Hi everyone! Happy weekend to you all 🙂
Hopefully, if you are celebrating Christmas next week, you will soon be able to put your feet up after completing all of the very necessary preparations 😉
I’ve had such a busy week that I haven’t been able to think about Christmas as my Mum has had a bit of a flood in her house. We managed to contain it to a tile floored area of the house but there were a couple of inches deep of water which needed constant mopping to fight the latest weather here in the UK. We kept repeating to each other that we were fortunate not to have worse flooding as many homes in the UK have been evacuated for the fourth time since September. Mum is in her 80’s so she has found it all a bit too much to cope with. I don’t remember rain like this in my lifetime. The water table is so high that even a shower is flooding major routes. Today, the rain has been lighter and the wind has changed direction and strength, so we have had time to get outside and put temporary defences in place ready for the next time. We have more heavy rain due over the next few days so fingers are crossed that it stays on the correct side of the doors this time!
I did, however, get time to make the label for an I-Spy quilt for my Great Niece. I made a red one and a blue one last year as we didn’t know whether her Mummy was having a baby girl or a boy. Well, Dani will soon be one year old and she will finally be getting her I-Spy quilt from Santa very soon 😉 I hope she likes it! There are lots of animals and brightly coloured patterns so she can play I-Spy with her parents when she is a little older.
I love the rainbow thread wiggly quilting which shows up so well on the reverse. I think Dani might want to follow the line with her finger 🙂
The only part I did this week was the label.
And here is the first of my four little lovelies today, Dani…..having just found her treat in my sister’s handmade Advent calendar 🙂
Three more little lovelies delivered by the postie this week are hanging on my Christmas tree. Do you recognise them?
Well, these two were made and sent to me by Claire in France. You can find many more that she made here with instructions on how to make them. Her blog is well worth a visit. Claire posts about cross-stitch and many other sewing projects including patchwork and quilting, as well as sharing tales about her cats and dog. There’s something for everyone. Go and see for yourselves.
Do you see the little red berries in the photo above? Two of them have been nibbled by a mouse in my garage where we store the decorations. There was also a pile of sunflower seed husks just outside the box. Looks like little mousie has been collecting from the bird table too!
Last but not least, my final little lovely 🙂
This snowflake pinwheel blew all the way from Crete 😀 It is the creation of Teje who writes a great blog about her sewing projects, knitting and crochet. She is often joined by her assistants, two dogs and a cat. You can find the pinwheels here. The rest of Teje’s blog is full of lovely ideas with beautiful sunny photographs. So if you would like to warm up this winter, pop over for a browse.
As soon as we have a day with some reasonable daylight, I will photograph and post about my latest finished project. Hopefully there will also be some time to sew this weekend.
Thank you for all your lovely comments on my previous scarf post, where you saw my knitting for the first time. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas around the world. Also, I wish for you and your families, a very happy, healthy new year 😀
Best wishes,
Avis x
Patch
/ December 21, 2012Dani will indeed love to trace the line of the quilting with her finger. I remember wearing stripy leggings on teaching practice years ago and reading a story at the end of the day with the child at my feet following the stripes up and down my leg lol!
It’s great to see Teje’s snowflake on your tree. Hope the rain stops and you can all relax for Christmas. Your poor mum must be quite distressed. Hope you have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas and New Year.
xxxx
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Thank you! Your teaching story made me laugh. I taught 11-19 year olds so it was a bit different for me 😉 I do, however, remember spending a week in a Primary School as part of my training. One little boy kindly brought a worm and asked if I wanted to stroke it! We were supposed to be doing PE on the field 😆
Mum is exhausted but she always enjoys Christmas. She’ll bounce back I’m sure 🙂
mtetar
/ December 21, 2012Very cheerishable ornaments. He is so adorable. Thanks for sharing such great pics. Have a Blessed Season now, and always Mtetar
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Thank you Mtetar. I will treasure them forever. It is always lovely to receive hand made gifts. Have a lovely Christmas 🙂 Avis x
mtetar
/ December 22, 2012You’re welcome, and you do the same. Mtetar
creative pixie
/ December 21, 2012I’ve often wondered are the wiggly lines doneffree style on the sewing machine or is it programmed in?
