Craft Book Challenge

I mentioned in a previous post that I have an enormous amount of craft books which, whilst well thumbed and well loved, never get used for their original purpose.  So, with that in mind, I challenged myself to choose 3 books and make something out of each as a Christmas present. 

It was harder than I thought!  I suppose it didn't help that I was choosing them last night, I'd had a pretty bad headache all day (I'm a headache / migraine sufferer) so had done no crafts at all.  I did pick up my crochet but forced myself to put it down as I knew it would make my head worse.  So, I'm up there in my craft room, feeling all grumpy and ill and not wanting to make anything out of any of the books and I found myself thinking "I just don't have enough books, I need some more with patterns I like"!! 

Well, considering I bought 5 online (yet to be delivered) last week, my husband came home from TK Maxx on Sunday with 2 knitting pattern books and 2 jewellery design books for me and I'm heading off to Amazon after this to buy Knitting Mochimochi (because I want to, not for any other reason!!), I think that's a pretty daft thing to think!  Is that a sign of addiction??

So, without further ado, here is what I've chosen.

Number 1 is

Classic Storybook Cross-Stitch by Gillian Souter, picked up in the Oxfam bookstore for a bargain £2 - pristine condition!  My mum loves Beatrix Potter so I'll make something from these pages:

I'm thinking Jemmima Puddleduck or the Peter Rabbit clan, maybe just as a stuffie, maybe a little drawstring bag.  I could also make something for my goddaughter aged 2 and my cousin's adorable boys aged 3 and 1.

Book two is:

How to Sew: Patchwork from the How to Sew boxset of little books.  I'm going to make this little patchwork pig cushion:

Again for my mum!  She is so easy to make and buy for, she loves pigs so I had to do it and I thought this would be a nice introduction to patchwork, so maybe I can make some presents for other people using the same technique.

And finally, book 3:

Sew by Cath Kidston.  And what a rubbish photo I took there!  It comes with the pattern for the bag on the front and...

The material and buttons to make it!  I'm making this for a friend who will know immediately it's Cath Kidston fabric and will be bowled over.  I hope.  Unless I make a right mess of it which I might.

I also started flicking through a magazine mum had bought back from a recent trip to NY/Canada with her.  It's called BHG and is full of patterns for crafty items.  I don't know where she picked it up and forgot to ask if it was American or Canadian.  Do any of you know this magazine?  Do you think I could get a subscription sent over here?  We only have one general crafts magazine in the UK - Crafts Beautiful.  The other publications are only sewing or only knitting or cross stitch and there's about a million card making magazines, but only this one title for crafters who like to shake it up a bit.

Anyway, enough dreaming about crafty magazines and books, back to work!  I'll let you know when I've made progress with actually making things from the books.  I daren't put a deadline on it incase I fail to make the gifts by then and abandon the whole idea!