Gnome Sweet Gnome

Hello Everybody,


This is a short but somewhat overdue post about our local craft group's (Cannock Crafties!) Christmas "Secret Santa". All the excitement happened on December 14th and we planned it to coincide with our Christmas Meal at our usual meeting place. Thanks to Claire and her Elf-helper, we'd all been allocated swap partners a few weeks beforehand. Definitely an improved method on last year, where we pulled names out of a hat several times as we kept on drawing ourselves! 


Anyway, we soon began swapping our presents and the "Secret" Santas became less secret. I was lucky enough to get some lovely presents from my "Secret" Santa (Claire!) and I'd like to share them with you. The presents all came in a little brown paper bag, printed with gnomes.

The first pressie was this awesome gnome badge. I love gnomes (yes, really)! I have been wearing the badge on my coat ever since and get some strange looks at work.

Continuing with the theme, the next pressie was an amazing project bag made out of this fantastic gnome fabric. It's a little cylindrical bag and she made it all herself! I'm very impressed, think it will be a while before I'm creating something like that, but I can dream. I just love the fabric, there's so much detail.

Inside, the bag is beautifully lined by pretty spotty fabric. 

And, there are buttonholes! Aren't they fab?

The next pressie was this wonderful skein of Araucania Ranco Solid in a delightful purple-pink colour. She certainly got my colour scheme spot-on. This yarn is similar to the yarn I used to make my Baktus, except that was the 'Multy' variegated type. I'm very excited to make something with it, but haven't had any ideas yet.

In the meanwhile, I will stroke and fondle it.

There was one other gift, which I'm sorry to say I cannot share with you as it has gone! It was a packet of vegetarian chewy meerkats. Nom, nom!

Anyway, hope you all have Gnome-Envy! Any ideas for the perfect project for my new yarn will be much appreciated.

Thistle Girl x

All the Pretty Things

Hello Everybody,

Today I thought I'd quickly show you some of the pretty things seen around my house this Christmas. Some are gifts (from me for me and from others!) and some are just Christmas decorations. The decorations are all coming down later today, which is a little sad but I think it is time. Balthasar, my rooted Christmas tree, came down on Saturday as he had a bit of a bug infestation. I realised that I haven't even taken a photo of him this year (his 3rd year), which is a little sad. 

1. A little canvas bag, a gift from my Auntie, it's the perfect size for carrying lunch or a few bits and bobs (from Seasalt)


2. Another bag, a shopping bag, which has lots of pretty cupcakes on and was a gift from my cousins (from Paperchase)


3. A little angel candle, I think this was a gift from my cousins a couple of years ago (no idea where it's from)


4. A little wicker heart decoration from my Mum


5. Heart photo holder from my cousins (from New Look)


6. Super cute Russian Doll measuring cups from a friend (from Fred and Friends)


7. Herdy garlic pot, also very cute, from friends (from Herdy)


8. Snowflake window gel stickers, from the local garden centre


9. Heart glass jar, for holding a tea light or something, from my Mum (also from a local garden centre)


10. My new rug!!! It's red (I don't really do red, so this is a shock). It is a present to my lounge from me and I got it in the sale (£100 off!!!) (from Dunelm)


11. Welcome to the Beach House sign, another present to myself for my coastal room (don't ask, I live probably as far inland as you can get in England) (from Matalan)


Thistle Girl x