BLOG 279

BLOG 279

It’s that time of year again and all my focus is now on the coming festivities. I love every aspect of Christmas (apart from the piped music in the shops from October onwards!) and look forward to wearing myself out for the happiness of others.

As far as crafting is concerned, I have spent more time on my felted guardian angels which I will give as an extra gift to those who I think will appreciate them. I enjoy making something different every year and these are inspired by something I saw in a craft shop. This is the working method that I used:  The legs/arms are rolled in one long sausage, the head in a ball, the dresses have been needle-felted flat in a semi-circle and the hair was purchased.

        Ready

The edges of the dress were needle felted to form a cone. Ribbon was threaded through the head to form a loop. The legs/arms were manipulated into shape and secured with a strong thread.

         Components

The ribbon loop goes into the top of the cone and one leg/arm is threaded through to hold the limbs in place. The ribbon is tightened and knotted at the top of the head.

            Construction

 Once they are secure, hair is stuck in place and glitter glue is added to the edges of the dresses to give sparkly detail. Phew, glad that’s done: one less thing to think about!

            The girls!

Talking of ‘The Girls’, one of our group quilt members has fallen and broken and cracked several bones and done untold damage to the nerves of her arm. So someone made a Christmas tree following my instructions in previous blogs and the rest of us made a decoration to adorn it. She was thrilled.

            Jenny’s tree.

I too had a surprise this week because I have spent a lot of time preparing the patterns for our group quilt next year. I too received something Christmassy, a lovely wall hanging. I was delighted!

 Dilys’s wall hanging

        And I wanted to share this with you as something that made me laugh this week.

           The fireplace is dressed

        The patchwork tree is laden

          And a robin has landed; what’s not to like?

You know, Christmas isn’t about the biggest and best present and the non-stop socialising with tables laden with food as the television would have us believe. It’s not about how much you spend or what bargains you can find and how wonderfully you can wrap your presents. It’s simply about loving and sharing and where better to find that than at home. And with that thought I wish you all every happiness for Christmas and Peace for the coming New Year. Next week I will be doing a reprise of all my projects for 2015 in answer to that perennial question: ‘Where did the time go?’

PS I have pondered a lot recently about whether to continue with my blog, wondering if the 2 hours spent every Sunday is worth the effort. I get little response to it and many of the people who tell me how much they enjoy it, aren’t registered as followers. But then my sister talked to Carole who I used to teach at Alston Hall and she just happened to say how much she looked forward to reading my blog every Sunday. So  for you Carole, I will continue.