~~JoY tO tHe WoRld~~

~~~~ JoY tO tHe WoRlD tHe LoRd Is CoMe, LeT eArTh ReCeIvE hEr KiNg!~~~~

May Our sweet Saviour's birth be a source of great joy and hope to you this Christmas!
Jenny

Need ONE MORE

I still have one place open for the Pay It Forward project.....is it for you? As long as you can hand-make 'something' you can keep this beautiful project moving forward. Perhaps you sew, knit, crochet, make chocolates, stamp, create jewellery, bind books - there are so many possibilities!

I'd love to make YOU a gift. You just need to let me know by leaving a comment on this post, then you bless three others and make them a gift sometime in the next 12 months. Advertise on your blog for your three recipients, who in turn will pay it forward for three more by advertising on their blogs, and on it goes bringing joy to people all over the world - the joy of giving and the blessing of receiving.

See my previous post for more details.

To give, to finish, and to start...

The last week I've taken a break from sewing, spending time with my husband whose home from work for the next six weeks, and decluttering our home.
A last minute gift was made yesterday from an embroidery I made a month ago. I love fuschias so I drew a design, matched the colours with my own fuschias by the front door, and used the embroidery to make a journal cover for a new friend. She is all alone so we invited her to come spend some of Christmas Day with us. A lover of butterflies is she so I made sure I added a golden one.

At night Blossom and I have been watching DVD's of "Monarch of the Glen" whilst cross-stitching...we love being carried away to the Scottish Highlands!
I am getting much closer to the end with my Lady of Guadalupe project. Isn't she beautiful!? Once I'm finished the cross-stitching I'll do the backstitch which will truly bring this design to life.

And what have we here?? I bought myself a stash for Christmas! A 1/2 Jelly Roll of romantic roses, pretty fat quarters in floral blues, and my favourite - a layer cake, "Woodland Bloom" from Moda. I'm totally hooked on the shabby chic look, but I like sparks of deep colour too. We'll see how my 2009 plan to redecorate in that style eventuates over the next 12 months. :-)

God bless you this wonderful Christmas!

Jenny

Bag for Bella

I've had a little project in mind for a couple of weeks, even bought the fabric, but getting Christmas gifts made sort of took over my life for the last little bit.
Tonight, as I was clearing away all the evidence of a large scale sewing frenzy, I remembered this project and thought I'd just cut the pieces out and have them ready to make another day, but.....



Once I started, I couldn't stop!
This mini bag is for my friend Fiona's daughter, Bella. Bella is a 4yo ballerina, and she is simply gorgeous. Have a look at her all dressed to dance, on her mum's blog. I didn't realise it when I bought the fabric but the purple and pink are definitely bellissimo for Bella, and I thought the purple organza ribbon handle was very chic for a little ballerina.
Back to the Post Office tomorrow....

Finished in time ....I hope

After a mad dash over the Post Office delivery cut-off line I finally had the last of my hand-made Christmas gifts finished today and in the mail.

One of my girls adores wolves and I bought these panels a while ago with her in mind, just not sure how I'd use them at the time. With some light quilting to define the eyes, mouths, ears and some of the legs, an the addition of clear seed beads for the pupils of the eyes, they came up really well. I'm sure she'll love them.


Remember all those bags I made last month? I made a miniature version for my 7yo grandaughter and added a matching mini purse. I laid it next to the shabby chic bag I made for myself so you can see how much smaller it is. It ended up about 9 inches in diameter across the front, just perfect for little hands.


I finished the remaining hand stitching on these cushions, too, (for my middle daughter) and now all the east coast gifts are safely in the hands of Australia Post.

There was one hiccup though. Even though there are still 8 postal days left before Christmas, the Post Master at our local PO informed me that we may not have delivery until after the Big Day...being so remote means we're out of the loop, I think.
Still, those gifts are covered in prayers, so we'll see..... :-)

Happy sewing!
Jenny
....who can now sew for no particular reason. \o/

Pretty in Pink

Today we bought a bbq.
