© Carolyn Saxby - Love Stitching Red
© The White Bench (header photo)

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Dream and Imagine

Hope you had a very lovely Christmas ♥

It's good having two blogs I get to have two types of Christmas ... over here I'm having a blue (not sad) and green Christmas ... an alternative to my RED

I got some nice things. From Santa hubby I received this brilliant new book "Stitch, Cloth, Paper & Paint" by Angie Hughes. It's got fab projects and I'm itching to try one in particular






















From my good friend Cathie I received some fleece in lovely colours and these wonderful variegated threads from Weeks Dye Works. I love these threads in the "primitive" tones















I also received some beautiful hand made cards and gifts from more good friends. They are so lovely I thought you might like to see some of them

I love them all equally so they are in no particular order, other than I have graduated the colours down the page ...

This lovely layered fabric collage from Colette in my favourite Autumn colours with leaves and images transferred to fabric. Colette and I like a lot of the same things in the same style






















This gorgeous textile art heart with very pretty chiffon ribbon from a girl with a big heart - my dear thoughtful friend Cathie. It has lots of shimmery layers, stitched and distressed just how I like it




















Distressed shimmery layers

















A lovely hand made card from Connie. I was admiring this fabric on flickr and then it arrived in the Christmas post ...















A very beautiful hand made notebook from my lovely friend Gez. The pretty green cover has inspired me to fill this notebook with my pressed leaves and collected poems and words. Gez was pleased that I'm going to use it for my nature thoughts






















A cheeky ATC from my very good blog friend Karen (Missy K). This little ATC sums up Karen for me ... a girl with a cheeky, witty personality, thoughtful and with a big heart






















Card from Cathie. I love the silver tinsel for the pine tree






















This lovely vintage card is from Viv and has such a nostalgic feel about it. It reminds me of Christmas past, of old comics and crackers and the early 1960's when I remember discovering a box of tinsel and vintage ornaments on top of a wardrobe as a child ...
... a magical box ...






















A collaged Christmas card from Lesley

I wish you could see how that star and the sequins really sparkle





















This beautiful brooch was a gift to me from Chris. It is much more beautiful in "real life" than my photo does justice! The reds are rich, the variegated threads are vibrant, the little stitches are perfect ... there is so much work and love in this!













I had this beautiful Christmas tree card from Penny (Fibrefrolics). One part of Christmas that I have really enjoyed this year is visiting Penny's blog where she had a Christmas advent ... something seasonal for each day. I love Penny's countryside and nature photos






















Another beautifully stitched tree. I received this card from the lovely Kayla Coo






















Sharne made this most beautiful birdie for me. It sparkles and glistens with "frosting" and I adore it!

















Sharne also made me this Christmas card, a lovely red button bracelet and showered me with snowflakes (see picture at the bottom)






















From Gez I had more sparkly frosted things
This beautiful "frosty" tag























This card is probably the most adorable card I have ever seen! It is 3D and glistens with snow and frost. Made for me by the loveliest lady - Gez














This one is not hand made but I wanted to show it to you. A rare sight! Snow in Cornwall on the Lanyon Quoit stones not that far from us ... from a very good friend who lives locally


















Another card I just really liked ... more snow, snowflakes and sparkly frosty stuff




















It's so lovely to receive something that's a bit different, one of a kind, and special. I really appreciate the time and love that's gone into each and every one of these lovely cards and gifts. I feel blessed!

Snowflakes, charms and choccies



















Now ... the snowflakes are from Sharne, the "Imagine" and "Dream" charms are from Cathie and the blue sweeties are the ones left in the bottom of the tin that nobody likes! The poor coconut ones are rejects! Which ones get left in your house?

I've been saving all the sweetie wrappers. Can you dare to "dream" or "imagine" that they would make great beads, get used in collage or maybe even next year's Christmas cards?

Hope you continue to enjoy the holidays
Blessings for 2010 xx

Carolyn ♥

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas post

These few days just before Christmas are the most magical time. Everything is almost ready and there is a little bit of quiet time to enjoy being at home






















I made a lot of my cards this year. Here are just a few more of my Christmas hearts in traditional red with gold ...






















Same technique as before, lots of layers of sheers, metallic fabrics, bits of metallic threads, ribbons, then stitched and cut through the layers to reveal the glitzy bits. Again, it's quite hard to capture the richness and "glitteryness" of them






















I'd really like to thank you all for visiting my blog, for following me, for your interesting and uplifting comments and if you celebrate Christmas I'd like to send you greetings and good wishes. May you enjoy the beauty and blessings of the season

Merry Christmas!

Carolyn ♥

Friday, December 11, 2009

Joyful hearts

I thought I would share with you my joyful heart! I love making things for others and these joyful hearts were fun to make

Joy in this happiest of festivals





















Enjoying the Festive Season
Click on the picture to see details
















Christmas Day






















Christmas Day






















I hope my hearts bring a little joy too!

Today, I promised my husband I would decorate the Christmas tree for the weekend so I'm putting on some lovely "twinkly" Christmas music and shall dance round the tree adding my snowy winter decorations

Have a lovely day and I'll be round to visit lots of blogs at the weekend ...

Carolyn ♥

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Hearts and Global Warming

I've been making little hearts and cards as gifts for friends for Christmas

I used several layers of chiffons, metallic fabrics, shiny papers, metallic threads, sequins and beads and they really "shimmer" and catch the light but it's very hard to capture the sparkles and textures which are nice for Christmas (and all year round really)






















Work in progress
















I made four background pieces of fabric and free machine embroidered on each one
















Shiny shimmery sparkles

















Free machine stitching
















I got distracted and one piece ended up being another "Global Warming" piece! I stitched lots of circles then "zapped" the piece with a heat gun and a soldering iron to get to the shimmery bits underneath. I really love the idea of circles, holes and distress















This is not finished and I can't wait to get back to stitching this piece. Must get the hearts finished first ...

Carolyn ♥