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Some people do have computerised systems but they are very expensive and way beyond my budget. My wiggles are just hand-guided free motion. Avis x
creative pixie
/ December 21, 2012Beautiful blanket by the way.have a great Christmas. X
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Thank you! Happy Christmas to you too 🙂 Avis x
claire93
/ December 21, 2012love your I spy quilt and glad to see decorations in tree. We only put ours up today – just in time because kids are all due home tomorrow
Have a great Christmas, and hope your Mum doesn’t have any more flooding
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Our tree went up today too! I hope all of the arrivals go smoothly tomorrow 🙂 Best wishes to you and yours!
treadlemusic
/ December 21, 2012I am so sorry to hear of all the weather woes you are experiencing. And I can only imagine how upsetting it is for your Mom. I pray a break comes soon so you can enjoy these days. Your decorations look so nice….I so love handmade anything, don’t you?? I recognized Teje’s creation immediately! So great to ‘hear’ of your quilting once again!! Hugs, D
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 21, 2012Thank you Doreen 🙂 I do love home made presents. All three decorations look so much nicer than in the photos. These ones won’t be going in the garage where the mouse lives 😀 It is still raining here but very light at the moment. Heavy downpours are in tomorrow’s forecast. I’m sure my sister will have a good laugh at the temp repairs I did this morning when she goes to Mum’s tomorrow. They look like something a five year old would have done. As long as it works, I don’t care 🙂 It is so good to be able to sew again. I do drift into another world when I’m sewing 😀 Avis x
treadlemusic
/ December 21, 2012I wonder if there are other quilters in your “other world”….I do the same!!!!!
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012I do hope so! We can make that “other world” soooooo colourful 😀
treadlemusic
/ December 22, 2012😀
lisasff
/ December 22, 2012Love that rainbow thread! It’s a gorgeous quilt!!
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012Me too! It is actually has quite a lustre. I use variegated threads quite a lot as they add interest when you take time to look more closely, especially on a plain backing. Avis x
lisasff
/ December 23, 2012Sewing may need to be the next obsession… I can see my needing to sew much more than knit…
little tricks like that are invaluable. thank you.
Teje Karjalainen
/ December 22, 2012Dear Avis, you have made again so beautiful and happy quilt! Dani will love it and those little figures are so cute to spy! I’m sorry to hear that you have had so much rain – hopefully it stops now and the rest of the winter is easier. My sister is in south and hasn’t said anything about so much rain. Thank you so much for your lovely words about the snowflake and my blog – you are so sweet! Wonderful Christmas time to you and your family! x Teje
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012Thank you so much Teje 🙂 Your blog deserves to be read by all! The fabric on the quilt is called Animal Alphabet by Moda and it also has bubbles, stripey wiggles and the sounds the animals make. We have all had a lot of rain here but I think the south, where your sister lives, has been OK. I hope Santa brings you something crafty for Christmas! Best wishes to you and your family 🙂 Avis x
witchylin
/ December 22, 2012I do hope the barriers you have put up keep the water out of your Mum’s home. It is dreadful here this year. So much flooding and upset for people. It is always more upsetting for older folk as it can be too much for them to control the water. Our village is about to flood, the beck and river are over the top and it is still raining. I was lucky the last two floods, however the ground is so wet it can’t take any more water so I am going to try to defend my home before the water gets too near.
I love the tree decorations made by Claire and Teje. They look great on your tree. Personal things like that really make a tree, every year you remember the person who made them.
I want to wish you and all your blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and to those in the UK, a dry 2013.
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012So do I 🙂 I completely agree. Mum is still quite strong for her age so I’m sure she’ll be fine but she has definitely taken a bit of a knock. It has rained heavily here all day today but I know it has been far worse where you are. I hope you manage to stay dry at home and I echo your kind words for everyone next year. You can bet we will have a hosepipe ban here in April!
I’ll treasure the new decorations and I’m definitely going to make some of my own next year.
Enjoy the holiday 😀 Avis x
witchylin
/ December 22, 2012Your I Spy quilt is gorgeous. The rainbow thread is perfect and looks so good on the back. How did you do the label, it is quite amazing?
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012Thank you Witchylin 🙂 I made the label with EQ7 software. It is very easy and is actually the first quilt I have ever labelled. I know, I know…….but I do plan to label all the others too, eventually 😀
jule
/ December 22, 2012No doubt Dani will love her beautiful quilt (Spot the iguana!). 🙂
I heard about the flooding yesterday while listening to a London radio station (the programme with a very special guest playing the Virgin Mary 😉 ). Hope all the water will go away quickly. It has started to snow teeny-weeny flakes here at noon but they’re not supposed to last.
As I haven’t got a tree I’ve decorated my bookshelf with two Christmas koalas.
Wishing you a happy Christmas time and please keep dry. 🙂 – Jule
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012Oh thank you Jule 🙂 The other words on the quilt are the noises the animals make like “woof” etc. It is fun! I hope you have a white Christmas if that is what you would wish for. I like to watch the snow from indoors but I’m not keen on the cold.
Merry Christmas to you too 😀 Avis x
rutigt
/ December 22, 2012Georgeous quilt for a baby! I do follow Teje´s blog and she does some lovely stuff! I feel sorry for you, having all that rain. Here in Sweden, we have snow. Lots of it, so we´ll be having a white christmas this year 🙂
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Gun, Sweden
Oh Sew Tempting
/ December 22, 2012Merry Christmas Gun! The view through your window must be stunning at the moment. I’m looking forward to your January photograph already 🙂 Avis x