Christmas is coming!

 Hi there! I've been keeping busy here at ATFS. Through the summer, I had stalls at a few events - some more successful than others! I'm thinking about whether it may be more profitable to pay more for a table at a bigger event. It's quite daunting to think about paying up to £100 or more for a single event; but paying £10 an event for 10 events is more like what I have been doing. It's possible there may be more people at that one, big event than all the 10 put together. It's worth mulling over a bit more!

I made the bag above as a sample to show the sort of thing I could take orders for. My current list of requests has one on order, in pink spotty fabric with the name Eloise. I'm looking forward to doing the embroidery as a change from machine sewing.

I've been knitting and crocheting facecloths to put with my daughter's handmade soaps as gift ideas. The set above was donated to a local raffle but a few sets have been sold on the soap stall, Scent Essential, too. She has some lovely new festive scents that would make perfect gifts. The facecloths are handy little projects to carry with me when out and about, and they're quick to do.

I recently acquired a piece of brown, felt fabric that, at first, I was at a loss for what to do with. Then, as Christmas began to be mentioned more often, it came to me. It was almost the perfect colour for gingerbread Christmas ornaments. I started by sketching out this gingerbread man, to see if it would work. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out and went on to make a few more. Then I added to the range with gingerbread houses and star biscuits. More photos of those can be found over at my facebook page  Raglan Thread Shed .

I love this pretty, little shopper I was asked to make. It was requested by someone to give as a gift to a friend who can't carry much at a time, so it's smaller than the bags I usually make. I just love how the fabrics look together.