#stitchingsanta Reveal

I hope you all enjoyed the festive break whatever you were doing to celebrate.

I blogged here previously about this year’s #stitchingsanta organised by Sheila of Sewchet and there are now lots of reveals appearing as everyone shares what was in the parcels they sent out and received!

My recipient was Sharon over at Creativity and Family and I feel I know her really well having studied her blog in so much detail! She is a very creative lady with a lovely family and I was really pleased to be putting together some gifts for her

On the making front I thought that one of Zoe’s Anya bags would be a perfect gift.  I’ve already blogged here about the first one I made as part of the pattern testing process.  I went on to make a second one as a Christmas present for the lovely lady who helps my parents ….

This one is made from a curtain remnant and has a grey and white polka dot lining.

For Sharon’s version I decided  to use another floral fabric.  The pretty fabric I had was slightly too lightweight for the outer part of the bag so I strengthened it with a layer of interfacing which seemed to do the trick. I went for another polka dot lining and decided to make a small zipped purse with the spotty fabric – this time with a striped lining.  The design was from a Simply Sewing magazine giveaway earlier in the year and the pleat matched the Anya bag.

I then found a tiny zip in my collection so made an even smaller zipped purse, this time with the stripes on the outside. My final make for Sharon was a little lavender bag using the lavender flowers from my friend’s French garden.   Almost the final make …. I had a big padded envelope to send the gifts in but I wanted something to hold them all together.  Enter some very heavyweight calico that had previously defeated my sewing machine but this time I managed to sew up a quick sack which I tied at the top with a ribbon.

I nearly forgot to mention what I actually bought for Sharon!  She has such a wide range of crafting interests so it was quite tricky to choose but in the end I bought her some pom pom makers.  I also forgot to take a photograph before I wrapped them but I have some and they are brilliant!  I also chose some yarn for felting in lovely shades of purple/mauve as I know Sharon enjoys felting – again no photograph!

Here’s (nearly) everything before it was wrapped …..

And ready to go in the post …..

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It’s quite nerve-racking choosing gifts for someone you have never met but I was relieved to read her latest blog post – she certainly seemed pleased with everything.

When my own parcel arrived I was very good and hid it away until Christmas Day. When I came to open it I was SO pleased to see that it was from Beth of After Dark Sewing. I’ve been following Beth’s blog for a while and she was the winner of my recent fabric giveaway.

The contents of the parcel were beautifully wrapped – like fabric origami.  I love this fabric! I may use it for a zipped purse but am also tempted to use it as a pocket lining with a plain fabric. We’ll see.

This little brooch is just perfect. I love anything in miniature and this has tiny scissors, safety pin, sewing machine, mannequin and my initial. The brooch was in a little drawstring bag with some pot pourri which I’ve been carrying round in my handbag it smells so amazing!

Beth also sent me this pattern which has lots of options. Having said previously that I never wear trousers I can imagine making these in a lovely linen. I think I’ll get plenty of use from this pattern for next spring and summer.

Next up was a sweet little lined zipped purse filled with chocolate coins. Did I mention I like small things?  Finally there were some pretty magnets for tethering all those important things on the fridge.

Such lovely presents – thank you Beth and thank you Sheila for organising #stitchingsanta.

Happy New Year!