Candle Mats, Christmas Angels & a Pathfinder Vest!

Greetings dear friends & readers
I did not mean to be so long between blog posts but life, & a visiting relative, just kind of got in the way

Earlier in the week my lovely friend Sally (the florist) popped by for a visit & gave me these gorgeous flowers which are still looking picture perfect today

They are such a wonderful splash of colour these gloomy winter days.

After my last post where I wrote about the candle mat I had made  I sat at my work table & decided to cut out another one .... Miss Pippi very kindly helped me choose a colour scheme

Although the pattern for this mat had Bee Skeps on it, I decided to try & make it a little more christmassy, so appliqued wool felt hearts in place of the Bee Skeps

I also added some rusty tin stars to my hearts .... these candle mats are definately becoming addictive 😉

Prior to my Uncle arriving, I found 2 doll bodies I had cut out last Christmas ... these are the Rosalie Dekker pattern "Linen Angel"

I finished the doll bodies off & made them some clothing using Tilda fabrics. 
 I found 2 felt star christmas decorations which I added a small Tilda heart to & attached these to their hands.

As I wanted to make them just a little christmassy I wired up some small berry picks ...... I decided to just slip these into their arms with the thought that they could be removed & the Angels left out all year round if desired.

Sweet little girls that they are !

I have finally finished my rose pruning for the year !
I gathered lots of rose hips & have been drying these for potpourris ... I do LoVe rose hips!

Whilst outside I gathered bowls of citrus fruit as The Mr had somehow knocked a branch off the lemon tree 
while mowing!
I made another citrus slice but the rest of the fruit has been shared with friends & family .... & eaten!

My friend Desiree ordered more herbal mothball sachets when I next made a batch, so I made up another 20.
Although I had the mixture ready, it was sewing up the muslin bags that took the time.

The whole house smelt lovely & fresh & minty while I was filling the sachets.

Approximately 2 months ago I ordered The Pathfinder Vest Pattern from the TwigandTale website with a view to making Sid a vest.
When I downloaded & printed off my pattern I saw that it was 61 pages long due to the fact that this can be made up to fit sizes 1 to 14.
Though I had measured Sid, I had somehow lost my measurements & didn't know where to begin.
I "filed the pattern away in the too hard basket"
Finally last week I got the pattern out again & with a clear head, had a good read of it & then proceeded to cut out the size 3 ... I guessed this would be on the largish size but would fit him a little down the track.

I finished the pattern quite quickly ... Lisa's instructions are always so clear & concise ... I tried it on him yesterday & quickly sewed on the toggles.
I was so thrilled that the vest fit him perfectly.
Incidently the entire vest was made using fabrics & vintage wool blanket remnants already in my stash, including the wooden toggles ... the only thing purchased was the pattern.

We had a little "modelling session" inside but decided to go to the Park in the afternoon to give it a proper test run.

What delighted me most was that Sid seemed quite happy wearing the vest & not at all finicky about having it on.
Because it was a cool day, the vest kept him snug & warm & he was even happy when Granny put 
the Pixie Hood up 😊

I hope you all have a lovely weekend dear friends,
I am off to Mums for my 3 montly visit so will "see you all" on my return,
Be kind to yourselves & to each other,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x