a few little hints of Christmas....

This is what I have been working on over the last few days a little something for a Christmas gift....

and a little something else.....

and this is what I have been working with.....

and these fabrics as well......

and finally something I will finally finish after starting this a couple of years ago....

but thats all I can show you for now......

More Beating around the bush

Here are some photos of the other two projects that I did at Beating Around the Bush , I ended up choosing two classes with the same tutor, Carolyn Pearce she was a lovely lovely lady, very talented and patient; I wouldn't hesitate to do another class with her and I would highly recommend her as a teacher.

This is the picture in the BATB brochure of the Doll house workbox, it was so sweet I couldn't resist doing this class even though I could see it would take me a really long time to finish it.... here it looks about the size of a small sewing machine or so I thought.... lucky it was a lot smaller than I thought, about the size of a high tin loaf of bread, it was so cute.....

this is the climbing rose side and the pea garden end.... there was so much detail on it with the embroidery.....

  

here is a closeup of the pea garden, there were charms and tiny buttons as well.... over the two days I stitched the snail, the strawberry and one window....

we did lots of sampler stitching so we had the correct way for the stitches to be sewn, the little oranges were quite tricky but I think if I practise them I will get them to look like oranges....

After having the Wednesday off, our shopping day, we went back to the last two day class again with Carolyn Pearce, the Rosamund Crewel Emboidered bag, it was a project in Inspirations issue 58...

the flowers were stitched with a variety of different stitches, it's hard to photograph the beautiful details...

again the design was already drawn on the fabric, good time-saver for a class and no this doesn't look much but I was very pleased with my efforts for the two days....

this is my sampler for the bag stitches, it was fun practising knowing you weren't making a mess on the real thing....

It was quite funny out of all the classes we had the choice of..... about 78... Melissa, Sharon and I did the Hortensia bag on the Sunday, Sharon and I did the workbox on the Monday and Tuesday and Chris and I did the Rosamund bag on the Thursday and Friday and we made our decisions quite individually....

 we all had a fantastic time and learnt so much and met some lovely people....

Now you can understand why I haven't been doing much patchwork sewing..... I am a bit busy trying to work on these things while they are still fresh in my mind but I am feeling something stirring inside like I need to go and rotary cut some lovely cotton fabrics or put in a few stitches in my applique quilt...LOL....

actually have some more hems to sew on DH work jeans.....

Pics from BATB

When I came home from  Beating Around the Bush I was so excited with my three gorgeous new projects I had to find space in my sewing room which is quite difficult at the moment.... too many projects on the go... note to self... sort it!!!!!

So I moved my Nana's dining table out of the study into a corner in the lounge room, been wanting to do this for ages because the table is too beautiful to have hidden but DH didn't think it would look right???? men!!

my idea was this would be a special place for these special projects where I could work on them without the clutter of my sewing room...you know not lose bits or misplace the instructions and I could still sit with him to enjoy one of his fav pastimes watching telly .....men!!!

So that's my superduper lamp and magnifying glass, very helpful.... on the left

Here is how lovely it looked at night.... I think it looks like it belongs perfectly....

and these two little ducks are a salt and pepper set that belonged to my Nana and they are very special to me....she always had them on her table for a meal....

This is the Hortensia bag designed by Kris Richards and Monique Johnston , it was a one day class on the Sunday, a great starting point for the week quite a relaxing class, no pressure or homework... Kris and Monique were lovely ladies, good teachers and very helpful...

The design was drawn onto the linen when we got there so all we had to do was stitch.....

It was mainly stitched with french knots and bullions for the flowers, satin stitch leaves and some lazy daisies, all very effective to make the design.....as you can see I have a way to go with it but I was happy with what I got done....

I will post about the other two classes later right now I have some housework to do before it gets too hot.