Finished Friday - Petals to Picot Mandala

Way back in July I posted about starting a mandala to take part in the #MandalasforMarinke project being organised by Kathryn of the blog Crochet Concupiscence.  Well I finished it, and even managed to send it to her before the deadline, but I just realised that I haven't shown the finished piece.  So here it is:

It' so pretty!  I said that I would make another but I haven't gotten around to it.  With Christmas just around the corner though, I'm thinking that it would make a lovely gift.

Christmas Pudding Brooch

Last year my friend asked me to make her a Christmas brooch for an event that she was going to.  I made her a Christmas tree, which was cut from green felt with sequins sewn onto the entire front surface, and was finished off with small gems for baubles and metallic yarn for tinsel.  I did take a photo of it, but my skills were not enough to really capture the brooch and the whole thing looked flat, whereas in reality it was so dynamic with all the reflections from the sequins and gems.  Anyway, I also made a Christmas pudding brooch as a back-up, which photographed a little better.

To make it I cut a two rounds of brown felt about 2.5 inches in diameter, and then I cut a piece of white felt to mimic the frosting and sewed that to one of the brown circles.  Then I sewed the sequins onto the white felt, being sure to cover the whole area.  The sequins I used were very pale purple with what I think is called an Aurora Borealis (AB) finish, which gives a greenish hue to the reflected light and I used invisible thread.  A little bit of wadding was sandwiched between the front and back to give it some body, and the whole lat was simply sewn together with a whip stitch.  Two holly leaves cut from metallic card and flatback rhinestone berries finished the brooch off.

The sewing of the sequins took a while, but it was a labour of love.  If you didn't have the time or inclination then I suppose a clear-drying fabric glue would also work, but I love the meditative quality of hand-sewing.  I will be sporting my pudding brooch this year, and I might even make up a few more to hang around the house.

WIP Wednesday

It was almost a year ago that I wrote a post for WIP Wednesday where I introduced my long-neglected red, white and blue blanket (RWBB). Well, I fell off that wagon in a pretty big way! But I'm pleased to say I've gotten back on and RWBB is back in progress.  I haven't got a picture, but I've made a bit of progress filling in the gaps.  I'm aiming for one section a day, but then I've said that before...

I've been slowly working on my Christmas crafts.  I found this cross stitch kit that's been buried since 2011 according to the date of the Cross Stitcher magazine!  I always forget just how much time it takes to do even a simple cross stitch motif, but the results are always pleasing.