Thinking of Christmas

For the second time this year the world seems to have skewed out of correct alignment and yet again there is nothing I can do about it except find my own comfort zone. My main ways of relaxing and calming are spending time with the family and stitching. As family are all busy with their jobs and studying I gave thanks for my sewing machine and my long list of projects. I also enlisted the cuddle powers of Scamp and Picasso.

Scamp has been under the weather recently. He was peeing quite frequently, just small amounts and often with some blood so he had to visit the vet. He wasn't impressed with the examination he had and keeps complaining that vets should be very careful where they stick their little finger! There wasn't a hint of a tail wag for a couple of hours after that event. The vet decided he had a bladder infection so he's got a course of antibiotics. Fortunately he will take tablets so long as you mix them in with some tasty wet food. So he thinks he's having a treat and at the same time the infection is clearing. 

I have continued work on the cushion cover . I had appiqued the rabbit but needed to add the flowers. I love the stitch on my new machine and I enjoyed finishing the applique. 

I quilted round the rabbit and the individual flowers. I also decided to quilt close to both sides of the lace. Now all I need to do is to trim the wadding and stitch the front to the back and generally finish off. That will be done first thing tomorrow morning once I've given the front a quick press as it's got rather creased being in my project box.  Unfortunately I have been working the last three days so time for working on this project has been very limited.

Next I went hunting through my stash. Last year I bought this fabric to make oven gloves for Kathryn. She loves cats so I knew it would be perfect. Unfortunately the oven gloves never got made.

To progress this project I need some heat resistant wadding and a quick search of the local shops via their websites and afew phone calls revealed non of them stock it.  So I logged into Amazon and found Insul-Bright insulated wadding available but unfortunately not on Prime. Anyway I ordered some and it will be delivered between the 17th and 20th November. I cut the fabric ready for stitching once the wadding arrives.

Since I was sewing Christmas presents I decided it was time to pull out my Christmas tree cross stitch. If only I could make myself keep stitching this throughout the year it would be finished but I can't. I'm hoping I will get it done this year but we shall see. Here's where I left off last year as far as the pictures I've posted on my blog show. I'm sure I've done more but it's in my fabric chest which currently has two heavy boxes on top. Actually I know I've done more as I've reached the next level of baubles on the tree. I'll post an up to date picture tomorrow once I've moved the boxes.

Did I hear you ask what's in the boxes? Well that's my last years Christmas present. It's a period dolls house and basement pack in 1 to 12 scale. I decided I wouldn't make it until we had all the decorating and work on our house finished. We are nearly there and I'm starting to get excited about my doll's house project which once it's built will need furniture and soft furnishings including mini quilts.Just so you know it isn't intended as a toy for when any future grandchildren may come visiting. This is a pure selfish indulgence on my part to build, decorate and furnish my own mini house in the correct period style. When I was a child I had a doll's house my father made me which was a scale model of the house we lived in. I loved making things for it but two of my cousins totally wrecked it. Each time they visited they would break another part of it. My father used to repair it for me but it took some of the pleasure away. In the end they were so jealous of it that they smashed it to bits. (That was the last time they came to visit us, from then on my parents insisted we visited them at their house)

Thinking about Christmas got me thinking about decorations. I know I want to make something new this year but haven't quite made up my mind what. I do like the Noel bunting in this month's issue of Today's Quilter but I will need to get some more christmas fabric as I used up all my supplies last year. Maybe a walk to my local quilt shop would be a good idea tomorrow.

For now I need to go and help John in the kitchen and then settle down to some hand stitching or knitting whilst watching one of the many programmes we have recorded recently.

Lyndsey