Stockings, Angels & Mushrooms

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I started this Post on Friday & it's now Monday .  .  .  it is school holidays here in New Zealand so the days are busy and full (plus I am tired & slow-er) 😉

 Picked yesterday - if I can have a vase of spring flowers & a nice candle burning, I'm a Happy Camper 💖

For the past 2 years, in the lead up to Christmas, I have sewn stockings for my local Patchwork Shop, Stitch'n Stuff.  The store fills them with chocolates & they go into the Foodbank boxes for the families with young children.  This year, although I have asked 4 times, they are not going to be doing them.

After the close off date last year my friend Gail gave me a large selection of Christmas fabrics she no longer required & I'd cut some stockings out in anticipation of being ahead this year.  I realised that some of the fabrics I'd cut out had cat prints on them so I decided to make up stockings for my 3 furry family members 😲 Yes you are allowed to roll your eyes (!!)

Because my lot get "treats" everyday of the year - I am not promising to actually fill the stockings but I thought they'd be a fun novelty hanging on the tree.  

Look at that print top left - doesn't that just look like Little One ??  Then we have ginger Miss Pippi & the right hand one had several black/white cats on it, not that Blackie would give one iota if I made him a stocking or not!

Three sweet little Angels flew out of my sewing room this week after I'd put the finishing touches to them.  I'd made the bodies quite some time ago & just needed to dress them, add hair & halo's etc.  I used some of the new Tilda Christmas range, which I just adore.  Do you have a favorite ... Miss Red, Miss Cream or Miss Green ??

The back view. 

 Their lower bodies are weighted with pellets so they sit nicely.  

This is the pattern I used.  A very old pattern that I can no longer find on the worldwide web.  

My friend Gail is opening her home for the local Garden Ramble in November.  She is going to be selling handcrafts from her studio & asked me for some of my concrete mushrooms - the ones I'd made in * this post *.  

I purchased a set 3 silicone candle molds from Temu as I wanted to try some larger sized ones in pink.  They turned out great but I think I still prefer the eggshell sized ones. 

In between looking after Sid last week I managed to get a selection made & painted.  Little One takes his watching-paint-dry-duties very seriously !  Here they are out on my deck having been sprayed with clear acrylic varnish. 

I managed to get 2 large sized sets made (pink) & half a dozen medium sized sets (of 3).  I think they make an attractive gift when wrapped up in cellophane.  The labels I make myself using an old cardboard Cath Kidston calendar.  

Sid & I cleaned out the kids book suitcase & packed up a boxful of books & puzzles to donate.  We dropped them off at the local Salvation Army store & had a quick browse.  

Sid came out with nothing but Granny couldn't help herself & purchased this gorgeous vintage mirror picture for $15.00.  I've hung it in my bathroom & just LoVe it.  

To give you an idea of the mentality of the furry ones around here ... you can see above that I've made cosy places on both outdoor chairs with soft rugs & towels but Blackie prefers to sleep on the hard cane table instead !!  

Verse from Sweatpants and Coffee

I am off to Kinloch tomorrow dear friends, to look after Alec.  I will post again on my return as I still have much to share but this post is plenty long enough.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,