Handmade Gift Exchange

At the end of November, I signed up for Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange.  I fancied joining in a Christmassy swap and this one fitted the bill.  I got matched up with my swapper, a lovely lady Liz from the USA and then given some time to find out a bit more about her. She has a blog A Little Bit Original.  Check out her giving plate, I love it!

I thought it would be nice to do something a bit different for me and once I started this cross stitch, I thought I would add the Welsh element by adding Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas).  Hand sewing is not something I often go in for, but I soooo loved doing this, although it took forever (and did make me late posting my parcel)

It is the first time I have used this waste canvas (ha, ha I thought it was called disappearing canvas and got lots of confused looks).  

Your design is stitched on to the canvas and then after soaking the canvas dissolves.....well, that is what I thought, in reality, you have to pull out every strand of the canvas....slow and painful!  But the finished look makes it so worth while.  I machine sewed the finished linen piece onto  polka dot fabric to make into a wall hanging.

While the machine was out, I made a hot pad filled with cinnamon and cloves for the full Christmas experience!

 

Liz and her husband have four lovely daughters, so I hooked up some hair bands for them.

For Liz I also crocheted a scarf to keep her warm in their cold winter weather.

It was such a delight to be involved in such a great swap.

The most exciting thing was receiving a huge box of goodies from America!

Pressies!!

Liz makes lots of brilliantly clever things.  She made this personalised Christmas Plaque to hang up....I have to say this actually made me shed a tear....she made one for my Mum too, but mine was the best ;-)

She also makes these mini Christmas countdown chalkboards....so cool!

The boys were not left out, they had  hot chocolate goodies.

Beautifully presented with marshmallows and candy cane stirrers.

It did not stop there, I had a lovely candle holder made by a friend of hers, lip balm with a Merry Kissmas label.  A bottle of vanilla, and on a really thoughtful note, some magazines....Liz knows I am a foody, and the cookie magazine was a-maz-ing  I had a whole afternoon of baking, and there will be plenty more to come!

Thankyou Liz, you made Christmas, extra special for me and all my boys!