Christine's Christmas Order - (Part 2)

Greetings dear friends & readers

(Warning - bit of a photo heavy post!!)

Last Thursday I loaded up my car with all of Christine's Christmas Orders & drove to the other side of the city to deliver them, & to see her Christmas decorating (shall not mention the fact that I got lost twice in the city trying to find her!!) 

Believe me friends - I was Not disappointed!! 😊

Above is the Christmas Tree in the Winter Wonderland Lounge which is where the Angel & Santa 
from my last post were created for

More Winter Wonderland Vignettes

Way back in this post in 2016 Christine commissioned me to make her a black & cream Santa to go in her black/cream decorated lounge.

(Photo of the Santa from my 2016 blog post)

This year - in her new home - the master bedroom has the black & cream theme ..... so Christine asked me to 
make up an Angel that matched the Santa

I was fortunate enough to still be able to buy some of the black floral fabrics for her wings & bloomers

(I have used the Charlotte Angel Pattern again by Rosalie Dekker designs)

I had used the wooden star buttons on Santa's Jacket & I managed to find one left in my stash

Here they both are below - sitting on the bed in the black & cream decorated bedroom

Christine had even decorated her dressing tables in a black & cream Christmas theme - just stunning !

These photos below show her dining area - this was decorated in a copper & gold colour scheme - quite traditional, which I loved.

In this area is the free standing fireplace - Christine had wound bubble wrap around the chimney flue & then added greenery & stunning copper & gold Christmas embellishments - it looked just like a tree 💗

So of course - she needed a copper & gold decorated Santa & Angel for this area.

When Christine placed her Order she had given me some of the copper & gold fabrics which I used in both the 

Santa & Angel but was lucky enough to find others to compliment this colourway.

Also some copper bells for Santa to hold which were found in a Variety Store in Mum's town

I made up a patchwork stocking using a mixture of all the fabrics & stuffed it with greenery, a copper wire heart &

 a vintage Santa ornament

For his other arm I found this coppery coloured bear - leftover stock from my Cottage closure

I removed his bow & made him a bowtie & a pom pom hat . . . . .

He was the perfect size for Santa's other arm & just tucked in nicely

Miss copper/gold Angel turned out beautifully - her hair is the most gorgeous coloured hand dyed mohair

(You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you wish)

I love her sweet little face.

I even found some sparkly copper ribbon at my local Patchwork Store

Once again, the Variety store provided the copper hanging crystal decoration which was just the right size 

to stitch in her hands

The paint for her shoes is Burnt Sienna  -  I found by mixing just a teeny bit of black into this, it gave just the right shade of coppery gold that I was after

Christine was delighted with her entire Order & we had a lovely time finding homes for all her Angels & Santa's

 in her beautifully decorated Home.

Remember in my last post how I said she even decorates her bathroom at Christmas ??

Well dear friends, I took a photo to prove it 😉 !!

If you have managed to stay with me til the end, thank you So Much! 

I hope the week ahead is good & kind to you all,

Thank You, as always, for your visits here today,

With much love & friendship,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Christine's Christmas Order - (Part 1)

Greetings dear friends & readers
It is a wet, rainy Monday here today in the Waikato 

 I am pleased I took the time yesterday to pick some flowers for inside the house as my roses are looking rather worse for wear from all the rain we have had (Sorry Willie !!)

Though I am not complaining as any rain at this time of year is So appreciated & saves alot of manual 
garden watering

My lovely friend Christine decorates her entire house every Christmas - she does something festive in every room, even the bathrooms !
This Christmas they have a new home over in the city - so Christine is changing her decorating a little to go with 
their new home.
She has placed a large Order with me which I have almost finished so I have decided to break it in to 2 parts
to share with you 

Her first request this year was for a "Winter Wonderland themed" Angel & Santa.  Her instructions were that "she wanted them to be in silver & white - to still look a bit country-ish & not look too modern"
I have been sewing for Chris for a number of years now & I think I know her taste fairly well.  Added to this is the fact that she just pretty much leaves me to do what I think ... so it's often quite a leap of faith on both our parts.

Once again I went back to the Rosalie Quinlan Pattern "Charlotte Angel" as I find this a good size at 73 cms tall 
plus her length matches well with the Santa Pattern I use.

The gorgeous silver snowflake & star fabrics were all found at Spotlight.  I took these doll bodies on my last trip 
to Mums & spent time sitting stuffing their looong skinny limbs.
While down at Mums I found the delightful glittery snowflake/tassel ornament in a Variety store 

The hair I use on these Angels is hand-dyed mohair yarn
I didn't gather her sleeves in, as the pattern stated, but left them billowy.
When the wings are sewn I always paint them with a watered down PVA glue mixture as this keeps them stiff

Her shoes were painted in silvery grey chalk paint that I found in my paint stash - trimmed with lazy daisies

I felt the large pom pom trim on her dress just helped give her that country look I was trying to achieve.

