Christmas Cheer Santa – Mill Hill

 Last night I finished the second of the two Mill Hill Santa’s for my Goddaughter’s two girls.

I started making them something for Christmas a while back but the tradition of a decoration for their very own tree only started a few years back.

The first thing I made for them was their  Bucilla  Christmas Stockings, in fact the whole family have one.

My Goddaughter Nicola's one was the first and it was stitched in 1981.  The kits have definitely become more intricate over the years!

In 2020 I knitted the girls an entire Nativity, complete with Camel, Donkey and Sheep.

Then in 2021 the tradition of an ornament each started.

First was the hoops which were charts from Just Cross Stitching Magazine.

Then  last year they had Mill Hill Snowmen.  

I wonder what Mill Hill kit they will have next year!

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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2018 minus One Month - Part 4………..nearly there!

My Mirabilia, Crystal Christmas is now complete and is ready to be taken to the framers along with my last two Celtic Ladies.  Celtic Summer and Winter have been finished for some time but I just never got around to having the framed, so now’s the time.

Since finishing Crystal Christmas I’ve been busy working on my Burcilla ‘White Christmas’ stocking.  

I just love these kits and have made six stockings and a tree skirt but of them all, this has been my favorite to work on.  I did make one little change to the metallic thread which should have been silver.  I changed mine to Gold, to fit in with my Christmas décor.

Happy Crafting!

(Whatever you passion may be)

Sue

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Please feel free to leave a comment if you stop by.  I would love to know how you stumbled upon me and what you were looking at.

2018 minus One Month - Part 3

More knitting………..

This time a little Collage Jersey Ronnie  and Blue Biker Cardie and Hat for Stanley, both from the King Cole Baby Book 7.

My ‘Crystal Christmas’ cross stitch is now nearly finished and then it’s the mammoth task of sewing all the tiny beads onto it.

And while all that has been going on I’ve had lots of new projects drop through the door, to keep me occupied for the rest of the year.

First is another Bucilla Christmas Stocking.  I’ve made five so far, dating back to 1981.

This is White Christmas …….and this one is for me, Yah!

Next is more cross stitch charts.

I was given a very generous gift from the family of a neighbour after she passed away.  They live in Wales and couldn’t get here as often as they would have liked, so to say thank you for keeping an eye out for her (not that I did much) they sent me a voucher for a company called Patchwork Rabbit which has so many unusual charts and kits.  

That was so kind, so thank you Chris and David.

After much deliberation I settled on a kind of stitch-a-long.  

They send out a chart each month for Twelve months and it’s calls ‘The Songbird’s Garden’. I now have three ready and waiting to go when I’ve caught up with everything else.

Then, I really needed more threads!

Considering I already have a cabinet with all the Anchor threads in and many boxes of DMC ones, I decided to also purchased the Weeks Dye Works Threads used for these, which means I’m ready to go when the time comes. The shading in these hand dyed threads is amazing. 

These aren’t all the shades I will need but they will see me through the first three charts and I’ll get the others as I need them.

Happy Crafting!

(Whatever you passion may be)

Sue

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Please feel free to leave a comment if you stop by.  I would love to know how you stumbled upon me and what you were looking at.

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On the Twelth Day Of Christmas

It’s good news………

this year the base of my Christmas Tree WILL be surrounded with a sequined Christmas Tree Skirt, as I’ve just finished backing it.

All that remains to do is give it an iron and we’re good to go!

 

                                                Happy Stitching

                                                           Sue

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12 Drummers Drumming

I’ve finally finished doing all the appliqué and beading on my 12 Days of Christmas Tree Skirt. 

Now all that’s left is to attach the Gold rickrack around the edge at which point it should officially be finished,  but I’ve decided to made a small alteration to mine.

This particular tree skirt is intended for the tree to sit on top of it but I want mine to hide the feet, so I’m going to cut it up to the centre and make a hole for it fit through, adding some Velcro to fasten it.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Eleven Pipers Piping

May 2016

Think this might just make it under my tree this year, what do you think? 

Eleven Pipers Piping

 

Happy Stitching

Sue

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On The tenth day Of Christmas My True Love Gave To Me............

April 2016

I’m gradually getting three………  Ten Lords a Leaping

 

Just two more to go!

Happy Stitching
Sue
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Strictly Come Dancing………..Not Quite!

March 2016 

I’m not  sure I can wait until the Autumn to get my fix of Strictly without getting withdrawal symptoms, so I guess this is going to have to do.

Nine Ladies Dancing

.

Happy Stitching

Sue

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Eight Maids a Milking

February 2016

There’s absolutely no rush now to finish my Christmas Tree Skirt, so I’ve decided to work on one oval a month.

This is Eight Maids a Milking.

 

Happy Stitching

Sue

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More Baby Blankets for Harlow Baby Unit

20^th November 2015

In the last month I have managed to crochet another two little blankets for Harlow Baby Unit.  The Green and White one was made with some wool that was donated by one of the members of the Helping Hands     Facebook group.

When they were finished, I put some photos on the group’s page and was contacted by a lady who asked if I made them to order, as she liked a plain White one that I had made previously.   
We agreed on a price, I brought the wool and got busy with the crochet hook again.  She was thrilled with it and I donated the money that that she paid me to St. Clare Hospice, where my dad was cared for in 2010.
 

