Tara Tuesdays - Part 38

I consider myself a very lucky lady to be surrounded by talented friends and family that are all into crafting. There is ALWAYS someone I can ask if I am stuck with my latest knitting project or for sewing advice and more recently for help with my crochet that I am a wee bit obsessed with it!

A while back I spotted a gorgeous pin cushion on Facebook and as my friend Sue from work was making some pin cushions for her family as Christmas gifts, I cheekily tagged her in the picture and asked her to make me one! I was of course jesting, but imagine my surprise when I actually got this beautiful handmade pin cushion when we were giving out our Secret Santa gifts at work! This was in addition to my Secret Santa gift I hasten to add! Sue is such a clever lady and one of the BEST Seamstresses I know! She can put her hand to anything and is a real inspiration! She should so enter the next Sewing Bee competition...... in fact I must ask her to apply when I next see her!

For my birthday I received this beautiful handmade box that was from my Auntie Jeanie. Jeanie rekindled my long forgotten love for knitting and sewing a few years ago which helped me when I started my sewing night classes where the Fabric Fruitloops of Crowborough (and Harrietsham) were formed! I have no idea how she made this box but it is just perfect and currently has some of my haberdashery goodies inside. It sits in pride of place on one of the shelves in my library/soon to be (in my dreams) craft room! It isn't really a library, I just call it that as it is full of books, my fabric stash, favourite yarns, craft books, armour, the Dalek and, and, and!

I was also given this divine potholder as a Christmas gift from my Auntie Jeanie. I adore the fabrics she has picked for this and it sits in my kitchen on the work surface looking beautiful, however at the moment it is in the ironing pile as I had to wash it....ahem!

Emma kindly gave me this adorable handmade Christmas decoration as a gift which I hung with pride on my Christmas tree! I made sure it was in my eye shot so that I could sneakily peek at it whilst watching TV over the festive period!

Since completing my reindeer herd for Christmas Fairs last year, I was able to squeeze in making a few handmade items of my own as Christmas gifts for my family. Whilst they may not be described as gorgeous, I was still delighted with how they turned out! The cowl was for my Cousin Hayley and was finished without the buttons. Ever critical of my own work, I wasn't happy with the final result so rummaged through my stash and found these buttons (purchased on my Grand Tour in Cornwall) that were just perfect! Don't you just love it when that happens! You need the finishing embellishment for a project and find it amongst your goodies that you buy for that project that you haven't even thought of, let alone started yet! In addition to the cowl, I made a tablecloth for my Mum using some beautiful fabric she had purchased AGES ago. It frayed like mad but sewed beautifully and she was delighted with it, which was a relief! I crocheted some scarves for my Auntie Jeanie and Mum-in-law Sandra and I knitted some socks for my husband who I NEVER make anything for apparently! These however, were not finished in time for Christmas and deserve their own blog entry as a lot of blood, sweat and tears were shed during their creation! I think perhaps I put myself under slightly too much pressure to try and make EVERYTHING for Christmas, this year I am determined to start early!