Christmas Sewing Projects part 2

Wildflowers Zig Zag Cheater Quilt

My Mum gave me a hand and made the Wildflowers cheater quilt for my mother-in-law for Christmas. We used Hakea Green on the binding and Birdies Red on the back. She did a great job and she is going to sew one for herself next.

Shark Beach Bag

For my cousin I made this bag from a shark print. The design was printed on the quilting weigh cotton but I am going to try the voile for a sarong.

Egyptian Puzzle Cushions

For my aunt and uncle I made some cushions from the Egyptian Puzzle collection I designed last year. My uncle lived in Egypt when he was young and I think they both like the Egyptian Style. I designed a new mini chevron pattern for the back that I am going to make available in three colourways.

Owl Cushions

My Dad loves owls and I designed these for him for Christmas. The fabric arrived on the 24th of December so it was a rush to sew them. They are printed on Cotton-Linen which is beautiful to sew with and the colours are lovely and rich.

Reverse side of cushions.

On the back of two of the cushions I have used a previous design, Feather Frenzy, which I have reduced and re-coloured in two different colourways.

Bicycle Cushions

These are three cushions I designed for my father-in-law for Christmas. He loves bicycles and has restored quite a few vintage bikes.

The back view.

Robot Plush Toys

I designed some robot plush toys for my boys for Christmas. I am going to make a few small changes before I put them up for sale in my Spoonflower shop.

Christmas Sewing Projects part 1

I finished the top of a quilt using the Christmas Birds which were designed for the Spoonflower cocktail napkin contest.

The Christmas Wreath Tags arrived on the 24th of December and I made a few up on Christmas day.

This is the fabric for the back of the tags, at first I didn't want to cut it up. Maybe I will order some more for a cheater quilt.

I was hoping to make a Christmas apron with the Evergreen Christmas Party fabric I designed last year. Unfortunately not enough time.

Christmas Sweets

Most years we have Christmas dinner at my Mum's house and she cooks a great meal with roast chicken, turkey and ham and a selection of roast vegetables. I make a few Christmas treats and the trifle and Christmas pudding. This year we had a quiet lunch on Christmas day with my parents and Grandmother, and on Boxing day the larger family lunch with my mother's side of the family.

The recipe for these honey biscuits is in an old Lutheran cookbook that was my Grandmothers. I think it had a German origin. The mixture makes so many biscuits, I halved it this year but the full recipe uses 1 pound of honey and 1 pound of sugar.

My son Jimmy and I made these chocolate pops before Christmas, I think we might make a few more tomorrow. The mould and lollypop sticks were very inexpensive.

Each year I make chocolate truffles and these have dried apricot with the chocolate mixture in the centre, most are covered with dark chocolate but these have milk chocolate and sprinkles.

Sometimes we have a gingerbread house. Alex helped with this one.

Christmas day I made a pavlova for dessert and ate way too much.

Boxing day with the big family lunch we had trifle and plum pudding. I put about a kilo of dried apricot, dried apple, prunes, dates, sultanas and currents in the pudding, it only just fits in the pudding bowl.

The Night Before Christmas

The build up to Christmas was incredibly busy here. We had all been sick a few weeks back and then there was a large amount of work to get through the week before Christmas. I had decided to make most of the families presents with fabric from Spoonflower as well, and luckily the fabric that I needed to finish most things off arrived on December 24th. 

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. Our six year old was so excited this year and was constantly on the look out for Santa. As it was getting dark we went to do some very last minute shopping and then a drive to see some Christmas lights.

On the Weekend

This weekend we drove down to Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot for some time at the beach. Although we have had some very warm days so far this Summer the temperature was not too hot just warm enough to go for a swim. The boys had a great time.

We found a great spot for fish and chips after. The seagull hasn't sprouted human legs, it is Alex running up the steps in the background. Port Elliot is a small seaside town with many old stone cottages, antique and gift shops and a great variety of restaurants including a fantastic bakery. The kids had a great time climbing on the rocks after lunch and we spotted about six dolphins in the sea.

Driving back through the countryside we saw this great police box someone had placed at the entrance to their property. It looked a little out of place amongst the Australian foliage.

Fabulous Finds

Recently at our local market I found this sweet set of six coffee cups and saucers with a little matching milk jug. I love the rich deep glaze and lovely painted flowers. It looks great on the meat safe with the striped jugs.

Christmas Wreath Gift Tags

It was lovely to come 4th in the Gift Tag contest this last week. These photos on gorgeous wrapping paper are from Spoonflower where they photograph the top ten every week. There were so many great designs and I had many favourites including the winning design Jungle Christmas Gift Tags by designer amel24.

The tags can also be used as decorations or coasters so I have designed some four inch squares in complimentary patterns that can be used on the back. I am looking forward to them arriving in my order on the 24th December, just in time for Christmas.

Evergreen Christmas Party Decorations

Recently I finished sewing these Christmas decorations.

They were very easy to make apart from a little trouble with the antiquated sewing machine I was using. The edged is pinked with a pinking shears and they are sewn on the outside and then stuffed with fibrefill. Even the opening at the base was sewn on the machine after stuffing. Below is the design you can find for sale in my Spoonflower shop.

The Local Wildlife

This time of year we see some of the larger lizards around the garden. This one was just down a bit from our front yard and it is known as a Blue Tongue Lizard. He does have a blue tongue and he was about 12 inches long. Sometimes if you only see their head or tail from behind the bushes they look like a snake.