In 17 years of marriage we've never owned one, and it was meant to be a Christmas surprise for hubby but as I'm far better at choosing fabric than bbqs I decided I'd let the secret out and have him go choose it for himself. Surprisingly I was still quite involved in the eventual purchase - it seems I do have ideas on bbqs after all!
The result of this purchase is that I didn't have to cook lunch OR dinner as hubby and son played with the new toy leaving me to sew some Christmas gifts instead. This bbq is going to come in handy...

Here are the two cushions I've designed and made for my daughter, Anita. Very soft and feminine, like her. :-)

I need to do a bit of slipstitching on them and they'll be ready to post on Monday, along with the rest of the east coast gifts.
Once that's done I can start on the Christmas Day placemats that I'm way behind on, and hopefully a nice trim to some white poplin I bought as a tablecloth. Oh, and a little bag for my grandaughter, and another little bag for a friend's daughter, and those shabby chic pillows for my bed that I wanted made before Christmas - and all those other ideas that are suddenly popping up in my imagination!
I wish I had all these ideas in May....

Getting there...

I finally finished the Nativity wall hanging that I've been planning on making the last two years. I love the panel and all I had to do was some light quilting and add some gold glass seed beads to the centres of the stars. It's backed with red felt which helps it stay put on our brick interior walls. This is the centre of our Christmas, the birth of Our Saviour in the humblest of places, a manger in a cave in Bethlehem. Simple, beautiful, the greatest gift, a reminder hanging in the centre of our home of the true meaning of every Christmas Day.


For a certain male member of our family I have been working on this dragon wall hanging. He loves dragons, and as I am not an illustrator I did a google for a dragon colouring page. There are loads of them, mostly cutesy kiddie ones, but I found this one which was far more adult for my intended recipient.

The variegated thread came up really well on the mottled grey fabric, and I chose to add the prairie points to reflect the spikes of the dragon's tail.

Blossom had bought a stash of buttons when we lived in Alice Springs and these ones matched well, having that medieval appearance I was after.

Of course once this was made another family member happened to ooh and aaah a lot so I may be making more after Christmas. ;-)
Two more far-and-away gifts to make for extended family and I can finally make the placemats for Christmas lunch.
It's quite amazing how once I decided not to make so many gifts, that I'd buy them instead, my enthusiasm and joy returned and I've been creating daily... it was my attitude change that did it.

Happy Advent!
Jenny

Pay It Forward

This week I signed up for Myra's Pay It Forward exchange fun.

This is how it works:

Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay it forward".

I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange.

All the gifts will be made and posted out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive!

What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs.

I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients.

Back to sewing,

Jenny

A busy day!

With my husband away for three days I have launched myself into a marathon sewing binge. My 16yo son is full up with a cold so he is huddled on the couch being pampered occasionally, and 14yodd is working hard at her cross-stitch whilst watching DVDs - though this afternoon she began showing signs of following her brother's lead in the health department.
Finally I was inspired to finish my 10 month old grandson's quilt (more of a security blanket actually). It just wasn't coming together at the end so I put it aside for a couple of weeks - then today, inspired again, I added little loops of orange felt all around. I'm not sure where I saw this idea but it's to keep the little one amused, something bright and little for small fingers to play with. The little cows I printed up from drawings his 7yo brother had done for me.
I bound it this evening and now it's ready to be posted next week. Isn't it great to finish something that puzzled you?!

I also finished the redwork block, though it only had a few stitches to be sewn once I bought more thread.

At Friday's sewing group Christmas luncheon we had a Kris Kringle and I received this pattern. It looks like applique but instead it's coloured with Paintstiks. I missed the workshop our ladies had last month so I haven't seen this done before. Have you used them? If so, how do you like them?

Tonight I'll be working on a wall hanging for my son-in-law....and tomorrow?? If I'm not nursing two teenagers I'll finish up a pillow for one of my older daughters and set to work on our Christmas lunch placemats.

Thank you for dropping by!
Jenny

Another giveaway!

Lovely Bec, from Oh Sew Busy, has a giveaway...while you're there have a look at all her beautiful projects!

