Thursday, December 18, 2014

Week before Christmas post.

I want to thank you all so much for your heartfelt condolences on the loss of my beautiful girl. I miss her so much. 

Today I have some finishes to show you. I have finally crocheted the last rounds on the edge of the Cosy blanket. I have much enjoyed working away on this - one reason being that the pattern was all laid out for me and I didn't have to think about it very much. When it came to the last round of colours, I was indeed worried that I might not have enough yarn to do the edging so I left off the stripes of gold, claret, copper and meadow and also left the petrol till the last row. I still did not have quite enough of the copper or the gold but fortunately I did have some in my stash of wool upstairs so I could finish it off. It is very big and very long and I love it and I can't believe I am giving it away!!! My husband says it is the nicest one I have done to date. Cheeky beep. I think all my blankets have been lovely in their own way. 

Some other changes I made were to the corners. Instead of the stated 2trb - ch2 - 2trb I did 3 2 3. I am always so worried that my edges will curl so wanted to do as much as I could to prevent this. 

Here it is!!







This last one showing the corners. 

My mum had asked me to make her some potholders a while ago. She showed me a magazine with a pattern in it but I forgot to take the pattern with me! I decided to search for some on Pinterest and found this blog which links to some great ones. I made 3 and they were all pretty easy to make. I have wrapped these up now and she will get them for Christmas. I hope she likes them. I still don't really get what they are to be used for?? Anyone any ideas? 





My lovely friends, Tina, Lesley and Tracy came round last weekend for a little stitchy retreat at my house and Tina and I did an ornament exchange. Here is the one she stitched for me:


I love it! Thank you Tina.

Now, I completely forgot to take a picture of the one I made for her so Tina has kindly sent me a picture but it is a little blurred but you will know it as soon as you see it. It is from one of the JCS ornie mags and I think it is CCN or LHN. 


I also stitched one for Tracy too. Here it is. 

It is by Niky's creations I think from this years JCS ornie magazine. I changed the colours to suit.

Tracy has stitched me something too but she said it isn't an ornament so I am waiting until Christmas day to open it. 

I also received this lovely stitched card from Kim from the RAK group. Thank you sweet Kim it is lovely. 


I thought I would also show you some little snippets of Christmas around our home. I think it looks really lovely this year as I have gone for the traditional red theme. 







One of the things I also bought this year was some wintry themed bedding. It is this set...


... and no that is not my bedroom - wish it was!!!!!!

I have decided that I am going to try and make a snowflake runner to go at the bottom of it. I found this design (you can also find a video tutorial on You Tube) and bought some aran weight wool in sparkly white (Caron party) and red Stylecraft also in aran. Here is my attempt! They are quite a decent size too. I really think they will look lovely but whether I will actually get it done in time for this year is another matter. 


So that's all from me for today. I think that's enough. I am exhausted!


16 comments:

Maggie said...

Your decorations look lovely Hazel.
Love the exchange ornaments too, hope you enjoyed your get together weekend :-)

Cindy's Stitching said...

love the colors in the blanket. Lots of pretty stitched pieces. Merry Christmas.

Shirlee said...

Oh Hazel, your blog posts are so often filled with beautiful eye candy! I love, love, love your afghans, & the snowflake one you have started ... I'm going to keep my eye on that! I would love to have one of those but I fear my crochet skills prohibit me from even attempting it. Still, I'm going to look into it. Your home looks lovely ... so many pretty decorations & such a nice tree! I wish you & your family a very happy & blessed Christmas!

Sally said...

Lots of gorgeous to look at Hazel. The ornament excahnge is lovely and I LOVE that blanket! It looks so cosy and warm.

Vickie said...

Your home looks beautiful. Great work on the blanket. Those are wonderful gifts exchanged with your friends.

Carol said...

Your home looks so pretty and so ready for Christmas, Hazel--loved seeing all the stitched ornaments (of course!!)... And your blanket and potholders are gorgeous!

Wishing you every blessing at Christmas!

Cole said...

Love, love, love your blanket!! I think "cozy" is definitely the right name for that one! And you'll just have to make another, to snuggle up with yourself :)

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Your home looks warm and inviting and so lovely all decked out for Christmas!

Melissa said...

Lovely decorations all around! You are all set for Christmas!

Margaret said...

Love how your cosy blanket came out. Just gorgeous! Lovely exchanges, and I love seeing the decorating around your house. Beautiful samplers on the wall! The new project for the Christmas themed bed looks like it will be another beauty!

Angela said...

Everything looks lovely but I think that blanket is gorgeous!

Ruth said...

Ooooo pretty all around! Congrats on lovely stitching of all sorts... your blanket is absolutely perfect. And your decorating-- well just looking at it makes me feel a bit more Christmasy. :)

Thanks for dropping by my blog and commenting -- there was supposed to be an "after" pic of the tree, but somehow I didn't download that. Sigh. It will happen when I get back -- it's not like the tree is getting any more decked while we are all gone.

Have a peaceful Christmas!

Julie said...

A lovely blanket gift and pot holders.
Great exchange ornies.

Andrea said...

A beautiful blanket. Your decorations look lovely, especially with all of your stitched ornaments on show.

Have a very Happy Christmas.

Linda said...

Lovely decorations Hazel. Congrats on finishing the very pretty blanket. Gorgeous stitching.

Linda

Stitchabilities said...

fab decorations, I love those pot holders, but they are too nice to actually use as pot holders.
have a wonderful christmas