Made by Me Christmas Special

I haven't done a made by me for a while, mainly because I've been making presents for Christmas and so couldn't share them with you beforehand for obvious reasons. So here's what I've been up to:

First up a selection of this year's Christmas cards. I've been making my own Christmas cards for over 20 years now and many people say that they keep the cards I make them. I figured that if that was the case they should have something useful so I made a range of cards that doubled as Christmas decorations. 

The tree stumps are made from sticks of cinnamon to give them the smell of Christmas. 

 The decorations were great for those I was delivering by hand but I realised that the Christmas trees were too fat to post, plus the cinnamon sticks might have been crushed so I made 2 different sorts of machine appliqued robins which were much more practical. 

Next up is Gruber, made for my friend Sophie who has a birthday straight after Christmas. The design is from a magazine I bought a couple of years ago and is by The Felt Mistress whose work I adore (and whose new book I got for Christmas - yay). I've been meaning to make him for ages and finally pulled my finger out. 

 I must admit he did take a lot longer than I thought he would be I loved the little details I could give him.  

My dad is notoriously difficult to buy for but mum had suggested he'd really like a picture of a Bee-eater so this is what I came up with. I only realized after I'd cut him out and stuck the fabric down that the legs aren't really correct but apart from that anomaly I was really chuffed with the result. 

And finally I made two brooches for my mum (above) and niece (below) using the new skills I learnt this year in cutting silver though I cheated a little and got my dad to solder the brooch back. 

So that's your lot for the time being. I'm looking forward to making more in 2017.