Christmas Napkins

 A few months ago I spotted a lovely little Christmas tree shaped napkin hanging in my favourite fabric shop. I purchased some fabric I'd had my eye on for a while now, but until now had had no excuse to buy it, and the owner was kind enough to give me a template. I was away!

2 FQ's (fat quarters) of contrasting fabircs makes 2 napkins as 2 pieces can be cut from each FQ.

It's simly a case of stitching right sides together, leaving a gap to turn in the right way.

 At this point I have 3 top tips:
1.)  I now keep a golf tee in my sewing box. This may sound bizarre but stick with me. My other half is a keen golfer and so I am not surprised to find golf tees in my car, hand bag etc. It just so happend there was one at my desk when I was turning my first napkin in the right way, and so I looked around for something to prod the corners with. I have in the past made the mistake of using sissors or a pen/pencil and rippign stright through the fabric. The golf tee is perfect, its not so pointed that it will break through the fabric/seam, but pointed enough to get the corners nice and smart.
2.) Top tip number 2 is once turned in the right way, roll the edges between your fingers to make sure all of the piece is in the right way and the seam isn't tucked in further than necessay.
3.) Now IRON! I was always one for missing out this step with any sewing, probably why it was never terrible accurate or precise. This is most definitely worth it, it not only makes your work look better but helps it to hold its shape when you go to topstich.


I was really pleased with how the first 2 sets of 2 came out that I went back for more fabric to make them into sets of 4.

4 set made up in different colours - minus buttons

Diamond Challenge & a few more napkins - When I set up my page I initally was just going to offer the one option of a postcard - I had calculated that I would need to make 12 postcards to get in 12 donations of £5 to make my £60. After posting a photo of my napkins on Facebook and receiving good comments I decided to offer a set of 4 as an option for a £10 donation. (The costs of all threads/fabric/postage covered by me). This idea took off and soon I had 4 orders awaiting my attention. 

The buttons really added the finishing touches.

Blue set, my favourite and soon snapped up.

Fabric Christmas Postcards

It has been some time since my last post, a post which was ranty and for that I have to apologise.

However I am back and have a whole list of post to write, so fingers crossed you won't have to wait long for updates. Many of the post subjects I have jotted down on my little post-it here were Christmas presents and so I am finally able to share them with you without spoiling any surprises. My creative juices have been flowing this last month and I have made loads... be prepared for the flood of creativity that will follow.

So, the question is - Where to start???

Christmas!! Let's do Christmas before we are too far into the new year and it because the unspoken subject again.

A bit of background - Back in October (doesn't that feel like a long time ago already), I joined a group on Facebook called 'Raggedy Ruff Free Motion Embriodery' (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1046433398787278/) and is run by a wonderful lady called Andrea. It's a group where lots of people are learning to Free Motion Embroider/Quilt (FME or FMQ). Andrea provides lots of support and a monthly pattern for everyone to have a go at and share. --> There will be more about this in a future post - look out for Free Motion Embroidery/Quilt.

Off of the back of joining the above group I became aware of a group called  'UKqu xmas postcard swap 2016', intrigued I looked a little closer and found that it is a group in which people sign up and make a fabric Christmas postcard. At the beginning of December they receive an address to post it to and in turn receive one in the post. I decided I couldn't pass up such an exciting opportunity and signed up. It was a lovely experience and a great group to be part of with everyone supporting and encouraging each other.
Here is the postcard I created:

I'm rather proud of it for a first attempted.
 
Diamond challenge & a bit more sewing - Inspired by this and my recent visit to receive my Gold Duke of Edinburgh award - another post coming soon. I decided to take up the Diamond Challenge (set up for this year to celebrate the 60th year of the scheme). The challenges asks/requires each participant to raise £60 to go back into the scheme. I thought for a bit about what I could do, it was a bit short notice to organised a sponsored something and I wanted my donors to receive something in return. I spotted my postcard prompted up on my desk awaiting its address and an idea sprung to mind. For a £5 donation I would create a one off postcard and post to the donor as a thank you. (I later extended this to include different Christmas gifts for different donation amounts - another future post will show these.)

I received 2x £5 donations in turn for postcards and can now show them without spoiling the surprise.

A little dancing penguin - happy chap!

Naked or hidden - There was a whole debate in the swap group about whether postcards should be posted 'naked' for all to see or hidden in an envelope for safe keeping. I decided to split the difference and posted in a clear plastic card sleeve - although this offers the best of both worlds - visible for all to enjoy along the way and all protected from rain/mud etc, I will have to consider this in the future as it's not exactly environmentally friendly.

I loved making these so much (also made a Christmas Pudd one, but seem to have been in a rush to post it and not taken a photograph), and am thinking I might try and get a head and get some made ready for next year - is that being too organised?? Maybe 1 a month, I have plenty of scraps of Christmas fabric now. Will keep you posted....


A belated Merry Christmas to one and all xx