Next up came Santa - this is a pattern I have made several times for Christine - it is called "Prim Olde Santa" & 
is designed by Kerry Daly of Primitive Country Treasures  (this was published in a very old Homespun Magazine)

I repeated the silver & white theme using some soft fleece for his jacket trimmed with a silver lam'e fabric

I used the same fabric for Santa's hat as I used for the Angel's wings.
I also repeated the bobble trim on the hem of Santa's jacket

In Kerry's original pattern he holds a ragdoll but I decided against this as I wanted to keep to the white/silver colourway 
 This white teddy was sitting with some leftover stock in my Cottage so I removed his red bows/trims & dressed him 
in a silver/grey bowtie & fur trimmed hat.
He was the perfect size to tuck under Santa's arm

I made a patchwork stocking as per the pattern instructions & was lucky enough to find these silver & white sparkly berries & cones at Spotlight. 
The tin teddy had once-upon-a-time adorned a Greeting Card (Yes I really DO keep all sorts of junk!!) - Teddy had a fluoro pink bow which I dabbed with my white paint
I felt Teddy just finished off the stocking nicely.

I purchased the chunky wool yarn for Santa's beard from Spotlight

I must confess I had not been excited at all about bringing these Winter Wonderland folk to life but I just absolutely LoVe them 💕

I have sent photos to Christine & she adores them also & can't wait to hang them in her winter wonderland 
themed room 💗

I should mention that while I have been beavering away in my sewing room these past weeks, I often spot Miss Pippi tucked up in my fabric baskets - if she just moved 2 baskets to the right, she would be in the orange basket!

Last Saturday (9th) was my town's annual local Craft Fair.
Though I have had a stall for the past several years, I was so relieved I had not booked myself one this year - especially when all the issues unfolded with Mum

(Photo sourced from the local eventfinda page)

I did decide however, to go as a customer & get to have a proper look at all the different stalls - this year there were 100!
The weather was kind & the rain stayed away - there was a great atmosphere.
As I could feel a chesty cold coming on, I just had a relatively quick wander & chatted to a few stallholders, but I did manage some purchases while there.

I bought some lovely plants from two stalls & then some handmade soap from my friend Pauline who runs a wonderful homegrown business - Infused With Nature

This local lady was a new stallholder & I loved her ceramic work. I bought some herb labels which I will put in my garden when the rain stops ... along with this cute hanging cat which I plan to put on my sewing room wall ... it reminded me of a certain 4 legged girl that resides here 😉

Well dear friends - I will be back before the end of the week with Part 2 of Christines Christmas Order
Thanks So Much for your visits today 
I hope the coming week is good & kind to you all,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0x

Home Again

Greetings dear friends & readers,
Welcome back to my poor neglected blog -  & also Welcome to November!
Since my last post (a whole month ago!) I have been back down to Mum's again  (4 trips in 6 weeks) - but I am pleased to report that Mum has finally returned Home again, as per her wishes

In order for this to happen lots of changes had to be put in place in Mums Home & also daily routines.
This has meant that I am finally able to return Home again myself - I miss my Home so much when I am away 
& I miss my two furry friends far more than I care to let on 😉
Miss Pippi frets when I go away & upon my return, she becomes my shadow for a week or so.

While I have been away I have been conscious of my Orders piling up & not getting done so I took some hand sewing with me on my last trip
My lovely friend Jane bought this pattern out earlier in the year along with some Liberty print fat quarters & requested me to make it up for her

I managed to get the bears stitched & stuffed while down at Mums & also the doll body stuffed.
Upon my return I have finished her off & Jane was delighted with her Order

The pattern also comes with a drawstring bag pattern to be made as storage for the doll & bears - but Jane & I 
both agreed they were far too nice to spend their lives tucked away in a bag 😉

Also on the "half started pile" was this old suitcase that I had put one coat of chalkpaint on - & then decided to add a glue-on embellishment before continuing to paint.

I purchased several of these embellishments from Paint Me Vintage - they are just glued onto the item & then 
when painted they look just like they have always been part of it.

The suitcase was painted in Old Linen & then lightly scuffed.
Now you will no doubt be wondering why I put the embellishment on the side of the suitcase & not in the middle ??

Because I had something (or someone) rather pretty to sit on the suitcase . . . . . . . . . . . 

This Autumn Angel is a free pattern from the Tilda Website - I just adored her & decided to make her up in some of the Plum Garden fabrics as I had a few fat quarters of this range

Her patchwork Plum pattern is also free to download on the website

I made her apron longer & added a bobble trim - otherwise I just kept to the original pattern
The merino wool dolls hair I purchased from Millymac Supplies

Though I have been diligently working on a large Christmas Order, it has been lovely to create something just for myself for a change also.

I potted up a sweet little Op Shop china Jug with babies tears for my friend Jane's birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Also my Aunt is turning 90 next weekend. 
Though we have been invited to the birthday luncheon Mum is not up to the trip - I am thankful for this as the journey would involve 7.5 hours of driving for me.
So I decided to make Aunty Noeline a lavender bag & send it off with a nice card - she likes nothing frilly or flowery so I kept it very plain & simple on a nice piece of linen in her favorite color way.
It is filled with my own homegrown lavender & smells divine. 💗

Over the weekend I harvested half the beetroot ready in my garden - my crop has done really well this year.
I cooked most of it for eating & then grated some of it & made a delicious raw beetroot salad.
The recipe is * Here * for anyone that might be interested.
(I didn't add raisins & just used Balsamic Vinegar for my dressing)

Well dear friends - that's me all caught up I think.
Thanks so much for your always-welcome visits here today,
I shall be back soon to share a beautiful Christmas Order I have been crafting.
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0