Christmas Sewing For The Grandchildren

Greetings lovely friends & readers

My sweet peas self-seeded last autumn, grew abundantly all winter up & over the trellis, fell over several times & required tying up with a thick rope (!!) - then when they finally flowered they appear to be all pink ... however their fragrance is AMAZING so I don't mind at all.  

 I decided to make each of my Grandchildren a Christmas pillowcase & was able to buy online from Spotlight the exact themes that they are currently in to.    Sid is having a Simpsons obsession lately & they even had festive Simpson fabric.  Alec is in to the Marvel characters, Juno loves cats & I chose Winnie the Pooh for Sadie, all festive fabrics.  

Because I had unwanted assistance help of the furry variety, it seemed appropriate to sew in these little labels, gifted to me by my friend Pam.  They read "My Cat helped make this" 😉

 

Each pillowcase requires a metre of fabric but you are left with a good sized strip down each side from the shorter edge so I like to make this piece into drawstring bags.  I made each grandchild their own bag & was able to find linings to match already in my stash.  The only thing I needed to purchase was some cord to thread through. 

I filled each bag with some blowing bubbles, candy canes, choccy Santa's & a balloon each.  

Juno is very much into mermaids at present & Sadie loves fairies apparently.  I purchased these books from my local Paper Plus & decided to sew each girl a book pillow.  I didn't have a pattern but was confident making them up myself - just a pillow with a pocket, nothing too complicated (though I did give them a zip closure in the backs & it reminded me how much I dislike sewing in zips!!)

I purchased the mermaid fabric from an etsy seller as I couldn't find any mermaid related fabric anywhere.  I thought it was a sweet whimsical design.

Sadie's fabric was another Spotlight purchase & had fairies, elves & mice dotted all over it - a range based on Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree.  I adored it  💙

These gifts have all been wrapped up ready to go under the Christmas tree - it felt so good to get these all finished.

I feel as if I've not blogged much lately & have been so busy elsewhere - there are always things to be done & it all takes me much longer nowadays.

  I weeded down the Grapevine which took 3 days & then had a huge bonfire to burn the rubbish.  The cows came over to the fence to see what I was doing - they are gentle inquisitive creatures.  

I began Christmas decorating this past week,  I'm currently in a big muddle & feeling most un-festive ... but I will 

Keep Calm & Carry On.

 I have some small groups wanting to come & visit so I need to get it all done to a point that I am happy with it.  

I've had some help with it this year - of the furry variety 😐  

Purely voluntary help but not really much "help" at all to be honest as she keeps sleeping on the job (!!)

We are getting good rain today which is wonderful as October was dry & the garden needed lots of watering & the Pond filling.  I am so thankful for rain & can hear the garden lapping it up.  

Dear friends, I cannot end my Post today without mentioning the very sad passing of a special furry Angel this past week. 

 Precious was the sweetest little girl in her grey Onesie with her serious expression - I used to love reading of her antics & Lynn & I would often exchange emails.

Our hearts are aching for you Lynn - dear Precious will be so deeply missed here in blogland  ...  she was a special little Angel.  Sending our heartfelt regards out to you Lynn.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your ever-welcome visits here today,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,