I've been a bit quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks, but I have a reason! I've been making Christmas presents, and cards...and my own wrapping paper (but this last one was pretty tedious, given the volume I had to do!)
Of course I couldn't talk about my homemade gifts until the recipients had ooooed and ahhhed over their presents (bless my family for being lovely!). Anyway, here are a couple of photos to show you how hard I've been working :)
This cushion went to Linsay's mum, Anne
and this pair were for my lovely stylish Aunty Jane and her fabulous new vaulted garden room
For the Christmas cards I continued on the fabric theme and appliqued baubles onto white cotton.
In making these cards I've discovered a new technique which I'm itching to try out in patchwork...basically, the bauble design is drawn in powerpoint and then printed it directly onto patchwork cotton using my inkjet printer - how cool is that?! It opens the door for personalised patchwork (think black and white photos, funky fonts and the potential for my own fabric design on a small scale) so watch this space!
If you want to try this yourself you'll need white patchwork cotton, freezer paper (this is a waxy paper with a shiny side that can be used for wrapping food; in craft world it's sometimes called quilters paper) and a printer. Cut a piece of cotton slightly smaller than the A4 sheet of freezer paper and iron it to the shiny side of the freezer paper, then just feed it into the printer and print directly onto the cotton. The paper will peel off afterwards and can be reused.
So much potential...so little time! Oh, one thing, be aware that your print isn't washproof, I've found a product to make it so but not tried it yet.
On a final note, you don't think Christmas has been all work and no play do you? Here's a gorgeous view from our traditional christmas walk down to the local pub...
lovely eh?
x
