have 2 weeks left to make the final one, for my own kids this time..
But today is rest day..

 

Coming along..

The 1st one of my 2 Advent calendars, for this little girl and this little boy, that you might have seen here before..

How did this happen??

Back in January, everyone said to me: Making Advent calendars in January, are you mad??

Fast forward and here I am, with less than 3 weeks to go til 30th November, and 2 calendars to make!! I need to work every single day if I want to get them done.. The pressure's on!

And while my hands have been busy cutting and embroidering (as well as the usual cooking, cleaning, nappy changing and bottom wiping, picture taking, pram pushing, list making, present wrapping, hair and teeth brushing, cuddling, page turning and more!!), some little hands have been busy too..

 

I know, it's far too early to be decorating Christmas trees but that tree isn't really a Christmas tree, although we'll probably use it as one. I LOVE it!! M too.

Home sweet home too!

My friend A's mum and sister are always very kind to me and the boys and always bring us lots of gorgeous goodies from Japan. So when they come and visit, I like to do the same for them!
After the garlands for A's niece and nephew, the house for her sister, I made something for her mum too.

From this book, I'd always wanted to make this little house..

I didn't have any linen so used some fabric from my extensive polka dots and flowers collection!

 

I want to make some more of those, thought they'd make nice Christmas presents..

Home sweet home

I can't seem to be getting back into my sewing.. So much to do though!! Christmas is just round the corner and I thought I might try and make some presents..

Here's a little something for my friend A's sister.

This was relatively easy to make but I just couldn't get the ribbon right! It was supposed to be at the top to hang, I undid and redid it 4 times - I've never redone something so many times, I usually just leave it! - and when I still couldn't get it right, I gave up and turned it into a little chimney. Problem is now, there's no way to hang it, bit silly isn't it!?

I like fabric houses. I've been meaning to try and make some of those.. So sweet and great to hang on a Christmas tree. Made by Kajsa Wikman (mentioned here before), more photos on Flicker or on her blog.

Hearts and raindrops

I brought my sewing machine downstairs last night so I could watch TV while sewing. I watched The Audience, a new show where "groups of strangers follow people facing life-changing decisions around for a week and decide how they should resolve their dilemmas". It was really interesting and quite funny to see all 50 people following the guy around and then trying to cram into his living room to chat with his family (lil sis you'd love it!)

Anyway, I like watching TV while sewing, keeps my motivation up, so here's what I made last night with my felt shapes.

Some clouds for a little boy (seen here, but I believe that one is made of card) and a heart garland for a little girl (seen here)..

I feel like a cheat really, this isn't proper sewing, it's just cutting and then pressing the pedal while feeding the shapes to the machine!

Jar of hearts

A jar of hearts and a glass of rain drops.. I've been cutting lots of felt shapes recently, in preparation for some kids bedroom decoration.