Happy sewing!
Jenny

Sheri's blog

Sheri Howard makes amazing dolls! They are a cross between Raggedy Anne and primitive/naive. I love them!
She is also hosting a give-away at the moment, a really sweet bag...Hmm, I think I'm going to have one of Hagrid's moments and mutter off to myself, "I should'nt'a told ya that." Now I have to share the chances.

PS: I also like Sheri because she is a grandmother, like me. :-)

Good luck in the draw!
Jenny

Advent JOY

Dh and I spent this afternoon watching our favourite sport, V8 Supercars (the 2008 Championship races no less!), from the comfort of our loungeroom. The added bonus of this sport for me is that I get to stitch as I sit with my beloved hubby.
During the break between race 2 and race 3 I turned the Gail Pan embroidery I made yesterday into a wall hanging....

....and then I almost finished the blanket stitch applique on my 1st block for the Red Delicious mystery quilt but I ran out of thread with only a few stitches to go. A quick dash to the quilting store will see that finished tomorrow.
This is a stitchery I made for Christmas 2005, just a couple of months after I began sewing. It fits in perfectly with my red and white theme.


Hubby is off tomorrow for a 3-day conference near Perth so I'll be spending that time finishing the gifts for our family over in Melbourne and Sydney, ready to be posted on Friday. Next week we'll begin the Christmas baking.

Christmas for us used to be a very serious occasion, a time of worship of Our Lord indeed, but it was celebrated almost solemnly. My husband and I had uneasy childhood memories of Christmas and that flowed on to our adult Christmas celebrations...until 2005. Coming in to the Catholic Church that year totally altered the way I looked at Christmas. It became a time of such JOY and WONDER that things could not help but begin to change. I had loved celebrating Christ's birth when I was a Protestant, but when we embraced the Catholic faith it was as though we opened a door into a level of JOY that we'd not experienced before and Christmas took on a deeper and more fulfilling meaning, a time of expectation and delight, we are almost childlike in anticipation! The Advent Masses leave me in tears because I am so happy.

~So all this to say~
MAY GOD'S LOVE FILL YOU WITH OVERFLOWING JOY THIS CHRISTMAS
AS YOU DELIGHT IN THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR!

Happy Advent!
Jenny

New life to something old...and new traditions

The kids spent the morning decorating our Christmas tree. Every other year our tree has been a sort of hodge podge of everything we could find to hang on it, but this year Blossom and I have chosen to do something new - we are starting a new tradition, namely decorating in red and white! Perhaps it is her maturing that she wants to refine our decorating? I'm thoroughly enjoying my young one's teenage years....they see things with new and wondrous eyes, and that excites me.

In keeping with this theme I am busy making simple, but sweet, red and white decorations. Some from years past are green or blue, even a favourite Nativity scene that Blossom made is on black felt, and those will still be hanging around the house because we love them and they were made with love - however, as much as possible the main living area will reflect the glow of warm reds and holy whites.

Today I made this stitchery from a free design kindly offered by Gail Pan. You will find it on her blog to download. Isn't it pretty!?
I chose to do a reverse redwork - white thread on red homespun instead of the usual red on white. I love the effect! A little added extra was using this very old thread from Coats that I found years ago at an op-shop, never using it but preferring to save it for antiquity's sake. I thought today that it should really be best displayed in an embroidery that will hang every year in my family home and later to be handed down with all my other sewing pieces to children and grandchildren. A much nicer life for old cotton don't you think?

Tomorrow I'll sew it into it's final display piece...

Happy St Nicholas Day!!
Jenny

Washerwomen may apply here...

The bonnets are almost ready to post to Christina! We will have the last 7 completed by next Friday and then they will be sent off to be part of the Roses From the Heart exhibition.
For more information about this have a read here at the Female Factory website.

Ladies from our craft group modelled some of the bonnets yesterday...some of us could have given Toad a run for his money as faux washerwomen! There was a distinctly Wind in the Willows feel about the place when we were all bonneted.

Lessons learned along the way....

