1 Santa, 10 Hats, 1 (naughty) Cat

Greetings dear friends & readers

It is that time of year again when the run up to Christmas involves everyone wanting their orders completed . . .

I have been sewing so much I am sure there was smoke coming off my machine yesterday !!!

After I made the black/cream doll & the black/cream teddy bears for my lovely friend Christine, she asked me if I could possibly make a large Rustic Santa in the same colourway.

Thankfully I had made 2 bodies when I made my last Rustic Santa so all I had left to do was make Santa's clothing

Anything that I felt was too whitish got dunked in tea-dye to colour it a rich cream tone.
Next came my favourite part -  the embellishing . . .

Christine had asked for this Santa to Not have the ragdoll that the pattern provides ... instead she would like something else tucked under his arm please  ??

Now bearing in mind that Christine is a mad keen teddybear collector, when I came across these 3 in my stash, they seemed to foot the bill perfectly 

As I was unable to find any christmassy fabric in the black/cream colourway I patchworked a stocking using what fabrics I had on hand.

Then I filled the stocking with the 2 smallest bears, some cinnamon sticks & greenery

For the fluffy teddy I made a black/cream bowtie & a Santa hat in the same tonings

I also stitched a large rusty bell to Santa's hand

I thought this colourway was really quite striking ... when he was hanging up in my Cottage behind the counter for 3 days, I could've easily taken 2 more orders for him !!

In the midst of making Santa, I got a phone call from Christine, who had begun her christmas decorating.

Could you please also make me 5 black Santa hats & 5 white ones for my bears ??

As I had the fabrics on hand, these were no problem to run up. 

When I hand delivered them along with Santa, I got to "test run" a couple of them while Chris made us a coffee  .  .  .

I just love visiting Christines beautiful home & especially at Christmas when she decorates the entire two stories . . .

See what I mean about "mad keen bear collector"

I LoVe this vignette above

The photos I have shown are just a teeny tiny portion of only two rooms ... it is a wondrous sight to behold

You can read more about Christines Christmas House in this post from last year

Miss Pippi does not like it one bit when the sewing machine gets more attention than she does.

Early this week I heard an unusual banging noise & upon investigation, she was under one of my cabinets with 
"a wee (dead) friend"

Truth be told, I think it is Blackie that catches the birds, then leaves them & she brings them inside to play with a little longer & try to pretend it was her hunting skills that caught them originally

As you can imagine there were feathers galore to clean up !!

But as with all naughty children rascals, when you see them sleeping you can quite easily forgive them any naughtiness that may have happened

Bless their little souls.

Thank you for your visit today dear friends, it was so lovely to have you pop by,

I hope the lead up to Christmas is going okay for you all,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

with much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x