Thursday 18 December 2014

Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew in December

It is finally December and time for all of the lovely linkers to our monthly link party to pat themselves on the back and put their feet up for a well-earned rest!

 If, however, that isn't quite the scenario in your sewing room fear not, there is still time for some last minute gift making to fulfil that creative urge.

This month's link party is hosted by the lovely Marie who blogs at Quilts with Personality , check out her beautiful Winding Ways quilt if you are looking for inspiration for a holiday quilt for 2015. Marie is sharing her tutorial for a gorgeous Christmas Runner too, so definitely worth popping over to have a look :)

If you are new to the party, let me fill you in on the details. Paula and I decided at the end of last year that Christmas 2014 was going to be different, this time round there would be no late-night sewing sessions or frantic last-minute dashes to the Post Office. This time we were going to work on Christmas and Holiday projects throughout the year so come December we would be so organised we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves :)

We decided to share our plans with our blogging friends and invite them to be organised too, with a monthly Link Party to provide a gentle nudge. As ever we have a lovely incentive for you to get crafting and linking and this time we have not one but two giveaway prizes.

A copy of the brilliant Katy Jones book that will no doubt be a great inspiration for all the Bee blockers out there and, courtesy of the lovely Marie and Amitie Textiles a AU$30 voucher to spend at Amitie Textiles.  So, if you have always hankered after one of Jen Kingwell's fabulous patterns then this could be your lucky day!

The winner of November's giveaway was the novelty pouch factory otherwise known as Sandra Sews

My own Christmas making this month has been of the edible variety than the textile.

For years my sons and then their girlfriends/wives have been responsible for the decorations on our Christmas Cake. Fierce rivalry, not to mention clouds of icing sugar, were involved in creating icing nativity scenes, polar bears and on one memorable year a Christmas Elvis!

Sadly this year only one son will be at home to decorate the cake, so I decided that if they couldn't come to the cake then the cake would come to them. 

 So much of this month has been spent baking, marzipanning (?) and icing a plain white Christmas Cake. Then delivering the same to the missing sons and wives in time for them to be ready to decorate for a grand unveiling by Skype on Christmas Day. A new tradition, hopefully, in the making.

If I was making Christmas cakes I might as well buy more fruit and make a Christmas pudding whilst I was at it. This year it is wrapped up in a Santa linen tea towel but next year I think there might be some applique in the process :)

So, that is what I have been up to now it is your turn to show off your Christmas and Holiday makes for this month. Head on over to Marie and link them up to be in with a chance of winning one of those prizes! The link party will be open as always until the end of the month so even if your makes are really last-minute there is still a chance to link up :)

As always a big thank you to all of our generous sponsors, we couldn't have provided all of the great giveaway prizes throughout the year without them.

Fluffy Sheep QuiltingQuilting Fabric at the Fat Quarter ShopPlush Addict LogoQuiet PlayRay Stitch HaberdasheryPosie: Patterns and Kits to Stitch by Alicia PaulsonBackstitch


  

7 comments:

  1. the cake looks delicious, re the book I highly recommend it I also have Katie`s second book too

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  2. Love the the idea of the cake tradition! I'm doing the last-minute version of your year! Now off to follow your links thank you xxx merry Christmas

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  3. I love your new cake decorating tradition. I must admit I rarely decorate cakes here myself. So much of the marzipan and icing seemed to end up in the bin that I just don't bother these days when I'm making cakes for us. That said I do like to make mini cakes as gifts and as they are such a novelty here in Switzerland they do get the full treatment when I make them. Hope you have a lovely Christmas.

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  4. Skype is a wonderful way to keep in touch, isn't it. It'll be fun seeing the cake decorations in each household as you Skype. No putting feet up here - I'll still be sewing at the eleventh hour. I had good intentions, but it just didn't happen.

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  5. OOPS I had too many screens open at once and lost the first draft of my comment, haha. First off I'd like a piece of that cake - a BIG piece - not a polite sized piece - YUM @ marzipan! Can you do screen shots in Skype, to show us some "clips" from the big unveiling? Secondly, Sandra's novely pouch factory (you have no idea of how much that made me smile :D) thanks you for the lovely Christmas fabrics you sent, and now that I've done my first Two in One pouch, I'm fairly certain I can get TWO of those pouches from the fabrics, so they'll be my start for next year's gift box :) YAY for Christmas prep that doesn't take place at the last minute - it's an odd feeling, but I like it! I have a few projects to post for the December linky - I just peeked there a minute ago and was blown away by the Reindeer Christmas Runner picture - that's a project that is just BEGGING to be pinned! ;)

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  6. Traditions are such a big part of Christmas, I am glad you found a new way to carry out an old tradition! It sounds like such a fun tradition too! Great prizes and it has been fun to see all of your makes this past year!!

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  7. You've had a wonderful year of Christmas makes, Fiona! Now can sit back and relax :)

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