Stitching Gifts

I want to share with you some of the lovely stitching related gifts I have received for Christmas. 

From my dear friend Chrissie in Queensland, I received this lovely parcel of goodies.  Wonderful fabric all folded into a tree shape and topped with a gold star and beautiful silk ribbons;  lovely black and white scissors and  matching tape measure; a wonderful handmade Christmas card and also a lovely tag in the shape of a dressmaker's dummy which has more ribbon and a lovely heart shaped clip.

Chrissie has been bitten by the papercrafting bug and I am sure you will agree that her cards are very special.  Thank you so much for my terrific parcel, Chrissie.

Now these goodies came all the way from England.  Even before I opened the package the perfume of the lavender was wafting through the house - wonderful.  I have some beautiful moda fabric with the sweetest birds and some lovely narrow ribbon for needlerolls, and needles too.  Thank you so much Sandra for all of these goodies and for all the others through the year.

By the way, I WAS very good Sandra, and I DIDN'T open the parcel before Christmas, in fact I didn't open any of the gifts I had received from stitching friends until late on Boxing Day.  By then I had restored order to my house after the last few weeks of card making, cooking, Christmas preparations and gift wrapping etc.  Then I sat down and savoured them in peace.  Great fun!

My next show and tell is from Marg.  I met Marg through stitching (through a Shepherd's Bush message board actually - not sure if it is still going or not) quite a few years ago now.  She contacted me and we found out we were only a few minutes away from each other and she invited me to a stitching evening at her house - I thought it was lovely and it was the first time I had been to anything like it.  She is still inviting me to her stitching nights each month, and she is, most importantly, a wonderful, caring and sharing friend, and her stitching is absolutely beautiful.

So, having said that, look what I got: 

the Christmas ornament is lovely - I know you can't see the beads, but they are there. I love the idea for the hanger.  The card has not photographed well. (That really should read:  I have not taken a good photo of the card! )  It is an angel, stitched in gold thread, with tiny beads around the base of her skirt.  So delicate.  A lovely little crystal angel to hang on the tree as well and a very Christmassy linen napkin.  Thank you so much Marg for all of these things.

I did receive some other lovely goodies from stitching friends but they were not of the stitching variety.

Although it is not a Christmas gift - you may remember these lovely scissors Marg gave me for my birthday in November - well I have paired them up with a fob which was also stitched by Marg a few years ago and I think they are a perfect match.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my gifts.

I love to pop in to your blogs and see what you have been up to and feel that I "know" some of you quite well.  I guess this is the modern version of 'pen pals'!

I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that 2011 will bring good health, much happiness, and lots and lots of stitching. 

Love

Mary