It's unsettling how the pressure to make beautiful gifts for loved ones can overwhelm you - well, it overwhelms me - even when you absolutely love creating and giving.
I wrote about the need to simplify on my other blog last week, and sewing was the catalyst for that post. All of a sudden it hit me that I needed to make 'better' gifts than last Christmas, last birthday, last baby....you name the celebration. The joy of giving began evaporating rapidly and I completely lost the gist of why we give in the first place - my focus was on my skills (or lack of!), and other people's expectations - and NOT on the gift I already have of being ABLE to sew, to create, to GIVE. I was so consumed with the gift that I had forgotten the love attached was something already wonderful that needed no skills. I think I learned many lessons last week from this one realisation.
I'm made in the image of the greatest Creator, and therefore I too want to use whatever ability I have to bring joy to others. When I finally worked through my dilemma (er, fear) I told those who needed to be told that I wouldn't be making many gifts this year and I sat down to peruse the latest Target catalogue. I felt my chest relax and and breath return...peace had come into my heart again.
And then what happened? I started to sew, I got excited, I laughed at the joy that was bubbling up inside! You see, I had to take my eyes off ME.
My handmade giving is not about my skills as a sewer, but the love which I pour into each stitch, the prayers I pray for each recipient along the way. The true gift is something you cannot see.

So, I've been working on a few things this week. I have a wall-hanging almost finished, two cushions for a daughter just needing stuffing and closing, and an embroidery for another daughter's gift about half-way through. I also began Esther Aliu's "Red Delicious" Block of the Month - this is the first block, I've cut out all the applique pieces and ironed them down tonight, but it may be a few days before I get time to stitch them. I love the reds! This Block of the Month is FREE - see my sidebar for the link.


I saw these gorgeous fabrics this morning and bought them to make Christmas Day placemats...

...and I finished two more Amy Karol bags! I used fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's "Bohemia" range. One is for my gorgeous friend Fiona, and the other is for a lady at my sewing group who asked me to make one for her niece who is coming out from Scotland next week.

I even found time today to bake - Rock Cakes, Jam Drops, and my 16yods's favourite - the old Choc Chip Cookies!

Take time to breathe this Christmas as you sew for loved ones and friends...you are loved for YOU, not for what you can make. ;-)

Christmas Cheer

Back in July Blossom and I began some Christmas embroideries, glad to have some time on our side before the flurry of last minute Christmas decoration that we had experienced in years previous.

I finished the large Christmas Sack in October, but not much has been done since. Yesterday, while listening with Blossom to "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" I remembered four little embroideries I'd done (from a Homespun issue a year or two back), but not decided how to use. The orginal design had used them as tree ornaments with little scalloped bottoms, but in keeping with the red and white theme Blossom and I have decided on for 2008 I edged them with red spot fabric, added red and gold seed beads to the embroideries, then plaited red and white fabrics as a hanging cord. I added some left over rusty bells from the Christmas Sack and it was completed!




The sentiments shared in these little embroideries are what I pray your family and ours are blessed with this Christmas, the best and most desired gifts from Christ.
Now to move on to the next project, and another audio book....

God bless!
Jenny

Roses From The Heart

Conceptual artist Christina Henri has been working on this amazing exhibit, Roses From the Heart, for a number of years. She has stirred a nation of sewers to make over 25,000 bonnets, one for every female convict sent to Australia between 1788 to 1853.
Already there have been a few 'blessing of the bonnets' ceremonies, with more to follow as the numbers of bonnets made reaches it's target.
I am a 1st Fleet descendant through John Cross who arrived aboard the Alexandria in 1788. His wife, Mary Davidson, was a convict also and it is in memory of my g-g-g-g-g-grandmother that I organised for our local quilting group to make some bonnets. My 14yo daughter also made two, choosing convicts from Scotland as this is where our female convict ancestor was born.
There are still a few more to be handed in, but we're planning to have them posted off to Christina before Christmas.

Christina still needs more bonnets so if you're interested go to her website - you can download the pattern there and it is SO easy to make! If you email her she will give you the name of a female convict you can 'adopt'.

Happy Advent!
Jenny