Merry Christmas!

Um ok, *shuffles feet* so I've neglected you lot and this blog a little bit.  I'm sorry but I have been busy honest!  I have photos to prove some of it and everything!  After the last post I got into the Christmas spirit (don't worry there's still enough gin to last the holidays!) and made a whole host of new things, things I hadn't tried before and have found a love for.  I'll try and keep it chronological to keep things tidy, there will be lots of photos and maybe a llama or two and most definitely a flamingo so what's more to want at Christmas?

Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin...a long time ago, nearly a month now I decided Christmas wasn't Christmas without some handmade gifts and I embarked on making a doll for my niece well, after being told in sewing class that my folder was going to be taken in for evaluation making a better dress for the doll was put on the back burner to get that done.  I had also signed myself up for a Christmas sewing class so was going to sewing class twice a week...yes, thereby taking a night off the project that I needed to get in, idiot.  However, the projects we made in the Christmas class were simple and amazing, and for all you quilting fans out there I've actually made a log cabin!  Woo!

Decreasing sized Suffolk puffs made from Christmas fabrics piled on top of one another to make a tree with a present bow on the top as a star and white snowflake sequins sewn on all round as decorations

Heart shaped decoration made using the same Christmas fabric as for the tree (waste not want not).  My first log cabin and I put some sparkly gold bead trim round the edge!  There's now a gold ribbon on it to hang it up with a bow and everything!

So these got made, my folder eventually got in and finger's crossed I'm doing alright!  Here's a sample of my hand quilting, ignore the badly sewn on binding I was in a rush.

Yellow fabric with hand quilted flamingo (which I'd had to draw on freehand as I'd forgotten to iron on the transfer before tacking D'oh!) with candy striped pink and white bias binding not sewn onto the back and a needle still in the top!

Since the Christmas sewing class had got me in the Christmas making mood I whipped up some new decorations from Fimo as I had some lying around from wanting to make some beads from it earlier in the year.  I got a little carried away and used up the whole packet on decorations instead, but they're really pretty so I don't care.

Fimo stars and hearts with lace embossed in the clay and then smudged with either gold or silver paint

Fimo moose, Christmas trees, angel and large hearts embossed with lace and smudged with either gold or silver paint

Old and new handmade decorations together. Hand sewn pink felt flamingo with lighter pink sequins and a finished fimo heart with silver bell

Then during all this making madness I was putting in for a promotion in work....which I got!  Yippee!  I'm super duper excited!  In one day I got told I'd got the position, won a bottle of wine on the raffle and won a fiver on the Euromillions!  Who says bird poo isn't lucky?  I'd been anointed by a pigeon on the way out to a work's Christmas lunch and had been told it would be lucky and it was true!  Old wives tale 1 common sense 4 billion but it's nice when it happens! haha!

Ok, so I'd better show you the full sized tree we got since I've already shown you the decorations!

Our enormous tree with what now seems like a Scandinavian theme of red and white...don't know how that happened but it wasn't planned.  Yes the star is wonky and yes it nearly touches the ceiling!

And since Christmas isn't Christmas without some baking, I got on with some stem ginger biscuits, coconut biscuits, milk chocolate and whiskey truffles and white chocolate Christmas shapes.

Vintage bowls all set to make yummy niceties! Nom nom nom!

Then since I've been so good this year I thought I'd treat myself to a Llama or several...

Llama bites, they're super yummy and llama shaped!

Llama!

I also treated myself to some new accessories too

Needle felted wool ball necklace in a rainbow of colours. 

I wanted to get back into needle felting and really enjoyed this make, they might end up in the shop so if you're interested in owning one, let me know!

Wool felt snowflake with Angelina fibres fused over the top to give some sparkle! 

I needed something Christmassy to wear to work so a snowflake hair clip was made!  It was fiddly and the Angelina fibres haven't stuck as well as I thought they should but it's usable and I'll have another go with the Angelina fibres and see what happens.

One of my sisters lives away from the rest of the family so we had Christmas with her early and she got me some knitting needles and chiffon lace yarn.  Well, at first I was struggling to knit it as thought I'd ignore the holes pre punched into it other than for the casting on, my mistake!  Thankfully a very helpful and kind friend in work taught silly old me just how easy it was to knit with and it came together really quickly. 

Me sporting the ruffly scarf knitted by my own fair hands and the snowflake hairclip

This was a perfect project for a beginner knitter as the holes are evenly spaced so the tension is right all the way through, you only have to worry about picking up or losing stitches, of which I did both!  I gained a stitch and then promptly lost it a few rows later.  I was so impressed with myself that I started on the flamenco wool I bought two years ago and was too scared to have a go at!

Me and Fizz and the knitting all snuggled up

Finished scarf, it's a lovely teal colour but against the bright turquoise of the sofa it looks a lot darker than it is.

It can now be safely assumed that there will be more knitting projects in my future.  One friend has already said she can see lace shawls in my future...now that's got me thinking! haha!

And to round it all off a bit more sparkle!

Gold sparkly nails!

Here's wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, enjoy the season!