I’ve also made some progress on my Christmas Tree Skirt this month,  completely finishing  days five, six and seven

Five Gold Rings

 Six Geese a laying

 Seven Swans a swimming

and I managed a lot of the appliqué for days eight nine and ten. 
    

The trouble is, it’s getting a little too close to Christmas now and I know it’s not going to be finished before my decorations go up. 

they are going up early this year because I have a pre- Christmas dinner party planned for the 27^th November, so my plan now is to put it away and leave it until the New Year.

Happy Stitching

Sue

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On the Third Day of Christmas

Here’s my up-date for 16^th September 2015 and it's back to my Christmas Tree Skirt.

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love gave to me……………..

Three French Hens

 

And on the Fourth Day of Christmas it was 4 Calling Birds

 

There’s still a long way to go and not a lot of time left to finish it, so better get a wiggle on. 

Happy Stitching

Sue

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More Appliqué!

It’s 17th August 2015 and having finished Freya’s Christmas stocking, it was time to start on my next Bucilla felt appliqué kit, a Christmas Tree Skirt.

I’ve wanted to do one of these for some time but was unable to track down the particular ’12 days of Christmas’ themed one that I really liked but came across this one on eBay, which I think is equally as nice and very sparkly with all its sequins and seed beads.

So, here are days one and two. 

Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Does an even longer absence make the heart grow even more fonder?

May 2015

At Last!

It’s been more than 17 months since I’ve been able to access my blog to update it but now it seems Blogger have done something and suddenly I have a temporary log on. .......yah!

Can’t help wondering just how temporary it will be though, so I guess I had better make the most of it  and take the opportunity to update some of the stitching and knitting that I’ve been doing while I’ve been away.

 The last time I blogged, back in May 2015, I had just started work on a Felt Appliqué Christmas Stocking for my God Daughter’s  2 month old daughter, Freya.

This was of course finished well in time for Christmas that year, meaning Nicola could hang all four together when the time came to decorate for Christmas.

 

Here are the others. 

The 1^st one was stitched back in 1981, using a kit brought in Orlando, Florida and the others were made when Nicola married and then started a family.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Wow, is it really 8 months since I last updated my stitching blog!

Just because I’ve not been here, it doesn’t mean I’ve not been keeping busy with my stitching and knitting though.  My fingers have been very busy!

Back in September last year I cross stitched a few more squares to send to Nicki, to incorporate into quilts, and the theme I chose to do was Carousel Horses. 

 

 

 

 

In October I went to the Stitch Show at Alexandra palace with my cousin and came home with four kits to stitch……… mind you, 3 out of the 4 are still untouched.

The one that I have made a start on is this one, Summer Days (Anchor PCE559)

 For some time I’ve been meaning to stitch a panel to go in my Heritage Album, something to mount my dad’s medals on.

Ideally, I was thinking of some sort of frame of Poppies, but not being able to find exactly what I was looking for, I decided to go with this and adapt it.

As you can see, I’ve stitched on Black rather than the White in the kit and left off the little houses in the background.  Now I need to flip the chart and stitch it again in the other bottom corner, so this is still a work in progress. 

By now we were into 2015 and what better way to start the New Year, than with a spot of knitting.

While at the Stitch Show back in October, I also brought some wool and this book.

 

and knitted these for my God Daughter’s little girl Ava. 

 

 

 

 I was so impressed with her because she was just 17 months when I gave them to her and she already knew most of the animals and the some of the sounds they make.

I enjoyed knitting the animals so much and I had loads of wool left, so I then brought this book

and proceeded to knit this little lot.

 Puss In Boots

 

The Little Mermaid

 Goldilocks & The Three Bears

 

 Pinocchio

 

Cinderella in Rags ( I designed the pumpkin myself)

Fairy Godmother

Cinderella in Ball Gown

Prince

Courtier

 

And finally, my favourite

 

Sleeping Beauty

 here she is in her nightgown

and here she is in her day dress

but there's a secret..........

 

she a topsy-turvy doll

I even knitted her bed!

 

 

After my knit-athon it was back to the old cross stitch and a birth sampler, as my God daughter was expecting for 2^nd child.

 When she had Ava back in 2013 I stitched The Historical Sampler Company’s ‘The Toy Shop’.

Because Nichola and her sister had the same birth samplers when they were little, I suggested that she might like the same for Ava and her sister when she arrived. 

So this one is finished with the same frame and stitched on the same colour background, but I changed up the colour pallet and switched the pictures around,  so it’s the same…….but different!

 

I’ve just started on another of their family traditions, a Bucilla Felt Christmas Stocking for the new baby,  Freya, who arrived at the end of April.

I stitched my  first two stockings for Nichola and her sister Kelly back in 1981. 

Then one for Nichola’s husband Paul in 2010. 

One for their first child Ava in 2013

And now one for Freya.

 

 

I’m hoping she’s not planning on a large family, Lol!

That just about brings me up to date I think. 

I’ll try not to leave it so long before I blog again, but in the meantime……… 

Happy Stitching! 

Sue

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