Barb's birthday...

My dear friend Barbra turned 40 this week, and today she and Heather came over for a few hours of stitching and feasting!

I think Barb has the most beautiful smile. She lights up the room...

I baked a moist chocolate cake...

...and served it with vanilla cream, berry coulis and cappuccinos.

Tastebuds satisfied, we sat back and watched a couple of episodes of Kirstie's Handmade Britain while trying to stitch - I say trying because when our eyes weren't glued to the screen we were pausing the DVD to chat about all the ideas that were running through our three minds.

I think next year we're all going to have a wonderfully 'domestic' crafting adventure - but more about that when it happens!

I designed a little stitchery for Barb and embroidered it with variegated Cottage Garden Threads on cream hanky linen. With some pretty Tilda fabric for backing this became a lavender sachet. Barb spent most of today holding this near her cheek, inhaling the relaxing scent - in fact my living room smelled amazing...

One can never have enough lavender sachets, and they make lovely gifts, especially if you add a small stitchery to the front. 

 Perhaps you have some orphan blocks you could use to make some sachets as Christmas gifts?

Hope you have a lovely weekend,

hugs

Let's make Christmas tea, shall we?

 

 My Blossom girl loves a pot of tea.

Many of our shared and treasured memories of her childhood and young adult years are drawn from the everyday rituals of an afternoon tea time. 

 We home-schooled you see, which allowed us to spend the mornings on academic study and the afternoons pursuing study and discussion of the arts - music, painting, Shakespeare, opera, ballet, poetry, the classics - all enjoyed over a wonderful afternoon tea.

 From a young girl of six through to the woman of 21 she is today, tea has held a special place in our time spent together. I'm so glad to have taken a few photo memories along the way.

2002 - tea party at our home in Coffs Harbour for homeschool friends...

 2006 - a special birthday tea party for a friend in Alice Springs...

2009 - our usual afternoon tea together but this time in another home and a new town (Charters Towers)... 

We had our tea wherever the mood took us.

In the garden (2010)...

 ...at home or out and about.

We still have tea together, not as often, but just as special.

Each year we brew pots of home made Christmas Tea. It's a blend I've been preparing for a while and we all love it. A bonus is that once made it will store for years, so I thought you may like to make some for yourself, and perhaps for gifts? 

Fill a jar and give it a stir, then seal and leave for month before brewing.

I do think some dried orange peel or a split vanilla bean added to the blend would be delicious, so I shall "tweak" my own recipe this festive season!

Drop by tomorrow as I shall be sharing an idea for packaging the tea as a Christmas gift, but until then, have a lovely day!

Perhaps with a nice pot of tea and precious young soul to share it with?

hugs

Tutorial - make an I LOVE YOU heart...

Today I'm sharing a very simple gift you can make for our Homemade Stitched with Heartstrings project!

Small projects that use our fabric scraps and don't require hours of time to sew are perfect for making a few at a time.

This little heart has a simple embroidered "I Love You" message down the centre but you could omit the stitchery and replace it with a strip of lace or contrast fabric instead. 

Let's begin!

Download the free "I Love You" stitchery pattern HERE.

Stitch the embroidery on a piece of fabric 3 inches wide and 8 inches long, and trim back to 2" wide after stitching...

Sew pieces of contrast fabric down both sides of the embroidery.

I used pre cut scraps but if you're cutting your fabric you'll need pieces at least 3 inches wide and the same length as the embroidery...

Fuse a piece of scrap Pellon or Parlan measuring 6" inches wide x 7 inches high behind the block...

Trace the heart outline from your pattern sheet onto a piece of template plastic and cut out.

Trace the shape onto the centre of your block using a pencil.

Alternately, just cut out the paper heart shape and use it to trace around...

 Sew a line of running stitch just outside the edge of your embroidered section...

Cut along the traced line of your heart shape...

Choose your backing fabric and lay the heart face down onto it. Pin in place.

Sew around the edges with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving a 2 inch opening along one side.

Carefully clip notches in the curve of the heart...

Turn your heart right side out, fill with polyester toy stuffing (and lavender flowers if you like) before ladder stitching the opening closed.

 If you have some orphan stitcheries lying around you could even use them as the entire heart front, or what about doilies? I shall be playing with my doily stash to make more hearts and I will show them to you once they're made.

Please leave your blog link in a comment below if you're joining the Homemade Stitched With Heartstrings project in the lead up to Christmas and I'll add your link to my sidebar with the other lovely bloggers who are sharing ideas!

(don't forget to visit them and see what projects they've found on the web or made themselves)

Have a lovely Friday!

hugs