Saturday 29 October 2011

Homes for gnomes

Disclaimer: this post does not contain any images of, information about or reference to gnomes.  The gnomes bit of the title was a bare-faced lie.

The Christmas decorations that have been sitting half-finished on my cutting table for weeks are finally finished. 


Last month's issue of Cross Stitcher came with a free cover gift of a little kit to make 3 of these houses.  In theory.  In reality, after cutting the Aida to the correct size and using the template in the magazine to cut the roofs, the felt they'd provided to back them was far too small.  Luckily I have stash.  I also added some of my own Aida in off white, sparkly white and green and stitched up 6 in total.



Yes, I can count.  Unfortunately I apparently can't measure properly as I cut the green one (which had a snowflake design on it that had taken me ages to stitch due to the DMC Light Effects floss I'd used) into a square and it was too small.  It remains on my cutting table waiting to be made into something.



I got a little piece of the Bliss on the above right door in my kit, so added some Bliss of my own and some buttons and ribbon.  The cross stitch designs came from the magazine, except the robin which came from one of my books.  I don't think I can count that as a Craft Book Challenge though, can I?

I didn't sew the twine in properly on the ones which have twine as hangers and they've come undone, I'll have to hand stitch them in place.  These little houses will be part of Christmas presents for a few people, though I'm not sure who as they didn't turn out as well as I was hoping.

It looks like my newspaper debut has been cancelled.  The paper wasn't impressed with the arrival of my new wheelie bin and have decided not to run the story.  I will be ringing them again should it disappear in the future! 

New job starts on Monday.  I'm quite excited and a little nervous, what if I mess it up?  I am looking forward to speaking a lot more French each day though, I do love a good foreign language.  Wonder if I should learn Arabic?





15 comments:

Laura said...

Haha good lie, made me read it!

Allie said...

Those are really cute, Wendy! Love your disclaimer. *G* I figured the newspaper would lose interest once you got some justice...

Fiona said...

love the little row of houses Wendy.... very cute... good luck with the new job - I missed something... not sure where the French comes in... and pity about the putting off of the pending papparazzi bunch.. I heard they can be fickle!!
Hugz

Libby said...

Those little houses are adorable! You always make the sweetest things!

Kandi said...

They are cute, I made one of those too for my Christmas Decoration Swap.
Good luck for Monday
Kandi x

Sandra :) said...

The ornaments are cute - I'd say using a design pattern from a book is enough to count as a craft book challenge completion - you have MY vote!! ;)

Sorry about your newspaper debut disappointment - they probably had a bigger story to publish - someone stopped at a red light, perhaps, or the street lights came on at the right time - big IMPORTANT stuff!! *insert derisive eye rolling here* :D

Good luck on Monday - you'll be FINE - and here's my French contribution for you - going by memory and not looking up spelling (so don't LAUGH, lol) ... Ou 'est le salle de bain?

Bonne Nuit!!!! :D

Oops-Lah said...

I too love those little houses. Very clever.
Good luck with the new job! You'll be fine ;).

The Dotty One said...

Awww - they look really cute. I have this kit too and hadn't really thought i would bother making them but I might not I've seen yours.
Booo - you aren't going to famous after all :(
Good luck with the new job - hope all goes well x

Nancy Lee said...

Bonne chance ma belle amiee!
I have those little houses to do as well. C'est tres joile! (I have no idea how to get the appropriate accents in this typeface. Just assume that I know they are missing!)
Have a wonderful day in your new job!

Artsy VaVa said...

I'm so glad you finished the houses! They are adorable! Thanks for sharing them with us.

CityHouseStudio said...

These are so cute!

Carla said...

Great trick bring us in with the gnomes...

Very cute Christmas decorations! Bummer about the green one but I'm sure you'll find use for it.

Carolyn said...

Really cute! I'm so excited to see Christmas decorations (even without the gnomes)!
I would love for you to add this to my Inspiration Board {link party}. Hope to see you there.
http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/2011/11/inspiration-board-link-party-22.html
carolyn - homework

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You said...

so cute!

would love it if you could share this on my link party - Serenity Saturday at www.serenityyou.blogspot.com

Natasha xxx

Casey said...

Cute! I have this kit too, I'm going to be making them for my kids this year :)